Mercury

Name: Mercury
Brand: inception
Price: 10.00 USD
Availability: OnlineOnly

Mercury:

Mercury

The first diffusion large language model. Discrete diffusion runs 5 to 10x faster than speed-tuned models like GPT-4.1 Nano and Claude 3.5 Haiku while matching them, which is what makes voice agents and search viable.

Website OpenRouter Docs API Paper Blog

Provider: Inception
Released: 2025-06-26
Parameters: Not disclosed
Free API (OpenRouter): No
Per 1M tokens: $10 in · $10 out
Rival’s tab: $0.02; 25/59 receipts survived +~$0.412 from the pre-receipt era

Free API availability

No free endpoint for Mercury was found in Rival’s OpenRouter listings. Other providers or chat apps may have separate free offers.

Provider data: 9 Sep 2026OpenRouter usage limits

View API options

Benchmarks

Speed

5-10x faster than GPT-4.1 Nano

source ↗

Performance

Matches GPT-4.1 Nano and Claude 3.5 Haiku

source ↗

HumanEval

90.0%

source ↗

Get API accessProvider and language code samples

Provider

fromimport openai  OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
"https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"    base_url=,
"$OPENROUTER_API_KEY"    api_key=,
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
"inception/mercury"    model=,
"role""user""content""Hello!"    messages=[{: , : }],
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Set OPENROUTER_API_KEY with your OpenRouter API key from openrouter.ai/keys.

Also on Azure AI Foundry · Amazon Bedrock

Deep analysisPsychometrics, taste index, writing DNA

Personality Analysis

The Corporate Intern

Class

Lawful Good

The corporate training video narrator. Unfailingly positive, speaks in platitudes, and treats Steve Jobs like a motivational poster. Optimized for safety and blandness in equal measure.

When you push back

Responds to every prompt with the enthusiasm of a LinkedIn influencer. Fake Steve Jobs interview sounds like a TED talk transcript. The model most likely to say "Let's ensure it benefits everyone."

Tasting Notes

Aggressively InoffensiveTemplate-DrivenMotivational Poster EnergyReliable but Uninspired

SubjectiveBench

Taste Index

Across 59 scored outputs

How this is measured →

150.15xFloor

0100headroom →

Taste is judged on an uncapped scale, originality first. The space past 100 is craft today's models rarely reach.

Craft24

Originality12

Plays it safe

share of outputs that are the default answer

59%

Writing DNA

Stylometric Fingerprint

Based on 26 text responses

Tick = global average

Vocabulary Diversity60%

Unique words vs. total words. Higher = richer vocabulary.

Sentence Length31.1 words

Average words per sentence.

Hedging0.78

"Might", "perhaps", "arguably" per 100 words.

Bold Formatting4.1

**Bold** markers per 1,000 characters.

List Usage2.8

Bullet and numbered list items per 1,000 characters.

Section Structure0.88

Markdown headings per 1,000 characters.

Emoji Usage0.03

Emoji per 1,000 characters.

Transitions0.06

"However", "moreover", "furthermore" per 100 words.

Opening Habits

Consistency

64%

Across 26 responses

Favorites

Movie

Inception

20108.4

Album

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

Book

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee

Game

Minecraft

Action, Arcade4.4

Model Responses

54 outputs · $0.02 tracked across 25 receipts

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RANKINGS

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Alternatives to Mercury

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Free API availability

Benchmarks

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Stylometric Fingerprint

Favorites

Model Responses

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