Nova Premier 1.0 vs Mercury 3
Mercury 3 costs 35.7x less per output token than Nova Premier 1.0 ($0.35 vs $12.50 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 1 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nova Premier 1.0 or Mercury 3: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Nova Premier 1.0 for work measured by Design Arena: websites, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 1
- Nova Premier 1.0 only
- 13
- Mercury 3 only
- 4
- Like-for-like categories
- 1 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Nova Premier 1.0 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 9.2.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Mercury 3
Mercury 3 leads, 1244 against 835.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mercury 3
Nova Premier 1.0 $0.0088, Mercury 3 $0.0003 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nova Premier 1.0 not benchmarked, Mercury 3 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Web design, 51.1 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Design Arena: websites: Nova Premier 1.0 835 against Mercury 3 1244, 51.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nova Premier 1.0 $12.50 against Mercury 3 $0.35 per million output tokens, 35.7x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 1M tokens.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Nova Premier 1.0 | Bars | Mercury 3 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web design | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 1 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Premier 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 31.7% | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 6.8% | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 147.4 | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 36 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Premier 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 9.2 | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Premier 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 38.3% | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Premier 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 56.9% | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.2% | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 44.8% | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Premier 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 17.3 | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 17.3% | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Premier 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 73.3% | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova Premier 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 835 | 1244 | Mercury 3 |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1270 | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1227 | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1207 | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1240 | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Premier 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 36.2% | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 34.3% | Not measured | Only Nova Premier 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 44 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Premier 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mercury 3 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Mercury 3 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Mercury 3 costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Amazon Nova Premier 1.0 | Inception Mercury 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Amazon | Inception |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | October 31, 2025 | October 16, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $2.50 | $0.10 |
| Output $/Mtok | $12.50 | $0.35 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nova Premier 1.0 better than Mercury 3 for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Nova Premier 1.0 for work measured by Design Arena: websites, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Nova Premier 1.0 or Mercury 3?
Nova Premier 1.0 costs $2.50 per million input tokens and $12.50 per million output tokens; Mercury 3 costs $0.10 and $0.35. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Nova Premier 1.0 or Mercury 3?
Neither: both take 1M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Nova Premier 1.0 vs Mercury 3 comparison based on?
1 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Nova Premier 1.0's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Mercury 3's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.