Nova Pro 1.0 vs Mercury 3
Mercury 3 costs 9.1x less per output token than Nova Pro 1.0 ($0.35 vs $3.20 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 1 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nova Pro 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 Pro 1.0 for work measured by Design Arena: websites, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 1
- Nova Pro 1.0 only
- 41
- 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 Pro 1.0 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 7.0.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Mercury 3
Mercury 3 leads, 1244 against 796.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Mercury 3
Mercury 3 takes 1M tokens against 300K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mercury 3
Nova Pro 1.0 $0.0024, Mercury 3 $0.0003 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nova Pro 1.0 not benchmarked, Mercury 3 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Web design, 56.0 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Design Arena: websites: Nova Pro 1.0 796 against Mercury 3 1244, 56.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nova Pro 1.0 $3.20 against Mercury 3 $0.35 per million output tokens, 9.1x apart.
- Context window
- Nova Pro 1.0 takes 300K tokens, Mercury 3 1M.
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 Pro 1.0 | Bars | Mercury 3 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web design | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 1 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Pro 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.3% | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 6.1% | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1270 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1271 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 35 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Pro 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 7.0 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 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 Pro 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 14.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Pro 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 49.9% | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 3.2% | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1246 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1211 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1259 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Pro 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 7.0 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 7.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1252 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1261 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Pro 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 69.1% | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| MMLU | 82.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1255 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1260 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1281 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1229 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova Pro 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 796 | 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 index20 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Pro 1.0 | Mercury 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 38.1% | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 21.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1259 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1235 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1212 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Vision | 980 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1276 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1233 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1244 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1243 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1200 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1203 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1271 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1182 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1240 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1246 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1255 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1247 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1210 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | 987 | Not measured | Only Nova Pro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Pro 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 Pro 1.0 | Inception Mercury 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Amazon | Inception |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | December 5, 2024 | October 16, 2026 |
| Context window | 300K | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.80 | $0.10 |
| Output $/Mtok | $3.20 | $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 Pro 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 Pro 1.0 for work measured by Design Arena: websites, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Nova Pro 1.0 or Mercury 3?
Nova Pro 1.0 costs $0.80 per million input tokens and $3.20 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 Pro 1.0 or Mercury 3?
Mercury 3, with 1M tokens against 300K.
How many benchmarks is the Nova Pro 1.0 vs Mercury 3 comparison based on?
1 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Nova Pro 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.