Mercury 2.5 vs Hy3 preview
Hy3 preview leads Mercury 2.5 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 25.3 to 12.3, and Mercury 2.5 costs 4.0x less per output token ($0.15 vs $0.60 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 3 benchmarks have a result for both.
Mercury 2.5 or Hy3 preview: which to pick
Only Mercury 2.5 has a coding score, 1.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; Hy3 preview has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Hy3 preview for a larger context window (262K against 260K tokens) and work measured by AA Intelligence Index or Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.
- Shared results
- 3
- Mercury 2.5 only
- 19
- Hy3 preview only
- 33
- Like-for-like categories
- 3 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
Only Mercury 2.5 has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Hy3 preview
Hy3 preview leads, 25.3 against 12.3.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Hy3 preview has a AA Agentic Index result, 24.1.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Hy3 preview
Hy3 preview takes 262K tokens against 260K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mercury 2.5
Mercury 2.5 $0.0001, Hy3 preview $0.0005 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Mercury 2.5 1.6 from 2 benchmarks, Hy3 preview not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Reasoning, 16.0 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run): Mercury 2.5 11.8% against Hy3 preview 27.8%, 16.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Mercury 2.5 $0.15 against Hy3 preview $0.60 per million output tokens, 4.0x apart.
- Context window
- Mercury 2.5 takes 260K tokens, Hy3 preview 262K.
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 | Mercury 2.5 | Bars | Hy3 preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 1 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 1 | 2 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index16 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1357 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 58.8 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 3.7% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 4.5% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | 2.4% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 34.5% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | 18.1% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | 45.5% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| SciCode | 38.5% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 34.1% | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| ALE-Bench | 301.6 | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1421 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1423 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1349 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1356 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 23 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 12.3 | 25.3 | Hy3 preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 24.1 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 18.9% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 2.5% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 4.3% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 8.8% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 92.7% | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 86.7% | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 11.8% | 27.8% | Hy3 preview |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1413 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1422 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1416 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| ProofBench | 3.0% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1424 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1442 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 83.1% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 31.3% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1416 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1405 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1430 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1397 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | 45.3% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 55.1% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| IFBench | Not measured | 63.1% | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 71.7% | 64.7% | Mercury 2.5 |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1401 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1383 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1339 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1409 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1390 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1435 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1425 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1399 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1399 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1411 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1402 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1370 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1352 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 29 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Hy3 preview | 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 2.5 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Mercury 2.5 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Mercury 2.5 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 | Inception Mercury 2.5 | Tencent Hy3 preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Inception | Tencent |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | September 8, 2026 | April 22, 2026 |
| Context window | 260K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.04 | $0.18 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.15 | $0.60 |
| Coding index | 1.6 | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Mercury 2.5 better than Hy3 preview for coding?
Only Mercury 2.5 has a coding score, 1.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; Hy3 preview has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Hy3 preview for a larger context window (262K against 260K tokens) and work measured by AA Intelligence Index or Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Mercury 2.5 or Hy3 preview?
Mercury 2.5 costs $0.04 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Hy3 preview costs $0.18 and $0.60. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Mercury 2.5 or Hy3 preview?
Hy3 preview, with 262K tokens against 260K.
How many benchmarks is the Mercury 2.5 vs Hy3 preview comparison based on?
3 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Mercury 2.5's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Hy3 preview's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.