Mercury 3 vs Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507
Mercury 3 costs 2.2x less per output token than Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 ($0.35 vs $0.775 per million). Updated October 23, 2026; 5 benchmarks have a result for both.
Mercury 3 or Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507: which to pick
Only Mercury 3 has a coding score, 29.3 on the Vibe Coding Index; Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Compare them on price, context and the boards below.
- Shared results
- 5
- Mercury 3 only
- 7
- Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 only
- 19
- 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
Only Mercury 3 has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 12.0.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Mercury 3
Mercury 3 leads, 1226 against 1058.
Same board, both measured
General
Vals Index
No call
Only Mercury 3 has a Vals Index result, 43.7%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Mercury 3
Mercury 3 takes 1M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mercury 3
Mercury 3 $0.0003, Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 $0.0005 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Mercury 3 29.3 from 2 benchmarks, Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Web design, 26.3 points apart on average over 5 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Design Arena: UI components: Mercury 3 1247 against Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 963, 35.5 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Mercury 3 $0.35 against Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 $0.775 per million output tokens, 2.2x apart.
- Context window
- Mercury 3 takes 1M tokens, Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 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 3 | Bars | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web design | 5 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 5 | 0 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 3.0% | Not measured | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 60.9% | Not measured | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 78.8% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 41.4% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 15.2% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 38.7% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 37 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | Not measured | 12.0 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 18.2% | Not measured | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 28.9% | Not measured | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | 5.0% | Not measured | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 53.2% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) | Not measured | 52.1% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 37 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 79.0% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 15.9% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 11.0% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 1.3% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 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 | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 91.0 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 91.0% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 84.3% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index50
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1226 | 1058 | Mercury 3 |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1247 | 963 | Mercury 3 |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1227 | 951 | Mercury 3 |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1201 | 1070 | Mercury 3 |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 995 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1231 | 1038 | Mercury 3 |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1174 | Not measured | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | 43.7% | Not measured | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| IFBench | Not measured | 51.2% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 72.0% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| DTBench | Not measured | 78.4% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 23.5% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 43 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | 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 | Inception Mercury 3 | Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Inception | Qwen |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | October 16, 2026 | July 21, 2025 |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.10 | $0.145 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.35 | $0.775 |
| Coding index | 29.3 | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Mercury 3 better than Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 for coding?
Only Mercury 3 has a coding score, 29.3 on the Vibe Coding Index; Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Compare them on price, context and the boards below.
Which is cheaper, Mercury 3 or Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507?
Mercury 3 costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.35 per million output tokens; Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 costs $0.145 and $0.775. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Mercury 3 or Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507?
Mercury 3, with 1M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Mercury 3 vs Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 comparison based on?
5 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 23, 2026. Mercury 3's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.