Mercury 3 vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
Mercury 3 costs 1.3x less per output token than Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct ($0.35 vs $0.44 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 3 benchmarks have a result for both.
Mercury 3 or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Mercury 3 for output tokens 1.3x cheaper ($0.35 vs $0.44 per million) and a larger context window (1M against 262K tokens).
- Shared results
- 3
- Mercury 3 only
- 2
- Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct only
- 13
- 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 Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct has a AA Intelligence Index result, 9.6.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Mercury 3
Mercury 3 leads, 1244 against 1087.
Same board, both measured
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 Coder 30B A3B Instruct $0.0003 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Mercury 3 not benchmarked, Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Web design, 21.0 points apart on average over 3 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Design Arena: UI components: Mercury 3 1270 against Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 1046, 28.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Mercury 3 $0.35 against Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct $0.44 per million output tokens, 1.3x apart.
- Context window
- Mercury 3 takes 1M tokens, Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 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 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web design | 3 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 3 | 0 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | Not measured | 60.4% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| SWE-bench Lite | Not measured | 49.7% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 40.3% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 15.2% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | Not measured | 9.6 | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 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 | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 34.5% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 38 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 51.6% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 3.8% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 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 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 29.0 | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 29.0% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 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 | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 70.6% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1244 | 1087 | Mercury 3 |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1270 | 1046 | Mercury 3 |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1227 | Not measured | Only Mercury 3 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1207 | 1085 | Mercury 3 |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1240 | Not measured | 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 | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | Not measured | 32.7% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 32.7% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 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 | Mercury 3 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | 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 Coder 30B A3B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Inception | Qwen |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | October 16, 2026 | July 31, 2025 |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.10 | $0.11 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.35 | $0.44 |
| 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 Mercury 3 better than Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Mercury 3 for output tokens 1.3x cheaper ($0.35 vs $0.44 per million) and a larger context window (1M against 262K tokens).
Which is cheaper, Mercury 3 or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?
Mercury 3 costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.35 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct costs $0.11 and $0.44. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Mercury 3 or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?
Mercury 3, with 1M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Mercury 3 vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct comparison based on?
3 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Mercury 3's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.