Mercury 3 is $0.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (83.3% lower; 6x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewGlimpse vs NewMercury 3
Pick Mercury 3 when budget and context both matter.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Mercury 3 when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 3 is estimated at $0.28 vs $2.1 for Glimpse, saving $1.83 (86.9% lower).
Cost-first pickMercury 3
Context-first pickMercury 3
Sample savings$1.8386.9%
10x traffic gap$18.25
Mercury 3 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $18.25. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Mercury 3 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Glimpse | Mercury 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Mercury 3 | $4.5 | $0.68 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Mercury 3 | $3.6 | $0.45 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Mercury 3 | $15.6 | $1.85 |
Mercury 3 is $2.65 cheaper per 1M output tokens (88.3% lower; 8.57x difference).
Mercury 3 has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).
Mercury 3 is $1.83 cheaper on the standard workload (86.9% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Mercury 3 has the lower input price; Mercury 3 has the lower output price; Mercury 3 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Mercury 3 is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $2.1 for Glimpse and $0.28 for Mercury 3.
Choose Glimpse when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
Choose Mercury 3 when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 3 is estimated at $0.28 vs $2.1 for Glimpse, saving $1.83 (86.9% lower).
- Mercury 3 is $1.83 cheaper on the standard workload (86.9% lower).
- Mercury 3 is $0.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (83.3% lower; 6x difference).
- Mercury 3 is $2.65 cheaper per 1M output tokens (88.3% lower; 8.57x difference).
- Mercury 3 has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Mercury 3 | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 3 is estimated at $0.28 vs $2.1 for Glimpse, saving $1.83 (86.9% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Mercury 3 | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Mercury 3 | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Mercury 3 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Mercury 2.5 can replace Mercury 3 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.11.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 1.31M context with $0.25 sample workload cost.
- MiMo-V2.6-Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
- GLM 5.3 Flash · Z.ai · #2
- Step 5 Preview · StepFun · #3
- MiMo-V2.6-Flash · Xiaomi · #4
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