Qwen3 30B A3B is $0.16 cheaper per 1M input tokens (64% lower; 2.78x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
Mercury 2 vs Qwen3 30B A3B
Pick Qwen3 30B A3B 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 Qwen3 30B A3B when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3 30B A3B is estimated at $0.32 vs $0.62 for Mercury 2, saving $0.31 (49.6% lower).
Cost-first pickQwen3 30B A3B
Context-first pickQwen3 30B A3B
Sample savings$0.3149.6%
10x traffic gap$3.1
Qwen3 30B A3B is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $3.1. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Qwen3 30B A3B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Mercury 2 | Qwen3 30B A3B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Qwen3 30B A3B | $1.62 | $0.68 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Qwen3 30B A3B | $1 | $0.54 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Qwen3 30B A3B | $4 | $2.34 |
Qwen3 30B A3B is $0.3 cheaper per 1M output tokens (40% lower; 1.67x difference).
Qwen3 30B A3B has 3.07K more context (1.02x larger).
Qwen3 30B A3B is $0.31 cheaper on the standard workload (49.6% 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
Qwen3 30B A3B has the lower input price; Qwen3 30B A3B has the lower output price; Qwen3 30B A3B offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3 30B A3B is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.62 for Mercury 2 and $0.32 for Qwen3 30B A3B.
Choose Mercury 2 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
Choose Qwen3 30B A3B 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, Qwen3 30B A3B is estimated at $0.32 vs $0.62 for Mercury 2, saving $0.31 (49.6% lower).
- Qwen3 30B A3B is $0.31 cheaper on the standard workload (49.6% lower).
- Qwen3 30B A3B is $0.16 cheaper per 1M input tokens (64% lower; 2.78x difference).
- Qwen3 30B A3B is $0.3 cheaper per 1M output tokens (40% lower; 1.67x difference).
- Qwen3 30B A3B has 3.07K more context (1.02x larger).
| Feature | Mercury 2 (Inception) | Qwen3 30B A3B (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.25 | $0.09 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $0.75 | $0.45 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.62 | $0.32 |
| Context Window | 128K | 131.07K |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #136 | #150 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Qwen3 30B A3B | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3 30B A3B is estimated at $0.32 vs $0.62 for Mercury 2, saving $0.31 (49.6% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Qwen3 30B A3B | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Qwen3 30B A3B | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Qwen3 30B A3B | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct (free) can replace Qwen3 30B A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B (free) can replace Qwen3 30B A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Qwen2.5 7B Instruct can replace Qwen3 30B A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.09.
- Qwen3.5-9B can replace Qwen3 30B A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.11.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
- MiMo-V2.5 offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.
- Hy3 preview · Tencent · #1
- DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #2
- MiMo-V2.5 · Xiaomi · #3
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4
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