API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewMercury 3 vs Ternary Bonsai 2 27B

Pick Mercury 3 when budget and context both matter.

Page updated: 2026-10-19T17:07:53Z Data confirmed: 2026-10-19T18:07:54Z 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 $0.33 for Ternary Bonsai 2 27B, saving $0.05 (15.4% lower).

Cost-first pickMercury 3

Context-first pickMercury 3

Sample savings$0.0515.4%

10x traffic gap$0.5

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 $0.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Cost winner changes by workload shape: input-heavy / RAG favors Ternary Bonsai 2 27B, balanced workload favors Mercury 3, and output-heavy chatbot favors Mercury 3.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Mercury 3	Ternary Bonsai 2 27B
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Ternary Bonsai 2 27B	$0.68	$0.62
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Mercury 3	$0.45	$0.57
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Mercury 3	$1.85	$2.58

Cheaper input Ternary Bonsai 2 27B $0.1 vs $0.075 / 1M

Ternary Bonsai 2 27B is $0.03 cheaper per 1M input tokens (25% lower; 1.33x difference).

Cheaper output Mercury 3 $0.35 vs $0.5 / 1M

Mercury 3 is $0.15 cheaper per 1M output tokens (30% lower; 1.43x difference).

Larger context Mercury 3 1M vs 262.14K

Mercury 3 has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).

Sample workload Mercury 3 $0.28 vs $0.33

Mercury 3 is $0.05 cheaper on the standard workload (15.4% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Mercury 3 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Ternary Bonsai 2 27B Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

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

Verdict

Ternary Bonsai 2 27B 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 $0.28 for Mercury 3 and $0.33 for Ternary Bonsai 2 27B.

Best Fit

Choose Mercury 3 when you care most about lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose Ternary Bonsai 2 27B when you care most about lower input-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 3 is estimated at $0.28 vs $0.33 for Ternary Bonsai 2 27B, saving $0.05 (15.4% lower).
Mercury 3 is $0.05 cheaper on the standard workload (15.4% lower).
Ternary Bonsai 2 27B is $0.03 cheaper per 1M input tokens (25% lower; 1.33x difference).
Mercury 3 is $0.15 cheaper per 1M output tokens (30% lower; 1.43x difference).
Mercury 3 has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	NewMercury 3 (Inception)	Ternary Bonsai 2 27B (PrismML)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.1	$0.075
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.35	$0.5
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.28	$0.33
Context Window	1M	262.14K
Release Date	2026-10-16	2026-09-18

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 $0.33 for Ternary Bonsai 2 27B, saving $0.05 (15.4% lower).
High-volume input processing	Ternary Bonsai 2 27B	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

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Mercury 2.5 can replace Mercury 3 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.11.

Larger context near this budget

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.
GPT-6 Luna offers 1.05M context with $0.35 sample workload cost.
GPT-6 Luna Pro offers 1.05M context with $0.35 sample workload cost.

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Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

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Inception catalog

Review all tracked Inception models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

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PrismML catalog

Check other PrismML models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

Open PrismML models

Mercury 3

Mercury 3 is a diffusion-based language model from Inception, and the lab's most capable model to date. It is suited for agentic workflows and real-time applications where latency compounds, such...

Ternary Bonsai 2 27B

Bonsai 2 27B is a 27B-parameter reasoning model from PrismML derived from Qwen3.8-27B. It supports coding, mathematics, tool calling, and image understanding with a 262K-token context window. Ternary compression shrinks...