DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max vs Mercury 3

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max leads the LLM Stats Score 42.8 to 36.1. Mercury 3 is 10.0x cheaper per token.

DeepSeek · Inception · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max leads the overall LLM Stats Score 42.8 to 36.1, ranking #60 overall.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Mercury 3 is roughly 10.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

overall performance matters — it scores 42.8 and ranks #60 on LLM Stats
your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Mercury 3

cost matters — it's about 10.0x cheaper per token
you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Better token value: Mercury 3

Core performance indexes

LLM Stats Score

42.8

#60 · 22 evals

Best

36.1

#98 · 10 evals

Reasoning

43.1

#54 · 20 evals

Best

34.8

#103 · 8 evals

Coding

31.2

#57 · 8 evals

Best

21.5

#105 · 1 evals

Agents

23.5

#74 · 7 evals

Best

19.4

#84 · 4 evals

Cost, coverage & limits

Benchmark wins

1 of 1

Best

0 of 1

Input price

$1.30 / M

$0.10 / M

Best

Output price

$2.60 / M

$0.35 / M

Best

Context window

1,048,576

Best

1,000,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared

Index

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

Mercury 3

Long context

17.8#44 · 2 evals

23.0#18 · 2 evals

Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

22 reported for DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max · 12 for Mercury 3

1 shared

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mercury 3 is better at 0 benchmarks.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Oct 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Mercury 3 costs less

For input processing, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max ($1.30/1M tokens) is 13.0x more expensive than Mercury 3 ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max ($2.60/1M tokens) is 7.4x more expensive than Mercury 3 ($0.35/1M tokens).

In conclusion, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is more expensive than Mercury 3.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers

Sat Oct 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

Input tokens$1.30

Output tokens$2.60

Best providerDeepinfra

Mercury 3

Input tokens$0.10

Output tokens$0.35

Best providerInception

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Mercury 3's 1,000,000 tokens. DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max can generate longer responses up to 1,048,576 tokens, while Mercury 3 is limited to 131,072 tokens.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

Input1,048,576 tokens

Output1,048,576 tokens

Mercury 3

Input1,000,000 tokens

Output131,072 tokens

Sat Oct 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is licensed under MIT, while Mercury 3 uses a proprietary license.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

MIT

Open weights

Mercury 3

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max was released on 2026-04-23, while Mercury 3 was released on 2026-10-19.

Mercury 3 is 6 months newer than DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

Apr 23, 2026

6 months ago

Mercury 3

Oct 19, 2026

1 days ago

5mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is available from DeepInfra, Novita, DeepSeek, Fireworks, Together. Mercury 3 is available from Inception.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

Deepinfra

Input Price:Input: $1.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $2.60/1M

Novita

Input Price:Input: $1.60/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.20/1M

DeepSeek

Input Price:Input: $1.74/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.48/1M

Fireworks

Input Price:Input: $1.74/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.48/1M

Together

Input Price:Input: $1.74/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.48/1M

Mercury 3

Inception

Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.35/1M

* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max and Mercury 3 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

✓ Preferred

Mercury 3

Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max vs Mercury 3.

Which is better, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max or Mercury 3?

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max leads the LLM Stats Score 42.8 to 36.1. DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is made by DeepSeek and Mercury 3 is made by Inception. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max compare to Mercury 3 in benchmarks?

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max scores CodeForces: 100.0%, HMMT Feb 26: 95.2%, LiveCodeBench: 93.5%, MathArena Apex: 90.2%, GPQA: 90.1%. Mercury 3 scores GPQA: 89.2%, AA-LCR: 77.7%, IFBench: 76.8%, MRCR v2: 75.5%, DeepSearchQA: 71.3%.

Is DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max cheaper than Mercury 3?

Mercury 3 is 13.0x cheaper for input tokens. DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max costs $1.30/M input and $2.60/M output via deepinfra. Mercury 3 costs $0.10/M input and $0.35/M output via inception.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max and Mercury 3?

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max supports 1.0M tokens and Mercury 3 supports 1.0M tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max and Mercury 3?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (42.8 vs 36.1), context window (1.0M vs 1.0M), input pricing ($1.30 vs $0.10/M), licensing (MIT vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max and Mercury 3?

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is developed by DeepSeek and Mercury 3 is developed by Inception.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max vs Mercury 3