DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B vs Mercury 3
Mercury 3 leads the LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 19.0.
Google · Inception · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Mercury 3 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 19.0, ranking #98 overall.
In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Mercury 3 wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Mercury 3
- overall performance matters — it scores 36.1 and ranks #98 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and agents — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
14 reported for DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B · 12 for Mercury 3
DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Mercury 3 is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MRCR v2).
Mercury 3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Mercury 3 specifies input context (1,000,000 tokens). Only Mercury 3 specifies output context (131,072 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mercury 3 does not.
DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B
Mercury 3
License
Usage and distribution terms
DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Mercury 3 uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B was released on 2026-06-10, while Mercury 3 was released on 2026-10-19.
Mercury 3 is 4 months newer than DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B.
Jun 10, 2026
4 months ago
Oct 19, 2026
6 days ago
4mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-01, while Mercury 3's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B's training data extends to 2025-01-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mercury 3's cutoff date.
Jan 2025
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Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B and Mercury 3 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about DiffusionGemma 26B-A4B vs Mercury 3.