IBM Granite 4.2 8B vs Mercury 3

Mercury 3 leads the LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 19.3. IBM Granite 4.2 8B is 1.5x cheaper per token.

IBM · Inception · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Mercury 3 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 19.3, ranking #98 overall.

The models split the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models evenly.

On price, IBM Granite 4.2 8B is roughly 1.5x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Mercury 3 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 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 IBM Granite 4.2 8B

cost matters — it's about 1.5x cheaper per token
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 coding — it leads those capability indexes
you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Better token value: IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Core performance indexes

LLM Stats Score

19.3

#225 · 18 evals

36.1

#98 · 10 evals

Best

Reasoning

17.1

#235 · 15 evals

34.8

#103 · 8 evals

Best

Coding

2.8

#245 · 5 evals

21.5

#105 · 1 evals

Best

Agents

2.7

#188 · 5 evals

19.4

#84 · 4 evals

Best

Cost, coverage & limits

Benchmark wins

1 of 2

Input price

$0.06 / M

Best

$0.10 / M

Output price

$0.25 / M

Best

$0.35 / M

Context window

131,072

1,000,000

Best

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared

Index

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Mercury 3

Long context

7.8#93 · 2 evals

23.0#18 · 2 evals

Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

18 reported for IBM Granite 4.2 8B · 12 for Mercury 3

2 shared

IBM Granite 4.2 8B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (IFBench), while Mercury 3 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.

Thu Oct 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

IBM Granite 4.2 8B costs less

For input processing, IBM Granite 4.2 8B ($0.06/1M tokens) is 1.7x cheaper than Mercury 3 ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, IBM Granite 4.2 8B ($0.25/1M tokens) is 1.4x cheaper than Mercury 3 ($0.35/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Mercury 3 is more expensive than IBM Granite 4.2 8B.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers

Thu Oct 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Input tokens$0.06

Output tokens$0.25

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

Mercury 3 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to IBM Granite 4.2 8B's 131,072 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 131,072 tokens.

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Input131,072 tokens

Output131,072 tokens

Mercury 3

Input1,000,000 tokens

Output131,072 tokens

Thu Oct 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

IBM Granite 4.2 8B 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.

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Mercury 3

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

IBM Granite 4.2 8B was released on 2026-08-25, while Mercury 3 was released on 2026-10-19.

Mercury 3 is 2 months newer than IBM Granite 4.2 8B.

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Aug 25, 2026

1 months ago

Mercury 3

Oct 19, 2026

0 days ago

1mo 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

IBM Granite 4.2 8B is available from DeepInfra. Mercury 3 is available from Inception.

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Deepinfra

Input Price:Input: $0.06/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.25/1M

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 IBM Granite 4.2 8B and Mercury 3 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

✓ Preferred

Mercury 3

Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 8B vs Mercury 3.

Which is better, IBM Granite 4.2 8B or Mercury 3?

Mercury 3 leads the LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 19.3. IBM Granite 4.2 8B is made by IBM 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 IBM Granite 4.2 8B compare to Mercury 3 in benchmarks?

IBM Granite 4.2 8B scores AIME 2025: 86.7%, RULER 64k: 81.0%, IFBench: 79.3%, HMMT25: 78.3%, MMLU-Pro: 74.0%. Mercury 3 scores GPQA: 89.2%, AA-LCR: 77.7%, IFBench: 76.8%, MRCR v2: 75.5%, DeepSearchQA: 71.3%.

Is IBM Granite 4.2 8B cheaper than Mercury 3?

IBM Granite 4.2 8B is 1.7x cheaper for input tokens. IBM Granite 4.2 8B costs $0.06/M input and $0.25/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 IBM Granite 4.2 8B and Mercury 3?

IBM Granite 4.2 8B supports 131K 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 IBM Granite 4.2 8B and Mercury 3?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (19.3 vs 36.1), context window (131K vs 1.0M), input pricing ($0.06 vs $0.10/M), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes IBM Granite 4.2 8B and Mercury 3?

IBM Granite 4.2 8B is developed by IBM and Mercury 3 is developed by Inception.

IBM Granite 4.2 8B vs Mercury 3