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Model Comparison

Grok-3 Mini vs Mercury 2Which is better in 2026?

Grok-3 Mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Grok-3 Mini is 1.1x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Grok-3 Mini vs Mercury 2 — which is better?

Grok-3 Mini (by xAI) and Mercury 2 (by Inception) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Grok-3 Mini outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench), while Mercury 2 is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025). Grok-3 Mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

On price, Grok-3 Mini is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Choose Grok-3 Mini if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token

Choose Mercury 2 if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Grok-3 Mini outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench), while Mercury 2 is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025).

Grok-3 Mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Fri Aug 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Grok-3 Mini costs less

For input processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.30/1M tokens) is 1.2x more expensive than Mercury 2 ($0.25/1M tokens).

For output processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.50/1M tokens) is 1.5x cheaper than Mercury 2 ($0.75/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Mercury 2 is more expensive than Grok-3 Mini.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Aug 07 2026 • llm-stats.com
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerxAI
Inception
Mercury 2
Input tokens$0.25
Output tokens$0.75
Best providerInception
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Both models have the same input context window of 128,000 tokens. Mercury 2 can generate longer responses up to 8,192 tokens, while Grok-3 Mini is limited to 8,000 tokens.

xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Inception
Mercury 2
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Fri Aug 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok-3 Mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mercury 2 does not.

Grok-3 Mini can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Grok-3 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mercury 2

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Grok-3 Mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Mercury 2

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17, while Mercury 2 was released on 2026-02-24.

Mercury 2 is 12 months newer than Grok-3 Mini.

Grok-3 Mini

Feb 17, 2025

1.5 years ago

Mercury 2

Feb 24, 2026

5 months ago

1.0yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while Mercury 2's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Grok-3 Mini's training data extends to 2024-11-17, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mercury 2's cutoff date.

Grok-3 Mini

Nov 2024

Mercury 2

—

Provider Availability

Grok-3 Mini is available from xAI. Mercury 2 is available from Inception.

Grok-3 Mini

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.50/1M

Mercury 2

inception logo
Inception
Input Price:Input: $0.25/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.75/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

xAI
Supports multimodal inputs
Less expensive output tokens
Higher GPQA score (84.0% vs 74.0%)
Higher LiveCodeBench score (80.4% vs 67.0%)
Inception
Less expensive input tokens
Higher AIME 2025 score (91.1% vs 90.8%)
xAIGrok-3 Mini
InceptionMercury 2
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Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-3 Mini and Mercury 2 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-3 Mini
✓ Preferred
Mercury 2
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AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Inception
Mercury 2

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-3 Mini vs Mercury 2.

Which is better, Grok-3 Mini or Mercury 2?

Grok-3 Mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Grok-3 Mini is made by xAI and Mercury 2 is made by Inception. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Grok-3 Mini compare to Mercury 2 in benchmarks?

Grok-3 Mini scores AIME 2024: 95.8%, AIME 2025: 90.8%, GPQA: 84.0%, LiveCodeBench: 80.4%. Mercury 2 scores AIME 2025: 91.1%, GPQA: 74.0%, IFBench: 71.0%, LiveCodeBench: 67.0%, Tau2 Airline: 53.0%.

Is Grok-3 Mini cheaper than Mercury 2?

Mercury 2 is 1.2x cheaper for input tokens. Grok-3 Mini costs $0.30/M input and $0.50/M output via xai. Mercury 2 costs $0.25/M input and $0.75/M output via inception.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-3 Mini and Mercury 2?

Grok-3 Mini supports 128K tokens and Mercury 2 supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok-3 Mini and Mercury 2?

Key differences include input pricing ($0.30 vs $0.25/M), multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-3 Mini and Mercury 2?

Grok-3 Mini is developed by xAI and Mercury 2 is developed by Inception.

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