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Mercury 3 vs MiniMax M1 80K

Mercury 3 leads the LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 20.9. Mercury 3 is 5.9x cheaper per token.

Inception · MiniMax · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Mercury 3 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 20.9, 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.

On price, Mercury 3 is roughly 5.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

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

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 value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
  • cost matters — it's about 5.9x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

Choose MiniMax M1 80K

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Mercury 3
Inception
MiniMax M1 80K
MiniMax
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
36.1
#98
20.9
#214
Reasoning
34.8
#103
21.1
#202
Coding
21.5
#105
9.1
#196
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
2 of 2
0 of 2
Input price
$0.10 / M
$0.55 / M
Output price
$0.35 / M
$2.20 / M
Context window
1,000,000
1,000,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Mercury 3
MiniMax M1 80K
Long context
23.0#18
20.1#30
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

12 reported for Mercury 3 · 16 for MiniMax M1 80K

2 shared

Mercury 3 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, Multi-Challenge), while MiniMax M1 80K is better at 0 benchmarks.

Mercury 3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Oct 23 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, Mercury 3 ($0.10/1M tokens) is 5.5x cheaper than MiniMax M1 80K ($0.55/1M tokens).

For output processing, Mercury 3 ($0.35/1M tokens) is 6.3x cheaper than MiniMax M1 80K ($2.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, MiniMax M1 80K is more expensive than Mercury 3.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Oct 23 2026 • llm-stats.com
Inception
Mercury 3
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.35
Best providerInception
MiniMax
MiniMax M1 80K
Input tokens$0.55
Output tokens$2.20
Best providerNovita
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Both models have the same input context window of 1,000,000 tokens. Mercury 3 can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while MiniMax M1 80K is limited to 40,000 tokens.

Inception
Mercury 3
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
MiniMax
MiniMax M1 80K
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output40,000 tokens
Fri Oct 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mercury 3 is licensed under a proprietary license, while MiniMax M1 80K uses MIT.

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

Mercury 3

Proprietary

Closed source

MiniMax M1 80K

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mercury 3 was released on 2026-10-19, while MiniMax M1 80K was released on 2025-06-16.

Mercury 3 is 16 months newer than MiniMax M1 80K.

Mercury 3

Oct 19, 2026

0 days ago

1.3yr newer
MiniMax M1 80K

Jun 16, 2025

1.3 years ago

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

Mercury 3 is available from Inception. MiniMax M1 80K is available from Novita.

Mercury 3

inception logo
Inception
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.35/1M

MiniMax M1 80K

novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.55/1MOutput Price:Output: $2.20/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mercury 3 and MiniMax M1 80K side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mercury 3
✓ Preferred
MiniMax M1 80K
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Mercury 3 vs MiniMax M1 80K.

Which is better, Mercury 3 or MiniMax M1 80K?

Mercury 3 leads the LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 20.9. Mercury 3 is made by Inception and MiniMax M1 80K is made by MiniMax. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Mercury 3 compare to MiniMax M1 80K in benchmarks?

Mercury 3 scores GPQA: 89.2%, AA-LCR: 77.7%, IFBench: 76.8%, MRCR v2: 75.5%, DeepSearchQA: 71.3%. MiniMax M1 80K scores MATH-500: 96.8%, ZebraLogic: 86.8%, AIME 2024: 86.0%, MMLU-Pro: 81.1%, AIME 2025: 76.9%.

Is Mercury 3 cheaper than MiniMax M1 80K?

Mercury 3 is 5.5x cheaper for input tokens. Mercury 3 costs $0.10/M input and $0.35/M output via inception. MiniMax M1 80K costs $0.55/M input and $2.20/M output via novita.

What are the context window sizes for Mercury 3 and MiniMax M1 80K?

Mercury 3 supports 1.0M tokens and MiniMax M1 80K 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 Mercury 3 and MiniMax M1 80K?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (36.1 vs 20.9), input pricing ($0.10 vs $0.55/M), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Mercury 3 and MiniMax M1 80K?

Mercury 3 is developed by Inception and MiniMax M1 80K is developed by MiniMax.

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