Mercury 3 vs Nova Lite
Mercury 3 leads the LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 7.1. Nova Lite is 1.5x cheaper per token.
Inception · Amazon · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Mercury 3 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 7.1, ranking #98 overall.
In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Mercury 3 wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Nova Lite 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 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 1 of 1 exact shared results
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026
Choose Nova Lite
- cost matters — it's about 1.5x cheaper per token
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
12 reported for Mercury 3 · 27 for Nova Lite
Mercury 3 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Nova Lite is better at 0 benchmarks.
Mercury 3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Mercury 3 ($0.10/1M tokens) is 1.7x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.06/1M tokens).
For output processing, Mercury 3 ($0.35/1M tokens) is 1.5x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.24/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Mercury 3 is more expensive than Nova Lite.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Mercury 3 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Nova Lite's 300,000 tokens. Mercury 3 can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Nova Lite is limited to 2,048 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Nova Lite supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mercury 3 does not.
Nova Lite can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Mercury 3
Nova Lite
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Mercury 3 was released on 2026-10-19, while Nova Lite was released on 2024-11-20.
Mercury 3 is 23 months newer than Nova Lite.
Oct 19, 2026
0 days ago
1.9yr newerNov 20, 2024
1.9 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Mercury 3 is available from Inception. Nova Lite is available from Bedrock.
Mercury 3
Nova Lite
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Mercury 3 and Nova Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Mercury 3 vs Nova Lite.