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Models · Long context

Mercury 3

by Inception

Mercury 3 is a diffusion-based language model from Inception, and the lab's most capable model to date.

Our verdict

Not reviewed yet

We have not reviewed Mercury 3 yet

No one at Enterprise DNA has checked this listing against its sources. The description comes from public listings gathered automatically. Any fact below shows where it came from and when it was last checked.

How we review records

From the listing

About Mercury 3

Mercury 3 is a diffusion-based language model from Inception, and the lab's most capable model to date.

Notes

Mercury 3 is listed in the EDNA Models directory from the OpenRouter catalogue.

Key facts

What we have checked

Input price
$0.100 per million tokens
Checked OpenRouter models API
Output price
$0.350 per million tokens
Checked OpenRouter models API
Price on inception
$0.010 per million cached input tokens
Checked OpenRouter models API
Price on inception
$0.100 per million input tokens
Checked OpenRouter models API
Price on inception
$0.350 per million output tokens
Checked OpenRouter models API
Latest version
inception/mercury-3-20261019
Checked OpenRouter models API
Time to first token (ms) on inception
1,087
Checked OpenRouter models API
Output speed (tokens a second) on inception
307
Checked OpenRouter models API
Tokens served on OpenRouter in a day
9.5B (for 31 Oct 2026)
Checked OpenRouter model activity (735 of 735 series)
Tool calls on OpenRouter in a day
79.1K (for 31 Oct 2026)
Checked OpenRouter model activity (735 of 735 series)
Design Arena rating (Elo)
1,232
Checked Design Arena via OpenRouter

Each value shows when we last confirmed it and where it came from. Values we have not confirmed are left out, never guessed.

API access

How to call it

Call via OpenRouter with model id `inception/mercury-3`.

  • openrouter · inception/mercury-3 · Docs

OpenRouter id: inception/mercury-3

Price

What Mercury 3 costs, over time

Input price

$0.100 to $0.100

US dollars per million input tokens. 21 Oct 2026 to 31 Oct 2026, 10 days.

Source: OpenRouter models API. Checked .

Output price

$0.350 to $0.350

US dollars per million output tokens. 21 Oct 2026 to 31 Oct 2026, 10 days.

Source: OpenRouter models API. Checked .

Prices by host

HostPriceOver timeChecked
inceptionCached input$0.010 per million cached input tokensSince 27 Oct 2026No change recordedOpenRouter models API
inceptionInput$0.100 per million input tokensSince 27 Oct 2026No change recordedOpenRouter models API
inceptionOutput$0.350 per million output tokensSince 27 Oct 2026No change recordedOpenRouter models API

Usage

How much Mercury 3 is used

Tokens served a day

19.3B to 9.5B

tokens a day on OpenRouter. 19 Oct 2026 to 31 Oct 2026, 13 readings.

Source: OpenRouter model activity (735 of 735 series). Checked .

Scores

How Mercury 3 scores

Each score comes from the named source and shows when we last confirmed it. A flag means the score needs care.

ScoreValueSourceChecked
Design Arena rating (Elo)1,232EloAs of 31 Oct 2026Design Arena via OpenRouter

Sources

Where this comes from

A source shows what was published when we checked it. It does not certify security, performance or a working installation. Read our method.

Changelog

What changed

No changes recorded yet. Releases, price changes and deprecations appear here, with their dates, once we track them for this record.

USAGE / OPENROUTER

How much Mercury 3 is used

Tokens processed through OpenRouter each day. It shows what developers actually run, not every company's private traffic.

Tokens, last 7 days
89.4B
Requests, last 7 days
3.2M
Tool calls, last 7 days
894K
Average cost per request
14.8¢
Price per million tokens
$0.1 in · $0.35 out
025B50B19 Oct: 19.3B tokens, 382K requests20 Oct: 36.5B tokens, 794K requests21 Oct: 26.6B tokens, 716K requests22 Oct: 18.1B tokens, 579K requests23 Oct: 16.6B tokens, 456K requests24 Oct: 16.2B tokens, 362K requests25 Oct: 13.1B tokens, 583K requests26 Oct: 14.8B tokens, 465K requests27 Oct: 14.7B tokens, 542K requests28 Oct: 11.7B tokens, 418K requests29 Oct: 12.8B tokens, 351K requests30 Oct: 12.8B tokens, 413K requests31 Oct: 9.5B tokens, 401K requests19 Oct31 OctSee where it ranks on the leaderboard →

MODEL FIELD GUIDE / SOURCE EVIDENCE

What you can do with Mercury 3.

Listed specifications; no EDNA task evaluation has been run. Sources checked 2026-10-26. Hosting routes and app features can differ.

DeveloperInception
Exact model identifierinception/mercury-3
Inputtext
Outputtext
Tool calling
Listed support
Structured output
Listed support
Reasoning controls
Listed support
Availability
available
Price basis
token
Licence verification
Check the developer licence; the model name is insufficient
Context length
1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff
Not established
Developer release date
Not established
First seen in the catalogue
16 Oct 2026
Listed retirement date
Not established
Inspect the sources and their scope
catalogue source ↗

inception/mercury-3: listed route capabilities, availability and prices; provider endpoints can differ.

Checked 2026-10-26
openrouter.ai ↗

Source for reasoning controls, first seen, tool calling, context length, input, output, structured output.

Checked 2026-10-26
How to evaluate a model for your work →

FROM SPECIFICATIONS TO YOUR WORK

Is this the right model for your job?

Start with a realistic sample. These workflows match the model’s listed capabilities, not a verified result on your task.

What would it cost?

Pick a common job and how many times a month you run it. Token sizes are our assumption for a typical run, shown under the result.

Working out the cost...

Token prices only. Per-request, image, tool, storage and subscription fees are not included. One token is about three quarters of an English word. Real counts vary by model and language. How tokens are counted ↗

Check the source

Price date: 31 Oct 2026, from OpenRouter models API. Prices are USD API token rates. Your app subscription, uploads, browsing and tools are separate.

Model source & availability ↗

Understand the evidence

Listed capabilities and third-party benchmark scores do not establish Enterprise DNA task-test results. Validate accuracy and total cost on your own sample.

Vals Index: 43.659 (2026-10-30) ↗Design Arena: 1232 (2026-10-30) ↗
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