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Head-to-head comparison

Mercury 2 vs Ling 3.0 tiny

Mercury 2 (Inception Labs) and Ling 3.0 tiny (InclusionAI) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 18 August 2026

As of 18 August 2026, Ling 3.0 tiny holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#79 vs #81); and Ling 3.0 tiny ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Mercury 2 if…

  • you want provider choice — 1 listed API providers against 0.

Choose Ling 3.0 tiny if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #79 against #81 (32.4 vs 31.2 points).
  • you want to self-host: Ling 3.0 tiny ships open weights while Mercury 2 is api only.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 24.5 against 21.9.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Ling 3.0 tiny was listed 10 August 2026, Mercury 2 4 March 2026.

Mercury 2 vs Ling 3.0 tiny: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Mercury 2 and Ling 3.0 tiny
FieldMercury 2Inception LabsLing 3.0 tinyInclusionAI
ModelCap Index position#81#79
Index score31.232.4
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.25Unlisted
Output price / 1M tokens$0.75Unlisted
Context window128K tokens— tokens
Max output tokens50K—
API providers listed10
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText
First listed4 March 202610 August 2026
PublisherInception LabsInclusionAI

Evidence: 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards · 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Mercury 2 vs Ling 3.0 tiny

Public benchmark boards where Mercury 2 or Ling 3.0 tiny has a published result
BoardMercury 2Ling 3.0 tinyLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)13941373–1415—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis21.9intelligence-index24.5intelligence-indexLing 3.0 tiny

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Mercury 2 vs Ling 3.0 tiny: common questions

Is Mercury 2 better than Ling 3.0 tiny?

Ling 3.0 tiny ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 18 August 2026: #79 against #81. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Mercury 2 cheaper than Ling 3.0 tiny?

At least one of the two has no listed API price on ModelCap right now, so no price comparison is made.

Which has the bigger context window, Mercury 2 or Ling 3.0 tiny?

Both publish a 128K-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Mercury 2 or Ling 3.0 tiny?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Mercury 2 and Ling 3.0 tiny open-weight models?

Mercury 2: API only. Ling 3.0 tiny: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Mercury 2 and Ling 3.0 tiny?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Mercury 2 and 0 for Ling 3.0 tiny, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Mercury 2 vs Ling 3.0 tiny comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 18 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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