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Head-to-head comparison

Mercury 2 vs Qwen3 32B

Mercury 2 (Inception Labs) and Qwen3 32B (Qwen) 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 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Mercury 2 holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#80 vs #82); Qwen3 32B is 2.7× cheaper per output token ($0.28/1M vs $0.75/1M); Qwen3 32B offers the longer context window (131K vs 128K tokens); and Qwen3 32B ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Mercury 2 if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #80 against #82 (31.2 vs 29.6 points).
  • you want the more recently listed model — Mercury 2 was listed 4 March 2026, Qwen3 32B 28 April 2025.

Choose Qwen3 32B if…

  • API cost matters — $0.28/1M output tokens against $0.75/1M, about 2.7× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.08/1M against $0.25/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 131K tokens against 128K.
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3 32B ships open weights while Mercury 2 is api only.
  • you want provider choice — 4 listed API providers against 1.
  • Arena coding is your yardstick — 1407 against 1394.

Mercury 2 vs Qwen3 32B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Mercury 2 and Qwen3 32B
FieldMercury 2Inception LabsQwen3 32BQwen
ModelCap Index position#80#82
Index score31.229.6
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.25$0.08
Output price / 1M tokens$0.75$0.28
Context window128K tokens131K tokens
Max output tokens50K16K
API providers listed14
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText
First listed4 March 202628 April 2025
PublisherInception LabsQwen

Evidence: 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards · 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Mercury 2 vs Qwen3 32B

Public benchmark boards where Mercury 2 or Qwen3 32B has a published result
BoardMercury 2Qwen3 32BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)13941373–141514071383–1431Qwen3 32B
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)—48.7Function callingOnly one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis21.9intelligence-index—Only one result

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 Qwen3 32B: common questions

Is Mercury 2 better than Qwen3 32B?

Mercury 2 ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #80 against #82. 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 Qwen3 32B?

Qwen3 32B is cheaper on output tokens: $0.28/1M against $0.75/1M. Input tokens are $0.25/1M for Mercury 2 and $0.08/1M for Qwen3 32B. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Mercury 2 or Qwen3 32B?

Qwen3 32B has the larger context window: 131K tokens against 128K.

Which is better for coding, Mercury 2 or Qwen3 32B?

Arena coding: Mercury 2 1394, Qwen3 32B 1407 — Qwen3 32B leads.

Are Mercury 2 and Qwen3 32B open-weight models?

Mercury 2: API only. Qwen3 32B: 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 Qwen3 32B?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Mercury 2 and 4 for Qwen3 32B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Mercury 2 vs Qwen3 32B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 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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