ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GLM-4.6V vs Mercury Edit 2 vs Qwen3 Coder Next

GLM-4.6V comes out ahead, 59 to 51 and 35 on our weighted score, though Mercury Edit 2 is 17% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Z.ai (Zhipu)

    GLM-4.6V

    Released Dec 8, 2025

    59/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $0.90
    • Context128K
  2. Inception

    Mercury Edit 2

    Released Mar 30, 2026

    35/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.75
    • Context32K
  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Coder Next

    Released Feb 3, 2026

    51/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.20
    • Context262K
01 — Verdict

GLM-4.6V is our pick

GLM-4.6V is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen3 Coder Next (51) and Mercury Edit 2 (35). It leads on inputs & features. Mercury Edit 2 wins on price. Qwen3 Coder Next wins on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceMercury Edit 2Mercury Edit 2 $0.375 · GLM-4.6V $0.45 · Qwen3 Coder Next $0.45 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 Coder NextQwen3 Coder Next 262,144 · GLM-4.6V 128,000 · Mercury Edit 2 32,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGLM-4.6VGLM-4.6V: Text, Images, Video · Mercury Edit 2: Text · Qwen3 Coder Next: Text
  • Self-hostingGLM-4.6V and Qwen3 Coder NextPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGLM-4.6VMercury Edit 2Qwen3 Coder Next
Price50%667066
Inputs & features30%70035
Context window20%24037
Overall100%59/10035/10051/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

GLM-4.6V vs Mercury Edit 2 vs Qwen3 Coder Next specifications side by side
SpecificationGLM-4.6VZ.ai (Zhipu)Mercury Edit 2InceptionQwen3 Coder NextAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.25$0.20 (best)
Output$0.90$0.75 (best)$1.20
Cached input—$0.025—
Blended (3:1)$0.45$0.375 (best)$0.45
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Z.AI APIOfficial Inception APIMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens32,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens8,192 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesNoNo
Tool callingYesNoYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietaryOpen
API model IDglm-4.6vmercury-edit-2—
API providers10111 (best)
ReleasedDec 8, 2025Mar 30, 2026Feb 3, 2026
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025—Sep 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • GLM-4.6V$4.80
  • Mercury Edit 2$4.00
  • Qwen3 Coder Next$4.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GLM-4.6V, Mercury Edit 2 or Qwen3 Coder Next?

GLM-4.6V is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen3 Coder Next (51) and Mercury Edit 2 (35). It leads on inputs & features. Mercury Edit 2 wins on price. Qwen3 Coder Next wins on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, GLM-4.6V, Mercury Edit 2 or Qwen3 Coder Next?

Mercury Edit 2 is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). GLM-4.6V costs $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price); Qwen3 Coder Next costs $0.20 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.375 per million tokens for Mercury Edit 2 versus $0.45 for GLM-4.6V (1.2× as much) and $0.45 for Qwen3 Coder Next (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. GLM-4.6V has not been scored yet, Mercury Edit 2 has not been scored yet and Qwen3 Coder Next has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GLM-4.6V, Mercury Edit 2 and Qwen3 Coder Next yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Mercury Edit 2 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 Coder Next has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 128,000 for GLM-4.6V and 32,000 for Mercury Edit 2. Maximum output per response: GLM-4.6V up to 32,768, Mercury Edit 2 up to 8,192, Qwen3 Coder Next up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GLM-4.6V accepts text, images and video; Mercury Edit 2 accepts text; Qwen3 Coder Next accepts text. GLM-4.6V handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

GLM-4.6V and Qwen3 Coder Next publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mercury Edit 2 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mercury Edit 2 is the newest, released Mar 30, 2026. Qwen3 Coder Next came out Feb 3, 2026; GLM-4.6V came out Dec 8, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GLM-4.6V Apr 2025, Qwen3 Coder Next Sep 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.