Granite 4.2 8B vs Mercury 2.5 vs Ling 3.0 Flash VL
Ling 3.0 Flash VL comes out ahead, 76 to 64 and 55 on our weighted score, though Granite 4.2 8B is 8% cheaper per token.
IBMGranite 4.2 8B
64/100- ECI—
- Price$0.06 / $0.15
- Context131K
InceptionMercury 2.5
55/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.75
- Context260K
- Our pick
inclusionAILing 3.0 Flash VL
76/100- ECI—
- Price$0.06 / $0.18
- Context262K
Ling 3.0 Flash VL is our pick
Ling 3.0 Flash VL is the better all-round choice, scoring 76/100 against Granite 4.2 8B (64) and Mercury 2.5 (55). It leads on inputs & features. Granite 4.2 8B wins on price. 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 priceGranite 4.2 8BGranite 4.2 8B $0.083 · Ling 3.0 Flash VL $0.09 · Mercury 2.5 $0.338 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextLing 3.0 Flash VL and Mercury 2.5Ling 3.0 Flash VL 262,144 · Mercury 2.5 260,000 · Granite 4.2 8B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsLing 3.0 Flash VLGranite 4.2 8B: Text · Mercury 2.5: Text · Ling 3.0 Flash VL: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingGranite 4.2 8B and Ling 3.0 Flash VLPublishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Granite 4.2 8B | Mercury 2.5 | Ling 3.0 Flash VL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 97 | 69 | 95 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 45 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 36 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 64/100 | 55/100 | 76/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Granite 4.2 8BIBM | Mercury 2.5Inception | Ling 3.0 Flash VLinclusionAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.06 (best) | $0.20 | $0.06 (best) |
| Output | $0.15 (best) | $0.75 | $0.18 |
| Cached input | — | $0.02 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.083 (best) | $0.338 | $0.09 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 7 providers | Official Inception API | Median of 7 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 260,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 117,964 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | OpenMIT |
| API model ID | — | mercury-2.5 | — |
| API providers | 7 (best) | 6 | 7 (best) |
| Released | Aug 25, 2026 | Sep 8, 2026 | Sep 10, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Granite 4.2 8B$0.90
- Mercury 2.5$3.50
- Ling 3.0 Flash VL$0.96
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Granite 4.2 8B, Mercury 2.5 or Ling 3.0 Flash VL?
Ling 3.0 Flash VL is the better all-round choice, scoring 76/100 against Granite 4.2 8B (64) and Mercury 2.5 (55). It leads on inputs & features. Granite 4.2 8B wins on price. 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, Granite 4.2 8B, Mercury 2.5 or Ling 3.0 Flash VL?
Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper at $0.06 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). Ling 3.0 Flash VL costs $0.06 input / $0.18 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers); Mercury 2.5 costs $0.20 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.083 per million tokens for Granite 4.2 8B versus $0.09 for Ling 3.0 Flash VL (1.1× as much) and $0.338 for Mercury 2.5 (4.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Granite 4.2 8B has not been scored yet, Mercury 2.5 has not been scored yet and Ling 3.0 Flash VL has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Granite 4.2 8B, Mercury 2.5 and Ling 3.0 Flash VL yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Ling 3.0 Flash VL and Mercury 2.5 have the largest context windows (262,144 and 260,000 tokens), against 131,072 for Granite 4.2 8B. Maximum output per response: Granite 4.2 8B up to 117,964, Mercury 2.5 up to 65,536, Ling 3.0 Flash VL up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Granite 4.2 8B accepts text; Mercury 2.5 accepts text; Ling 3.0 Flash VL accepts text, images and video. Ling 3.0 Flash VL handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Granite 4.2 8B and Ling 3.0 Flash VL publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Mercury 2.5 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Ling 3.0 Flash VL is the newest, released Sep 10, 2026. Mercury 2.5 came out Sep 8, 2026; Granite 4.2 8B came out Aug 25, 2026.
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 Nov 2, 2026.
