Hy3 preview vs Mercury 2 vs Mistral Small 4
Mistral Small 4 comes out ahead, 64 to 56 and 53 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
TencentHy3 preview
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.176 / $0.586
- Context256K
InceptionMercury 2
53/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.75
- Context128K
- Our pick
Mistral AIMistral Small 4
64/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.60
- Context256K
Mistral Small 4 is our pick
Mistral Small 4 is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Hy3 preview (56) and Mercury 2 (53). It leads on inputs & features. 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 priceMistral Small 4Mistral Small 4 $0.263 · Hy3 preview $0.279 · Mercury 2 $0.375 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextHy3 preview and Mistral Small 4Hy3 preview 256,000 · Mistral Small 4 256,000 · Mercury 2 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsMistral Small 4Hy3 preview: Text · Mercury 2: Text · Mistral Small 4: Text, Images
- Self-hostingHy3 preview and Mistral Small 4Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Hy3 preview | Mercury 2 | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 76 | 70 | 77 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 45 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 24 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 56/100 | 53/100 | 64/100 |
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 | Hy3 previewTencent | Mercury 2Inception | Mistral Small 4Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.176 | $0.25 | $0.15 (best) |
| Output | $0.586 (best) | $0.75 | $0.60 |
| Cached input | — | $0.025 | $0.015 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.279 | $0.375 | $0.263 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 4 providers | Official Inception API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 64,000 tokens | 50,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | Yeslow · medium · high | Yeshigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | hy3-preview | mercury-2 | mistral-small-2603 |
| API providers | 5 | 1 | 16 (best) |
| Released | Apr 20, 2026 | Feb 24, 2026 | Mar 16, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Jan 1, 2025 | Jun 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Hy3 preview$2.93
- Mercury 2$4.00
- Mistral Small 4$2.70
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Hy3 preview, Mercury 2 or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Hy3 preview (56) and Mercury 2 (53). It leads on inputs & features. 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, Hy3 preview, Mercury 2 or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Hy3 preview costs $0.176 input / $0.586 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers; free on Tencent TokenHub); Mercury 2 costs $0.25 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 $0.263 per million tokens for Mistral Small 4 versus $0.279 for Hy3 preview (1.1× as much) and $0.375 for Mercury 2 (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Hy3 preview has not been scored yet, Mercury 2 has not been scored yet and Mistral Small 4 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hy3 preview, Mercury 2 and Mistral Small 4 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?
Hy3 preview and Mistral Small 4 have the largest context windows (256,000 and 256,000 tokens), against 128,000 for Mercury 2. Maximum output per response: Hy3 preview up to 64,000, Mercury 2 up to 50,000, Mistral Small 4 up to 256,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Hy3 preview accepts text; Mercury 2 accepts text; Mistral Small 4 accepts text and images. Mistral Small 4 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Hy3 preview and Mistral Small 4 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mercury 2 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Hy3 preview is the newest, released Apr 20, 2026. Mistral Small 4 came out Mar 16, 2026; Mercury 2 came out Feb 24, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Mercury 2 Jan 1, 2025, Mistral Small 4 Jun 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.
