Mercury 2 vs Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B vs Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B
Too close to call on our weighted score (Mercury 2 37, Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B 36, Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B 35). The right pick depends on what you value most.
InceptionMercury 2
37/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.75
- Context128K
NVIDIANemotron 3 Super 120B A12B
36/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.80
- Context262K
- NVIDIA
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B
35/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context256K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Mercury 2 37/100, Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B 36/100, Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B 35/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B on price and Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B for long inputs. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 priceNemotron 3 Super 120B A12BNemotron 3 Super 120B A12B $0.35 · Mercury 2 $0.375 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B unpriced
- Longest contextNemotron 3 Super 120B A12BNemotron 3 Super 120B A12B 262,144 · Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B 256,000 · Mercury 2 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsMercury 2: Text · Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B: Text · Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B: Text
- Self-hostingNemotron 3 Super 120B A12B and Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Mercury 2 | Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B | Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 45 | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 40% | 24 | 37 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 37/100 | 36/100 | 35/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Mercury 2Inception | Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12BNVIDIA | Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3BNVIDIA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.25 | $0.20 (best) | — |
| Output | $0.75 (best) | $0.80 | — |
| Cached input | $0.025 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.375 | $0.35 (best) | — |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | — |
| Price source | Official Inception API | Official Nvidia API | — |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 50,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Open |
| API model ID | mercury-2 | nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b | — |
| API providers | 1 | 19 (best) | — |
| Released | Feb 24, 2026 | Mar 11, 2026 | Mar 24, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 1, 2025 | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Mercury 2$4.00
- Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B$3.60
- Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B—
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Mercury 2, Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B or Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Mercury 2 37/100, Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B 36/100, Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B 35/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B on price and Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B for long inputs. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Mercury 2, Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B or Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B?
Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B is cheaper at $0.20 input / $0.80 output per million tokens (official Nvidia API price). 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 $0.35 per million tokens for Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B versus $0.375 for Mercury 2 (1.1× as much). Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Mercury 2 has not been scored yet, Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B has not been scored yet and Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mercury 2, Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B and Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B 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?
Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B and 128,000 for Mercury 2. Maximum output per response: Mercury 2 up to 50,000, Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B up to 262,144, Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Mercury 2 accepts text; Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B accepts text; Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B and Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mercury 2 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B is the newest, released Mar 24, 2026. Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B came out Mar 11, 2026; Mercury 2 came out Feb 24, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Mercury 2 Jan 1, 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.
