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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mercury Edit 2 vs Qwen3 Coder Next

Qwen3 Coder Next comes out ahead, 51 to 35 on our weighted score, though Mercury Edit 2 is 17% cheaper per token.

  1. Inception

    Mercury Edit 2

    Released Mar 30, 2026

    35/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.75
    • Context32K
    Full specs Remove Mercury Edit 2
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Coder Next

    Released Feb 3, 2026

    51/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.20
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 Coder Next

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3 Coder Next is our pick

Qwen3 Coder Next is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Mercury Edit 2 (35). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Mercury Edit 2 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 priceMercury Edit 2Mercury Edit 2 $0.375 · Qwen3 Coder Next $0.45 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 Coder NextQwen3 Coder Next 262,144 · Mercury Edit 2 32,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMercury Edit 2: Text · Qwen3 Coder Next: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3 Coder NextPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMercury Edit 2Qwen3 Coder Next
Price50%7066
Inputs & features30%035
Context window20%037
Overall100%35/10051/100

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.

Mercury Edit 2 vs Qwen3 Coder Next specifications side by side
SpecificationMercury Edit 2InceptionQwen3 Coder NextAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.25$0.20 (best)
Output$0.75 (best)$1.20
Cached input$0.025—
Blended (3:1)$0.375 (best)$0.45
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Inception APIMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window32,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDmercury-edit-2—
API providers111 (best)
ReleasedMar 30, 2026Feb 3, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—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.

  • Mercury Edit 2$4.00
  • Qwen3 Coder Next$4.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mercury Edit 2 or Qwen3 Coder Next?

Qwen3 Coder Next is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Mercury Edit 2 (35). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Mercury Edit 2 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, 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). 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 Qwen3 Coder Next (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models 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 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 32,000 for Mercury Edit 2. Maximum output per response: Mercury Edit 2 up to 8,192, Qwen3 Coder Next up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mercury Edit 2 accepts text; Qwen3 Coder Next accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

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. Knowledge cutoff: 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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