ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.8 Max Preview vs Mercury Edit 2 vs Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed

Qwen3.8 Max Preview comes out ahead, 47 to 44 and 35 on our weighted score, though Mercury Edit 2 is 8× cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Max Preview

    Released Jul 19, 2026

    47/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context1M
  2. Inception

    Mercury Edit 2

    Released Mar 30, 2026

    35/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.75
    • Context32K
  3. Moonshot AI

    Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed

    Released Jun 12, 2026

    44/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.90 / $8.00
    • Context262K
01 — Verdict

Qwen3.8 Max Preview is our pick

Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 47/100 against Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed (44) and Mercury Edit 2 (35). It leads on context window. Mercury Edit 2 wins on price. Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed wins 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 priceMercury Edit 2Mercury Edit 2 $0.375 · Qwen3.8 Max Preview $3.00 · Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed $3.42 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.8 Max PreviewQwen3.8 Max Preview 1,000,000 · Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed 262,144 · Mercury Edit 2 32,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.8 Max Preview and Kimi K2.7 Code HighspeedQwen3.8 Max Preview: Text, Images, Video · Mercury Edit 2: Text · Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingKimi K2.7 Code HighspeedPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.8 Max PreviewMercury Edit 2Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed
Price50%277025
Inputs & features30%70080
Context window20%60037
Overall100%47/10035/10044/100

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.

Qwen3.8 Max Preview vs Mercury Edit 2 vs Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.8 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen)Mercury Edit 2InceptionKimi K2.7 Code HighspeedMoonshot AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$0.25 (best)$1.90
Output$6.00$0.75 (best)$8.00
Cached input—$0.025—
Blended (3:1)$3.00$0.375 (best)$3.42
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 6 providersOfficial Inception APIMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)32,000 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens8,192 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoYesNoYes
ReasoningYesNoYes
Tool callingYesNoYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryOpen
API model ID—mercury-edit-2—
API providers6111 (best)
ReleasedJul 19, 2026Mar 30, 2026Jun 12, 2026
Knowledge cutoff——Jan 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.

  • Qwen3.8 Max Preview$32.00
  • Mercury Edit 2$4.00
  • Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed$35.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.8 Max Preview, Mercury Edit 2 or Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed?

Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 47/100 against Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed (44) and Mercury Edit 2 (35). It leads on context window. Mercury Edit 2 wins on price. Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed wins 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, Qwen3.8 Max Preview, Mercury Edit 2 or Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed?

Mercury Edit 2 is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). Qwen3.8 Max Preview costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers); Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed costs $1.90 input / $8.00 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 $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max Preview (8× as much) and $3.42 for Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed (9.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3.8 Max Preview has not been scored yet, Mercury Edit 2 has not been scored yet and Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 Max Preview, Mercury Edit 2 and Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed 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?

Qwen3.8 Max Preview has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed and 32,000 for Mercury Edit 2. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.8 Max Preview up to 131,072, Mercury Edit 2 up to 8,192, Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.8 Max Preview accepts text, images and video; Mercury Edit 2 accepts text; Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.8 Max Preview handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.8 Max Preview and Mercury Edit 2 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the newest, released Jul 19, 2026. Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed came out Jun 12, 2026; Mercury Edit 2 came out Mar 30, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed Jan 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.