Qwen3.8 Max Preview vs Mercury Edit 2
Qwen3.8 Max Preview comes out ahead, 47 to 35 on our weighted score, though Mercury Edit 2 is 8× cheaper per token.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max Preview
47/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
InceptionMercury Edit 2
35/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.75
- Context32K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is our pick
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 47/100 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 · Qwen3.8 Max Preview $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.8 Max PreviewQwen3.8 Max Preview 1,000,000 · Mercury Edit 2 32,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.8 Max PreviewQwen3.8 Max Preview: Text, Images, Video · Mercury Edit 2: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.8 Max Preview | Mercury Edit 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 27 | 70 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 0 |
| Context window | 20% | 60 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 47/100 | 35/100 |
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 | Qwen3.8 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) | Mercury Edit 2Inception |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $2.00 | $0.25 (best) |
| Output | $6.00 | $0.75 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.025 |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.00 | $0.375 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 6 providers | Official Inception API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 32,000 tokens |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | No |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | mercury-edit-2 |
| API providers | 6 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jul 19, 2026 | Mar 30, 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.
- Qwen3.8 Max Preview$32.00
- Mercury Edit 2$4.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.8 Max Preview or Mercury Edit 2?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 47/100 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, Qwen3.8 Max Preview or Mercury Edit 2?
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). 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).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3.8 Max Preview has not been scored yet and Mercury Edit 2 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 Max Preview and Mercury Edit 2 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 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 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview accepts text, images and video; Mercury Edit 2 accepts text. Qwen3.8 Max Preview handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen3.8 Max Preview and Mercury Edit 2 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the newest, released Jul 19, 2026. Mercury Edit 2 came out Mar 30, 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 Oct 4, 2026.
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