Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct | Mercury 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $0.18 | $0.25 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $0.7 | $0.75 |
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is cheaper overall. Its blended price (3:1 input/output ratio) is $0.31/M tokens vs $0.38/M for Mercury 2.
Mercury 2 wins 6 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 4 for Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct. See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
Mercury 2 generates tokens faster at 1108 tok/s vs 141 tok/s. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct also has lower time-to-first-token (0.97s vs 3.08s).
Choose based on your priorities: Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct for lower cost, Mercury 2 for stronger benchmark performance, and Mercury 2 for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.