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Claude Opus 5 vs Mercury 2.5 Preview (medium)

Claude Opus 5 leads on average score with 7.1 vs 6.8. Mercury 2.5 Preview (medium) has the lower benchmark cost at $0.039 vs $2.766. Mercury 2.5 Preview (medium) is faster at 6.66s vs 10.78s, with pass rates of 55.1% vs 66.7%.

Last updated at: 2026-10-24

Compared models

Rank
#181
Total Output Tokens
31,386
Response Time (avg)
10.78s
Total Cost
$2.766
Rank
#207
Total Output Tokens
150,107
Response Time (avg)
6.66s
Total Cost
$0.039
Recommended model Mercury 2.5 Preview (medium)

Its score stays close to the best score here (6.8 vs 7.1), while costing about 72.0x less than Claude Opus 5.

Detailed comparison

Metric Claude Opus 5 Claude Opus 5 none Release: 2026-07-25 Mercury 2.5 Preview Mercury 2.5 Preview medium Release: 2026-09-02
Score 7.1 6.8
Rank #181 #207
Reliability 10.0 10.0
Consistency 9.6 9.6
Attempts 69/69 69/69
Tests Correct
Attempt pass rate 55.1% 66.7%
Flaky tests 1 1
Total Runs 69 69
Cost per result 23.044 0.244
Total Cost $2.766 $0.039
Input Price $5.000 / 1M $0.040 / 1M
Output Price $25.000 / 1M $0.150 / 1M
Cache Read Price $0.500 / 1M N/A
Cache Write Price $6.250 / 1M N/A
Total Input Tokens 396,120 397,291
Output Tokens 31,386 6,355
Reasoning Tokens 0 143,752
Response Time (avg) 10.78s 6.66s
Response Time (max) 79.61s 74.63s
Response Time (total) 247.96s 153.29s
Parameters ~5T total (~500B active) ~100B
Availability Closed Closed

Cache prices apply to input tokens. Reads reuse cached prompts; writes store them and can cost extra. Output tokens use the output price.

Model generation showcase

Hamster playing table tennis

Prompt: Create a detailed SVG illustration of a hamster playing table tennis.

#181 Claude Opus 5

none
Cost
$0.271
Time
149.3s
Tokens
10,962 tok

#207 Mercury 2.5 Preview

medium
Cost
$0.001
Time
2.7s
Tokens
2,241 tok

Top Models by Score

Score vs Total Cost

Response Time (avg)

Score vs Response Time (avg)

Total Output Tokens

Score vs Total Output Tokens

Category Breakdown

Coding Score Consistency Attempt pass rate Flaky tests Tests Correct Response Time (avg) Input Tokens Output Tokens Reasoning Tokens
Claude Opus 5 5.9 9.7 33.3% 0 5.54s 10,590 2,886 0
Mercury 2.5 Preview 7.8 10.0 66.7% 0 3.86s 7,839 552 22,126

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