Mercury 2 vs Qwen3.6 27B

API pricing, context window and capabilities for Mercury 2 and Qwen3.6 27B, side by side. Prices are the cheapest listed serving route per 1M tokens, from LiteLLM and OpenRouter.

Verdict

computed from the published numbers

Qwen3.6 27B wins on price, on Terminal-Bench, on intelligence and on context window.

Price
Qwen3.6 27B
Terminal-Bench
Qwen3.6 27B
Intelligence
Qwen3.6 27B
Context window
Qwen3.6 27B

Key takeaways

who wins on what, from the published numbers

Mercury 2 wins

No clear edge on the tracked metrics.

Qwen3.6 27B wins

  • Cheaper input ($0.25 vs $0.15 /1M)
  • Cheaper output ($0.75 vs $0.50 /1M)
  • Larger context window (128K vs 262K)
  • Higher max output (50K vs 262K)
  • More serving providers (3 vs 8)
  • Supports vision
  • Has reasoning mode
  • Has web search
Cheaper overall
Qwen3.6 27B
$0.15 + $0.50 /1M
Larger context
Qwen3.6 27B
262K
More providers
Qwen3.6 27B
8 providers

Pricing & specs

cheapest listed route · per 1M tokens
On-demand listed rates, OpenRouter routed quotes and Vercel reseller quotes. Enterprise commitments can be materially lower.
Mercury 2Qwen3.6 27B
Input $/1M$0.25via Inception $0.15via Libertai best
Output $/1M$0.75via Inception $0.50via Libertai best
Context window128K 262K best
Max output50K 262K best
Serving providers3 8 best
DateReleased Feb 24, 2026 Released Apr 24, 2026

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores, side by side
Mercury 2Qwen3.6 27B
Intelligence13.8 21.4 best
Terminal-Bench27% 61% best
GPQA Diamond77% 84% best
Output speed554 t/s best58 t/s
Latency (TTFT)6.83s 3.62s best

Cost calculator

choose a serving route for each side
Input tokens / month
Output tokens / month
Mercury 2
via Inception
$2.00
Qwen3.6 27B
via Libertai
$1.25

Capabilities

feature support, side by side
FeatureMercury 2Qwen3.6 27B
Vision—✓
Tool use✓✓
Reasoning—✓
Audio——
Prompt caching✓✓
Structured output✓✓
Web search—✓

Related comparisons

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper, Mercury 2 or Qwen3.6 27B?
Qwen3.6 27B is cheaper for input ($0.25 vs $0.15 per 1M tokens) from Libertai. Qwen3.6 27B is cheaper for output ($0.75 vs $0.50 per 1M tokens) from Libertai.
What is the context window difference between Mercury 2 and Qwen3.6 27B?
Mercury 2 has a 128K-token context window and Qwen3.6 27B has 262K tokens, so Qwen3.6 27B can take a larger prompt.
How do Mercury 2 and Qwen3.6 27B compare on benchmarks?
On the tracked benchmarks, Qwen3.6 27B leads on Terminal-Bench, and Qwen3.6 27B leads on intelligence.
Listed prices from LiteLLM, OpenRouter and Vercel · last checked Oct 14, 2026

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