Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) vs Mercury 2.5
Which is better for the money: Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) by SpaceXAI or Mercury 2.5 by Inception? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) scores 1.7 points higher (14.0 vs 12.3) but costs 1.1× as much to run the benchmark ($250 vs $218; both mid-range class). Pick Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Mercury 2.5.
| Metric | Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) | Mercury 2.5 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 14.0 | 12.3 | −12.1% Mercury 2.5 is 12.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $250.37 | $218.11 | −12.9% Mercury 2.5 is 12.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.89s | 4.18s | −29.0% Mercury 2.5 is 29.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.25 / $2.50 | $0.25 / $0.75 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Mercury 2.5 vs Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning): 12.1% less intelligence, 12.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 29.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Mercury 2.5 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)Mercury 2.5Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/grok-4-3-non-reasoning/mercury-2-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/grok-4-3-non-reasoning/mercury-2-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill