Pick Claude Opus 5.5 for performs at roughly claude fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than opus 5 or anthropic reports it surpasses fable 5.1 on agentic coding, knowledge work, computer use, visual chart recognition, and multidisciplinary reasoning. Pick Mercury 2.5 Preview for very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation or coding accuracy (95.7%, 91st percentile among cost-optimized models). On a tight budget at scale, Mercury 2.5 Preview is the value pick.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) and Mercury 2.5 Preview (Inception Labs) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Claude Opus 5.5 is anthropic's September 22, 2026 update: Fable 5.1-level performance at 40% lower cost than Opus 5, with faster output and cheaper caching. Mercury 2.5 Preview is inception Labs' August 31, 2026 diffusion-based language model preview, refining tokens in parallel for roughly 10x the throughput of comparable autoregressive models at cost-optimized-tier quality. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Price: Mercury 2.5 Preview is about 100× cheaper on input ($0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens vs $4/$20 per 1M tokens) — a large enough gap that at scale it can be the single biggest line item in the decision.
Context window: Claude Opus 5.5 holds 3.8× more — 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 260K tokens (~390 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Recency: Claude Opus 5.5 is the newer model by about 22 days (released September 22, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Specifications
Spec
Claude Opus 5.5
Mercury 2.5 Preview
Provider
Anthropic (US)
Inception Labs (US)
Released
September 22, 2026
August 31, 2026
Context window
1M tokens (~1,500 pages)
260K tokens (~390 pages)
Price (in/out)
$4/$20 per 1M tokens
$0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Performs at roughly Claude Fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than Opus 5: Claude Opus 5.5 — Anthropic's September 22, 2026 update: Fable 5.1-level performance at 40% lower cost than Opus 5, with faster output and cheaper caching — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.
Anthropic reports it surpasses Fable 5.1 on agentic coding, knowledge work, computer use, visual chart recognition, and multidisciplinary reasoning: Claude Opus 5.5 — Anthropic's September 22, 2026 update: Fable 5.1-level performance at 40% lower cost than Opus 5, with faster output and cheaper caching — and it is the newer of the two.
Pricing cut to $4/$20 per million tokens (20% below Opus 5's $5/$25), cache reads down 60% to $0.20/MTok: Claude Opus 5.5 — Its 1M tokens window holds about 3.8× more than Mercury 2.5 Preview's 260K tokens in a single prompt.
Very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation: Mercury 2.5 Preview — Claude Opus 5.5 is comparatively weak here — like Opus 5, the headline 1M-token context is not uniformly available across every platform and plan — some API paths default to a smaller window
Coding accuracy (95.7%, 91st percentile among cost-optimized models): Mercury 2.5 Preview — At $0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens it undercuts Claude Opus 5.5 ($4/$20 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.
Mathematics accuracy (97.0%, 97th percentile): Mercury 2.5 Preview — Inception Labs' August 31, 2026 diffusion-based language model preview, refining tokens in parallel for roughly 10x the throughput of comparable autoregressive models at cost-optimized-tier quality — and it runs cheaper at $0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens.
Lowest cost at scale: Mercury 2.5 Preview — At $0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input: Claude Opus 5.5 — Its 1M tokens window is about 3.8× larger than Mercury 2.5 Preview's 260K tokens, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: Mercury 2.5 Preview — At $0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens it undercuts Claude Opus 5.5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: Claude Opus 5.5 — Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is performs at roughly claude fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than opus 5: Claude Opus 5.5 — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation: Mercury 2.5 Preview — That is its strongest area.
Claude Opus 5.5: where it fits
Anthropic's September 22, 2026 update: Fable 5.1-level performance at 40% lower cost than Opus 5, with faster output and cheaper caching. Released September 22, 2026 by Anthropic, it is built for performs at roughly Claude Fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than Opus 5, anthropic reports it surpasses Fable 5.1 on agentic coding, knowledge work, computer use, visual chart recognition, and multidisciplinary reasoning, pricing cut to $4/$20 per million tokens (20% below Opus 5's $5/$25), cache reads down 60% to $0.20/MTok, and output speed increased over 30% versus Opus 5.
Its trade-offs are real: not a reasoning-ceiling upgrade over Fable 5.1 — pitched as matching its performance at lower cost, not beating it outright, like Opus 5, the headline 1M-token context is not uniformly available across every platform and plan — some API paths default to a smaller window, and first model in the 5.5 line; Anthropic has signaled Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5 are still weeks away, so the lower tiers of the family aren't out yet. At $4 in / $20 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
Mercury 2.5 Preview: where it fits
Inception Labs' August 31, 2026 diffusion-based language model preview, refining tokens in parallel for roughly 10x the throughput of comparable autoregressive models at cost-optimized-tier quality. Released August 31, 2026 by Inception Labs, it is built for very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation, coding accuracy (95.7%, 91st percentile among cost-optimized models), mathematics accuracy (97.0%, 97th percentile), and tunable reasoning levels with parallel tool calls and schema-aligned JSON output.
Its trade-offs: 260K context window is far shorter than frontier 1M-token models, no vision or audio modalities, positioned only against cost-optimized models (GPT-5.6 Luna Low, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite), not frontier-class, and current $0.04/$0.15 pricing includes a limited-time launch promotion on OpenRouter (list price is $0.20/$0.75, may rise after Sept 8, 2026). At $0.04 in / $0.15 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Claude Opus 5.5 and Mercury 2.5 Preview overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Mercury 2.5 Preview costs less per token; Claude Opus 5.5 holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Claude Opus 5.5 for performs at roughly claude fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than opus 5, Mercury 2.5 Preview for very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Frequently asked questions
Is Claude Opus 5.5 or Mercury 2.5 Preview better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Claude Opus 5.5 leans toward performs at roughly claude fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than opus 5 while Mercury 2.5 Preview leans toward very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5.5 or Mercury 2.5 Preview?
Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper — $4/$20 per 1M tokens vs $0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens, roughly 100× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Claude Opus 5.5 — 1M tokens vs 260K tokens, about 3.8× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Claude Opus 5.5 and Mercury 2.5 Preview together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Claude Opus 5.5, Mercury 2.5 Preview and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Claude Opus 5.5 or Mercury 2.5 Preview?
Claude Opus 5.5 — released September 22, 2026, about 22 days after Mercury 2.5 Preview.
Claude Opus 5.5 vs Mercury 2.5 Preview
Anthropic · US | Inception Labs · US · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Claude Opus 5.5 for performs at roughly claude fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than opus 5 or anthropic reports it surpasses fable 5.1 on agentic coding, knowledge work, computer use, visual chart recognition, and multidisciplinary reasoning. Pick Mercury 2.5 Preview for very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation or coding accuracy (95.7%, 91st percentile among cost-optimized models). On a tight budget at scale, Mercury 2.5 Preview is the value pick.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) and Mercury 2.5 Preview (Inception Labs) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Claude Opus 5.5 is anthropic's September 22, 2026 update: Fable 5.1-level performance at 40% lower cost than Opus 5, with faster output and cheaper caching. Mercury 2.5 Preview is inception Labs' August 31, 2026 diffusion-based language model preview, refining tokens in parallel for roughly 10x the throughput of comparable autoregressive models at cost-optimized-tier quality. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Price: Mercury 2.5 Preview is about 100× cheaper on input ($0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens vs $4/$20 per 1M tokens) — a large enough gap that at scale it can be the single biggest line item in the decision.
▸Context window: Claude Opus 5.5 holds 3.8× more — 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 260K tokens (~390 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
▸Recency: Claude Opus 5.5 is the newer model by about 22 days (released September 22, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Claude Opus 5.5
Mercury 2.5 Preview
Provider
Anthropic (US)
Inception Labs (US)
Released
September 22, 2026
August 31, 2026
Context window
1M tokens (~1,500 pages)
260K tokens (~390 pages)
Price (in/out)
$4/$20 per 1M tokens
$0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Performs at roughly Claude Fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than Opus 5
Claude Opus 5.5
Anthropic's September 22, 2026 update: Fable 5.1-level performance at 40% lower cost than Opus 5, with faster output and cheaper caching — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.
Anthropic reports it surpasses Fable 5.1 on agentic coding, knowledge work, computer use, visual chart recognition, and multidisciplinary reasoning
Claude Opus 5.5
Anthropic's September 22, 2026 update: Fable 5.1-level performance at 40% lower cost than Opus 5, with faster output and cheaper caching — and it is the newer of the two.
Pricing cut to $4/$20 per million tokens (20% below Opus 5's $5/$25), cache reads down 60% to $0.20/MTok
Claude Opus 5.5
Its 1M tokens window holds about 3.8× more than Mercury 2.5 Preview's 260K tokens in a single prompt.
Very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation
Mercury 2.5 Preview
Claude Opus 5.5 is comparatively weak here — like Opus 5, the headline 1M-token context is not uniformly available across every platform and plan — some API paths default to a smaller window
Coding accuracy (95.7%, 91st percentile among cost-optimized models)
Mercury 2.5 Preview
At $0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens it undercuts Claude Opus 5.5 ($4/$20 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.
Mathematics accuracy (97.0%, 97th percentile)
Mercury 2.5 Preview
Inception Labs' August 31, 2026 diffusion-based language model preview, refining tokens in parallel for roughly 10x the throughput of comparable autoregressive models at cost-optimized-tier quality — and it runs cheaper at $0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens.
Lowest cost at scale
Mercury 2.5 Preview
At $0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input
Claude Opus 5.5
Its 1M tokens window is about 3.8× larger than Mercury 2.5 Preview's 260K tokens, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Mercury 2.5 Preview
At $0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens it undercuts Claude Opus 5.5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Claude Opus 5.5
Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is performs at roughly claude fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than opus 5
→ Claude Opus 5.5
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation
→ Mercury 2.5 Preview
That is its strongest area.
Claude Opus 5.5: where it fits
Anthropic's September 22, 2026 update: Fable 5.1-level performance at 40% lower cost than Opus 5, with faster output and cheaper caching. Released September 22, 2026 by Anthropic, it is built for performs at roughly Claude Fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than Opus 5, anthropic reports it surpasses Fable 5.1 on agentic coding, knowledge work, computer use, visual chart recognition, and multidisciplinary reasoning, pricing cut to $4/$20 per million tokens (20% below Opus 5's $5/$25), cache reads down 60% to $0.20/MTok, and output speed increased over 30% versus Opus 5.
Its trade-offs are real: not a reasoning-ceiling upgrade over Fable 5.1 — pitched as matching its performance at lower cost, not beating it outright, like Opus 5, the headline 1M-token context is not uniformly available across every platform and plan — some API paths default to a smaller window, and first model in the 5.5 line; Anthropic has signaled Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5 are still weeks away, so the lower tiers of the family aren't out yet. At $4 in / $20 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
Mercury 2.5 Preview: where it fits
Inception Labs' August 31, 2026 diffusion-based language model preview, refining tokens in parallel for roughly 10x the throughput of comparable autoregressive models at cost-optimized-tier quality. Released August 31, 2026 by Inception Labs, it is built for very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation, coding accuracy (95.7%, 91st percentile among cost-optimized models), mathematics accuracy (97.0%, 97th percentile), and tunable reasoning levels with parallel tool calls and schema-aligned JSON output.
Its trade-offs: 260K context window is far shorter than frontier 1M-token models, no vision or audio modalities, positioned only against cost-optimized models (GPT-5.6 Luna Low, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite), not frontier-class, and current $0.04/$0.15 pricing includes a limited-time launch promotion on OpenRouter (list price is $0.20/$0.75, may rise after Sept 8, 2026). At $0.04 in / $0.15 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Claude Opus 5.5 and Mercury 2.5 Preview overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Mercury 2.5 Preview costs less per token; Claude Opus 5.5 holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Claude Opus 5.5 for performs at roughly claude fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than opus 5, Mercury 2.5 Preview for very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both Claude Opus 5.5 and Mercury 2.5 Preview without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
Is Claude Opus 5.5 or Mercury 2.5 Preview better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Claude Opus 5.5 leans toward performs at roughly claude fable 5.1's level on most work, at 40% lower typical workload cost than opus 5 while Mercury 2.5 Preview leans toward very high inference throughput (1,107 tok/s) via diffusion-based parallel token generation, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5.5 or Mercury 2.5 Preview?
Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper — $4/$20 per 1M tokens vs $0.04/$0.15 per 1M tokens, roughly 100× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Claude Opus 5.5 — 1M tokens vs 260K tokens, about 3.8× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Claude Opus 5.5 and Mercury 2.5 Preview together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Claude Opus 5.5, Mercury 2.5 Preview and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Claude Opus 5.5 or Mercury 2.5 Preview?
Claude Opus 5.5 — released September 22, 2026, about 22 days after Mercury 2.5 Preview.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.