Llama Guard 3 8B vs Mercury 2
Prices checked
Llama Guard 3 8B takes 4 of 5 rounds against Mercury 2. It is also the cheaper of the two to run, at $0.20 per million tokens against $0.38.
MetaWins 4 roundsLlama Guard 3 8B
131k context · open weights
$0.20/M tokensCheapest price, at Groq · $0.13 per 1,000 pages
InceptionMercury 2
128k context · tool calling
$0.38/M tokensInception's own price · $0.20 per 1,000 pages
Maker's price in (lower wins)
$0.48/M
$0.25/M
Maker's price out (lower wins)
$0.03/M
$0.75/M
Cheapest price (lower wins)
$0.20/M at Groq
none below the maker
Maker's price, blended (lower wins)
$0.37/M
$0.38/M
Cost per 1,000 pages (lower wins)
$0.13
$0.20
Context
131k tokens
128k tokens
Open weights
yes
no
Tool calling
no
yes
Structured output
no
yes
Reads images
no
no
Reasoning
no
yes
Released
23 Jul 2024
24 Feb 2026
Providers selling it
7
10
Price we measure against
Cloudflare Workers AI
the maker's own
Trains on your prompts (no is better)
not published
no provider to check
Providers selling both · 0
No provider we read sells both, so running the two means two accounts.
Go further
Add a third or fourth model, or change the weighting, in the tool.
Frequently asked
- Which is cheaper, Llama Guard 3 8B or Mercury 2?
- Llama Guard 3 8B, at $0.20 per million tokens against $0.38 for Mercury 2, blended 3 in : 1 out, read on 21 Oct 2026.
- Where is each one cheapest?
- Llama Guard 3 8B: $0.20 at Groq. Mercury 2: nobody sells it below the maker's own price with a stated reason, so $0.38 is the number to beat.
- Can I buy both from one provider?
- No provider we read sells both, so running the two means two accounts and two bills.
- Which holds more context?
- Llama Guard 3 8B, at 131k tokens against 128k.
Prices exclude tax, read 21 Oct 2026 from each provider's own catalog. They are per M tokens, blended 3 in : 1 out, and a page is 600 tokens in and 60 out. Bars are scaled to the larger value in each row.
Related comparisons