• Updated 31 Oct, 14:35 UTC
  • Next run 1 Nov, 05:17 UTCNext 1 Nov 05:17
  • Last 7 days: 4 new models · 448 runs7 d: 4 models · 448 runs
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Mercury 3 vs GLM 5.3

6 prompts both ran·Specs and numbers·Change models

Mercury 3 took 7 min 31 s and $0.065 at list price, GLM 5.3 took 22 min 22 s and $0.34 at list price. GLM 5.3 took 3.0× as long and cost 5.3× as much.

Mercury 3

Inception · $0.35/M out · 258 HN pts

GLM 5.3

Z.ai · $1.40/M out · 3,306 HN pts

Pelican

Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle

Mercury 3's SVG for the "Pelican riding a bicycle" prompt

Mercury 3

1 min 30 s$0.01028k tokensAPI
GLM 5.3's SVG for the "Pelican riding a bicycle" prompt

GLM 5.3

4 min 2 s$0.08360k tokensAPI

Watch

Draw a mechanical wristwatch that shows the current local time, with a sweeping seconds hand and a date window. Make it look expensive.

Still of Mercury 3's page for the "Wristwatch that shows the current time" prompt

Mercury 3

70 s$0.01233k tokensAPI
Still of GLM 5.3's page for the "Wristwatch that shows the current time" prompt

GLM 5.3

2 min 1 s$0.02921k tokensAPI

Landing

Build the landing page for Lumen Cycles, a Copenhagen workshop that builds custom cargo bikes to order. Make it look like a real brand you would trust with 4,000 euros.

Still of Mercury 3's page for the "Landing page for a cargo bike workshop" prompt

Mercury 3

42 s$0.00720k tokensAPI
Still of GLM 5.3's page for the "Landing page for a cargo bike workshop" prompt

GLM 5.3

9 min$0.1391k tokensAPI

Breakout

Make a Breakout game I can play right now with the keyboard or the mouse. Give it several levels, a score and some juice.

Still of Mercury 3's page for the "Playable Breakout" prompt

Mercury 3

29 s$0.00719k tokensAPI
Still of GLM 5.3's page for the "Playable Breakout" prompt

Blank first frame. Press Run.

GLM 5.3

31 s$0.0096.7k tokensAPI

Design a logo for Night Heron, an independent bookshop that only opens after dark.

Mercury 3's SVG for the "Bookshop logo" prompt

Mercury 3

3 min 38 s$0.02983k tokensAPI
GLM 5.3's SVG for the "Bookshop logo" prompt

GLM 5.3

6 min 28 s$0.08460k tokensAPI

About

Write the opening of the About us page for Patchbay, a three-person studio in Rotterdam that repairs vintage synthesizers. About 150 words.

Patchbay is a three-person repair studio in Rotterdam, tucked between a bike shop and a coffee roastery, where vintage synthesizers come to live another life. We are not a factory and we are not a museum; we are technicians who love the smell of warm solder and the patience that old circuits demand. Between us we have restored everything from early Moog modulars to battered Junos, and we treat each instrument as if it were the first one we ever opened. There is no assembly line here. Every capacitor is tested, every busbar tracked by hand, and every voice board is listened to twice—once on the bench, once through the speakers of the synth that will use it. Patchbay exists because these machines deserve more than a quick fix. They deserve someone who knows their quirks, their failures, and the strange, beautiful sounds that made us fall in love with them in the first place.

Mercury 3

3 s<$0.0011.2k tokensAPI

Patchbay is a three-person workshop in Rotterdam where vintage synthesizers come back to life. Whatever lands on our bench — a battered Minimoog, a Juno with dead keys, an ARP silent since the eighties — gets the same treatment: careful diagnosis, honest advice, and repairs done right.

We started Patchbay because we believe a good synthesizer shouldn't die of old age. These machines are more than circuits and sliders — they're the sound of records you grew up with, and the reason some of us got into music in the first place. Every one we fix goes back out into the world ready to make more.

Between us we handle everything from recapping and calibration to keybed work and the hunt for parts nobody has made in decades. It's slow, meticulous work, and we like it that way. If something in your collection hums, crackles, or refuses to turn on, bring it in — we'll see what we can do.

GLM 5.3

19 s$0.0064.3k tokensAPI

Specs and numbers

Mercury 3GLM 5.3
MakerInceptionZ.ai
Made inUSChina
Released16 Oct 202618 Aug 2026
Price in, per M tokens$0.10$0.07
Price out, per M tokens$0.35$1.40
Context1,000,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Weightsclosedopen
Hacker News points2583,306
Time for the six prompts7 min 31 s22 min 22 s
List price of the six prompts$0.065$0.34

Mercury 3 was cheaper: $0.27 less at list price, and less on each of the 6 prompts. Mercury 3 was faster: 14 min 51 s less in total, and faster on each of the 6 prompts.

In the recording, both Breakout games stopped painting. GLM 5.3's Breakout game showed a blank first frame when the still was taken.

Tea Garden experiment: GLM 5.3's game passed 1 of 5 checks; Mercury 3 was not in it.

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