# Mercury 2.5 vs Step 3.7 Flash

> Step 3.7 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 37.3 to 33.5 on the Noometry Index. Mercury 2.5 costs 6.2× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 3.7 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/mercury-2-5-vs-step-3-7-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 3

## Summary

- They share 3 benchmarks with published results for both. Mercury 2.5 scores higher in 1 category and Step 3.7 Flash in 2 categories; one gap is clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Step 3.7 Flash leads 42.9 to 23.3.
- Mercury 2.5 is cheaper at $0.04 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.18 / $1.11 for Step 3.7 Flash.
- Mercury 2.5 accepts more context: 260K tokens versus 256K.
- Step 3.7 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Mercury 2.5 | Step 3.7 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Inception | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 33.5 | 37.3 |
| Rank | 242 | 207 |
| Context | 260K | 256K |
| Input $/M | $0.04 | $0.18 |
| Output $/M | $0.15 | $1.11 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- Mercury 2.5: 39.5 (#156)
- Step 3.7 Flash: 40.0 (#150)

| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Step 3.7 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 38.5% | 40% |
| ALE-Bench | 301.65 | 694.12 |

## Reasoning

- Mercury 2.5: 22.4 (#193)
- Step 3.7 Flash: 21.6 (#219)

| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Step 3.7 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0% | 2.3% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 39.7% |

## Math

- Mercury 2.5: 23.3 (#272)
- Step 3.7 Flash: 42.9 (#82)

| Benchmark | Mercury 2.5 | Step 3.7 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 68.5% |
| ProofBench | 3% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Mercury 2.5 better than Step 3.7 Flash?

Step 3.7 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 37.3 to 33.5 on the Noometry Index. Mercury 2.5 costs 6.2× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 3.7 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Mercury 2.5 or Step 3.7 Flash?

Mercury 2.5 is cheaper. It lists at $0.04 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Step 3.7 Flash lists at $0.18 and $1.11.

### Is Mercury 2.5 or Step 3.7 Flash better for coding?

They score almost the same on coding (39.5 vs 40.0); test both on your own repository before choosing.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Mercury 2.5 does, with 260K tokens against 256K.

### How many benchmarks do Mercury 2.5 and Step 3.7 Flash share?

3 benchmarks have published results for both models. Mercury 2.5 has 4 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.7 Flash has 5.