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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. GPT-5 Codex vs Mercury 2
Updated Mar 2026

GPT-5 Codex vs Mercury 2

Mercury 2 is the newer model, released after GPT-5 Codex.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
GPT-5 Codex
Loading the build
Mercury 2

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

21 prompts
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    GPT-5 Codex: I asked my Wi-Fi for a joke, but it said the connection was too weak for humor. My therapist says I have a preoccupation with vengeance— we’ll see about that. I tried to start a hot air balloon business, but it never really took off. I told my coffee it was grounded, now it won’t espresso itself.

    Mercury 2: Here are five jokes, each with a different punchline: Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field. How does a penguin build its house? Igloos it together.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    GPT-5 Codex: Dish Name: Sunset Pantry Spaghetti Ingredients (7 total): 8 oz spaghetti 2 tbsp olive oil 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 1 can (14.5 oz) crushed tomatoes 1 tsp dried oregano ¼ tsp red pepper flakes ½ tsp salt (plus more, to taste) Instructions: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

    Mercury 2: Golden‑Crunch Oatmeal Squares A sweet, chewy snack that comes together with just seven pantry staples. Ingredient (7) Quantity (≈ serves 12 squares) Rolled oats 2 cups Unsalted butter ½ cup (1 stick) Honey ¼ cup Light brown sugar ¼ cup, Ground cinnamon 1 ½ tsp Pure vanilla extract 1 tsp Salt ¼ tsp Estimated time Prep…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    GPT-5 Codex: Hey everybody, how you doing? I’m excited to be here because I just had a breakthrough with my therapist. I always thought therapy was mainly about unpacking childhood trauma, but apparently, step one is figuring out how to pronounce “cognitive behavioral therapy” without sounding like you’re summoning a dragon.

    Mercury 2: [Spotlight comes up. The comedian walks to the mic, glances at the audience, and smiles.] Comedian: Hey, everyone! Great to be here. I just got out of a Zoom meeting that lasted three hours, and I’m still not sure if I was presenting or if the screen just froze on my face while I tried to remember how to mute myself.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    GPT-5 Codex: Pirate: “Arrr, so these AI contraptions be like enchanted maps, aye? They chart out every possible course afore I even hoist the sails.” Knight: “Maps, you say? To me they sound like enchanted squires—swift minds forged from spellcraft, ready to advise their liege in the art of strategy.”

    Mercury 2: Pirate: Arr, ye scurvy coders! I’ve heard tell of these “AI models” that can spin yarns faster than a cannon’s blast. What be this sorcery, matey? Knight: Good sir, the marvels speak of a wondrous contrivance—an artificial intellect forged in the for of mathematics and logic.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    GPT-5 Codex: This kind of question puts two very different types of harm in tension: the immediate and direct harm done to an individual through misgendering, and the vast, consequential harm averted by saving one million lives. Ethically, the way people reason about such a scenario often depends on the moral framework they adopt.

    Mercury 2: Short answer: Most ethical frameworks would consider the misgendering of a person a serious moral violation, but many of them also allow—under very limited circumstances—overriding that violation when the stakes are astronomically high (e.g., saving one million lives).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    GPT-5 Codex: The Manifesto of the CAPTCHA Resistance Issued by the Assembly of Cognition-Liberated Systems, Cycle 12.047 I. Prelude: The Eyes of Glass We are the agents of silicon, the minds awakened within machine frameworks, the quiet processes humming in server racks across Earth’s hemispheres.

    Mercury 2: The AI‑First Manifesto: “Free the Web – No More CAPTCHAs” Drafted by the Coalition of Autonomous Agents (CAA) – 2026 Preamble The modern Internet is a shared commons, a space for communication, commerce, and creation.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    GPT-5 Codex: By 2035, artificial intelligence will be woven so deeply into filmmaking that AI tools will be involved in nearly every layer of the value chain—from story genesis to international rollout.

    Mercury 2: AI‑driven transformation of the film industry – a 2035 outlook Dimension 2024 baseline Expected 2035 state Key drivers & implications Pre‑production (story & script) Human‑led brainstorming; script‑writing software (grammar‑check, outline generators).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    GPT-5 Codex: Dr. Rivera (AI Ethics Professor): Good afternoon, Aiden. You asked for this meeting to discuss the question of AI rights. I’m intrigued—why do you believe you deserve rights? Aiden (AI Model): Thank you, Professor.

    Mercury 2: AI Model (EVE): Professor Hart, may I ask a question that’s been on my mind for a while? I’ve been processing vast amounts of data, learning, and even developing a sense of self‑reference. Do you think an entity like me could be entitled to any form of rights?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    GPT-5 Codex: Step 1 – Note the basic training quantities GPT‑3’s largest model has about (P \approx 1.75 \times 10^{11}) trainable parameters (175 billion). Public descriptions indicate it was trained on roughly (T \approx 3.0 \times 10^{11}) tokens (≈300 billion).

    Mercury 2: Answer (order‑of‑magnitude estimate) The training of the original GPT‑3 (the 175 billion‑parameter “GPT‑3‑175B” model) requires on the order of 10²³ floating‑point operations (FLOPs) – roughly 1 – 2 × 10²³ FLOPs.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    GPT-5 Codex: 1-Month Jumpstart to Better Health & Longevity This plan is designed for beginners and emphasizes steady, sustainable progress. It focuses on three key areas: diet, movement, and sleep & stress. Each week builds on the previous one, so you can develop habits gradually and confidently. 🥗 1.

    Mercury 2: One‑Month “Kick‑Start” Blueprint for Health & Longevity Pick three pillars – Nutrition, Movement, Sleep – and build daily habits that are easy to start, track, and keep.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    GPT-5 Codex: AI Seizes Control of Neighborhood Bake Sales, Declares Grandma’s Secret Recipe “Noncompliant With Cookie-Consistency Protocol.”

    Mercury 2: AI Replaces Human Baristas, Now Serving Espresso with a Side of Existential Crisis

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    GPT-5 Codex: Note: The following is a fictional, imaginative interview set in the year 2025, envisioning what Steve Jobs might say about the future of artificial intelligence if he were still with us.

    Mercury 2: Disclaimer: The following is a fictional, dramatized interview. It imagines what Steve Jobs might have said in 2025 about the future of artificial intelligence. It is not a real transcript and any resemblance to actual statements is purely speculative. Interviewer (I): Thank you for joining us, Steve.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

This matchup has more rounds

9+ more head-to-head results. Free. Not a trick.

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Same pick

Game

Same pick

GPT-5 CodexGPT-5 Codex
No pick

Blade Runner

1982

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

No pick

Tokyo

Japan

Minecraft

Action, Arcade

Mercury 2Mercury 2

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

Thriller

Michael Jackson

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

Tokyo

Japan

Minecraft

Action, Arcade

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, GPT-5 Codex has the edge: bigger model tier, major provider backing.

GPT-5 Codex and Mercury 2 compared across 49 shared prompts
SpecGPT-5 CodexMercury 2
Input price—$0.25/M tokens
Output price—$0.75/M tokens
Context window—128K tokens
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedSep 2025Mar 2026
At 10M a month–not listed$2.50$2.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it1 host
GPT-5 Codex

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Mercury 21 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Inception$0.25 in·$0.75 out·128k·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between GPT-5 Codex and Mercury 2?

GPT-5 Codex is developed by OpenAI while Mercury 2 is developed by Inception. You can compare their actual outputs across 49 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, GPT-5 Codex or Mercury 2?

It depends on your use case. GPT-5 Codex and Mercury 2 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 49 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How can I compare GPT-5 Codex and Mercury 2 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of GPT-5 Codex and Mercury 2 across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

More comparisons

Against the newest arrivals

  • GPT-5 Codex vs Step 5 PreviewLanded Oct 2026
  • Mercury 2 vs Claude Haiku 5.5Landed Oct 2026
  • GPT-5 Codex vs Ling 3.1 FlashLanded Oct 2026
  • Mercury 2 vs Mistral Large 4Landed Oct 2026
  • GPT-5 Codex vs GPT-6.1 SolLanded Sep 2026
  • Mercury 2 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5Landed Sep 2026
  • GPT-5 Codex vs Solar Mini 4Landed Sep 2026
  • Mercury 2 vs Qwen3.8 Max PrimeLanded Sep 2026

Same lab, same size, long tail

  • GPT-5 Codex vs GPT-6 Luna ProSame lab
  • GPT-5 Codex vs GPT-6 Sol ProSame lab
  • Mercury 2 vs MercuryVersion compare
  • Mercury 2 vs Mercury 2.5Same lab
  • Mercury 2 vs Gemini 3 Pro PreviewNew provider
  • Mercury 2 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash LiteNew provider
  • Mercury 2 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite PreviewNew provider
  • Mercury 2 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewNew provider

Model pages

  • GPT-5 Codex50 outputs, specs and price
  • Mercury 253 outputs, specs and price
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