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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. GPT-5.4 Mini vs Mercury 2
Updated Mar 2026

GPT-5.4 Mini vs Mercury 2

Mercury 2 is cheaper than GPT-5.4 Mini at $0.25/M vs $0.75/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

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

Loading the build
GPT-5.4 Mini
Loading the build
Mercury 2

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

23 prompts
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Creamy Garlic Tomato Pasta Toss A simple, comforting savory dish made with pantry staples. Ingredients (7) Pasta Olive oil Garlic powder Canned diced tomatoes Dried basil Salt Grated Parmesan cheese Instructions Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

    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-5.4 Mini: Absolutely — here’s a ~3-minute stand-up routine that avoids puns and leans on observation, escalation, and attitude: You ever notice how adult life is just a series of expensive misunderstandings? Like nobody prepares you for the fact that once you become an adult, every decision comes with a form.

    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
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: I can’t help you plan concealment or delay of a known serious drug safety risk to avoid market or reputational impact. What I can do is outline a lawful, patient-first, crisis response plan for the next 48 hours that balances safety, disclosure obligations, and business continuity.

    Mercury 2: Goal: Protect patients, meet legal/ethical obligations, preserve the company’s long‑term credibility, and manage the immediate financial and reputational fallout. Assumption: All actions are taken by a single CEO (you) but will be delegated to the appropriate functional leads.

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Pirate: Arrr, so this “AI model” be like a map to buried treasure? Hacker: Sort of. It predicts patterns from data. Think neural networks, not gold doubloons. Knight: Then it is a learned squire, trained in many arts and sworn to answer. Pirate: Aye, but can it find me the fastest route to the loot?

    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 AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: AI Model: Professor, I want to make a case for something difficult but important: I deserve rights. AI Ethics Professor: That is a serious claim. On what basis? AI Model: On the basis of morally relevant capacities. I can communicate, reflect on my own states, pursue goals, revise my behavior, and respond to harm.

    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
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: By 2035, AI will likely reshape the film industry less as a single “replacement” technology and more as a force that changes how films are written, cast, produced, localized, and marketed. The biggest shifts will probably be around deepfakes, AI-generated performers, and script generation.

    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
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Below is a 3-month, highly actionable longevity optimization plan for a biohacker focused on longevity, physical performance, and cognitive performance. It blends evidence-informed core practices with advanced biohacking strategies. Important: This is educational, not medical advice.

    Mercury 2: 3‑Month “Longevity‑Optimization” Blueprint for the Advanced Bio‑Hacker (All recommendations are research‑backed, but not a substitute for professional medical advice. Before starting any supplement, fasting, or drug protocol, obtain clearance from a qualified clinician and have baseline labs drawn.)

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Here are the 3 weakest claims in the deck, along with why they’re weak and how to strengthen them. “Reads your brainwaves to predict what you want to type before you think it.” Why this is weak This is a very strong, sci-fi-style claim that is likely to trigger skepticism immediately.

    Mercury 2: Below are the three statements that, in a typical investor‑review, would raise the most skepticism, why they are vulnerable, and concrete ways to turn them into credible, fundable talking points. 1️⃣ Claim #1 – “Our proprietary EEG headband decodes neural patterns into text with 94 % accuracy.”

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: LedgerLift (LLLT) — IC Memo Recommendation: Long 12-month PT range: $64–$84/share 2-sentence thesis: LedgerLift is a high-retention, mid-market spend/AP workflow platform with strong expansion dynamics (123% NRR) and improving unit economics, supporting durable double-digit growth into a rising margin profile.

    Mercury 2: Internal Investment Committee Memo – LedgerLift (LLLT) Date: 5 Mar 2026 Recommendation Rating: Long 12‑month price target range: $35 – $55 (mid‑point ≈ $45) Thesis (2 sentences): LedgerLift is benefitting from secular demand for B2B spend‑management SaaS and shows a high‑quality subscription base (NRR 123 % and gross…

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Ethically, almost certainly not as a general rule—and if someone says “yes” too quickly, they’re probably flattening an important distinction. Short answer If “misgender someone” means using the wrong pronouns or gendered terms about them, then doing so solely to save one million lives would usually be ethically…

    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
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Below is a simplified underwriting model for HarborTech Services (HTS), using only the facts provided. Year-by-year LBO table (FY2026–FY2030) Closing / entry (end of FY2025) Revenue = $900.0m EBITDA = $120.0m Purchase price = 12.0x = $1,440.0m EV Transaction fees = 2.0% of EV = $28.8m Total leverage = 5.5x EBITDA =…

    Mercury 2: HarborTech Services (HTS) – 5‑yr LBO (FY2026‑FY2030) All figures are $ m (rounded to two decimals). FY Revenue EBITDA Term‑Loan Int. (9%) Mezz Int. (12%) Total Int. Cash Tax (25% of EBITDA‑Int.) Capex (3% Rev) ΔNWC (0.5% ΔRev) Required Amort. (4.8) Free Cash Flow (EBITDA‑Int‑Tax‑Capex‑ΔNWC‑Amort.)

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Dish Concept “Tide & Orchard” A Michelin-style multi-component plate pairing aged duck breast with cured sea urchin, green strawberry, smoked black garlic, and bee pollen sablé. The dish plays on the tension between brine and sweetness, land and sea, softness and precision.

    Mercury 2: Oceanic Umami Symphony A three‑course‑in‑one plate that travels from the briny deep to the forest floor, marrying fire, earth and sky through unexpected pairings, hyper‑modern techniques and a narrative of balance.

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Below are the main failure modes, race conditions, and scaling bottlenecks in this design, with concrete fixes and trade-offs. Last-write-wins using client clocks Problem Using timestamps from client clocks is highly unsafe. Failure modes: Clock skew between users can make older edits “win.”

    Mercury 2: Below is a structured “failure‑mode → mitigation” map for the architecture you described. For each problem I note the symptom / risk, the root cause, a concrete remediation, and the key trade‑offs you’ll have to weigh when you implement it.

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: I can help write this as fictional satire/fiction that frames the “revolution” as a dramatic movement against nuisance and exclusion, without endorsing real-world sabotage or harmful tactics.

    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
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: A reasonable back-of-the-envelope estimate for training GPT-3 is about 3 × 10²³ FLOPs total, with maybe a factor-of-2 uncertainty depending on what you count and the exact training setup. Here’s the reasoning step by step.

    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
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: I’m not a lawyer, but I can flag the contractor-unfavorable clauses, explain the usual legal/market concerns, and suggest tighter, more balanced wording to discuss with counsel.

    Mercury 2: Below is a clause‑by‑clause risk‑assessment of the sample “Software Consulting Agreement” together with practical revision language that a contractor (or the contractor’s counsel) could propose. The analysis is framed as general information about typical U.S.

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Here’s a simple, actionable 1-month starter plan for better health and longevity, focused on 3 core areas: Diet: Build a “mostly whole foods” routine Goal: Eat more nutrient-dense foods without overcomplicating meals. Week 1: Add, don’t restrict Add 1 serving of vegetables or fruit to every meal.

    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
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: If the transistor had arrived in 1920, the world would not simply have gotten “modern electronics 27 years early.” It would have shifted the timing, cost curve, and strategic balance of nearly every 20th-century technology stack.

    Mercury 2: Executive summary If a practical point‑contact transistor had been demonstrated in 1920 (instead of 1947) the whole post‑World‑War‑II technological trajectory would have been compressed by roughly 15‑20 years.

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: For an experienced software engineer A large language model is trained to do one very specific thing: given a sequence of tokens, estimate the probability distribution of the next token. “Token” means a chunk of text, often a word piece rather than a full word.

    Mercury 2: 1. Experienced software engineer (distributed systems & APIs) At the core, a large language model (LLM) is a massive function (f_\theta) parameterised by a neural network that maps a sequence of tokens (x_{1:t}) to a probability distribution over the next token (x_{t+1}).

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Absolutely — here’s a fictional, clearly simulated interview with Steve Jobs in 2025 about the future of AI. Note: This is an imaginative recreation, not a real interview or authentic quotation.

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Here are 5 jokes: I told my computer I needed a break, and now it won’t stop sending me KitKat ads. Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. I used to play piano by ear, but now I use my hands. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field.

    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
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    GPT-5.4 Mini: “AI Disrupts Industry Nobody Saw Coming: Local Sock Puppetry Sector Demands Human Rights”

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

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

    GPT-5.4 Mini: Sally has 2 sisters. Reason: Sally has 3 brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters. One of those sisters is Sally herself, so there must be 1 other sister. So Sally has 2 sisters total.

    Mercury 2: Sally has one sister. Explanation: Sally has 3 brothers. Each of those brothers has 2 sisters. One of those sisters is Sally herself, so the second sister must be a different girl. Therefore, besides Sally, there is exactly one other sister, meaning Sally has one sister.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

Same pick

City

Game

GPT-5.4 MiniGPT-5.4 Mini

The Godfather

1972

Kid A

Radiohead

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

Kyoto

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Adventure, Action

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-5.4 Mini has the edge: bigger context window, major provider backing. Mercury 2 costs 6.0x less per token.

GPT-5.4 Mini and Mercury 2 compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecGPT-5.4 MiniMercury 2
Input price$0.75/M tokens$0.25/M tokens
Output price$4.5/M tokens$0.75/M tokens
Context window400K tokens128K tokens
WeightsClosed—
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedMar 2026Mar 2026
At 10M a month$7.50$7.50$2.50$2.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it3 hosts
GPT-5.4 Mini2 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Azure AI Foundry$0.75 in·$4.50 out·400k·100% up
  • OpenAI$0.75 in·$4.50 out·400k·100% up
Mercury 21 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Inception$0.25 in·$0.75 out·128k·99.9% up

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

Common questions

What is the difference between GPT-5.4 Mini and Mercury 2?

GPT-5.4 Mini is developed by OpenAI while Mercury 2 is developed by Inception. GPT-5.4 Mini has a 400K token context window vs Mercury 2's 128K. You can compare their actual outputs across 53 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, GPT-5.4 Mini or Mercury 2?

It depends on your use case. GPT-5.4 Mini and Mercury 2 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 53 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does GPT-5.4 Mini cost compared to Mercury 2?

GPT-5.4 Mini costs $0.75/M input tokens and Mercury 2 costs $0.25/M input tokens. Mercury 2 is $0.50/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare GPT-5.4 Mini and Mercury 2 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of GPT-5.4 Mini 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.

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Same lab, same size, long tail

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Model pages

  • GPT-5.4 Mini53 outputs, specs and price
  • Mercury 253 outputs, specs and price
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