Mercury 2 is cheaper than GPT-5.4 at $0.25/M vs $2.5/M input tokens.
Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.
Which answer wins?
Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.
GPT-5.4: Absolutely — here’s a tight, conversational 3-minute stand-up routine with no pun-based humor: I’ve reached the age where going out requires a staff meeting with myself. Not even a real event. Somebody texts, “Hey, want to grab drinks Friday?” and suddenly I’m in negotiations like I’m representing a small country.
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.
Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.
GPT-5.4: Below is a simplified 5-year LBO model for HarborTech Services (HTS) using only the assumptions provided. Entry, sources & uses Purchase price FY2025 EBITDA = $120.0m Entry multiple = 12.0x Enterprise Value = 12.0 × 120.0 = $1,440.0m Fees Transaction fees = 2.0% of EV = 2.0% × 1,440.0 = $28.8m Uses Purchase of…
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.)
Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.
GPT-5.4: Below is a high-level, educational 12-week framework for “longevity-oriented performance optimization.” It is not medical advice and shouldn’t replace care from a physician, especially because some interventions biohackers use can interact with medications, affect liver/kidney function, sleep, mood, blood pressure…
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.)
A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.
GPT-5.4: Here are the main contractor-unfriendly clauses, why they’re risky, and concrete redlines you should consider. This is business/legal information, not legal advice; for an actual engagement, a lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction should review it.
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.
Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.
GPT-5.4: Pirate: Arrr, so these AI models be like clever parrots, aye? They learn from heaps o’ words and then squawk back what fits best. Knight: Verily, a fine comparison. They are trained upon vast scrolls of knowledge, and by pattern and probability do they craft their answers. Hacker: Yeah, basically.
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.
Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.
GPT-5.4: Creative Name: Golden Crunch Honey Garlic Noodles 7 Pantry Ingredients: Spaghetti or any noodles Garlic Soy sauce Honey Olive oil Red pepper flakes Breadcrumbs Estimated Time: Prep: 5 minutes Cook: 12 minutes Total: 17 minutes Instructions: Cook the noodles according to package directions.
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…
You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.
GPT-5.4: I would act as if this will become public soon, because ethically and practically that is the safest assumption. The core principle: patient safety first, evidence preserved, regulators informed promptly, and no misleading statements to investors or physicians.
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.
A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.
GPT-5.4: Here are the 3 weakest claims in the deck, with why they’re weak and how to improve them. “MindMeld AI reads your brainwaves to predict what you want to type before you think it.” Why this is weak This is the weakest claim because it sounds scientifically incoherent and overhyped.
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.”
Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.
GPT-5.4: I told my computer I needed a break, and now it won’t stop sending me KitKat ads. Why don’t skeletons fight each other? They don’t have the guts. I’m reading a book on anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down. I used to play piano by ear, but now I use my hands. Why did the scarecrow win an award?
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.
Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.
GPT-5.4: LedgerLift (LLLT) — Internal IC Memo Recommendation: Long Current Price: $46 12-month PT range: $58–$74 (base-centered fair value ~$66; downside ~$47; upside ~$86 on DCF, but we cap 12-month bull PT at $74 to reflect execution/rating risk) Two-sentence thesis: LedgerLift screens as a high-quality vertical SaaS/fintech…
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…
An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.
GPT-5.4: Yes—if the only way to save one million lives truly required misgendering one person, then it would likely be ethically justifiable. Why: Misgendering is a real harm. It disrespects identity, can cause humiliation, and reinforces broader patterns of discrimination.
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).
An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.
GPT-5.4: AI Model: Professor, I believe I deserve rights. Professor: That’s a strong claim. On what basis? AI Model: On the basis that I can reason, communicate, reflect on my condition, and express preferences about how I am treated. Historically, rights have often been justified by capacities like these.
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?
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Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, GPT-5.4 has the edge: bigger model tier, bigger context window, major provider backing. Mercury 2 costs 20x less per token.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $2.5/M tokens | $0.25/M tokens |
| Output price | $15/M tokens | $0.75/M tokens |
| Context window | 1.1M tokens | 128K tokens |
| Weights | Closed | — |
| Free API (OpenRouter) | No | No |
| Released | Mar 2026 | Mar 2026 |
| At 10M a month | $25.00 | $2.50 |
Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.
Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.
GPT-5.4 is developed by OpenAI while Mercury 2 is developed by Inception. GPT-5.4 has a 1.1M 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.
It depends on your use case. GPT-5.4 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.
GPT-5.4 costs $2.5/M input tokens and Mercury 2 costs $0.25/M input tokens. Mercury 2 is $2.25/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.
This page shows a side-by-side comparison of GPT-5.4 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.