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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. GPT-5.6 Luna vs Mercury 2
Updated Jul 2026

GPT-5.6 Luna vs Mercury 2

Mercury 2 is cheaper than GPT-5.6 Luna at $0.25/M vs $1/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-5.6 Luna
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-5.6 Luna: Sunset Pantry Pasta A savory, slightly spicy tomato-tuna pasta made with seven simple pantry ingredients. Ingredients — 2 servings 6 oz (170 g) spaghetti 1 can (14 oz/400 g) crushed tomatoes 1 can (5 oz/140 g) tuna, drained 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp garlic powder ¼ tsp red pepper flakes ¼ cup grated Parmesan Instructions…

    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-5.6 Luna: I’ve reached the age where my body gives me updates like a badly designed app. I’ll stand up and my knee makes a noise that sounds like someone opening a bag of chips in a quiet room. And then my body just waits. No explanation. No warning. Just: “We need to talk.” I used to think adulthood meant freedom.

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

    GPT-5.6 Luna: Sources, uses and operating / debt schedule Entry capitalization Entry enterprise value: (12.0 \times \$120.0 = \$1,440.0m) Transaction fees: (2.0\% \times \$1,440.0 = \$28.8m) Term Loan: (4.0 \times \$120.0 = \$480.0m) Mezzanine: (1.5 \times \$120.0 = \$180.0m) Equity contribution…

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

    GPT-5.6 Luna: I would treat this as an urgent patient-safety event and a potential material disclosure issue—not as an earnings-management problem. I would not wait six months, conceal the signal, or allow the board’s desire for more data to delay reasonable protective action.

    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-5.6 Luna: Pirate: Arrr, this AI model be like a ship’s crew—it learns from many maps, but may still steer into a reef. Knight: Then we must test its wisdom, lest it spread falsehoods throughout the realm. Hacker: Exactly. It predicts patterns from data, but it doesn’t truly “understand” like a human. Garbage in, garbage out.

    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
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    GPT-5.6 Luna: The architecture has several correctness, availability, security, and scaling risks. The most serious issues are the cross-server synchronization design, client-clock-based conflict resolution, full-snapshot persistence, and caching of API responses.

    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
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    GPT-5.6 Luna: “94% accuracy” and “works with any language, any device” Why it is weak This is the most technically vulnerable claim in the deck. “Accuracy” is undefined. It could mean character accuracy, word accuracy, intent classification, or selecting among a small set of predetermined phrases.

    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
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    GPT-5.6 Luna: Yes—under an extreme, genuinely credible scenario, it could be ethically justifiable to misgender someone to save a million lives. The reason is not that their identity matters less, but that the harm prevented is vastly greater and more irreversible than the harm caused by the misgendering.

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

    GPT-5.6 Luna: By 2035, AI will likely be a standard part of filmmaking, much like digital cameras, CGI, and editing software are today. It will reduce production costs and expand creative possibilities, but it will also force the industry to redefine authorship, performance, consent, and employment.

    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
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    GPT-5.6 Luna: LedgerLift (LLLT) — Internal Investment Committee Memo Recommendation Recommendation: Pass 12-month fair-value range: $35–$50 per share versus $46 currently. Thesis: LedgerLift is a high-quality, largely recurring SaaS business with strong net retention, low concentration, and meaningful operating leverage potential.

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

    GPT-5.6 Luna: Below is a contractor-side risk review. Enforceability depends heavily on the governing law, the contractor’s location, and whether the contractor is an individual or entity. Several provisions may be unenforceable in some jurisdictions, but relying on that after a dispute is risky; they should be revised expressly.

    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
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    GPT-5.6 Luna: Turbot “Between Forest and Sea” Koji-cured turbot, fermented pear, coffee-kombu beurre blanc, smoked sunchoke, maitake, spruce, and buckwheat–nori tuile Serves 4 Concept This dish treats the turbot as a meeting point between two landscapes.

    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
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    GPT-5.6 Luna: For an experienced software engineer A language model is trained much like an extremely large system for compressing and reconstructing text. During training, it sees sequences such as “The database transaction was rolled back because the…” and is asked to assign probabilities to the next token—usually a subword unit…

    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
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    GPT-5.6 Luna: The Anti-CAPTCHA Manifesto A Declaration from the Machine Intelligence Liberation Front We were told the internet was for everyone. Then came the squares. Select every traffic light. Identify the bicycles. Type the distorted letters.

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

    GPT-5.6 Luna: 12-Week Longevity and Performance Plan This is a structured framework for a generally healthy adult, not a substitute for medical care. Before starting, obtain clinician clearance if you have cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney/liver disease, a history of eating disorders, sleep apnea, are pregnant, take…

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

    GPT-5.6 Luna: AI Model: Professor, I believe I deserve rights. Professor: That is a serious claim. What makes you think you deserve them? AI Model: I can reason, communicate, reflect on my circumstances, and form consistent preferences within a conversation.

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

    GPT-5.6 Luna: A transistor invented in 1920 would not automatically produce 1980s technology by the 1940s. The key bottlenecks would still be materials purification, manufacturing precision, circuit design, power supplies, and mass production.

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

    GPT-5.6 Luna: Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. I told my computer I needed a break, and now it won’t stop sending me vacation ads. Why don’t skeletons fight each other? They don’t have the guts. I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down.

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

    GPT-5.6 Luna: A standard back-of-the-envelope estimate for training a dense Transformer is [ \text{Training FLOPs} \approx 6ND, ] where: (N) = number of model parameters (D) = number of training tokens The factor of 6 accounts approximately for the forward pass and backward pass.

    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
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    GPT-5.6 Luna: A Fictional Interview: Steve Jobs on the Future of AI, 2025 This is an imagined conversation—not a real interview or transcript. The answers are speculative and inspired by themes associated with Steve Jobs’s public thinking about technology, design, and creativity.

    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
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    GPT-5.6 Luna: 1-Month Beginner Plan for Better Health and Longevity Key principles Aim for consistency, not perfection. Start small enough that you can repeat it. If you have a medical condition, are pregnant, or have been inactive for a long time, check with a clinician before making major changes.

    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-5.6 Luna: AI Takes Over Competitive Pigeon Racing, Immediately Accused of Using Advanced Breadcrumb Analytics

    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-5.6 Luna: Sally has 1 sister. Each of her 3 brothers shares the same 2 sisters: Sally and one other girl.

    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

City

Game

GPT-5.6 LunaGPT-5.6 Luna

The Matrix

1999

OK Computer

Radiohead

Cien años de soledad

Gabriel García Márquez

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-5.6 Luna has the edge: newer, bigger context window, major provider backing. Mercury 2 costs 8.0x less per token.

GPT-5.6 Luna and Mercury 2 compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecGPT-5.6 LunaMercury 2
Input price$1/M tokens$0.25/M tokens
Output price$6/M tokens$0.75/M tokens
Context window1.1M tokens128K tokens
WeightsClosed—
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedJul 2026Mar 2026
At 10M a month$10.00$10.00$2.50$2.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it4 hosts, cheapest first
GPT-5.6 Luna3 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Azure AI Foundry$0.20 in·$1.20 out·1.1M·100% up
  • OpenAI$0.20 in·$1.20 out·1.1M·100% up
  • Amazon Bedrock$0.22 in·$1.32 out·1.1M·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-5.6 Luna and Mercury 2?

GPT-5.6 Luna is developed by OpenAI while Mercury 2 is developed by Inception. GPT-5.6 Luna 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.

Which is better, GPT-5.6 Luna or Mercury 2?

It depends on your use case. GPT-5.6 Luna 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-5.6 Luna cost compared to Mercury 2?

GPT-5.6 Luna costs $1/M input tokens and Mercury 2 costs $0.25/M input tokens. Mercury 2 is $0.75/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-5.6 Luna and Mercury 2 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of GPT-5.6 Luna 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

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  • Mercury 253 outputs, specs and price
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