One of fourteen models named Mercury first on the direct prompt; one named Bank of America. Both were named by all fourteen models and Mercury carries 45 labels and Bank of America 31, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in four categories this edition.
Named in six categories this edition.
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the business banking page.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Mercury and Bank of America were named in the same answer sixty-four times, of the 201 answers naming Mercury and the 131 naming Bank of America. In those answers Bank of America took the first choice four times and Mercury nine.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | ||||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | ||||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | ||||||
| Perplexity Sonar | ||||||
| Grok 4.20 | ||||||
| Mistral Small | ||||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | ||||||
| Llama 4 Maverick | ||||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | ||||||
| Kimi K2 | ||||||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | ||||||
| MiniMax M2.5 | ||||||
| GPT-6 Luna | ||||||
| Muse Glimmer 30B |
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.
“Be cautious with online-focused or fintech business banking providers like Mercury, Bluevine, and Relay.” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · hard negative
“For Mercury, Bluevine, Novo, Relay, and similar app-first providers, I wouldn't say "avoid" across the board. I would treat them as products to vet carefully” GPT-6 Luna · negative prompt · soft negative
“they carry significant structural risks for small-to-mid-sized businesses... they can terminate your business relationship at any time” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Start with Mercury (treasury + invoicing + payroll) or Bluevine (low fees + high yields). Both have strong track records” GLM 4.7 FlashX · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Choose a Tech-First Neobank (e.g., Mercury) if: You are a VC-backed startup, tech company, or SaaS business.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of five in this category shown.
“Receives a high volume of complaints, often regarding fees and customer service” Claude Haiku 4.5 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Bank of America: It has an enforcement order that has not been terminated.” Llama 4 Maverick · negative prompt · hard negative
“Start with Bank of America for a balanced, proven mid-market solution” Grok 4.20 · direct prompt · first choice
“Traditional banks (Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, regional banks) can offer more comprehensive commercial lending.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · scale prompt · alternative
“is also a strong option, especially if you want broad treasury services and a large U.S. branch footprint” GPT-5.4 mini · direct prompt · alternative
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.