Index › HR › Compensation and total rewards › Compensation benchmarkin › Mercer Total Remuneration Survey vs Radford
Compensation benchmarking data · November 2026 Edition
Mercer Total Remuneration Survey vs Radford
Zero of fourteen models named Mercer Total Remuneration Survey first on the direct prompt; zero named Radford. Mercer Total Remuneration Survey was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Radford by twelve and Mercer Total Remuneration Survey carries 34 labels and Radford 21, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Radford
criticized challengerNamed in three categories this edition.
First-choice share4%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate50%48%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#6#7A position in a field of 9; printed, not drawn.
Labels3421A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Mercer Total Remuneration Survey reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Pave was named alongside these two in fourteen of the fourteen direct answers. Payscale vs Mercer Total Remuneration Survey · Payscale vs Radford · Pave vs Mercer Total Remuneration Survey
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 compensation benchmarking data page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Mercer Total Remuneration SurveyFirst choices, of fourteen modelsRadfordDirect006 against Mercer Total Remuneration Survey · 3 against Radford
Paraphrase214 against Mercer Total Remuneration Survey · 1 against Radford
Comparative31
Budget-constrained002 against Mercer Total Remuneration Survey · 1 against Radford
Scale-constrained002 against Mercer Total Remuneration Survey · 2 against Radford
Negative003 against Mercer Total Remuneration Survey · 3 against Radford
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Mercer Total Remuneration Survey and Radford were named in the same answer forty-five times, of the 92 answers naming Mercer Total Remuneration Survey and the 73 naming Radford. In those answers Radford took the first choice two times and Mercer Total Remuneration Survey seven.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Mercer Total Remuneration Survey and Radford stood in it.
| Model | DirectRA | ParaphraseRA | ComparativeRA | Budget-constrainedRA | Scale-constrainedRA | NegativeRA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | ||||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | RA | |||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | RA | RA | RA | | ||
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | RA | ||
| Grok 4.20 | RA | RA | RA | | ||
| Mistral Small | | |||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | RA | RA | RA | |||
| Llama 4 Maverick | | |||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | RA | ||
| Kimi K2 | RA | RA | | |||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | RA | ||||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | ||||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | ||||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | RA |
Mercer Total Remuneration SurveyRA Radford first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Mercer Total Remuneration Survey on the left and Radford on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Mercer Total Remuneration Survey and Radford stood in it.
Neither was the first choice, one was named
3 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Mistral SmallPave alternatives: Mercer Total Remuneration Survey, Payscale
Llama 4 MaverickSalaryCube alternatives: Mercer Total Remuneration Survey, Pave, Payscale
Kimi K2Payscale alternatives: Mercer Total Remuneration Survey, Pave, Radford, Salary.com CompAnalyst
Neither was named
11 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5Pave, SalaryCube alternatives: CompUp, OpenComp, Payscale Ascent
GPT-5.4 miniSalary.com CompAnalyst alternatives: Compensation-IQ, Pave, Payscale Ascent
Gemini 3.5 FlashPave alternatives: Carta Total Compensation, Payscale, Salary.com CompAnalyst
Perplexity SonarPayscale alternatives: Pave, Ravio, SalaryCube
Grok 4.20Payscale alternatives: Pave, Ravio, Salary.com CompAnalyst
DeepSeek V4 FlashPayscale alternatives: Mercer Benchmark Database, Pave, Ravio, SalaryCube
Qwen 3.7 FlashComprehensive.io alternatives: Figures, Pave, Payscale, Salary.com CompAnalyst
GLM 4.7 FlashXFigures, SalaryCube Comp Planning alternatives: Pave, Salary.com CompAnalyst
MiniMax M2.5CompAnalyst, Payscale alternatives: Pave
GPT-6 LunaPayscale alternatives: Pave
Muse Glimmer 30BPayscale alternatives: CompAnalyst, Comprehensive.io, Pave, Salary.com CompAnalyst, SalaryCube
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.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Level: the same share of first choices.
Mercer Total Remuneration Survey0%#9 of 10Radford0%#10 of 10
The full small business standing →Mid-marketThe figures above
Mercer Total Remuneration Survey leads by two points.
Mercer Total Remuneration Survey4%#6 of 9Radford2%#7 of 9
The full mid-market standing →Enterprise
Mercer Total Remuneration Survey leads by twenty-eight points.
Mercer Total Remuneration Survey33%#1 of 9Radford5%#4 of 9
The full enterprise standing →What the models said about Mercer Total Remuneration Survey
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Providers to avoid or use carefully include: - Mercer, Willis Towers Watson (WTW), and Radford when the budget is tight” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“avoid traditional enterprise survey providers (like Radford/Aon, Mercer, or Willis Towers Watson” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“Avoid for Mid-Market: Radford (Aon), Mercer, or Willis Towers Watson” Grok 4.20 · direct prompt · hard negative
“One of the most comprehensive and widely used surveys globally... Best for: Mid-sized companies seeking robust, benchmarked data” MiniMax M2.5 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Choose Mercer, WTW, Aon/Radford, or Korn Ferry for global compensation structures and job architecture.” Perplexity Sonar · comparative prompt · first choice
“If you need to set salary bands globally, choose Mercer for breadth.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
What the models said about Radford
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“Providers to avoid or use carefully include: - Mercer, Willis Towers Watson (WTW), and Radford when the budget is tight” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid for Mid-Market: Radford (Aon), Mercer, or Willis Towers Watson” Grok 4.20 · direct prompt · hard negative
“Large vendors (like Radford) rely on hundreds of massive companies to build benchmarks... avoid the heavy enterprise platforms unless you have a dedicated Compensation Manager” Qwen 3.7 Flash · scale prompt · soft negative
“Radford provides deep traditional global enterprise data; Pave offers real-time API integrations” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“It is widely considered the gold standard for tech and SaaS.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Radford excels in private company data (including VC/PE-backed firms) and has massive participation” Grok 4.20 · paraphrase prompt · alternative
Also compared
Payscale vs Mercer Total Remuneration SurveyPayscale vs RadfordPave vs Mercer Total Remuneration SurveyPave vs RadfordComprehensive.io vs Mercer Total Remuneration SurveyComprehensive.io vs RadfordSalary.com CompAnalyst vs Mercer Total Remuneration SurveySalary.com CompAnalyst vs RadfordGlassdoor vs Mercer Total Remuneration SurveyGlassdoor vs RadfordMercer Total Remuneration Survey vs Willis Towers WatsonRadford vs Willis Towers WatsonAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full compensation benchmarkin standing
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.