Salary.com CompAnalyst vs Mercer Total Remuneration Survey
One of fourteen models named Salary.com CompAnalyst first on the direct prompt; zero named Mercer Total Remuneration Survey. Salary.com CompAnalyst was named by twelve of the fourteen models and Mercer Total Remuneration Survey by fourteen and Salary.com CompAnalyst carries 22 labels and Mercer Total Remuneration Survey 34, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
Named in one category 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 compensation benchmarking data page.
By framing
Salary.com CompAnalystFirst choices, of fourteen modelsMercer Total Remuneration Survey
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Salary.com CompAnalyst and Mercer Total Remuneration Survey were named in the same answer forty-four times, of the 164 answers naming Salary.com CompAnalyst and the 92 naming Mercer Total Remuneration Survey. In those answers Mercer Total Remuneration Survey took the first choice thirteen times and Salary.com CompAnalyst four.
Every model, every framing
| 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 | | | |
Salary.com CompAnalyst Mercer Total Remuneration Survey first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Salary.com CompAnalyst on the left and Mercer Total Remuneration Survey on the right.The direct prompt
Salary.com CompAnalyst first, Mercer Total Remuneration Survey not the choice
1 of 14 modelsMercer Total Remuneration Survey was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Neither was the first choice, one was named
8 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
5 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.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
Salary.com CompAnalyst10%#3 of 10Mercer Total Remuneration Survey0%#9 of 10Salary.com CompAnalyst4%#4 of 9Mercer Total Remuneration Survey4%#6 of 9Mercer Total Remuneration Survey33%#1 of 9Salary.com CompAnalyst9%#2 of 9What the models said about Salary.com CompAnalyst
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of four in this category shown.
“Free tools (e.g., basic Salary.com or Levels.fyi) can be a starting point but often lack depth.” Grok 4.20 · scale prompt · soft negative
“full benchmarking requires subscriptions (avoid if budget is tight)” Grok 4.20 · budget prompt · soft negative
“Primary source: Payscale or Salary.com CompAnalyst — for general job pricing across all functions” DeepSeek V4 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“the best default choice is usually Salary.com” GPT-5.4 mini · direct prompt · first choice
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
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.