Business banking · October 2026 Edition
Mercury vs Relay
One of fourteen models named Mercury first on the direct prompt; zero named Relay. Both were named by all fourteen models and Mercury carries 44 labels and Relay 26, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in seven categories this edition.
Named in two categories this edition.
First-choice share23%4%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate18%27%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#8A position in a field of 14; printed, not drawn.
Labels4426A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Mercury reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Bank of America was named alongside these two in eight of the fourteen direct answers. Mercury vs Rho · Mercury vs Bluevine · Mercury vs Novo
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.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
MercuryFirst choices, of fourteen modelsRelay
Direct102 against Mercury
Paraphrase601 against Relay
Comparative10
Budget-constrained52
Scale-constrained00
Negative006 against Mercury · 6 against Relay
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 October 2026 Edition, Mercury and Relay were named in the same answer sixty times, of the 194 answers naming Mercury and the 88 naming Relay. In those answers Relay took the first choice eight times and Mercury sixteen.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Mercury and Relay stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | ||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | |||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | |||||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | | | |
| 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 | | |
Mercury Relay first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Mercury on the left and Relay on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Mercury and Relay stood in it.
Mercury first, Relay not the choice
1 of 14 modelsRelay was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GLM 4.7 FlashXMercury alternatives: Airwallex, Bank of America, Brex, Chase Business Banking
Neither was the first choice, one was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Claude Haiku 4.5Chase Business Banking alternatives: Bluevine Premier Business Checking, KeyBank, Relay
Gemini 3.5 FlashRho alternatives: Bank of America, Brex, Chase Business Banking, Mercury, Ramp
Qwen 3.7 FlashRamp alternatives: Aspire, Bank of America, Chase Business Banking, Mercury, Oxygen Banking
Kimi K2Chase Performance Business Checking alternatives: Brex, Mercury, Relay
Neither was named
9 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.GPT-5.4 miniJ.P. Morgan Commercial Banking alternatives: Bank of America, Wells Fargo Commercial Banking
Perplexity SonarRho alternatives: Airwallex, Brex, Capital One Enhanced Checking
Grok 4.1 FastChase Business Banking alternatives: Bank of America, Capital One
Mistral SmallCapital One alternatives: PNC Bank Treasury Enterprise Plan, Truist Bank, Wells Fargo
DeepSeek V4 FlashBank of America, Chase Business Banking alternatives: Capital One
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
MiniMax M2.5PNC Bank alternatives: Capital One, First Internet Bank, Rho, Wise Business
GPT-6 LunaJ.P. Morgan Commercial Banking alternatives: Bank of America, Citibank, U.S. Bank
Muse Glimmer 30BBank of America, Chase Business Banking
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
Mercury leads by twenty-six points.
Mercury35%#1 of 12Relay9%#4 of 12Mid-marketThe figures above
Enterprise
What the models said about Mercury
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Mercury, Relay, and BlueVine draw approximately four times the complaints of other business banking providers” MiniMax M2.5 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Highest rate of negative reviews among business banks (15.4/month), with ~41% citing sudden account closures” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · hard negative
“Accounts are being closed or frozen at an unusually high rate ... Highest-Caution Fintech Providers” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“For a US startup with a tiny budget: Novo or Mercury (both completely free with $0 minimums and excellent features).” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
“Bluevine or Mercury currently offer the best combination of zero fees, features, and accessibility” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · first choice
“Mercury has effectively become the default operating account for mid-market B2B companies.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Relay
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“51% of negatives related to account closures — the highest closure complaint ratio of any provider studied” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“Elevated issues (13.3 negatives/month), 51% involving closures/freezes—tops the list for this problem.” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · hard negative
“Relay | 13.3 negative reviews/month | Account closures (51% of complaints)” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative
“For most companies with limited budgets, Mercury or Relay are excellent choices” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · first choice
“Mercury and Relay are standout choices for businesses with limited budgets” Mistral Small · budget prompt · first choice
“Relay has features that benefit midsize businesses and fast-growing startups, with no monthly fees and strong expense management tools.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · direct prompt · alternative
Also compared
Mercury vs RhoMercury vs BluevineMercury vs NovoMercury vs Chase Business BankingMercury vs Bank of AmericaMercury vs BrexRho vs RelayBluevine vs RelayNovo vs RelayChase Business Banking vs RelayBank of America vs RelayBrex vs RelayAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full business banking 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.