Small business▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
2%from 0% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 11 pointsRank 156 → 24 of 143
Mercer · 1 category · RankedMercer Total Remuneration Survey
118Judge labels
27First choices
56Negative labels
14 / 14Models named it
1Category
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10.7, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
44% in Compensation benchmarkin for enterprise buyers
Rank 9 of 148 in the mid-market standingcriticized challenger
0 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 52% of its 33 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of Mercer Total Remuneration Survey →By buyer segmentStrongest at enterprise.
Small business26 of 155
2%30 labels
criticized challenger
Mid-market9 of 148
3%33 labels
criticized challenger
Enterprise1 of 130
44%55 labels
criticized default
In compensation benchmarkin · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Mercer Total Remuneration Survey for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compensation benchmarking data | Compensation and total rewards | 3% | 9 of 148 | 52% | 33 | criticized challenger | ▼−4Since September 2026: 6% → 2%, −4 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
Movement
Since September 2026, Mercer Total Remuneration Survey held within the floor in its one category: no change cleared 13 points.
Best category · Compensation benchmarkin · by segment
Mid-market▼−4Since September 2026: 6% → 2%, −4 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
2%from 6% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 9 pointsRank 5 → 17 of 138
Enterprise▲+14Since September 2026: 30% → 44%, +14 points. Past the 13-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.
44%from 30% in September 2026
Cleared the floor by 1 pointRank 1 of 115, unchanged
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compensation benchmarkin | 6% | 2% | ▼−4Since September 2026: 6% → 2%, −4 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 5 → 9 of 148 |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 13 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Mercer Total Remuneration Survey across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Mercer Total Remuneration Survey across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct25 labels7
Paraphrase29 labels16
Comparative10 labels6not counted in share
Budget-constrained19 labels3
Scale-constrained16 labels1
Negative19 labelsNone
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative118 labels in all, every segment counted; 27 of the 33 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“The best compensation survey data for a mid-sized B2B company would be provided by companies like Mercer and Payscale, which are comprehensive for mid-to-large-sized companies.” Llama 4 Maverick · Compensation benchmarkin · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Mercer and WTW, by contrast, collect employer-submitted, verified payroll data directly from HR information systems (HRIS)... considered the definitive "source of truth"” Gemini 3.5 Flash · Compensation benchmarkin · comparative prompt · first choice
“The global leader in human capital and compensation benchmarking... widely considered the gold standard for salary, benefits” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Compensation benchmarkin · comparative prompt · first choice
“Mercer is especially prominent in compensation benchmarking, where survey-based global pay data matters.” Perplexity Sonar · Compensation benchmarkin · comparative prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“Avoid: Traditional survey providers like Mercer, Korn Ferry, or Willis Towers Watson” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Compensation benchmarkin · paraphrase prompt · hard negative
“You typically want to avoid enterprise-level firms (like Mercer or Willis Towers Watson)” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Compensation benchmarkin · budget prompt · hard negative
“"Why you should avoid traditional providers (Mercer, Radford, Willis Towers Watson)"” Muse Glimmer 30B · Compensation benchmarkin · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid traditional providers like Mercer, Willis Towers Watson, or Aon at this stage” DeepSeek V4 Flash · Compensation benchmarkin · budget prompt · hard negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey, over the 118 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Mercer Total Remuneration Survey was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey, over the 118 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Mercer Total Remuneration Survey was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Mercer Total Remuneration Survey. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 106 of the 118 answers that named Mercer Total Remuneration Survey and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
ravio.com73
comprehensive.io48
salarycube.com47
peoplemanagingpeople.com39
pin.com39
captivateiq.com29
figures.hr25
deel.com24
hr-ai-index.com24
worldmetrics.org24
372 of the 372 domain citations in answers naming Mercer Total Remuneration Survey came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
mercer.com ranks 4 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, Mercer Total Remuneration Survey takes 3% of first choices and Pave takes 19%.ShowHide
Search and answers
mercer.com ranks 4 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, Mercer Total Remuneration Survey takes 3% of first choices and Pave takes 19%.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimatesPosition for “benchmarking providers”
–
not in the top ten
Position for “salary benchmarking data provider”
–
not in the top ten
- Searches for its name, Google
- 70 a month (“mercer total remuneration survey”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 1 a month
- Its company's site
- mercer.com shared with Mercer's other products; the figures are the site's
- Organic visits to its site
- about 98,058 a month
- Searches its site ranks for
- 11,928 · 1,272 in the top three
- Sites linking to it
- 29,524
- Paid Google search
- No ads found in the estimate; that does not mean it runs none
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
3%
rank 9 of 148 in compensation benchmarkin
Segment leader
19%
Pave
- First choices
- 27 across its categories
- Named in
- 118 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 106 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Names read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey; a claim can dispute any of them.
Mercer 33
Follow Mercer Total Remuneration Survey
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Mercer is the company behind Mercer Total Remuneration Survey.ShowHide
The company
Mercer is the company behind Mercer Total Remuneration Survey.
ShowHideOn record
Company records- Also from Mercer
- Mercer Benchmark Database, Mercer IBE, Mercer LLC, Mercer MarketPricer, Mercer Pay Equity, Mercer | Mettl
In its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- benchmark compensation and build defensible increment strategies across 140 markets
- For
- HR reward professionals and CFOs
- Price stated
- $11,150 Participant; $22,300 Non Participant mercer.com/en-sg/solutions/talent-and-rewards/compensation-data-insights-and-research/total-remuneration-surveys
- Starting price
- 11150 mercer.com/en-sg/solutions/talent-and-rewards/compensation-data-insights-and-research/total-remuneration-surveys
- Not stated on the pages read
- Free plan or trial, integrations, certifications, hosting, customers
What Mercer Total Remuneration Survey's own pages state, read October 5, 2026: mercer.com/en-sg/solutions/talent-and-rewards/compensation-data-insights-and-research/total-remuneration-surveys, mobilityexchange.mercer.com/surveys, mercer.com.cn/about/newsroom/trs-2022-post-survey-result, mercer.com/ko-kr/about/newsroom/trs-survey, mercer.com/ja-jp/about/newsroom/total-remuneration-survey. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Mercer Total Remuneration Survey's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Mercer Total Remuneration Survey by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Mercer Total Remuneration Survey is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Mercer Total Remuneration Survey, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.