AI Trainer Pay Index: advertised vs. real pay
What each platform advertises, the median hourly rate across its live listings where a dataset tracks it, the realistic range from its sources and what workers report, side by side. Median listed rates run from $8/h to $87/h.
Pay figures are what platforms advertise or what workers report, each with its date. They are not typical or guaranteed earnings: yours depend on your skills, hours, location and how much work is available.
Download Pay index (CSV) All entries (CSV) All entries (JSON) Licence: CC BY 4.0
| Platform | Advertised | Median listed What people typically get vs. the best rate a platform advertises. More in the glossary | Realistic | Workers report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AfterQuery | not published | $87/h aitrainer.work · 12 Oct 2026 | $50–150/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | — |
| Ethos | not published | $80/h aitrainer.work · 12 Oct 2026 | $60–225/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | — |
| Handshake AI Fellowship | $40–125/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | $80/h aitrainer.work · 1 Oct 2026 | $30–125/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | — |
| Mercor | $20–250/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | $75/h aitrainer.work · 12 Oct 2026 | $16–150/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | — |
| micro1 | not published | $65/h aitrainer.work · 12 Oct 2026 | $25–150/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | — |
| Mindrift | $15–100/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | $45/h aitrainer.work · 12 Oct 2026 | $12–60/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | Tier B: 'clunky but legitimate', $12–20/h Breaking Even · 14 Sep 2026 |
| Alignerr | $10–280/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | $23/h aitrainer.work · 12 Oct 2026 | $15–60/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | — |
| Outlier | $15–150/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | $20/h aitrainer.work · 12 Oct 2026 | $12–60/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | $12–30/h standard, $35–60/h specialists (self-reported) The AI Rankings · 16 Aug 2026 |
| TELUS Digital AI Community | not published | $10/h aitrainer.work · 12 Oct 2026 | $8–17/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | — |
| Meridial | not published | $8/h aitrainer.work · 12 Oct 2026 | $8–50/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | — |
| Turing | not published | no dataset figure | $25–90/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | — |
| DataAnnotation | $20–150/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | no dataset figure | $14–45/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | $14–20/h generalist The AI Rankings · 17 Aug 2026 |
| Appen / CrowdGen | not published | no dataset figure | $5–20/h as of 13 Oct 2026 · sources | — |
Not in the index: SME Careers (not checked yet), Stellar AI (closed).
How the index works
- Advertised is the range or maximum the platform promotes, as of the entry's last check.
- Median listed is the middle hourly rate across a platform's live listings in a dataset that tracks them, read from the entry's sourced fact with its own date. It is a listing rate, not what people take home.
- Realistic is what the entry's sources say most people get, including hour caps, unpaid screening and gaps between projects.
- Workers report shows pay that workers post in public communities. Community-reported: self-reports and post counts from public forums, as dated. Not verified by us; individual experiences vary.
- Sorted by median listed rate, highest first; platforms without one follow, by the middle of their realistic range. Unchecked and closed platforms are left out.
More on sources and grades: How we know. All AI training platforms, compared on more than pay: AI training & evaluation.