Mercor reviews · researched 4 Oct 2026

Is Mercor legit?

Yes. Mercor is a real San Francisco company, valued at $10 billion in October 2025, that pays contractors every week through Stripe or Wise. Projects are temporary and can be paused, cut or repriced at short notice, and the March 2026 breach showed that the ID and tax details you upload can leak.

As of 18 Oct 2026, AITraining.jobs lists 232 open Mercor roles; their typical pay runs $55 to $150 an hour, with a median of $75.

The Mercor review

Researched October 2026 · 35 sources

It pays $55–$150/hr typically (median $75/hr).

Actively hiring, pay independently measured from its live feed

Who is behind it

Founded in 2023 by Brendan Foody (CEO), Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha, Mercor raised $100 million at a $2 billion valuation in February 2025 and $350 million at $10 billion in October 2025, and bought Sepal AI and Deeptune in 2026. It says it pays out over $2 million a day to more than 30,000 weekly active contractors (May 2026); its customers include OpenAI and Anthropic. AIData.Broker's record of Mercor, a database we also run, lists each funding round, valuation and revenue figure published about the company, with its source.

Getting paid

Hourly contractors are paid every Wednesday for the previous week of approved hours, tracked in the Insightful app, through Stripe Connect, or Wise where Stripe is not available; the first Stripe payout is held 7 days. Mercor withholds no tax, and US contractors who earn over $600 get a 1099-NEC.

Worker ratings

Trustpilot 4.4/5 (999 reviews) · Glassdoor 4.2/5 (195 reviews) · Indeed 3.9/5 (26 reviews). Read October 2026.

Verified active

232 open roles on Mercor, independently checked 18 Oct 2026.

Who can join

Global (45+ countries); many projects timezone- or country-restricted (US/UK/AU premiums).

Fake Mercor recruiters

Mercor says it never charges fees, its real email ends in @mercor.com, and accounts and payouts are set up only at work.mercor.com; offers from other or misspelled domains are fake (report them to support@mercor.com). Job scammers often start on text, WhatsApp or Telegram and later ask for money.

What people praise

Many reviewers say weekly payouts arrive on time.
Reviewers like the flexible remote schedule and competitive hourly rates.
Some describe project staff as supportive and quick to communicate.

What people complain about

Projects can be paused or ended suddenly, sometimes with only an automated email, and work between projects is uneven.
Some spend hours on unpaid AI interviews, assessments or onboarding, then see offers stall or projects cancelled before work starts.
Some report logged hours being removed and pay refused after the work was done.
Support is mostly automated, and rejected applicants say they get no reasons.

What has gone wrong

March 2026. From March 24 to 30, 2026, an attacker used a poisoned version of the open-source LiteLLM tool to download Mercor data, including Social Security and government ID numbers per state filings, and Meta paused its work with Mercor. Mercor says only a very limited subset of experts was affected, saw no evidence of fraud and offered credit monitoring.
April 2026. In the week after the breach, contractors filed five lawsuits in federal courts in California and Texas over exposed personal data; Mercor declined to comment. In May 2026 a proposed class action in Texas federal court said Mercor misclassified more than 30,000 experts as contractors, and Mercor asked the court to send the case to arbitration.
November 2025. Mercor ended Musen, a Meta project that had more than 5,000 people at its peak, citing 'project scope changes', and offered similar work on a new project at $16 an hour instead of $21. Mercor said it is clear from the start that this is 'temporary, project-based work.'

Who it suits

Best for: Professionals with in-demand expertise (for example medicine, law, finance or engineering) who want flexible, hourly remote project work and can live with gaps between projects. Not for: Anyone who needs steady, guaranteed hours or benefits, or who is not comfortable sharing ID and tax details and working under screenshot-based time tracking.

Sources for this review

Got a message from Mercor?

Its real sites: mercor.com. Real email from @mercor.com (for example support@mercor.com). Paste the message to check the links, the sender and the pay.

Check a message

What Mercor's job board shows

Read from its public job board every day: how much it lists, how often it states pay, who may apply and how fast roles come down, against every other platform this site reads.

Mercor listed 229 open roles on 17 Oct 2026, 6.2% of the 3,668 open across the 29 platforms AITraining.jobs reads, the 7th most.

Counted at the end of each week, Mercor went from 261 open roles on 9 Aug 2026 to 203 on 11 Oct 2026 (-22.2%); the highest count was 365 on 6 Sep 2026.

From 20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026, Mercor posted 251 new listings and removed 311 (listed a median of 33.2 days before removal, against 32.1 days on other platforms); its open roles went from 289 to 229 (-20.8%).

None of its 229 open roles are open to applicants in any country (30.4% on other platforms); 45.0% are limited to listed countries, most often the United States (named by 68.0%); 55.0% exclude the same 89 countries, among them Afghanistan, Andorra and Armenia.

Mercor against the other platforms

How does Mercor compare with the rest of the market on size, pay, reach and turnover?

Measure	Mercor	Other platforms	Its rank (1 = highest)
Open roles on 17 Oct 2026	229	3,439	7th of 29
Share of all open roles	6.2%	93.8%	7th of 29
New listings in the window	251	2,001	4th of 29
Kinds of work listed	10	12	joint 3rd of 29
Open roles stating an hourly rate	83.4%	82.6%	14th of 25
Median advertised pay	$75/hr	$65/hr	joint 8th of 22
Open roles accepting any country	0.0%	30.4%	joint 16th of 25
Median days listed, removed roles	33.2 days	32.1 days	8th of 13

229 roles Mercor listed open at the end of 17 Oct 2026, beside the 3,439 open on the other 28 platforms AITraining.jobs reads; listings from 20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026. Mercor Hiring Data, figure 1, live data 20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026.

Open roles at Mercor, week by week

Is Mercor listing more AI training roles or fewer?

Week	Open at the end of the week	New listings	Removed
3 to 9 Aug	261	125	44
10 to 16 Aug	329	94	26
17 to 23 Aug	343	44	30
24 to 30 Aug	349	68	62
31 Aug to 6 Sep	365	111	95
7 to 13 Sep	336	47	76
14 to 20 Sep	289	85	132
21 to 27 Sep	272	48	65
28 Sep to 4 Oct	225	35	82
5 to 11 Oct	203	20	42

Listings by Mercor, by ISO week (Monday to Sunday, UTC), 20 Jul 2026 to 11 Oct 2026; 10 weeks tracked. Mercor Hiring Data, figure 2, live data 20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026.

Mercor reviews: questions

Is Mercor legit?

Yes. Mercor is a real San Francisco company, valued at $10 billion in October 2025, that pays contractors every week through Stripe or Wise. Projects are temporary and can be paused, cut or repriced at short notice, and the March 2026 breach showed that the ID and tax details you upload can leak.

Is Mercor a scam?

No. Mercor is a real company. Mercor says it never charges fees, its real email ends in @mercor.com, and accounts and payouts are set up only at work.mercor.com; offers from other or misspelled domains are fake (report them to support@mercor.com). Job scammers often start on text, WhatsApp or Telegram and later ask for money.

Does Mercor pay?

Yes. Credible with strong payment reliability (weekly Stripe payouts on time). Earnings are feast-or-famine as project queues ebb and flow. Payouts: Weekly via Stripe (1099 contractors). Hourly contractors are paid every Wednesday for the previous week of approved hours, tracked in the Insightful app, through Stripe Connect, or Wise where Stripe is not available; the first Stripe payout is held 7 days. Mercor withholds no tax, and US contractors who earn over $600 get a 1099-NEC.

What do workers say about Mercor?

Trustpilot 4.4/5 (999 reviews) · Glassdoor 4.2/5 (195 reviews) · Indeed 3.9/5 (26 reviews), read October 2026. Praise: Many reviewers say weekly payouts arrive on time. Complaints: Projects can be paused or ended suddenly, sometimes with only an automated email, and work between projects is uneven.

Has anything gone wrong at Mercor?

March 2026: From March 24 to 30, 2026, an attacker used a poisoned version of the open-source LiteLLM tool to download Mercor data, including Social Security and government ID numbers per state filings, and Meta paused its work with Mercor. Mercor says only a very limited subset of experts was affected, saw no evidence of fraud and offered credit monitoring. April 2026: In the week after the breach, contractors filed five lawsuits in federal courts in California and Texas over exposed personal data; Mercor declined to comment. In May 2026 a proposed class action in Texas federal court said Mercor misclassified more than 30,000 experts as contractors, and Mercor asked the court to send the case to arbitration. November 2025: Mercor ended Musen, a Meta project that had more than 5,000 people at its peak, citing 'project scope changes', and offered similar work on a new project at $16 an hour instead of $21. Mercor said it is clear from the start that this is 'temporary, project-based work.'

How do I spot a fake Mercor recruiter?

Is Mercor hiring right now?

Yes. 232 open Mercor roles are listed on its public job board, read 18 Oct 2026. Counted at the end of each week, Mercor went from 261 open roles on 9 Aug 2026 to 203 on 11 Oct 2026 (-22.2%); the highest count was 365 on 6 Sep 2026.

Who is Mercor for?

Is Mercor legit?

The Mercor review

Got a message from Mercor?

What Mercor's job board shows

Mercor against the other platforms

Open roles at Mercor, week by week

Mercor reviews: questions

More on Mercor