Key findings
- 1
Among roles open to US residents, the widest gap for the same kind of work is in Multilingual & Localization: Mindrift advertises a median of $100 an hour and Turing $15 (6.67 times).
- 2
For roles open to US residents, the best-paying platform advertises 2.05 times the rate of the worst-paying one in the typical kind of work (10 kinds compared).
- 3
Across all roles, wherever they hire, the widest gap is in Robotics & Physical-AI Data: RemoExperts advertises a median of $105 an hour and Claru $9, 11.67 times as much, partly because the two hire in different countries.
- 4
Across all roles, wherever they hire, the best-paying platform advertises 4.15 times the rate of the worst-paying one in the typical kind of work (median across 10 kinds of work with two or more platforms compared).
- 5
For medicine & nursing roles, Mercor advertises a median of $135 an hour against $40 at Alignerr (9 platforms compared).
- 6
For law roles, micro1 advertises a median of $133 an hour against $60 at SuperAnnotate (SME) (4 platforms compared).
- 7
For finance, accounting & economics roles, AfterQuery advertises a median of $108 an hour against $60 at Invisible (7 platforms compared).
- 8
For software & computer science roles, Handshake AI advertises a median of $98 an hour against $31 at OpenTrain AI (11 platforms compared).
- 9
For English, the most listed language, platform medians run from $20 (Welo Data) to $160 (Alignerr).
- 10
micro1 advertises the highest median rate in 3 kinds of work: Math & STEM, Data Annotation & Labeling and Writing & Content.
Figure 1
Rate card for roles open to US residents
Like for like on geography: for roles a US resident can apply to, what does each platform advertise per hour?
| Kind of work | All platforms | Alignerr | micro1 | Invisible | Mercor | Highest over lowest | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Studies & Surveys | $100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | $100 | n/a | n/a |
| Math & STEM | $83 | $100 | $150 | $65 | n/a | n/a | $114 | $75 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 3.95x |
| Multilingual & Localization | $82 | $80 | $32 | $65 | $25 | $28 | n/a | $30 | $19 | $100 | $23 | 6.67x |
| Law, Medicine & Finance | $80 | $60 | $100 | $65 | $90 | $83 | $88 | $85 | $93 | $69 | n/a | 4.55x |
| Red-Teaming & AI Safety | $79 | $50 | n/a | n/a | n/a | $100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 2.00x |
| Coding & Software Evaluation | $70 | $75 | $75 | $65 | $75 | $65 | $75 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.31x |
| AI Evaluation & Rating (RLHF) | $65 | $80 | $60 | $45 | $75 | $95 | n/a | $54 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 2.11x |
| Writing & Content | $55 | $40 | $60 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.50x |
| Agentic Tasks & RL Environments | $50 | n/a | n/a | n/a | $50 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Data Annotation & Labeling | $38 | $40 | $43 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | $34 | 1.43x |
| Transcription, Audio & Speech | $30 | $26 | $25 | $36 | $70 | n/a | $30 | n/a | $25 | n/a | $28 | 4.20x |
| Robotics & Physical-AI Data | $15 | n/a | $15 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.00x |
Sample. 2,094 roles open to US residents, open at the end of 17 Oct 2026, that state an hourly rate. A platform's median is shown where at least 5 of its roles in the row state one; n/a otherwise.
Advertised pay: the hourly figure a posting states (the middle of a stated range). What a worker is paid can differ with tiers, bonuses and rejected tasks.
Columns are the 10 platforms with the most published medians in this table; "All platforms" counts every platform's priced roles in the row.
Only roles a resident of the United States may apply to (open worldwide, listing the US, or not excluding it), so a platform hiring mostly in lower-cost countries is compared on the same ground.
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The AI Training Rate Card, live data.
Figure 2
Rate card by kind of work
For each kind of AI training work, what does each platform advertise per hour?
| Kind of work | All platforms | Alignerr | micro1 | Mercor | SuperAnnotate (SME) | Highest over lowest | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Studies & Surveys | $100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Law, Medicine & Finance | $70 | $60 | $100 | $90 | $60 | $65 | $33 | $88 | $93 | $85 | n/a | 4.55x |
| Red-Teaming & AI Safety | $70 | $50 | n/a | n/a | $74 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.48x |
| Coding & Software Evaluation | $65 | $75 | $75 | $75 | $55 | $65 | $25 | $75 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 3.40x |
| Multilingual & Localization | $65 | $80 | $32 | $25 | $28 | $65 | n/a | n/a | $18 | $30 | $11 | 9.09x |
| Math & STEM | $65 | $100 | $150 | $50 | n/a | $65 | $38 | $114 | n/a | $75 | n/a | 3.95x |
| AI Evaluation & Rating (RLHF) | $55 | $80 | $60 | $75 | $50 | $53 | n/a | n/a | $26 | $39 | $20 | 4.00x |
| Agentic Tasks & RL Environments | $50 | n/a | n/a | $50 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Writing & Content | $49 | $40 | $60 | n/a | $25 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 2.40x |
| Transcription, Audio & Speech | $30 | $26 | $25 | $75 | n/a | $36 | $15 | $30 | $20 | n/a | $28 | 7.00x |
| Data Annotation & Labeling | $30 | $40 | $43 | n/a | $20 | n/a | $10 | n/a | n/a | n/a | $29 | 4.30x |
| Robotics & Physical-AI Data | $10 | n/a | $14 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 11.67x |
Sample. 3,031 roles, open at the end of 17 Oct 2026, that state an hourly rate. A platform's median is shown where at least 5 of its roles in the row state one; n/a otherwise.
Advertised pay: the hourly figure a posting states (the middle of a stated range). What a worker is paid can differ with tiers, bonuses and rejected tasks.
Columns are the 10 platforms with the most published medians in this table; "All platforms" counts every platform's priced roles in the row.
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The AI Training Rate Card, live data.
Figure 3
Rate card by expert field
For each profession or discipline named in a title, what does each platform advertise per hour?
| Expert field | All platforms | Alignerr | Handshake AI | micro1 | SuperAnnotate (SME) | Highest over lowest | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Law | $109 | n/a | n/a | $133 | $60 | $125 | n/a | $95 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 2.22x |
| Psychology & mental health | $95 | n/a | n/a | $150 | n/a | $88 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.70x |
| Finance, accounting & economics | $80 | $80 | $93 | $100 | $68 | $108 | $60 | $83 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.80x |
| Voice acting, music & sound | $75 | $160 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | $36 | $75 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 4.44x |
| Design & visual arts | $70 | $100 | $116 | $65 | $100 | n/a | n/a | $64 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.81x |
| Medicine & nursing | $70 | $40 | $125 | $103 | $65 | $84 | $65 | $135 | n/a | $60 | n/a | 3.38x |
| Biology & life sciences | $65 | $76 | $75 | n/a | n/a | n/a | $65 | n/a | $40 | n/a | n/a | 1.90x |
| Business, sales & consulting | $65 | $35 | $80 | $66 | $50 | $85 | n/a | $80 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 2.43x |
| Engineering (non-software) | $65 | $48 | $75 | $68 | $70 | $98 | $65 | $78 | $40 | $36 | $93 | 2.72x |
| Humanities & social sciences | $65 | n/a | $78 | n/a | $65 | n/a | $50 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.56x |
| Mathematics & statistics | $65 | $91 | $75 | n/a | n/a | n/a | $65 | n/a | $40 | n/a | n/a | 2.28x |
| Software & computer science | $65 | $75 | $98 | $75 | $60 | $80 | $65 | $75 | $63 | n/a | $85 | 3.16x |
| Physics & astronomy | $62 | $60 | n/a | $150 | $60 | n/a | n/a | $95 | $40 | n/a | n/a | 3.75x |
| Education & teaching | $53 | $53 | n/a | n/a | n/a | $54 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.02x |
| Chemistry | $50 | $61 | $65 | n/a | $55 | n/a | $65 | n/a | $40 | n/a | n/a | 1.63x |
| Writing, editing & journalism | $48 | $23 | n/a | $60 | n/a | $100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 4.35x |
Sample. Roles whose title names an expert field, open at the end of 17 Oct 2026, that state an hourly rate. A platform's median is shown where at least 5 of its roles in the row state one; n/a otherwise.
Advertised pay: the hourly figure a posting states (the middle of a stated range). What a worker is paid can differ with tiers, bonuses and rejected tasks.
Columns are the 10 platforms with the most published medians in this table; "All platforms" counts every platform's priced roles in the row.
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The AI Training Rate Card, live data.
Figure 4
Rate card by language
For each language named in a title, what does each platform advertise per hour?
| Language | All platforms | Invisible | Mindrift | Alignerr | Welo Data | Highest over lowest | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | $100 | $65 | $100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.54x |
| Danish | $100 | n/a | $100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Finnish | $100 | n/a | $100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Hebrew | $100 | n/a | $100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Polish | $100 | n/a | $100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Dutch | $65 | $65 | $100 | $23 | $15 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 6.67x |
| German | $65 | $65 | $100 | $26 | $33 | $75 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 3.85x |
| Italian | $65 | $65 | $100 | $29 | $18 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 5.56x |
| Japanese | $65 | $65 | $100 | $26 | n/a | n/a | n/a | $125 | n/a | 4.81x |
| Korean | $65 | $65 | $100 | $26 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 3.85x |
| Portuguese | $65 | $65 | $100 | $25 | $28 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 4.00x |
| Swedish | $65 | $65 | $100 | n/a | $27 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 3.70x |
| Spanish | $51 | $65 | n/a | $56 | $30 | $70 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 2.33x |
| French | $50 | $65 | n/a | $28 | $30 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 2.32x |
| Hindi | $37 | $65 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Indonesian | $37 | $65 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Russian | $37 | $65 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | $35 | $37 | n/a | $26 | $15 | $63 | n/a | n/a | $35 | 4.20x |
| English | $30 | $65 | $100 | $160 | $20 | $55 | $30 | n/a | n/a | 8.00x |
Sample. Roles whose title names a language, open at the end of 17 Oct 2026, that state an hourly rate. A platform's median is shown where at least 5 of its roles in the row state one; n/a otherwise.
Advertised pay: the hourly figure a posting states (the middle of a stated range). What a worker is paid can differ with tiers, bonuses and rejected tasks.
Columns are the 8 platforms with the most published medians in this table; "All platforms" counts every platform's priced roles in the row.
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The AI Training Rate Card, live data.
Figure 5
How much the platform changes the rate for the same work
For the same work, how far apart are the best- and worst-paying platforms?
| Work | Highest | Lowest | Highest over lowest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robotics & Physical-AI Data | RemoExperts $105 | Claru $9 | 11.67x |
| Multilingual & Localization | Mindrift $100 | Welo Data $11 | 9.09x |
| English | Alignerr $160 | Welo Data $20 | 8.00x |
| Transcription, Audio & Speech | Babel Audio $105 | OpenTrain AI $15 | 7.00x |
| Dutch | Mindrift $100 | Welo Data $15 | 6.67x |
| Italian | Mindrift $100 | Welo Data $18 | 5.56x |
| Japanese | micro1 $125 | Alignerr $26 | 4.81x |
| Law, Medicine & Finance | Turing $150 | OpenTrain AI $33 | 4.55x |
| Voice acting, music & sound | Alignerr $160 | Invisible $36 | 4.44x |
| Writing, editing & journalism | AfterQuery $100 | Alignerr $23 | 4.35x |
| Data Annotation & Labeling | micro1 $43 | OpenTrain AI $10 | 4.30x |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | Mercor $63 | Welo Data $15 | 4.20x |
| Portuguese | Mindrift $100 | Alignerr $25 | 4.00x |
| AI Evaluation & Rating (RLHF) | Alignerr $80 | Welo Data $20 | 4.00x |
| Math & STEM | micro1 $150 | OpenTrain AI $38 | 3.95x |
| German | Mindrift $100 | Alignerr $26 | 3.85x |
| Korean | Mindrift $100 | Alignerr $26 | 3.85x |
| Physics & astronomy | micro1 $150 | Anyone AI $40 | 3.75x |
| Swedish | Mindrift $100 | Welo Data $27 | 3.70x |
| Coding & Software Evaluation | RemoExperts $85 | OpenTrain AI $25 | 3.40x |
| Medicine & nursing | Mercor $135 | Alignerr $40 | 3.38x |
| Software & computer science | Handshake AI $98 | OpenTrain AI $31 | 3.16x |
| Engineering (non-software) | AfterQuery $98 | Mindrift $36 | 2.72x |
| Business, sales & consulting | AfterQuery $85 | Alignerr $35 | 2.43x |
| Writing & Content | micro1 $60 | SuperAnnotate (SME) $25 | 2.40x |
| Spanish | Mercor $70 | Welo Data $30 | 2.33x |
| French | Invisible $65 | Alignerr $28 | 2.32x |
| Mathematics & statistics | Alignerr $91 | Anyone AI $40 | 2.28x |
| Law | micro1 $133 | SuperAnnotate (SME) $60 | 2.22x |
| Biology & life sciences | Alignerr $76 | Anyone AI $40 | 1.90x |
| Design & visual arts | Handshake AI $116 | Mercor $64 | 1.81x |
| Finance, accounting & economics | AfterQuery $108 | Invisible $60 | 1.80x |
| Psychology & mental health | micro1 $150 | AfterQuery $88 | 1.70x |
| Chemistry | Handshake AI $65 | Anyone AI $40 | 1.63x |
| Humanities & social sciences | Handshake AI $78 | Invisible $50 | 1.56x |
| Arabic | Mindrift $100 | Invisible $65 | 1.54x |
| Red-Teaming & AI Safety | SuperAnnotate (SME) $74 | Alignerr $50 | 1.48x |
| Education & teaching | AfterQuery $54 | Alignerr $53 | 1.02x |
Sample. Groups in which at least two platforms each have 5 or more open roles stating an hourly rate, on 17 Oct 2026.
A spread compares platform medians, not individual roles: one platform can pay a wide range within the same work.
Across all roles a spread also reflects where each platform hires: many set lower rates in lower-cost countries. The rate card for roles open to US residents compares like for like.
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The AI Training Rate Card, live data.
Figure 6
Which platform advertises the most for each kind of work
Which platforms pay the top rate in the most kinds of AI training work?
| Platform | Kinds of work where it pays the most | Which |
|---|---|---|
| micro1 | 3 | Math & STEM, Data Annotation & Labeling and Writing & Content |
| RemoExperts | 2 | Coding & Software Evaluation and Robotics & Physical-AI Data |
| Alignerr | 1 | AI Evaluation & Rating (RLHF) |
| Babel Audio | 1 | Transcription, Audio & Speech |
| Mindrift | 1 | Multilingual & Localization |
| SuperAnnotate (SME) | 1 | Red-Teaming & AI Safety |
| Turing | 1 | Law, Medicine & Finance |
Sample. Kinds of work with at least two platforms each advertising an hourly rate on 5 or more open roles, on 17 Oct 2026.
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The AI Training Rate Card, live data.
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9,572 roles tracked, each with its history
Every role on 29 job boards, read daily since 13 Jul 2026: its pay and place, and the first and last day it was open.
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Method and definitions
The public job boards of the AI training platforms this site tracks, read every day. Every figure is computed by one database query over the window shown, the same query for the live report and for every edition. Each figure states its sample beneath it.
- Platform median
- The median advertised hourly rate of a platform's open roles in a group that state one, published only with at least 5 such roles.
- Like for like
- The rate card for roles open to US residents compares platforms on the same geography: many set lower rates in lower-cost countries.
- Highest over lowest
- The best-paying platform's median divided by the worst-paying platform's, among platforms with a published median.
- Advertised pay
- The hourly figure a posting states (the middle of a stated range). Medians need at least 8 roles stating a rate; the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
- Kind of work
- Each role is classified from its title and description into one of the twelve kinds of AI training work this site tracks, from AI evaluation and coding to multilingual and audio work. Every kind links to its own page.
- Location rule
- Read from each posting's location text and, where that names no country, from what the posting's own description states: open worldwide, worldwide except listed countries, only listed countries, or no rule stated.
- Window
- Live: the last 28 complete days, in UTC. Edition: one calendar month, in UTC.
What this data cannot tell you
- Platforms that recruit without a public job board are not counted. Several large ones invite workers to projects directly.
- A listing is not a hire. Some platforms keep evergreen roles open for months, and some post one listing per language or country.
- Pay is what postings advertise, not what workers are paid after tiers, bonuses or rejected tasks.
- A platform median covers the roles it lists in that group; two platforms' roles in one group can still differ in seniority and difficulty.
How the job feeds are read and roles are classified: site methodology. How fresh, complete and consistent the data is, checked every day: data quality and coverage.
Editions
The live report covers the last 28 complete days and changes every day. Each complete month is also published as an edition, frozen two days after the month ends, so a figure you cite from an edition never moves.
- Live dataLast 28 complete days, recomputed daily
- September 2026 editionFrozen 11 Oct 2026
- August 2026 editionFrozen 11 Oct 2026
Cite and reuse
Free to quote, chart and republish under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page. Live figures change daily: cite a monthly edition for numbers that will read the same later, or keep the access date.
Citation
AITraining.jobs (2026). The AI Training Rate Card (live data, 20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026). https://www.aitraining.team/research/ai-training-rate-card (accessed 18 Oct 2026)
BibTeX
@misc{aitrainingjobs_ai_training_rate_card_live,
author = {{AITraining.jobs}},
title = {The AI Training Rate Card (live data, 20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026)},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://www.aitraining.team/research/ai-training-rate-card}},
note = {Accessed 18 Oct 2026},
}More research
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- How AI Training Work Is PaidHow is AI training work paid: by the hour, by the task or by salary, on what contract, and how often?Read the report
- AI Training Pay Against the Local Minimum WageFor the roles a resident of each country may apply to, how does advertised AI training pay compare with that country's minimum wage?Read the report
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