Mercor alternatives for human data and AI evaluation.
Seven suppliers AI labs use for training and evaluation work, each described from its own published pages, and where a pod of working software engineers fits.
How to read this page
- Every line about another company is in its own words or from its own site, with the link
- Checked on 14 November 2026
- Awana wrote it and is one of the options; it says below where it is not the right one
The short answer.
The seven differ most in who does the work. Mercor, Surge AI, Turing and Invisible describe networks of domain experts. Scale sources contributors through its Outlier platform. Handshake draws on students, alumni and graduate degree holders. Prolific runs a participant panel you can use without a contract. Awana is a different shape: a dedicated pod of working senior software engineers, for code and agent work, inside your tools.
The seven, in their own words.
Quoted from each company's site on 14 November 2026. Awana's row is last.
| Company | In its own words | Who does the work | How you start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercor | "We're a leading AI data company, building the layer between human expertise and frontier models." Source | "5M+ experts: physicians, lawyers, engineers, consultants" Source | A contact form. Expert staffing, or delivery "priced per task rather than per head". No customer prices on the site. Source |
| Surge AI | "Our mission is to raise AGI with the richness of humanity: curious, witty, creative, and wise." Source | "We work with doctors, lawyers, engineers, researchers, finance professionals, and other specialists" Source | A contact form, or "Start a pilot". No customer prices on the site. Source |
| Scale AI | "Scale works across the AI stack, from the data that trains the models you rely on, to the systems that put them to work." Source | Contributors sourced through Outlier, "a platform operated by Scale AI"; "25% have advanced degrees" Source · Source | "Book a 1:1 intro call with us to get started". No customer prices on the site. Source |
| Turing | "Turing drives real economic progress from AI by helping frontier labs improve models and enterprises deploy agentic systems." Source | "The network spans 250+ domains and a 5M+ expert pool" Source | "Request dataset samples" or "Hire experts". No customer prices on the site. Source |
| Invisible Technologies | "Invisible Technologies powers AI from frontier model-building research to intelligent enterprise deployment." Source | "a global network of vetted experts we can deploy on demand" Source | "Book a demo". No customer prices on the site. Source |
| Handshake | "Handshake AI is our new service to provide expert human model validation and technology systems for frontier AI development." Source | "verified students, alumni, and graduate degree holders" Source | "Find talent", or a scoping session for enterprises. No customer prices on the site. Source |
| Prolific | "Prolific connects researchers, AI developers and product teams with real people who take part in studies online." Source | A participant panel: "300,000+ active participants on the platform" Source | Self-serve: "you don't need to sign a contract or pay for a subscription to get started". The platform fee is "usually 42.8% for corporate customers". Source |
| Awana | A United States-led firm that staffs AI-training and evaluation work with senior Latin American engineers. AI-training teams | Working senior software engineers, in a dedicated pod. Roughly 1 in 40 pass vetting. | A call, a free blind calibration round, then a one-week paid trial. A quote follows the first call. |
Which fits which job.
- Domain experts
- Physicians and lawyers, for example. Mercor and Surge AI name them on their sites, and Turing and Invisible describe expert networks across hundreds of domains.
- Datasets and RL environments
- Mercor, Surge AI, Turing, Invisible and Scale list off-the-shelf data or RL environments. Awana sells neither.
- Students and graduates
- Handshake supplies "verified students, alumni, and graduate degree holders".
- A self-serve panel
- Prolific lets you start without a contract and publishes its fees.
- Annotation at volume
- Scale lists text, image, video and 3D annotation alongside RLHF and red teaming.
- Code and agent work
- A standing pod of working software engineers: repo-level tasks, trajectory review, red-teaming coding agents, inside your tools. This is Awana's lane.
Where Awana is not the right choice.
Many labs use more than one supplier. These jobs belong with one of the others.
- Experts outside software. We staff software engineers, not physicians or lawyers.
- Thousands of annotators next week. A pod is a fixed group that stays on your project.
- A self-serve panel. We start with a call and a calibration round.
- Datasets or RL environments to buy. We do not build or sell either.
Five questions for any vendor.
- 1
Who does the work?
Their background, how they were vetted, and by whom.
- 2
Do the same people stay?
Calibration is lost each time the group changes.
- 3
Where does the work happen?
In your tools and access rules, or on the vendor's platform.
- 4
Do you also sell data?
And what separates client work from it.
- 5
Can we test you side by side?
The same tasks, one week, compared on acceptance and agreement.
Awana's answers are on AI-training teams and Security and contracting.
Questions people ask.
What are the alternatives to Mercor for human data?
Suppliers that AI labs use for training and evaluation work include Surge AI, Scale AI, Turing, Invisible Technologies, Handshake and Prolific. They differ in who does the work: networks of domain experts, contributor platforms, students and graduates, or a participant panel. Awana is a different shape again: a dedicated pod of working senior software engineers for code and agent work.
Is Awana a Mercor alternative?
For code and agent work, yes: repo-level coding tasks, agent trajectory review and red-teaming coding agents, done by a standing pod inside your tools. For physicians, lawyers or other domain experts outside software, no. An expert network fits that better.
Which of these vendors publish prices?
As of 14 November 2026, Prolific publishes its platform fees. The other six ask you to contact sales. Awana quotes after the first call, and its blind calibration round is free.
How should we compare human-data vendors?
On your own tasks. Give two vendors the same task set for a week and compare acceptance rate, rationale quality and agreement with your gold set. Ask who does the work, whether the same people stay on the project, where the work happens and whether the vendor also sells datasets.
Does Awana sell datasets or RL environments?
No. Awana does not build or sell datasets, and does not sell RL environments. It staffs engineers who work inside your environment on your tasks.
Test a pod on your own tasks.
Run us beside your current vendor on the same tasks for a week. The calibration round before it is free.
Related: AI-training teams · Human data for AI labs · Coding benchmark pods · AI red teaming and evaluation
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