Updated 2 November 2026
Jobs like DataAnnotation are easy to find. Better-paid ones are harder to get. DataAnnotation and Alignerr both accepted me, and I turned down both offers. Their projects felt old school to me, with huge guides and low pay. If you have a profession, the higher-paying work sits on expert platforms such as Mercor, micro1 and AfterQuery, which screen harder. If you are a generalist or bilingual, micro1’s generalist and bilingual roles are a natural next step. Stellar AI, often compared with DataAnnotation, closed this autumn.
I work on Mercor and micro1, and I applied to AfterQuery in November 2026. For DataAnnotation, Outlier and Alignerr, everything beyond my own acceptance comes from their own pages or from the sources I name. I read them on 2 November 2026.
micro1
For people with a degree or real experience in their field who can hold a 20 to 40 minute interview in English. Each role shows its own pay.
This is my referral link, so please open it before you sign up. micro1 pays me a referral bonus, and nothing comes out of your pay.
Why I turned down DataAnnotation and Alignerr
Both platforms accepted me, and both offered me work. I said no to both, for the same reasons. The projects felt old school, with huge guides, and the pay was low.
These platforms may be easier to get into than the expert ones. That is their strength. But if you have a profession, aim for the higher-paying platforms, because that is where your training counts. This page shows where each platform sits, so you can see where to go next from DataAnnotation, Outlier or Alignerr.
Seven platforms at a glance
| Platform | Who gets in | Screening | Listed pay | Paid how and when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DataAnnotation | A bachelor’s degree or equal experience for general work. Higher tracks need advanced degrees or licensed credentials. | One Starter Assessment per track, one attempt, about one to two hours | General $25 to $50+, multilingual $25 to $40, coding $40 to $150+, STEM and professional $40 to $125+ an hour | PayPal, a few days after you request it |
| Outlier | Undergraduate-level expertise at least, graduate degrees preferred | Résumé review, skill screenings, then assessment tasks for each project | Shown before each project, varying by expertise, complexity and location | Weekly on Tuesdays, by PayPal, Airtm or ACH |
| Alignerr | Listings from “no experience needed” to experts | An AI interview and skill tests, according to review sites | From $15 to $20 up to $40 to $120 an hour on its listings | Weekly, according to review sites |
| Stellar AI | Closed in autumn 2026 | None | None | Former contractors can still log in to request their remaining pay |
| Mercor | STEM PhDs, MDs, licensed attorneys, senior engineers and finance professionals, plus generalist projects | An AI interview of about 20 minutes that starts from your résumé | Most $50 an hour and up, expert listings $150 to $250 (October 2026) | Every Wednesday, by Stripe or Wise |
| micro1 | Experts across many fields, plus generalist and bilingual roles | Zara, an AI interview of 20 to 40 minutes, on camera | $30 to $65 for generalist and bilingual roles, up to $400 for BigLaw attorneys (October 2026) | Twice a month through Deel |
| AfterQuery | Software engineers, PhDs and professionals in finance, law, data science, health and business | A form, with no interview in my case. Some pools add an unpaid one-attempt assessment. | Typically $50 to $125 an hour, according to job boards (October 2026) | Every Friday, by Stripe only |
DataAnnotation
DataAnnotation says it has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to contractors since 2020. It charges no signup fee and pays through PayPal. Deposits arrive within a few days after you request them, so you decide when to cash out.
Its pay depends on the track you choose when you sign up. You pick it from a set of specialised Starter Assessments, so you match your real expertise. General projects start at $25 to $50 an hour and need a bachelor’s degree or equal experience, with strong writing and critical thinking. Multilingual projects start at $25 to $40. Coding projects start at $40 to $150 and up. STEM projects start at $40 to $125 and up, and need a master’s or a PhD, or a bachelor’s plus ten years of experience. Professional projects in law, finance and medicine pay the same and need licensed credentials. DataAnnotation itself says the tiers above $50 an hour need advanced degrees or credentials.
The work itself depends on the track. General projects mean evaluating chatbot responses, comparing AI outputs and testing image generation. Coding projects mean evaluating code and debugging AI-generated files. DataAnnotation also warns against platforms that promise guaranteed income or ask you to buy a starter kit.
The gate is the Starter Assessment. Most take about an hour, and specialised ones in coding, maths, science, finance, law, medicine or a language take one to two hours. You get one attempt, with no retakes. DataAnnotation says approvals usually come within a few days, and that it reviews answers for thoroughness and accuracy, not speed. After you pass, further specialist assessments open higher-paying projects.
There is no minimum number of hours, and projects run around the clock. You reach support from the menu inside your account. DataAnnotation adds workers to projects according to their expertise and their performance. Its job listings say the work is only open to people in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
The most common frustration is silence after the assessment. DataAnnotation’s own FAQ answers it plainly: no reply usually means your application is still under review, or that DataAnnotation did not accept it. I passed, and I declined, for the reasons above.
Outlier
Outlier says it has paid more than $500 million to experts, in 50 countries. Its minimum is usually undergraduate-level expertise, and it prefers graduate students and holders of a master’s or a PhD in the relevant field.
Onboarding takes 30 to 90 minutes. You create an account, choose your areas of expertise and pass skill screenings. Then you verify your identity, with a valid ID and a mobile phone from your country of residence. Outlier asks for a current résumé that shows your expertise, and reviews it against the minimum requirements of each domain. Each project then has its own guidelines and assessment tasks before you can work on it.
The work covers writing prompts, ranking AI outputs and improving model responses. Outlier warns that the projects available may not match your own field. It pays hourly or per task, and you see the rate before you start any project. Rates vary with your expertise, the project’s complexity and your location. Payments go out weekly on Tuesdays, for the previous Tuesday to Monday, by PayPal, Airtm or ACH transfer.
Outlier says its contributors choose their hours, with no minimum, and it encourages referrals of people you can vouch for. It also gives contributors free access to paid AI models. Your visa has to allow you to work, and Outlier leaves that check to you. Review sites most often describe empty task queues and removals from projects without notice. I have not worked on Outlier, so I cannot add my own view.
Alignerr
Alignerr accepted me, and I declined its offer for the same reasons as DataAnnotation. Its homepage presents it as the place where experts earn money training AI, and its live listings show the spread. On 2 November 2026 the lowest paid $15 to $20 an hour, for reviewing healthcare call transcripts in Central American Spanish. The highest paid $40 to $120 an hour, for chatting with AI, describing images or rating social media content. Several of those listings ask for no experience.
Review sites describe an AI interview and skill tests in its screening, weekly pay, and gaps of weeks without projects. On Trustpilot it scores well, at 4.5 out of 5.
Stellar AI has closed
Stellar AI, at joinstellar.ai, appears in many comparisons with DataAnnotation and Outlier. It has closed. aitrainer.work reported that its homepage now carries a notice headed “Stellar AI is closing”. Former contractors can still log in to check their balance and request their remaining pay. It was still recruiting at the end of September 2026. If you were counting on it, it is no longer an option.
What the work looks like on each platform
On DataAnnotation, general work means evaluating chatbot responses, comparing AI outputs and testing image generation, and coding work means checking AI-generated code. On Outlier, it means writing prompts, ranking AI outputs and improving model responses. Alignerr’s listings range from chatting with AI and describing images to rating social media content and reviewing call transcripts.
On Mercor, I grade whether AI-generated writing sounds human, phrase by phrase, against the client’s own rules. The work comes through a queue, and my project itself warns that it is intermittent. A weekly cap limits paid hours, and the Insightful tracker takes screenshots while it runs.
micro1 organises its work into data pipelines. It lists three kinds: expert evaluations for foundation models, recordings of everyday physical tasks for robotics, and assessments built around a company’s own AI agents. Experts there write responses that show their reasoning, compare AI outputs, annotate data and follow detailed guidelines. Their work goes through peer reviewers, and in some pipelines through the client.
AfterQuery describes its work as training data, evaluation datasets and environments for AI systems. Its projects usually run two to three weeks, at 10 to 20 hours a week.
Where professionals go next: Mercor, micro1 and AfterQuery
The expert platforms hire for your profession, not only for your writing. That is why they screen harder, and why they pay more. They also screen in a different way: Mercor and micro1 use AI interviews, and AfterQuery uses a form and, for some pools, one assessment.
Mercor names STEM PhDs, MDs, licensed attorneys, senior engineers and finance professionals among the experts it wants. Most of its listings in October 2026 paid $50 an hour and up, and expert listings reached $150 to $250. Its AI interview starts from your résumé, and one interview serves many listings. I have worked there since August 2026, and it pays every Wednesday.
micro1 listed attorney roles from $70 to $400 an hour in October 2026, and hospitalists and physicians at $70 to $125. Its consultants and finance experts listed $245 to $280, for people in an English-speaking country. Its Educator/Assessor Writer role, the one I reached the next step for, listed $90 to $140. I have been under contract there since September 2026.
AfterQuery hires software engineers, PhDs and professionals in finance, law, data science, health and business. Job boards recorded its roles at typically $50 to $125 an hour in October 2026. The top rates, around $160 to $175, went to tax attorneys, medical doctors and quant analysts. It cannot pay bank accounts in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria or Ghana for now, though Mercor pays all four. I applied in November 2026, through a form with no interview.
AfterQuery
For professionals in fields such as law, medicine, finance, software or research, who live in a country AfterQuery can pay. Job boards listed its roles at typically $50 to $125 an hour in October 2026.
This is my referral link. AfterQuery pays me a referral bonus, and nothing comes out of your pay.
Mercor
For experts with a degree or real experience in their field who can hold a 15 to 20 minute AI interview in English. Most Mercor listings in October 2026 paid $50 an hour and up, with weekly pay.
[Nada’s photo beside the referral lines]
Moving up: how to switch to an expert platform
If you come from DataAnnotation or Outlier, the switch takes different preparation. The expert platforms judge your profession, so the first thing to prepare is the proof of it.
Start with your résumé. Mercor says its AI interviewer builds its questions from your résumé and the job description. In my experience, that is exactly how it goes. Outlier also reviews résumés against the minimum requirements of each domain. A résumé that names your field, your years and your credentials works for you twice.
Then prepare the vocabulary of the role you apply to. On micro1 I failed one Zara interview because I did not know the evaluation metrics it named. I passed another without knowing every term. The interview tests the language of the work, so the listing tells you what to prepare.
Take the interview for your own field as well as the general one. On micro1 it opens better projects. Mercor also runs domain expert interviews, built for fields such as law or finance.
Count your attempts. DataAnnotation gives one attempt at its Starter Assessment, and AfterQuery one per assessment pool. Mercor lets you retake an interview up to three times, but hiring managers see the count. micro1 reuses the skills you already passed, so one good interview can cover several roles.
Keep your current platform while you apply. I have contracts with Mercor and micro1 at the same time, and nothing forced me to choose. Read each contract’s confidentiality and conflict clauses before you sign.
Cash out as you go. DataAnnotation pays only when you request it, and Stellar AI’s closure left its former contractors logging in to claim what remained. Money that sits on a platform depends on that platform.
Who can work where
Where you live decides more than people expect. DataAnnotation’s job listings open its work only to people in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Outlier says it works with people in 50 countries, and asks for an ID and a phone number from your country of residence.
Mercor says it hires globally: a listing that names a region is open only to that region, and any other listing is open to talent anywhere. It pays in 107 countries through Stripe or Wise, including Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines. micro1 pays through Deel, and I know people from all over the world who got in there, as on Mercor. AfterQuery pays bank accounts in about 95 countries through Stripe, including Kenya, Pakistan, India and Morocco. It does not pay Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil or Bangladesh yet.
If you live outside the six DataAnnotation countries, the expert platforms are your door to this work. Between them, they pay in well over 100 countries. Check each one’s payment countries before you put in the effort.
How and when each platform pays
DataAnnotation pays through PayPal, within a few days after you request the money. Outlier pays every Tuesday, for the previous Tuesday to Monday, by PayPal, Airtm or ACH transfer.
Mercor pays every Wednesday, through Stripe or Wise, and Stripe holds your first payout for seven days. micro1 pays twice a month through Deel, around the 20th for the first half of the month and the 5th for the second. AfterQuery pays every Friday through Stripe, with the same seven-day hold on your first payout.
Most of these platforms pay only for approved work, and reviews can take time. So the pay day tells you when money moves, not when your work counts.
How to spot a fake offer
None of these platforms asks you to pay to work. DataAnnotation charges no signup fee and warns against anyone who promises guaranteed income or sells a starter kit. AfterQuery charges no fees, and nothing in micro1’s process, as its own pages describe it, asks you for money.
Each platform also has its own signs of a real offer. On Mercor, a real offer appears in the Offers tab of your dashboard and comes with an email from Mercor. On micro1, the contract arrives through Deel, at payroll.micro1.ai. On AfterQuery, a project welcome email comes from notifications@afterquery.com. When something does not match, write to the platform’s support address before you click anything.
Which one next, by profile
If you are a generalist, with a degree or real experience but no specialist field, look at micro1’s generalist roles first. They listed $30 to $65 an hour in October 2026. DataAnnotation’s general track starts at $25 to $50, and Alignerr has listings that need no experience. Mercor also runs generalist projects, and some of them require an M-series MacBook.
If you are bilingual, micro1’s bilingual roles are the place to start. My own bilingual interview there began with how to report a mistake and handle escalation. Then it moved to French, with Zara correcting me as I went. DataAnnotation’s multilingual projects start at $25 to $40 an hour. Alignerr lists some language work too, such as Spanish transcript reviews at $15 to $20.
If you have a profession, aim for the higher-paying platforms. DataAnnotation’s professional track starts at $40 to $125 an hour and needs licensed credentials in law, finance or medicine. On the expert platforms, the October 2026 listings went further. Some attorney roles on micro1 reached $400 an hour, and Mercor’s expert listings $150 to $250. AfterQuery’s top rates sat around $160 to $175.
If you code, every platform here wants you, at different rates. DataAnnotation’s coding track starts at $40 to $150 an hour. Mercor names senior engineers among the experts it wants, and AfterQuery hires software engineers. On Outlier, you see the rate of each coding project before you start.
If you are a student or a recent graduate, Outlier prefers graduate students and holders of a master’s or a PhD. DataAnnotation’s general track asks for a bachelor’s degree or equal experience. Some Alignerr listings ask for no experience at all. The expert platforms will come once your field gives you something to show.
Whatever your profile, apply to more than one platform. Each one screens in its own way, so a no on one is not a no on the others. On Mercor, filter the Explore page and start with its first pages, where the hot projects sit. In what I have seen, those answer within a day or two.
The trade-off: easier to get in, or better paid
DataAnnotation, Outlier and Alignerr accept a wider range of people, and their guides tell you exactly what to do. The price is the pay, and in my experience the guides themselves. The expert platforms ask more of you up front. Mercor builds its AI interview on your résumé, and micro1 puts you through 20 to 40 minutes with Zara. AfterQuery gives one attempt per assessment pool. In return, the listings pay for your profession.
The expert platforms have guides too. My Mercor training was a long course covering nine task types, and it was my only source of knowledge for the job. The difference is what comes with it: Mercor pays training time once the tracker runs, and the work that follows pays for your profession.
Neither side gives you a fixed income. Work comes in waves everywhere, and some weeks are empty. Anyone who needs a fixed monthly income from these platforms will end up let down.
What reviewers say
On 2 November 2026, Trustpilot showed DataAnnotation at 3.9 out of 5 from 1,967 reviews. Outlier stood at 4.1 from 5,281, and Alignerr at 4.5 from 2,867. On my own platforms, it showed micro1 at 4.7, Mercor at 4.5 and AfterQuery at 2.9. Trustpilot labels some of these companies as inviting their users to review, which can lift a score, so read the reviews behind the number. It labels micro1 and Mercor that way, for example, while it notes that AfterQuery has not invited reviews lately.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best alternatives to DataAnnotation?
For generalists and bilingual people, micro1’s generalist and bilingual roles. For professionals, Mercor, micro1 and AfterQuery, which hire for your field and list higher rates. Outlier and Alignerr sit closer to DataAnnotation in the kind of work they offer.
What pays more than DataAnnotation?
For professionals, the expert platforms. In October 2026, most Mercor listings paid $50 an hour and up, and micro1 listed some attorney roles up to $400. Job boards recorded AfterQuery’s top rates around $160 to $175.
Is DataAnnotation legit?
Yes. It accepted me and offered me work, which I declined over pay and its project style. It says it has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to contractors since 2020, it charges no signup fee and it pays through PayPal.
Did Stellar AI close?
Yes. Its homepage carries a notice that it is closing, according to aitrainer.work. Former contractors can still log in to request their remaining pay.
Is Outlier better than DataAnnotation?
They work differently. Outlier pays weekly on Tuesdays and shows a rate before each project. DataAnnotation pays through PayPal when you request it, with rates that depend on your track. DataAnnotation only opens its work to six English-speaking countries, while Outlier says it works with people in 50 countries.
Can I retake the DataAnnotation Starter Assessment?
No. DataAnnotation gives one attempt, with no retakes, so it asks you to review your answers before you submit.
Does DataAnnotation accept people outside the US?
Its job listings say the work is open to people in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. People elsewhere do not see work or assessments.
Can I work on DataAnnotation and Mercor at the same time?
Many people work on several platforms. I have contracts with Mercor and micro1 at the same time. Read each contract’s confidentiality and conflict clauses before you sign.
Which platforms pay every week?
Outlier pays on Tuesdays, Mercor on Wednesdays and AfterQuery on Fridays. DataAnnotation pays through PayPal when you request it, and micro1 pays twice a month.
Is Alignerr legit?
It accepted me and offered me work, which I declined over pay and its project style. It shows its listing rates openly on its homepage, and Trustpilot showed it at 4.5 out of 5 on 2 November 2026.
Do I need a degree for the expert platforms?
You need a degree or real experience in your field. The higher-paying roles go further: Mercor names STEM PhDs, MDs and licensed attorneys, and DataAnnotation’s own top tracks ask for advanced degrees or licensed credentials.
Which of these platforms can pay people in Egypt?
Mercor does: it lists Egypt among the countries it pays, through Stripe Connect. DataAnnotation does not, since it opens its work to six English-speaking countries, and AfterQuery cannot pay a bank account in Egypt for now. Outlier says it works in 50 countries. micro1 pays through Deel, and I know people from all over the world who got in there.
How fast do these platforms reply?
DataAnnotation says approvals usually come within a few days of the Starter Assessment. On Mercor, the hot projects on the first pages of Explore answer within a day or two, in what I have seen. micro1 says its recruiters’ review can take up to 48 hours.
Which platform is easiest to get into?
In my experience, the mass platforms. DataAnnotation and Alignerr both accepted me, and some Alignerr listings ask for no experience. The expert platforms screen harder, with AI interviews and one-attempt assessments, because they pay for your profession.
Can I apply to all of these platforms at once?
Yes, as far as their own pages go, and I am on several myself. Apply where the platform can pay you. Keep a list of your attempts and their results, because some platforms give you only one attempt per test.
Does Mercor pay for training?
Yes, once the time tracker runs. My training was a long course covering nine task types, and that time counted as paid work.
Which platform suits bilingual people?
micro1, through its bilingual roles, which listed $30 to $65 an hour in October 2026. DataAnnotation’s multilingual projects start at $25 to $40, but only in its six countries.
Why did you turn down DataAnnotation and Alignerr?
Both accepted me, but their projects felt old school, with huge guides and low pay. With a profession, my time pays better on the expert platforms.