On 14 October 2026, the median listed hourly rate of an AI training role was $36.50, across the 1,354 roles that post an hourly rate in US dollars. By platform, the median went from $15 at Innodata and Welocalize to $87.50 at Terac.
The figures come from the public job lists of 15 platforms, which this site reads once a day. They are the rates the platforms post. They change as roles open and close, and this page is rebuilt with them until the end of October.
Listed hourly pay at each platform
| Platform | Open roles | With an hourly rate | Median listed rate | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terac | 45 | 20 | $87.50 | $53.75 to $100 |
| micro1 | 254 | 246 | $75 | $47.50 to $115 |
| Mindrift | 15 | 15 | $69 | $69 to $70 |
| SME Careers | 261 | 261 | $50 | $25 to $70 |
| xAI | 21 | 19 | $40 | $40 to $55 |
| Meridial | 570 | 566 | $36.50 | $35.50 to $36.50 |
| Appen | 60 | 12 | $35.50 | $31.88 to $46.62 |
| RWS TrainAI | 96 | 87 | $18 | $9 to $21.60 |
| Welocalize | 372 | 98 | $15 | $6.12 to $25 |
| Innodata | 22 | 21 | $15 | $15 to $20 |
| HumanSignal | 8 | 2 | too few rates | |
| Scale AI | 7 | 1 | too few rates | |
| Remotasks | 3 | 2 | too few rates | |
| G2i | 2 | 2 | too few rates | |
| Handshake AI | 2 | 2 | too few rates |
Each role counts once, at the middle of its listed range: a role listed at $40 to $60 an hour counts as $50. "Middle half" is the range that holds the middle 50% of those rates. A platform with fewer than five hourly rates gets no median.
How to read the numbers
- Roles with no hourly rate are counted but not priced. Of the 1,738 open roles, 384 post no hourly rate in US dollars. Some pay per task, some in another currency, and some post no rate at all.
- A rate per unit is not an hourly rate. When a listing pays per unit of work (Appen lists some roles this way, with an estimated hourly figure beside it), we count it as paid per task, not per hour.
- "Up to" rates are ceilings. When a listing gives only a top rate, that top rate is what we count. Platforms that do this a lot look higher than they are.
- One big project can set a median. A platform that posts the same role once per language or per country can have hundreds of listings at one rate.
Notes on single platforms
Mindrift
Mindrift has 15 remote listings here, and 15 of them give only a top rate ("up to"), so read its median as a median of maximum rates.
micro1
micro1 posts an hourly rate on 246 of its 254 roles. The middle half runs from $47.50 to $115, a wide band, because micro1 hires for everything from generalist roles to physicians. The micro1 pay rates guide breaks it down by field.
Meridial
Meridial lists 570 roles, and 566 of them post an hourly rate. Its middle half runs from $35.50 to $36.50.
Welocalize
Welocalize posts an hourly rate on 98 of its 372 roles (26%). Most of its roles are language work, such as rating search results or checking translations in one language.
SME Careers and RWS TrainAI
259 of the 261 SME Careers listings and 41 of the 96 RWS TrainAI listings give only a top rate. Their medians are medians of ceilings.
Terac
24 of Terac's 45 listings pay per task or per study, not per hour, so they are left out of its median.
What a listed rate does not tell you
A listed rate is the price of an hour of approved work on that role. How many hours a week there are depends on the project, and projects start and stop with client demand. Some platforms pay for time and some pay per task, and a few post both. For payment methods and taxes, see payments and taxes. To turn a rate into a weekly figure, try the earnings calculator.
More on pay
The pay report has the same figures by field, updated every day. Each platform page, such as micro1 or Meridial, shows the open roles behind its numbers.
Sources
- This site's list of open roles (jobs.json), read on 14 October 2026.
- micro1 jobs portal, read on 14 October 2026.
- Meridial job board (Greenhouse), read on 14 October 2026.
- Mindrift job board (Workable), read on 14 October 2026.
- Welocalize job board (Lever), read on 14 October 2026.
- Terac job board (Ashby), read on 14 October 2026.
- SME Careers, read on 14 October 2026.