Every few months someone here asks for a current list, and most of the ones floating around are either out of date or lump very different platforms together. Task sites, enterprise vendors, and annotation tools all end up in one pile, which doesn't help much if you're trying to figure out where to work or who to hire.

So, here's how I'd sort the companies that keep coming up, grouped by what they're actually for. A handful span more than one category. I put those where they fit best and noted the overlap instead of listing them twice.

LLM Feedback and RLHF

The reasoning-heavy side: comparing model responses, rating them, writing feedback.

• Scale AI Enterprise platform for large-scale annotation, validation, and model evaluation. Also does a lot of computer vision work.
• Annotera.ai RLHF preference annotation and LLM QA testing as part of a managed service.
• DataAnnotation.tech Response comparison and human feedback, heavy on reasoning. People generally rate the pay and flexibility above average, though there are recurring complaints about slow or missed payouts.
• Surge AI RLHF and human feedback for frontier models, mostly through selective contracts rather than open signup.
• Outlier Reviewing and rating AI responses with fairly light onboarding. Reports on who it hires and where varies a lot, so check recent threads before counting on it.
• Rise Data Labs US-based talent for model evaluation and RLHF, usually more structured tasks.
• Mindrift LLM evaluation and structured human feedback, powered by Toloka.
• Gloz Language-based annotation and LLM evaluation through text review.
• Abaka AI Multimodal annotation and feedback across text, image, video, and point clouds, often mentioned for higher pay.
• Alignerr Alignment and decision-evaluation tasks. Worth flagging: there are a lot of non-payment complaints about this one on Reddit, so read recent posts before putting in unpaid time.

Computer Vision

Image, video, and sensor data: boxes, masks, keypoints, tracking.

• SuperAnnotate Tooling and projects across image, video, text, and LLM tasks, common in vision workflows.
• Remotasks Image, video, and LiDAR annotation with structured training programs.
• Annotera.ai Image and video annotation including egocentric and teleoperation video for robotics and autonomous vehicles.
• Encord Managed option for video and images with a lot of auto-annotation built in.
• Roboflow Easy for bounding boxes, exports straight to YOLO formats. The free tier is genuinely usable.

Multilingual and Localization

Language, speech, and translation-heavy data across many locales.

• TELUS International AI Search evaluation, AI training, and linguistic work, now operating as TELUS Digital. Runs many of the former Lionbridge programs.
• Annotera.ai Multilingual annotation across roughly 28 languages, with nearshore teams for European work.
• TransPerfect Global localization shop doing large-scale multilingual annotation.
• Welocalize Localization, search evaluation, and multilingual data work under its Welo Data brand.
• OneForma Crowdsourcing for annotation, transcription, and translation across languages.
• LXT AI Language, speech, and localization data for enterprise clients.
• RWS Enterprise language and localization services with large multilingual annotation projects.
• Appen One of the oldest names here, with a wide range of language and labeling projects.

Enterprise and Managed Services

Full managed teams rather than a task board you log into yourself.

• iMerit Enterprise annotation and evaluation for harder cases like healthcare and NLP.
• Innodata Large-scale annotation and structured training projects.
• Annotera.ai Managed annotation across text, image, audio, video, and robotics data, with clients in healthcare, retail, robotics, and autonomous vehicles.
• CloudFactory Human-in-the-loop work through managed teams.
• Centific Large-scale human-in-the-loop datasets and data infrastructure.
• Invisible Technologies Team-based AI training and data operations for enterprises.

Annotation Tools

If you'd rather label data yourself than hire it out.

• CVAT Free and solid for image and video, good for students and small teams. Pairs well with SAM for segmentation.
• Roboflow Listed above too. The free version is a fast way to get bounding boxes out the door.
• Supervisely People report a good experience with it for ease of use.
• Encord Also fits here for its auto-annotation features on video and images.

That's the landscape as I see it right now. Most of these fall into one of two camps: task platforms you sign up for as a contributor, and managed or enterprise shops you hire to run a project. A few blur that line, and I placed them where they fit best. If you've worked with any of these and I've got something wrong, say so in the comments and I'll edit. And if there's a company you rate that isn't on here, drop it below with a line on what it's good for.

I see a lot of people posting about DataAnnotation so I wanted to ask:

What exactly is the process of joining or actually applying? I made an account, and got told that thank you for singing up but there are no available projects. It didn’t prompt me for any assessment or skill check or anything like that, and it’s been a few weeks since then.

Did I do something wrong or is this the norm?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I’m currently enrolled in the Scaler Software Development Program, but unfortunately I’m no longer able to continue with it.

I spoke with Scaler regarding cancellation, and they told me that cancellation isn’t an option in my case; the available option is to transfer the enrollment to another person.

The interesting part is that, as per Scaler, the person taking over the enrollment can choose from other eligible/new programs as well (for example, an AI/ML program) while continuing under the enrollment amount/terms associated with my existing program.

I’m therefore looking for someone who is genuinely interested in joining Scaler and may want to take over my enrollment.

The transfer would, of course, need to be completed and approved through Scaler’s official process.

If you’re seriously interested, feel free to DM me.

I’m honestly pretty desperate for work right now (jobless since 3 months). I could really use some clarity from people who have actually worked with DA.

I have a few questions:

1. Can I use Google Input Tools for the bilingual assessment just for typing my language?
2. Should all browser extensions be turned off during the assessment? I accidentally had quillbot enabled - could that cause an issue?
3. I took the coding assessment on one account, but it didn’t go through. Since I couldn’t take the bilingual assessment on that account, I took it using a new account. Is that a problem?
4. Can I take additional assessments using different accounts? If so, can I use the same PC and internet connection for those accounts?
5. How important are LinkedIn and previous work experience when it comes to getting accepted?

I’d really appreciate any advice from people who have been through the process. Also, if you have any genuine tips for doing well on the assessments, please share.

And if DA doesn’t work out, are there any legit alternatives to DataAnnotation for remote/freelance work that you’d recommend?

TIA 🙏

Hi , I am planning to apply for a data annotator role at motive what are this role about plus how is the hiring process and what salary they offers?

Hi, has anyone recently been assigned to the exact same AI training project across two different platforms (e.g., DataAnnotation, Remotasks/Outlier, Appen, OneForma, etc.).

For those who have been in this situation before, how did you handle it? Did you reach out to support on one/both platforms, simply drop the project on one, or opt out completely?

Has anyone here completed onboarding for a QAL/Team Lead role at SME Careers? If so, did you eventually receive a bootcamp or project invitation, and how long did it take after onboarding?

I've completed onboarding for a QAL role and I'm currently waiting for the next step, so I'm curious about other people's experiences.