Quick answer
Mercor is an expert marketplace that places professionals on projects for AI labs, mostly as hourly contractors. On 14 November 2026, AI Global Work tracked 354 open Mercor roles with a median listed rate of $75 an hour. You apply with a short AI video interview, and Mercor can only pay people in the 107 countries on its payout list. See the live list on AI Global Work's Mercor page, our sister site.
This guide explains what Mercor is, what its roles pay, who can apply and how to get ready. The figures come from AI Global Work, our sister site, which checks each platform's public listings daily. We read them on 14 November 2026. They change every day, so treat them as a snapshot and check the live page before you apply.
What is Mercor?
Mercor matches people with real expertise, such as lawyers, doctors, engineers, analysts and linguists, to projects run for AI labs. The work is usually writing, rating or correcting AI answers in your own field. Most roles are hourly contracts, and specialist roles are listed at high rates.
Mercor at a glance
| Mercor | Listed on 14 November 2026 |
|---|---|
| Open roles | 354 |
| Median listed rate | $75 an hour |
| Top listed rate | $350 an hour |
| How it pays | Set per role. Many listings describe weekly payouts through Stripe or Wise, and some pay per task. |
What kind of roles does Mercor have?
Of the 354 roles, 307 list an hourly rate and 47 pay per task or a fixed fee. 129 are always-open talent pools, not single vacancies. The newest listings on 14 November 2026 were Linguistic Expert roles at $40 an hour in languages including Swahili, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish and Korean. The highest listed rate on the platform was $350 an hour.
Can you apply to Mercor from your country?
138 roles name specific countries, 2 are open worldwide and 214 do not say. The United States is named most often (111 roles), then the United Kingdom (10) and Spain (8). The bigger limit is Mercor's own payout list: it can only contract and pay people in 107 countries, so check that list before you spend time on the interview.
AI Global Work's Mercor page has an "I live in" filter that shows only the roles open to your country.
What happens after you apply to Mercor?
This is Mercor's usual process, as AI Global Work reports it. Individual projects can add steps.
- A short AI video interview. About 20 minutes on your experience. You can retake it.
- ID and background check. Required before a contract starts.
- Contract or paid trial. Some roles begin with a paid work trial.
How to prepare for Mercor
These free LearnWithZavi courses cover the skills this work uses:
- AI Job Search, for a CV and profile that state your expertise clearly.
- Prompt Engineering, because writing and judging good instructions is most of the work.
- AI Safety and Verification, which teaches the fact-checking habits reviewers are paid for.
For the wider picture of this kind of work, including what it pays by field, read our guide to AI training jobs.
What to watch out for
- Mercor tracks working time with screenshots.
- Projects can end at short notice, so treat it as variable income.
- Listed pay is a rate, not guaranteed earnings.
One rule protects you on every platform: money only ever flows towards you. Mercor does not charge people to apply, take a test or get training. If someone asks you to pay for a Mercor role, it is a scam. Our lesson on spotting annotation job scams covers the tests to apply.
More on Mercor
AI Global Work publishes longer guides on this platform:
- Is Mercor legit? Pay, interview and countries
- The Mercor AI interview: what to expect
- Mercor vs micro1
- Mercor alternatives
Compare with other platforms
- micro1: 355 open roles, median listed rate $68 an hour.
- Alignerr: 23 open roles, median listed rate $25 an hour.
- Scale AI: 17 open roles, median listed rate $300 an hour.
AI Global Work also has a side-by-side comparison of all 11 platforms.
We are not affiliated with Mercor. Its pay, eligibility and terms are set by Mercor and change often, so always check the role page before you apply.