Mercor vs micro1 comes down to one trade. micro1 publishes price tiers ($100K to $2M+), a size bar of 30 or more staff and a 30-day payment term after acceptance. Mercor publishes no price at all, but pays by wire on delivery, usually 2 to 4 weeks after signing, and covers every processing cost. Both checked on 27 October 2026.
Both are best known for supplying human experts to AI labs. Both also run programmes that license operational data from established companies. This page lines up what each one publishes, and only that. All amounts are in US dollars, as the programmes state them.
Mercor vs micro1: the short answer
Pick by the term that matters to you. If you want a published number to anchor a talk, micro1 has one. If you want speed and no costs on your side, Mercor's wording is stronger.
Here is the side-by-side, taken from each programme's own pages:
| Term |  Mercor |
 micro1 |
|---|---|---|
| Published price | None, quote per company | $100K to $500K, $500K to $2M, $2M+ |
| Typical payment | Not stated | $150K to over $2M |
| Payment trigger | Delivery of the anonymised dataset to the buyer | Acceptance of the data after review |
| Payment timing | Typically 2 to 4 weeks after signing | Within 30 days of invoicing, after a review of up to 30 days |
| Costs to company | None stated (no setup fees or deductions) | Not stated |
| Size bar | Not stated | 30+ full-time employees |
| Language and region | Not stated | Mainly English; US first, then other Western markets |
| Referral bonus | Paid when the company goes live, amount not stated | $50K up to a $700K deal, 7.5% above |
A published term is one the programme states on its own site. Everything else is negotiated in the contract. Our directory of programmes that pay for company data uses the same rule for all of them.
How much do Mercor and micro1 pay?
micro1 states ranges. Mercor states none. That is the biggest gap between the two.
micro1's tiers
micro1's data partnerships page sorts deals into three bands. $100K to $500K covers qualified enterprise partnerships. $500K to $2M covers large datasets or work across several teams. $2M+ is for highly unique operational data. Its headline says it pays out $200K to $2M+, and its process section says payments typically range from $150K to over $2M.
Those three figures don't quite match each other. So read them as marketing bands, not a floor. micro1 says pay depends on "quality, uniqueness, and value".
Mercor's quote model
Mercor's data monetization page asks you to request a quote. It says compensation depends on data volume, the tools you connect and the depth of the data. It also says the more tools you share, the higher the payout.
So there is no number to compare against micro1's tiers. Our published payout ranges by company size page shows where Mercor sits next to programmes that do publish figures.
How and when does each programme pay?
Mercor pays on delivery. micro1 pays after acceptance and an invoice. On paper, Mercor's clock is shorter.
- Mercor. Payment goes by wire when the anonymised dataset reaches the buyer. Mercor says this typically happens within 2 to 4 weeks of the signed agreement, depending on extraction and processing time.
- micro1. After you transfer the data, micro1 has 30 days to review and approve it. Then you send an invoice, and payment follows within 30 days. That's up to about 60 days after transfer.
There's a second difference. Mercor's trigger is delivery to a buyer. micro1's trigger is its own acceptance. A payment trigger is the event in the contract that makes the money due. It decides who carries the risk if the data is rejected or a buyer pulls out.
micro1 also lists a separate, recurring line. It licenses qualifying agent trajectories for $1M to $2M a year, with the company's approval. A trajectory is a recorded run of steps taken to finish a task. Mercor's page has no recurring option.
What data does each one want?
Both want records of how work actually gets done. They describe it differently.
Mercor: data from connected tools
Mercor connects to the systems a company already uses. It lists more than 100 supported tools, including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, Outlook, Confluence, Salesforce, GitHub, Google Drive and Notion. It names target industries such as legal, healthcare, finance and insurance, professional services and logistics.
micro1: operational documentation
micro1 asks for data that "reflects how work is actually performed". Its examples are SOPs, process documents, knowledge bases, CRM records, project histories and support tickets. It uses the data, de-identified, to build reinforcement learning environments. The micro1 programme profile keeps the full list with sources.
Who qualifies?
micro1 is specific. It wants 30 or more full-time employees, mature operations and several years of records. Data should be mainly in English, and the team must work in English too. Mercor's page shows a "Check if you qualify" step but lists no criteria. The Mercor programme profile notes the same gap.
How do the licence terms compare?
Both describe control, but neither publishes a full licence. That makes the contract the real comparison.
Mercor says no data leaves your systems until you approve it. It says extraction and anonymisation are automated, and that no lab buyer sees raw data. micro1 says companies keep ownership of their data and can review representative samples before use. It also says its licences go only to labs and enterprises in the US and allied countries.
micro1: "Your data is licensed exclusively to labs and enterprises based in the U.S. and allied countries."
Note the word "exclusively" there. It limits where buyers can be based. It does not mean an exclusive licence, where only one buyer may use the data. Neither programme states whether its licences are exclusive. Our page on AI data licence terms compared shows how other programmes handle exclusivity, payment timing and clawbacks.
How do the referral bonuses compare?
micro1 publishes a formula. Mercor publishes a trigger but no amount.
micro1's referral page lists two rates. Enterprise partnerships pay the referrer $50,000 for deals up to $700,000, or 7.5% of the deal value above that. Partnerships with companies that no longer operate pay $75,000 up to $1 million, or 7.5% above. It's paid by wire once the referred company reaches set milestones.
Mercor says the referrer is paid when the referred company goes live and starts earning. It names no figure. The Handshake AI vs micro1 comparison shows how micro1's referral terms sit next to another programme's.
What changed at micro1 in October 2026?
micro1 rewrote its terms this month. When we checked on 18 October, it listed tiers of $100k+, $500k+ and $1M+, no payment timing, and referral pay "up to $50K". On 27 October the tiers read $100K to $500K, $500K to $2M and $2M+, with payment within 30 days and an uncapped referral formula.
The change follows micro1's $1 billion data commitment, announced on its blog on 9 October 2026. It is financed with capital from Citi and Hercules Capital. Mercor has made no comparable public pledge. But it is active in the same market: MIT Technology Review reported that Google outbid Mercor for Spirit Airlines' data archive in August 2026, at $10 million.
Terms like these move fast. If you hold an offer from either programme, test it against the published figures with our offer check before you sign anything.