Scale AI alternatives for smaller AI teams
With a few thousand items to label or rate, you are usually too small for enterprise sales. The alternatives to Scale AI fall into four kinds: participant marketplaces such as Prolific, managed crowd vendors such as Toloka and Appen, labelling software you staff yourself, and smaller managed teams. Few publish a rate card, so send each the same written brief.
Why so many teams are looking for an alternative
In June 2025 Meta invested $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI, with no voting power. OpenAI said it was winding down its work with Scale, and said the Meta deal did not drive that decision. Reuters reported that Google, which had planned to pay Scale about $200 million that year, was planning to cut ties.
Scale's interim chief executive told staff and customers that Scale remains an independent company and is not winding down. For a buyer the lesson is wider than one vendor: ask who owns any provider you use, and who else can see your prompts, answers and labels.
The real question for a small team is rarely "who is biggest". It is who will learn your rubric, show you their agreement numbers on your own items, and give you a price before the work starts.
The four kinds of alternative, and what each publishes
| Kind | Examples | What you get | Price you can see up front |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participant marketplace | Prolific | You design the task and recruit people from its pool; you manage quality | Yes: a platform fee, usually 42.8% for companies, on top of participant pay of at least $8 an hour ($12 or more recommended) |
| Managed crowd vendor | Toloka, Appen | The vendor recruits, trains and manages a large crowd | Mostly custom quotes. Toloka does publish one red-teaming price: about $720 for 8 attack categories |
| Enterprise provider | Scale AI, Invisible | Large managed programmes with their own tooling | No public rate card for Scale, according to Invisible's own comparison |
| Labelling software | Labelbox, Label Studio, CVAT | Tools only; you supply and manage the reviewers | Software plans only. People are a separate cost |
| Smaller managed team | HerWorkCircle and others | A named team that learns your rubric, with every piece checked twice | A price per piece or per hour, agreed in writing before work starts |
Two things change the comparison more than the headline price. First, what is outside the unit price: Label Studio's own pricing explainer notes that quoted unit prices often leave out tooling, QA review and rework of rejected items. Second, who carries the quality work. On a marketplace that is you; with a managed vendor it should be them, and the quote should say so.
Which kind fits your team
What does your project look like?
Under 1,000 items, one round
- A participant marketplace is usually fastest: you write the task, set pay and recruit the same day.
- You do the quality checks yourself, so budget your own review time.
- Pay above the minimum. Prolific itself recommends $12 an hour or more.
A rubric, ratings or labels, and you want them right
- A smaller managed team fits: the same people learn your rubric, and a second person checks each piece.
- Ask for agreement numbers on a gold set of your own items before live data.
- Get the price per piece or per hour, and the rework terms, in writing.
Millions of items, many languages, formal audits
- An enterprise provider or large crowd vendor is built for this volume.
- Expect a sales process and custom pricing.
- Ask for the security reports your own team requires before the pilot, not after.
Your own staff will do the work
- Labelling software is enough: pick the tool your reviewers find fastest on your data type.
- Write the rubric and a gold set first; software won't fix an unclear task.
Get quotes you can actually compare
Most providers don't publish prices, so the only way to compare them is to ask each one the same thing, in writing. Send every vendor this brief:
- The unit. One rating, one labelled item or one written answer, with three real examples and how long each takes your own team.
- The rubric and a gold set. Your scoring rules and 50 to 100 items you have already answered yourself.
- A 500-item pilot. Ask for the price, the start date and the delivery date for exactly that.
- What the price leaves out. Tooling, review, rework, project management and minimum fees, each named.
- Rework terms. What counts as wrong, who decides, and how fast a fix comes back.
- Data handling. Who can see your data, where it is stored, and how and when it is deleted.
How human data work is priced, per item, per hour or per project, is covered in our data annotation guide. Agreement targets and a pilot planner are in the RLHF guide.
Independence and security: three questions
- Who owns you? Ownership decides whose interests come first if your work competes with an investor's. The Scale and Meta deal made this a standard question.
- Which certifications, and can we see the report? Some vendors name them on their own pages: Appen lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, Toloka lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701. Ask for the report, not just the badge.
- How would you tell us about an incident? In June 2026 Mercor published an update on a supply-chain attack through an open-source tool, with the cause, the scope and the steps it took. Ask any vendor how it would tell you, and how fast.
A fuller list of security questions is in our data annotation guide.
Where a smaller managed team fits, and where it doesn't
HerWorkCircle is a managed team of skilled women across India. We rate and compare AI answers against your rubric, label and check data, and write reference answers. Every piece is checked by a second person, anything wrong is redone free, and the price per piece or per hour is agreed in writing before we start. We are independent of any AI lab.
We fit best when you have English-language work: a few thousand items, a rubric that needs judgement, and the same people on your work each week. Security requirements are agreed between you and your vendor on the first call, before anyone spends time on a pilot.
Questions
What are the main Scale AI alternatives?
Participant marketplaces such as Prolific, managed crowd vendors such as Toloka and Appen, enterprise providers such as Invisible, labelling software such as Labelbox, Label Studio and CVAT, and smaller managed teams.
How much does Scale AI cost?
Scale doesn't publish a rate card; pricing is custom. Ask any provider for a written price for the same 500-item pilot so you can compare like with like.
Is Scale AI still independent after the Meta deal?
Meta took a 49% stake with no voting power in June 2025, and Scale's interim chief executive said the company remains independent. Several labs, including OpenAI, said they were winding down work with Scale.
Which alternative is best for a small AI team?
For a quick study under 1,000 items, a participant marketplace. For a few thousand items with a rubric, a smaller managed team that learns your rules and checks every piece twice.
What should a data vendor quote include?
The unit price, and separately any tooling, review, rework, project management and minimum fees, plus rework terms and how your data is deleted.
Do I need a vendor with SOC 2?
If your own customers or security team require it, yes. Ask for the report itself on the first call, before running a pilot.
Sources
- OpenAI is winding down its work with Scale AI, whose founder is joining Meta CNBC (via NBC San Diego), June 2025
- Google reportedly plans to cut ties with Scale AI TechCrunch, 14 June 2025
- Scale AI not winding down following Meta deal, interim CEO says CNBC (via NBC Bay Area), 2025
- Scale AI alternatives and competitors: how Invisible compares Invisible Technologies, March 2026
- Pricing Prolific
- Red teaming platform Toloka
- How data labeling pricing models compare Label Studio, June 2026
- Data security Appen
- Security Toloka
- Update on Mercor security incident Mercor, 25 June 2026