Ethos and Mercor both pay professionals to train AI models. Ethos reviews one profile and matches you to projects. Mercor screens every applicant with one AI interview of about 20 minutes. From each platform’s own terms and help pages, read 13 to 22 October 2026.
Ethos and Mercor side by side
| Ethos | Mercor | |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles here | 846 | 206 |
| Hourly pay as stated | $70–100 | $15–300 |
| Screening | One profile reviewed by Ethos, sometimes a short AI voice screen | A resume, any role assessments, then one AI interview of about 20 minutes |
| Retakes | Not published | Up to 3 in total, across every application |
| Paid | Per project: weekly, monthly or on completion | Weekly, on Wednesdays, through Stripe or Wise |
| Paid through | Revolut or Wise | Stripe or Wise |
| Hours | Postings say about 5 to 20 a week; none promised | A weekly maximum per contract, no minimum |
Every pay figure on this page comes from the live postings, checked each morning. The process rows come from each platform’s own pages.
The work
Ethos is an expert network. It matches professionals to expert calls, surveys and AI training projects, and this site lists only the AI training projects. Most Ethos roles here describe one AI lab’s project, posted once for each profession, so its role count overstates the variety of work. One Ethos profile covers all of them.
Mercor posts separate roles for separate projects. Each one names the background it wants, and you apply to each.
Getting in
Ethos asks you to build a profile with your work and education history. Its team reviews it, using AI tools alongside human review. Ethos may then invite you to a short AI voice screen, which it records and transcribes. You also complete Ethos’s expert tutorial before any project. Ethos publishes no time for review or matching.
Mercor asks for a resume, any assessments a role sets and proof of work authorisation, then one AI interview. It offers no human interview. You can retake the interview three times in total, across every application. Mercor gives no feedback and no general time to a decision. Our Mercor interview guide covers it.
Most Ethos postings ask for several years at a well-known firm. Mercor suits specialists whose background a role names in its title.
The pay, and when it arrives
Ethos’s roles here state $70–100 an hour. Mercor’s span $15–300, with half between $60 and $120.
How you are paid differs more than the rates:
- Ethos confirms the rate in writing before each project and pays for the time you spend, as it reasonably decides. The cycle is set per project. Your invoice is due within three days of finishing, or pay may be late or lost.
- Mercor pays each week’s hours the following Wednesday. Stripe holds the first payout for 7 days. Mercor deducts no tax.
Ethos does not pay for a project that is cancelled or ends early, and preparation time is unpaid unless it approves it in writing first. Our Ethos guide covers its terms in full.
Staying in
Ethos’s terms promise no set amount of work, and either side can end the agreement by written notice. Its conflict rules can rule you out of a project. You cannot work on a company you left in the last six months, or for a client that competes with your current employer.
Mercor names three reasons a project ends: the work finishes, a policy is broken, or performance falls short. You can hold more than one hourly contract if each project lead knows your availability. A security incident in March 2026 affected some Mercor experts’ sensitive information.
The same professions on both
Ethos’s counts below repeat one project across professions, so read them as where Ethos is hiring, not as separate jobs.
10 professions have at least 3 open roles on both Ethos and Mercor today. Each cell gives the open roles and the hourly pay their postings state.
| Profession | Ethos | Mercor |
|---|---|---|
| Business and operations specialists | 223 roles, $70–100 | 18 roles, $60–150 |
| Accountants and finance experts | 183 roles, $70–100 | 10 roles, $60–180 |
| Sales and CRM specialists | 97 roles, $70–100 | 4 roles, $60–110 |
| Researchers and academics | 53 roles, $70–100 | 8 roles, $45–120 |
| Lawyers | 23 roles, $90–100 | 11 roles, $60–150 |
| Doctors and clinicians | 17 roles, $90–100 | 15 roles, $55–300 |
| Software engineers | 11 roles, $80–100 | 14 roles, $55–250 |
| Life scientists | 7 roles, $70–100 | 18 roles, $60–125 |
| Generalists | 3 roles, $70–80 | 13 roles, $30–110 |
| Machine learning engineers | 6 roles, $80–100 | 3 roles, $70–250 |
Open roles on Mercor
Ethos has no page for each role it posts, so its roles open Ethos’s sign-up and are matched from your profile. See every open Ethos role.
Best-paid Mercor roles open now
The 3 highest-paid of 206 open Mercor roles this site lists today, with the pay each posting states.
Which one to apply to
Apply to Ethos if you have several years of senior experience in your field and want one profile to do the applying for you. Apply to Mercor if a role title names your background and you want weekly pay. You can hold both.
The full reviews are on the Ethos page and the Mercor page.
If you sign up to Ethos through a link here and complete your first paid project, Ethos pays this site a referral fee. If you’re hired through our link and start paid work, Mercor pays this site a referral fee. Your pay is unaffected on both.
This site is not affiliated with Ethos or Mercor, and passing a screen is not a promise of work.