Updated November 2026
Mercor vs Scale AI: which should license your company's data?
Mercor tells you when you get paid but not how much, and Scale AI does the reverse. Mercor says a wire typically comes 2-4 weeks after signing and shows no price on its data page, while Scale gives $10K-$1M+ as an illustrative value and publishes no payment timing. Mercor confirmed a cyberattack in 2026, and Meta holds 49% of Scale, a stake reported to carry no voting rights.1,2,3,4,5,6
Side by side
Mercor and Scale AI, row by row
| Topic | Mercor | Scale AI |
|---|---|---|
| What it takes | Slack, Teams, Gmail, Outlook, Confluence, Salesforce, GitHub, Drive, Notion and 100+ other tools7 | Data warehouses, chat, email and calendar, documents, work tools and platforms such as Salesforce and SAP8 |
| Who qualifies | No minimum headcount or years stated on its data page9 | 40+ employees as a preferred start, assessed case by case10 |
| Stated price | None on its data page; its LinkedIn ads say up to $10M per enterprise2,11 | $10K-$1M+, labeled illustrative and scaling with cadence3 |
| When you are paid | Typically 2-4 weeks after signing, depending on extraction and processing; paid when the dataset reaches the buyer1 | Not published |
| One deal or repeat | Not published | Designed for recurring revenue, and can start with very limited scope3 |
| Fees you pay | None, Mercor says: no upfront costs, setup fees or deductions12 | Not published |
| Removing names | Automated; no AI lab buyer sees raw data, Mercor says13 | Anonymized inside your environment before extraction, with approval per package14 |
| License terms | Not published | Not published |
| Who stands behind it | $10B valuation after a $350M Series C15 | Valued above $29B with Meta's investment; Meta holds 49%, reported to carry no voting rights16,6 |
| On the record | Confirmed a 2026 cyberattack; contractors filed proposed class actions5,17 | Its page names no seller or completed deal4 |
The real gap
Each page answers a question the other one skips
In our view Mercor's data page is strongest on the money timeline and costs. It says you pay nothing for extraction, anonymization or transfer, and that payment comes on delivery to the buyer, typically within 2-4 weeks of signing. What you would be paid is left to data volume, the tools you connect and the depth of your data.12,1,18
In our view Scale's page is stronger on size and shape. It calls 40+ employees its preferred starting point and assesses each company, gives $10K-$1M+ as an illustration, and says deals can start small and are built to repeat, so a company that wants a first small deal has a clearer picture there. Scale says nothing on when you are paid or what fees apply.10,3,4
Mercor and Scale AI both leave the contract for later. Neither page says whether a deal is exclusive or how long the rights run, and Mercor's says nothing about who owns the data afterward, so those are first-call questions at both.19,18,4
Your data
Mercor and Scale AI both promise clean data, and both claims need a follow-up
Scale says it anonymizes inside your own environment before anything is extracted, that nothing is shared without your approval of each package, and that it can work on-prem or in a private cloud. The same page says identities never leave and also that chat keeps participants intact, email keeps senders and recipients, and files keep authorship, and it does not say whether those fields are swapped for tokens.14,20
Mercor says extraction and anonymization are fully automated, that no AI lab buyer sees your raw data, that nothing leaves until you approve it, and that it holds SOC 2 Type II. Automated removal is a claim you can test, so ask to see a sample, and ask for the SOC 2 report and the period it covers.13,21,22
Questions to raise
The Mercor cyberattack and Scale AI's tie to Meta
Mercor confirmed a cyberattack tied to the LiteLLM compromise, which it says hit many companies. Its June update says a very limited subset of nearly five million experts had sensitive information affected, with no evidence of fraudulent use, and that impact on customer information was very limited. Those are its own findings. The extortion group Lapsus$ claimed up to four terabytes and posted samples, which we can't confirm, and contractors filed proposed class actions in April, which are allegations with no ruling we have seen.5,23,24,17
Meta holds 49% of Scale, and the stake is reported to carry no voting rights. Interim CEO Jason Droege wrote that Scale remains independent, and Scale's FAQ says AI companies will not use your data to compete with you, though it names no buyers and does not mention Meta. Fortune reported in April 2026 that Mercor's customers include Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta, so if Meta matters to your business, ask both who receives your data.6,25,26,27
Neither Mercor nor Scale AI is one of the buyers we work with. If you want a number to hold against theirs, the quiz shows which buyers we work with fit your company.
FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
Scale says its partnerships are designed for recurring revenue, and its range scales with how often you deliver. Mercor's data page does not say whether a deal repeats, so ask.3
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Questions to talk through with your buyer
Every business is different, so these are best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over them with you before anything is signed.
Questions for this kind of business
- If a buyer has a breach, who must tell us, how fast, and who pays?
- How do CCPA, GDPR, UK GDPR and state privacy laws apply, and is de-identified data still personal information?
- Do customer, supplier or platform contracts, NDAs or API terms restrict this?
Questions for any buyer
- Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
- Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
- Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
- How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
- What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
- Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
- Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?