Guide · Data labeling

Best Data Labeling Companies & Services (2026)

Data labeling is data annotation under its original name — the same vendors, the same work, the same prices. We will not pretend otherwise to fill a page: here is the labeling shortlist, drawn from the same evidence as our annotation rankings.

Enterprise labeling

Scale AI

The Data Engine covers labeling across text, image, video, 3D and sensor data under enterprise contracts.

Volume & languages

Appen

Three decades of labeling programs; 235+ languages through a million-strong reported crowd.

Expert labeling

Surge AI

When labels are preference judgments and demonstrations, quality is the product.

Data labeling companies compared (the annotation field, by its other name)
Vendor	Model	Founded	Pricing	Best for
Scale AI	Managed service	2016	Not published	Frontier labs, large enterprises and government programs that need annotation and evaluation run as a managed, high-volume program.
Appen	Managed service	1996	Not published	Multilingual and speech/audio data at global scale, and buyers who value a vendor with public financial reporting and a 30-year operating history.
Surge AI	Managed service	2020	Not published	Labs that rank data quality above all else for RLHF and reasoning data, and prefer a founder-controlled vendor with no outside investors.
Labelbox	Platform	2018	Published — Free tier (500 LBU/mo); Starter $0.10 per LBU; Enterprise custom	ML teams that want to own their annotation workflow on a platform with transparent usage pricing, with expert services available as an add-on.
Micro1	Expert network	2022	Not published	Companies that want vetted expert capacity without running their own recruiting funnel, and experts who want clearly posted pay ranges before they apply.

Why this page exists — and why it is short

Buyers search "data labeling" and "data annotation" interchangeably, and vendors maintain duplicate marketing for both. A publication built on transparency should say plainly: it is one market. The deep comparisons live on our annotation companies and annotation services pages; the platform buyer's version is data labeling platforms.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between data labeling and data annotation?

Nothing of substance — they are two names for the same work: attaching structured information (labels, tags, judgments) to raw data so models can learn from it. "Data labeling" is the older industry term; "data annotation" is the more common modern one. Vendor marketing treats them interchangeably, and so does this publication, except that we use annotation as the category name.

What are the best data labeling companies?

The same field as annotation, because it is the same field: Scale AI for enterprise programs, Appen for multilingual volume, Surge AI for RLHF-quality language data, Labelbox for platform-led labeling, and Micro1/Mercor when the "labeling" requires credentialed experts. Any ranking that separates labeling companies from annotation companies is manufacturing a distinction.

How much does data labeling cost?

Published ranges: image classification $0.03–$0.10 per image, bounding boxes $0.02–$1.00 per object, semantic segmentation $0.50–$6.00 per image, and labor from $2/hour offshore to $60+/hour in the US, with credentialed experts at $85–$200/hour. Most managed labeling companies publish none of this — the ranges come from the vendors and guides that do.

Sources

Facts on this page were drawn from the public sources above, checked November 2026. If you spot an error, tell us at the corrections address in the footer — we fix sourced errors and note the change.

Last updated: November 8, 2026