Mercor: pay, countries & is it hiring? (Oct 2026)
Expert marketplace: you apply to hourly AI-training projects (rubric writing, evaluation, domain-expert review) after one AI interview that is reused across listings.
What it pays
Typically $55–$150/hr on open listings; India-tagged listings had a $21/hr median vs $80/hr for US-tagged (Sep 28, 2026)
Basis: advertised. Sources: aitraining.jobs · parailabs.com
Is it hiring now?
229 open roles listed on a third-party tracker on Oct 17, 2026.
Sources: aitraining.jobs
Who can join
Pays out to 102 countries via Stripe plus Brazil, Nepal, Turkey and UAE via Wise. Not supported: Kenya, Pakistan, Ukraine, China, Hong Kong and others. Listings that name no region default to US/Canada/UK/EU.
| United States | Accepted |
|---|---|
| India | Accepted |
| Nigeria | Accepted |
| Kenya | Not accepted |
| Philippines | Accepted |
Sources: talent.docs.mercor.com · parailabs.com
How you get paid
- Stripe Connect (bank)
- Wise (some countries)
Weekly, every Wednesday for the previous work week; first Stripe payout held 7 days. Instant payout option costs 1%.
Sources: talent.docs.mercor.com
How to apply
Create an account at work.mercor.com, complete the AI interview (up to 3 attempts), then apply to listings with one click. Expect many applications before a first project.
Official domains: mercor.com, work.mercor.com. Anything else is not them.
Health & legitimacy
Workers widely report on-time weekly pay but also abrupt offboarding, over-recruited projects and empty queues. A March 24–30, 2026 security incident via a poisoned LiteLLM package exposed some contractor data (SSNs/ID numbers per state filings); Meta paused work with Mercor. Trustpilot 4.4/5 (999 reviews, Oct 2026).
Sources: trustpilot.com · aitraining.jobs · parailabs.com
Referral program
Exists: Yes. Referrer earns 20% of the referred person's earnings (incl. bonuses) up to a cap of 4× their first hourly rate. Mercor advertises $250–$15,000 per referral. You do not need to work at Mercor to refer.
Sources: mercor.com · talent.docs.mercor.com
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