Crowtado
Best alternatives

The 5 best Appen alternatives for contributors

Honest list. Crowtado is at #1 because we wrote this page, but the other four are real platforms with real contributors. Pick the one that matches your modality, geo, and pay expectations.

  1. 01

    Crowtado

    Phone-first, modality-tiered, $10 payout requests

    Crowtado pays contributors to record short voice clips, videos, and photos on their phones. The data trains AI models. Up to $40/hr, payout requests start at $10, 15 supported languages. The most direct fix for contributors leaving Appen because of slow payouts, opaque bans, or limited modality coverage.

    Median pay
    $18–$40/hr
    Payout
    Within a few days
    Best for
    Phone-first contributors, multilingual speakers, contributors leaving platforms with opaque ban policies
    Enlist with Crowtado →
  2. 02

    Toloka

    Powering generative AI with human data.

    Toloka started as Yandex's crowdsourcing platform, was spun out into Nebius in 2024, and raised $72M from Bezos Expeditions in 2025. The platform is multilingual (15 UI languages), is growing fastest in India, Nigeria, and Mexico, and has a separate premium tier called Mindrift for domain experts.

    Median pay
    $5–$15/hr
    Payout
    5 days
    Best for
    Emerging-market contributors (India, Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil)
  3. 03

    Outlier

    Earn money training AI models.

    Outlier is Scale AI's contributor-facing platform for paid AI training tasks. Domain experts work on text, code, and reasoning evaluations from a desktop browser. US-leaning, English-fluent contributors are heavily favored.

    Median pay
    $18–$50/hr
    Payout
    7 days
    Best for
    Domain experts (medicine, law, advanced code) in the US
  4. 04

    DataAnnotation

    Get paid to make AI smarter.

    DataAnnotation is Surge AI's contributor-facing brand. It owns the unbranded category term 'data annotation' on Google and pays well per task — but acceptance windows are long, the waitlist is unpredictable, and bans land with no explanation.

    Median pay
    $20–$40/hr
    Payout
    7 days
    Best for
    US-based, English-fluent contributors who can wait out the application queue
  5. 05

    Prolific

    Get paid for academic research studies.

    Prolific is a UK-based platform for paid online research studies. It's the gold standard for academic researchers running surveys and behavioral experiments — but it's not really an AI training platform. Studies are short, predictable, and pay in low double digits per hour.

    Median pay
    $8–$15/hr
    Payout
    1–2 weeks
    Best for
    Research participants, academic-curious contributors

FAQ

Best Appen alternatives — what to know first.

  • What is the best Appen alternative?

    For contributors leaving Appen because of project ended; weeks without a new task assignment., Crowtado is the most direct replacement. It pays up to $40/hr, payout requests start at $10, and account decisions come with a written reason — addressing the most common Appen pain points.

  • Are there free Appen alternatives?

    All the platforms on this list are free to join — they pay you, not the other way around. Watch out for any "AI side hustle" platform that asks for money upfront; that's not how legitimate data labeling works.

  • Which Appen alternative pays the most?

    Per-hour rates depend heavily on modality and your qualification tier. Crowtado's range is $18–$40/hr across audio, video, and photo briefs. Toloka can match or exceed for specific expert categories.

Done waiting on Appen?

Two minutes to enlist. Up to $40/hr. Payout requests from $10.

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