Mercor vs Handshake AI for AI training work
Mercor and Handshake AI both pay contractors for AI-training work. Mercor publishes US$30 to 250/hr, and Handshake AI publishes US$17 to 125/hr. Canada eligibility is not confirmed for Mercor and unresolved for Handshake AI. Our listings have 341 open Mercor roles and 0 open Handshake AI roles today.
Last verified by the CredentialWork team
Who should pick Mercor, and who should pick Handshake AI
Only the facts that separate the two, from our reviews and listings: Canada eligibility, a published rate, open roles by field and weekly pay. Each one is in the table below with its source, and nothing here comes from who pays us.
Pick Mercor if
- You want a role you can open today: Mercor has 341 open roles in our listings (38 in medicine, 17 in law, 20 in finance, 40 in software, 63 in science, 48 in languages, 1 in writing, 23 in voice & audio, 14 in design & media, 24 in business, 18 in data & ai rating, 35 in other fields); Handshake AI has none right now.
Pick Handshake AI if
- Nothing in our data favours Handshake AI over Mercor; read its review for who it suits.
Side by side
Every row restates what our Mercor and Handshake AI reviews show, with the page it comes from and the date we read it. "Not published" means no page we read says it. Open roles are from our daily pull of each platform's own listings, one role per posting.
| Fact | Mercor | Handshake AI |
|---|---|---|
| Our verdict | Legit | Unverified |
| Advertised pay | US$30 to 250/hrVerified | US$17 to 125/hrVerified |
| Who can apply | Non-US contractors accepted, but listings can restrict by country. No doctor or lawyer role we counted was open to Canada on 2026-10-22 talent.docs.mercor.com | US only. You must be based in the US, with US work authorization and an SSN or ITIN support.joinhandshake.com |
| Eligible from Canada? | Unverified It accepts non-US contractors, but each listing can restrict by country; no doctor or lawyer role we counted was open to Canada. talent.docs.mercor.com | Unresolved Its help center says you must be based in the US; outside the US it is invite-only. support.joinhandshake.com |
| Screening | AI interview (about 20 min) and assessments, then ID and background checks talent.docs.mercor.com | Profile and resume, ID check (Persona), project invite, then about 2 hours of paid onboarding support.joinhandshake.com |
| Approval time | Not published | Not published |
| How you're paid | Stripe, or Wise where Stripe isn't supported, in US$. Weekly, Wednesdays about 12:00 PM PST talent.docs.mercor.com | Weekly, through Stripe. Payouts go out by Wednesday for the previous week support.joinhandshake.com |
| Fees | No fee found in Mercor's official process docs talent.docs.mercor.com | Not published |
| Open roles in our listings | 341 open roles | None in our listings right now |
| Last verified |
Mercor or Handshake AI: questions people ask
Which pays more, Mercor or Handshake AI?
Mercor publishes US$30 to 250/hr. Handshake AI publishes US$17 to 125/hr. Advertised rates are not earnings, and rates can change between projects.
Can I work for Mercor or Handshake AI from Canada?
Mercor: Unverified. It accepts non-US contractors, but each listing can restrict by country; no doctor or lawyer role we counted was open to Canada. Handshake AI: Unresolved. Its help center says you must be based in the US; outside the US it is invite-only.
Which has more open roles right now?
In our pull of 2026-11-10, Mercor had 341 open roles and Handshake AI had 0. A role listed in several places counts once.
How do Mercor and Handshake AI screen applicants?
Mercor: AI interview (about 20 min) and assessments, then ID and background checks. Handshake AI: Profile and resume, ID check (Persona), project invite, then about 2 hours of paid onboarding.