How pay and tiers work

Mercor pays by tracked hour or by deliverable (Mercor, Contracts), Handshake AI by hour or by task (Handshake AI, earning), and Prolific sets a minimum hourly rate for the researchers who pay participants (Prolific's payment model). This lesson sets out what those networks, Outlier and DataAnnotation say in their own pages about how they pay, what is not paid, when money arrives and what you handle for tax. The pages were read on 2026-10-11 and they change. It gives no earnings figures.

Three ways of being paid

Mercor describes hourly contracts as its most common format. Your offer shows an hourly rate, a weekly cap on hours and a payout schedule, and all work, including meetings and required training, must be recorded in its desktop time-tracking app (Mercor, Contracts).

Hours that are not captured there are not eligible for payment (Mercor, Contracts).

Deliverable-based contracts pay a fixed amount for specific completed work items, not by the hour. Mercor says payment is issued only on successful completion of all assigned deliverables, and that there is no minimum hourly pay (Mercor, Contracts). It says these contracts are typically used for rubric projects (Mercor, Contracts).

Handshake AI says most of its projects pay either an hourly rate or a per-task rate, as set out in that project’s Project Terms (Handshake AI, earning).

Mercor adds that a project can move from hourly pay to task-based pay, or back. It says such a change is announced before it takes effect, and that work already completed is never repriced (Mercor, Contracts).

What is not paid

On Handshake AI hourly projects, you are paid for preparing, submitting and revising tasks (Handshake AI, earning). Some tasks have a time cap, and payment is limited to the maximum handling time in the Project Terms even if the task takes longer (Handshake AI, earning).

Handshake AI says onboarding time is paid only when the Project Terms say so. It also lists as unpaid: the initial onboarding checklist, optional meetings, time on communication platforms such as Slack, and time lost to technical problems (Handshake AI, earning).

It warns that logging time for activities that are not eligible could mean non-payment, offboarding from the project, loss of platform access, or disqualification from future projects (Handshake AI, earning).

DataAnnotation says there are no minimum hours or schedule requirements: you choose when to work and which projects to take (DataAnnotation FAQ).

What the rate depends on

Outlier says rates vary by expertise, project complexity and location, and that you always see the tasking rate before starting a project (Outlier FAQ).

Handshake AI says compensation varies by project type, subject expertise and experience, and that you see the project’s hourly rate and any bonus before joining (Handshake AI, program introduction).

DataAnnotation ties rates to its qualification tracks and says that after passing the Starter Assessment you can take specialist assessments to unlock higher-paying projects (DataAnnotation FAQ). It also says all tracks offer opportunities for higher rates based on strong performance (DataAnnotation FAQ).

Its advertised figures are starting rates, and they are not consistent within the FAQ: one answer says general projects start at $25 to $30+ an hour, and another says $25 to $50+. It lists coding at $40 to $150+ in one place and $50 to $100 in another (DataAnnotation FAQ).

Mercor says that for hourly contracts, pay is given regardless of the quality of the work, though substandard output may affect eligibility for future opportunities (Mercor, Contracts).

On Prolific, researchers set the reward for their studies, subject to a minimum hourly rate of £6 or $8, and Prolific recommends at least £9 or $12 (Prolific's payment model).

When money arrives

Mercor calculates hourly pay from hours logged between Saturday and Friday (India Standard Time) and processes it the following Wednesday. First payouts are subject to a 7-day hold by Stripe (Mercor, Contracts).

Handshake AI typically sends payouts to its partner pay platforms by Wednesday afternoon, covering the previous Monday to Sunday (Pacific time), and the payment often takes another 48 hours to process. Some projects follow a different schedule, which the Project Terms state (Handshake AI, payments processing).

Outlier processes payments weekly on Tuesdays for work completed from the previous Tuesday through Monday (midnight UTC), and pays through PayPal, Airtm or ACH bank transfer (Outlier FAQ).

DataAnnotation processes payments through PayPal (DataAnnotation FAQ).

Prolific lets you cash out once your combined approved balance across its two currencies reaches £6 or $6 (Prolific, how to cash out). Money waiting for approval does not count toward that (Prolific, when you can cash out), and a pending balance moves to available once a researcher approves your submission, which can take up to 22 days (Prolific, how to cash out).

Payments go to PayPal and arrive within 24 hours, usually sooner. You can generally cash out once every 24 hours, but there is a 72-hour gap if you recently changed your PayPal address or have made fewer than four cash-outs (Prolific, how to cash out).

Setup and taxes

Handshake AI requires tax details (a W-8 or W-9 form) and a Stripe payout account before you can be paid. It says you are responsible for taxes on your own income, and that it may withhold taxes where the law requires (Handshake AI, payments processing).

Mercor does not deduct taxes. US taxpayers complete a W-9 and receive a 1099-NEC if they earn more than $600 in a year, and people outside the US complete a W-8BEN (Mercor, Taxes and Work Authorization).

An offer shows an hourly rate of X, a weekly cap of 20 hours, and a payout schedule of weekly on Wednesday.

Questions to ask of it: Is onboarding paid, or is it unpaid until the first task? Does a task time cap apply? Which activities may I log? Is the first payout delayed? Who withholds tax, and which form do I file?

What the answers change: the same hourly rate can mean quite different earnings per hour of your day, depending on how much of that day the terms count as work.