Updated 8 Nov 2026
Surge AI vs Mercor, by the numbers.
By revenue, Mercor is the larger: $2B (run rate, Jun 2026), against Surge AI's $1.2B (FY2024). Surge AI's figure is the older by 18 months; no later one is on record.
Both sell RL environments, datasets, expert and human data and evaluations and benchmarks. Every figure below is linked to the filing or article it comes from; what each sells is in its own words, from its own pages.
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Side by side
Revenue over twelve months, the newest valuation, disclosed funding and what each says it does.
| Surge AI | Mercor | |
|---|---|---|
| Surge AI | Mercor | |
| Place on the rankings | #2 of 78 | #1 of 78 |
| Ranked on | $1.2B Revenue, FY2024 | $2B Revenue, run rate, Jun 2026 |
| Revenue, twelve months | $1.2B FY2024 over time | $2B run rate, Jun 2026 over time |
| Newest valuation | Not on record | $10B Oct 2025 |
| Disclosed funding | Not on record | $480M in 3 records |
| Sells | RL environments, Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks | RL environments, Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks |
| Works on | Coding, Business work, Finance, Legal, Medical, Science, Images and video, Speech and audio, Languages | Coding, Business work, Finance, Legal, Medical |
| Made from | Made by experts and contractors | Made by experts and contractors, Replicas of real software, Generated, Licensed from its owners |
| Takes data from companies | Does not say so | Through our introductions |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, US | San Francisco, California, US |
| Founded | 2020 | 2023 |
| In its own words | “Training data, evals, and RL environments built by the same experts behind our frontier-lab work.” Its page | “We develop benchmarks, evaluation environments, and large-scale human datasets to fuel AI breakthroughs at the frontier, all through our marketplace of top-tier experts.” Its page |
- The rule.
- Each company is ranked on the first of these it has on record: its revenue over twelve months (a run rate or a year as published, or its last four quarters added up; an AI segment where the rest of its business is not AI data), then its newest valuation, then the money it disclosed raising. No company pays for a place. The full method and every change to it.
- Twelve months.
- A run rate or ARR is the company's own annualised figure; a year is the year it published. Gross revenue of a human data company includes what it pays its experts.
- Pays companies for data.
- "Through our introductions": it takes companies' data through AIData.Broker's introductions and pays us a referral fee when one goes ahead. That never moves its place: the order is the money on record. "Its own programme": a published programme for buying data. "Says it buys data": its own words, linked.
- Why this pair.
- People search for this comparison: Google suggests it, read on 8 Nov 2026. Neither company asked for or paid for this page.
Selling your company's data to Surge AI or Mercor
What each says it pays a company for its data, what it wants and when it pays, in its own published terms.
| Surge AI | Mercor | |
|---|---|---|
| Takes data from companies | Does not say so | Through our introductions |
| What it says it pays | Not published | $10K to $1.5M Mercor, data page, 8 Nov 2026 |
| What it wants | Not published | Workflow data from Slack, Teams, Gmail, Outlook, Confluence, Salesforce, GitHub, Drive, Notion and 100+ other tools. |
| When it pays | Not published | By wire on delivery of the anonymised dataset to the buyer, typically within 2 to 4 weeks of the signed agreement; the same page's process step says "Get paid as soon as processing is complete." |
You need not choose one: AIData.Broker values a company's data free and introduces it to every buyer whose own rules take it. Value your data
On the same rankings
The lists both are ranked on, with each one's place.
- Legal AI training data companiesSurge AI #2, Mercor #1 of 17
- Finance AI training data companiesSurge AI #2, Mercor #1 of 25
- Medical AI training data companiesSurge AI #2, Mercor #1 of 26
- Coding data companies for AISurge AI #2, Mercor #1 of 33
- RL environment companiesSurge AI #2, Mercor #1 of 36
- Best AI data labs and human data companiesSurge AI #2, Mercor #1 of 41
- Best AI training data providersSurge AI #2, Mercor #1 of 53
- AI evaluation companiesSurge AI #2, Mercor #1 of 60
The latest money moves
The newest rounds, valuations and revenue figures of the two, each linked to its record.
- 9 Jul 2026Mercor was acquired by Mercor
- 6 Jul 2026Mercor reported $2B revenue (run rate, Jun 2026)
- 27 Oct 2025Mercor raised $350M at a $10B valuation
- 25 Sep 2025Surge AI reported $1.2B revenue (FY2024)
- 20 Feb 2025Mercor raised $100M at a $2B valuation
- 23 Sep 2024Mercor raised $30M at a $250M valuation
The questions people ask
- Is Surge AI bigger than Mercor?
- By revenue, Mercor is the larger: $2B (run rate, Jun 2026), against Surge AI's $1.2B (FY2024). Surge AI's figure is the older by 18 months; no later one is on record.
- What is the difference between Surge AI and Mercor?
- Surge AI provides expert-built training data, RL environments, and evaluations to AI labs and enterprises building AI models. Mercor builds benchmarks, RL environments and large-scale human datasets for AI labs and enterprise model developers, sourced through its expert marketplace. Both sell RL environments, datasets, expert and human data and evaluations and benchmarks.
- Which raised more money, Surge AI or Mercor?
- Surge AI: no disclosed round on record. Mercor: $480M disclosed, valued at $10B (2025).
- Do Surge AI and Mercor buy data from companies?
- Surge AI does not say it buys data from companies. Mercor takes data from the companies that hold it, through a published programme.
More comparisons
Each company against its whole field, and the other comparisons people search.