Appen vs TELUS Digital
Both are large annotation companies. Appen began in Sydney in 1996 and runs a crowd of more than a million online workers; TELUS Digital, based in Vancouver, has more than 80,000 employees and took in Lionbridge AI as its AI data unit.
Choose Appen when
- Your files include medical data or video: TELUS Digital lists neither.
- You need HIPAA or GDPR named on the vendor's own pages: Appen names both.
- Your work is speech across many languages and locales.
Choose TELUS Digital when
- You supply a car manufacturer that asks for TISAX: TELUS Digital names it, Appen does not.
- You want staff teams it manages and experts checked before they join, on a project that runs for years.
- Your work is search relevance or automotive sensor data.
Appen vs TELUS Digital: the facts side by side
| Fact |  Appen |  TELUS Digital |
|---|---|---|
| Based in | Sydney, Australia and Kirkland, Washington | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Founded | 1996 | 2005 |
| How it works | Secure offices for private data, plus a crowd of more than 1 million online workers | Software of its own, staff teams it manages and experts checked before they join |
| Team | A secure facility in Cavite, Philippines; 14 offices across six countries | More than 80,000 employees in 35+ countries |
| Kinds of files | Photos, Video, Text, Audio, 3D laser scans (LiDAR), Medical scans, Rating AI chatbot answers | Photos, Text, Audio, 3D laser scans (LiDAR), Rating AI chatbot answers |
| Outside security audits | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 | SOC 2 (type not stated), TISAX, ISO 27001 |
| Laws it says it follows | HIPAA, GDPR | None named |
| How it prices | Price given for each job | Price given for each job |
| Free test | None published | None published |
| Minimum | None published | None published |
| Quality checks | Not described on its site | Not described on its site |
| How to start | Contact form on its site | Contact form on its site |
Every fact comes from each company's own pages, last read 2026-10-16: en.wikipedia.org · appen.com · appen.com · appen.com · en.wikipedia.org · linkedin.com · telusdigital.com · telusdigital.com.
The differences between Appen and TELUS Digital
- Appen: Appen says 80% of top LLM builders worldwide are its customers.
- Appen: Few vendors match its speech annotation across more than 100 languages and 500 locales.
- TELUS Digital: TELUS Digital says the labels it delivers a year total more than two billion.
- TELUS Digital: On October 31, 2025, the deal making it wholly owned by Telus Corporation closed.
Who Appen suits. It's a good fit for multilingual speech and text work, plus big image or LiDAR jobs where many hands are needed fast.
Who TELUS Digital suits. For projects that run for years, it suits speech, automotive sensor fusion and search relevance.
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