Scale AI vs Surge AI
Both are San Francisco companies that sell human data to AI labs. Scale AI covers images, video, 3D scans, maps and chatbot feedback for large programs; Surge AI does language work and chatbot feedback only.
Choose Scale AI when
- Your data includes images, video, 3D laser scans or satellite pictures: Surge AI lists text and chatbot feedback only.
- Your security team wants an outside audit report: Scale AI names SOC 2 Type II on its security page.
- You run a large program for a government or a big company, the work its own pages describe.
Choose Surge AI when
- The job is writing, coding or rating chatbot answers and needs skilled writers, coders or domain experts.
- You want a company whose whole business is language data and model feedback.
- You can work without a named outside audit: Surge AI names only a GDPR representative for UK and EU data.
Scale AI vs Surge AI: the facts side by side
| Fact |  Scale AI |  Surge AI |
|---|---|---|
| Based in | San Francisco, California | San Francisco, California |
| Founded | 2016 | 2020 |
| How it works | Its own software paired with online workers who join through its job websites | Writing and language tasks, using its own software and skilled workers |
| Team | Crowd sites in Southeast Asia and Africa; 1,200 employees in 2025 | About 1 million annotators in 2025 |
| Kinds of files | Photos, Video, Text, 3D laser scans (LiDAR), Satellite and map images, Rating AI chatbot answers | Text, Rating AI chatbot answers |
| Outside security audits | SOC 2 Type II | None named on its site |
| Laws it says it follows | None named | GDPR |
| 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 | Software labels the data first, then people review it, with more than one level and kind of review | Not described on its site |
| How to start | Book a 1:1 intro call from its pricing page; the price is set for each job | Contact form on its site |
Every fact comes from each company's own pages, last read 2026-10-16: docs.scale.com · en.wikipedia.org · scale.com · scale.com · en.wikipedia.org · surgehq.ai · the surgehq.ai.
The differences between Scale AI and Surge AI
- Scale AI: Meta agreed to pay $14.8 billion for a non-voting 49% share of Scale AI.
- Scale AI: Scale says it became the first AI company to run Donovan, its own language model, on a classified network.
- Surge AI: For 2024, Surge reported $1.2 billion in revenue with no outside investment raised.
- Surge AI: In May 2025, a class action said the company misclassified its annotators as contract workers.
Who Scale AI suits. For driving data, satellite imagery and model feedback, it suits large programs with security reviews that carry weight.
Who Surge AI suits. It suits work on model feedback and evaluation when skilled coders, writers and domain experts are needed.
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