Surge AI review

Founded in 2020, this San Francisco company, Surge AI, focuses on feedback from people and language data for frontier AI labs.

surgehq.ai ↗

Located in: San Francisco, California
File types: Text, Rating AI answers from chatbots
External security audits: Not named on its website
How it sets prices: Each job receives its own price

References: Surge AI on en.wikipedia.org · surgehq.ai main page · surgehq.ai privacy policy

How to get three quotes for work like this

Is Surge AI a good fit?

Surge AI fits evaluation and model feedback work that calls for skilled writers, domain experts and coders.

A good fit when

You work with text or chatbot answers that need a rating.
The company you pick needs to name GDPR on its own site.

Check with Surge AI first if

If you want a no-cost trial first, ask Surge AI about its pilot terms (firms with a public pilot).
If you require pricing ahead of a sales call, Surge AI quotes every job once it has reviewed a sample.
If you handle patient records, ask how Surge AI would process them; HIPAA is not named on its pages.

Person comparing two blocks of text side by side on a wide monitor

More about Surge AI

What laws Surge AI says it obeys: GDPR
The way it works: Its own software and skilled workers handle writing and language tasks
Team: Around 1 million annotators in 2025

Market rates for work of this kind

Per document: amounts, names or places marked: For non-US teams,$0.04 to $0.30Our estimate for a US team.:$0.08 to $1.20
Per comparison: people choose the better of two answers.: All teams.:$0.50 to $8.00The price reflects the reviewer's skill, not their location.

Our US-team estimate sits next to rates other labeling companies make public for the kinds of work Surge AI lists. It is twice the lower number and four times the upper number, a markup range Habile Data gives for US teams. Surge AI has not quoted these figures; they are market prices.

Estimate work like this The source for each price

Two things to know about Surge AI

Surge reported $1.2 billion in 2024 revenue, having raised no outside investment.
The company had misclassified the annotators as contract workers, a class action said in May 2025.

What Surge AI offers for data annotation

Rating chatbot answers (RLHF), AI agent practice tasks, language data

Surge AI and similar companies

Surge AI next to companies labeling similar files; two of those companies publish a free test
Company	Located in	File types	External security audits	Price and free test
Surge AIThis page	San Francisco, California	Text, Rating chatbot answers	None named	A price follows once it reviews a sample.
CloudFactory	Reading, England	Photos, Video, Text, Satellite photos	ISO 27001, SOC 2 (the type isn't stated)	Your yearly budget is set by you, and payment is only for work that is finished.As a test, it will tag some of your files at no charge.
Label Your Data	Wilmington, Delaware	Photos, Text, Audio, 3D laser scans, Satellite photos	ISO 27001	Pricing starts at $0.02 for each box, or $6 for an hour.You can try a job for free, and there's no charge to begin.
Scale AI	San Francisco, California	Rating chatbot answers, plus Photos, Video, Text, 3D laser scans and Satellite photos	SOC 2 Type II	A price follows once it reviews a sample.The first step is a phone call.
Appen	Sydney, Australia and Kirkland, Washington	Rating chatbot answers and Medical scans, along with Photos, Video, Text, Audio, 3D laser scans	SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001	A price follows once it reviews a sample.

All of them side by side

Side by side: Scale AI vs Surge AI

Prices and companies for the files Surge AI labels

What to ask Surge AI before you sign

Where are your teams based, and which ones would label our data?
How do you measure accuracy, and what share of labels is checked by a second person?
Is a pilot possible to start with, and would it be free?
Which security audit reports can you share before we send any data?
How do you price work like this: by project, by the hour or by label?

How to get quotes for this kind of work

Describe the job one time: the data type, the labels and the item count.
We pick up to three companies that label that kind of data, and email you their names before we pass the brief on.
A few sample files are requested by each one, then a price is sent to you.

Want a free test first? Label Your Data and CloudFactory publish one.

Comparing Surge AI with others? Describe the job once, and three annotation companies that label your kind of data reply with prices.

Get quotes from companies like Surge AI

Send one brief, hear from three vendors

Describe your data once and we pass it to three annotation vendors that label that kind of data, so you can compare quotes side by side.

One short form instead of three sales calls. Matched on data type, volume and security needs. You choose who to talk to.