Toloka review

Toloka, a data company based in Amsterdam, began in 2014 and shifted from microtasks to expert data for AI models and agents.

toloka.ai ↗

Located in: Amsterdam, Netherlands
File types: Photos, Video, Text, Audio, Rating AI chatbot replies
External security audits: ISO 27001, ISO 27701 (personal data), SOC 2 (the type isn't stated)
How pricing works: Each job gets its own price

Our sources: toloka.ai homepage · About page on toloka.ai · SOC 2 page on toloka.ai

How to get three quotes for work like this

Is Toloka a good fit?

It works well for expert tasks, agent testing and model feedback, across many languages and fields.

A good match if

You work with photos, text, video, audio or chatbot answers that need rating.
The company you pick must list SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 27701 on pages of its own.

Check with Toloka first if

Starting with a free test is what you want: ask Toloka what its pilot terms are (firms that publish one).
Before any sales call, you need a price: it quotes each job once a sample is reviewed.
For patient records, ask how Toloka would handle them; its pages do not name HIPAA.

City street seen from a car with colored boxes around each car, cyclist and pedestrian

More about Toloka

How it operates: Online experts around the world staff this labeling service
Team: 40+ languages spoken by workers across 100+ countries

What this kind of work costs on the market

Per box: a box drawn around each object.: Non-US team.:$0.02 to $0.12Our estimate for a US team.:$0.04 to $0.48
Per tracked object per frame: objects followed across frames.: Non-US team.:$0.05 to $0.25Our estimate for a US team.:$0.10 to $1.00
Per document: names, places or amounts marked.: Non-US team.:$0.04 to $0.30Our estimate for a US team.:$0.08 to $1.20
Per minute of audio: speech typed out, noting who spoke.: Non-US team.:$0.10 to $1.50Our estimate for a US team.:$0.20 to $6.00

Other labeling companies publish rates for the kind of work Toloka lists; those appear next to our US team estimate: the low end doubled and the high end quadrupled, the markup range for US teams that Habile Data reports. What you're seeing are market rates, not a Toloka quote.

Estimate work like this The source of each price

Two things to know about Toloka

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos led one of Toloka's investment rounds.
Every optional criterion except Privacy appears in its SOC 2 report, audited by A-LIGN.

What Toloka offers for data annotation

Image, video, text and audio
Practice tasks for AI agents, model answers written to learn from (SFT) and chatbot answers rated (RLHF)
Medicine and law are among 50+ knowledge domains

Toloka alternatives

A free test is published by two of these firms that label similar files, shown here beside Toloka
Company	Located in	File types	External security audits	Price and free test
TolokaThis page	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Photos, Video, Text, Audio, Rating chatbot answers	SOC 2 (the type isn't stated), ISO 27001, ISO 27701 (personal data)	Quoted after a sample
CloudFactory	Reading, England	Photos, Video, Text, Satellite photos	ISO 27001, SOC 2 (the type isn't stated)	Your yearly budget is yours to set; you pay only for work that's finished.As a test, a few of your files get labeled free.
Label Your Data	Wilmington, Delaware	Photos, Text, Audio, 3D laser scans, Satellite photos	ISO 27001	Pricing begins at $0.02 a box, or from $6 an hourThe trial job is free; getting started carries no fee.
Appen	Sydney, Australia and Kirkland, Washington	Rating chatbot answers, Medical scans, Video, Text, Audio, 3D laser scans, Photos	SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001	Quoted after a sample
iMerit	San Jose, California	Rating chatbot answers, Medical scans, Video, Text, Audio, 3D laser scans, Photos	SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, TISAX	Quoted after a sample

All of them side by side

Prices and companies for the files Toloka labels

What to ask Toloka before you sign

Which of your teams would label our data, and where do your teams work?
What share of labels gets a second-person check, and how is accuracy measured?
Is starting with a pilot possible, and would it cost nothing?
Can we see your SOC 2 report before any files from us reach you?
For work like this, what do you charge: per label, per project or per hour?

How to get quotes for similar work

Describe the job once: data type, labels and 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.
Every company requests a few sample files, then sends you a price.

Looking for a free test first? CloudFactory publishes one, and so does Label Your Data.

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

Get quotes from companies like Toloka

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.