How Much Do micro1, Mercor, and Turing Actually Pay?

Every one of these platforms advertises "competitive pay," which tells you nothing. We track live listings from micro1, Mercor, and Turing on this site, so instead of guessing, here's what the numbers actually look like right now.

A quick note before the numbers: these are the ranges platforms list on individual job postings, not a guarantee of what you personally will be offered — your actual rate depends on the specific role, your experience, and often a paid assessment or interview. Referral bonuses are separate from your pay: they're a one-time payment to whoever referred you, not something that comes out of your rate.

micro1

Across the 337 micro1 roles we're currently tracking, hourly pay clusters around $50–$95/hr for the median listing, but the range is wide — some entry-level, low-barrier roles (smartphone-based data collection, for example) pay closer to $6–$20/hr, while specialized expert roles go well past $100/hr. Referral bonuses on micro1 range from $25 up to $3,000, with a median around $500. The highest bonuses tend to sit on licensed-professional roles — attorneys, clinical/mental-health experts, PhD-level researchers — not general data-labeling work.

Mercor

Mercor's 383 tracked listings run higher on average — a $70–$100/hr median range, with a ceiling around $250/hr for domain-expert roles in finance, law, and medicine. Referral bonuses run $50 to $2,000, median $480. One thing worth knowing: bonus size doesn't always track pay rate directly — we've seen $30–$42/hr roles carrying a full $2,000 bonus, likely because Mercor is trying to fill a specific, hard-to-source pool (native-language speakers, in one case) rather than pricing the bonus off the hourly rate.

Turing

Turing is the odd one out in how it shares data: pay is usually buried in free-text job descriptions rather than a structured field, and we only have real referral links live for a handful of its 228 open roles so far (more are on the way). What we can confirm: a Software/Platform/Data Engineer role tracked at $100/hr with a $300 bonus, and several language-specific Business Analyst roles at $100 referral bonuses each. Treat Turing's numbers as directionally similar to Mercor's rather than a full picture until we've got more of its catalog mapped.

The honest takeaway

If pure hourly rate is what you're optimizing for, Mercor's median currently runs a bit higher than micro1's. If you're chasing the single biggest referral bonus, micro1's top end ($3,000) beats Mercor's ($2,000) — but those top bonuses sit on roles that need a specific professional license or advanced degree, not general availability. For most people, the more useful question isn't "which platform pays more" in the abstract, it's which platform currently has open roles that match your actual background — which is exactly what the filters below are for.

Figures above reflect listings live on this site as of the date at the top of this post. Pay ranges, bonus amounts, and open roles change frequently — always check the current listing before applying or referring someone.