Credential checks

None of the 15 expert data vendors we checked publishes a step-by-step credential process on its own pages. Licenses for attorneys, CPAs, physicians and nurses are on public registries, so a buyer can make verification a contract term and spot-check it.

Last checked against vendor pages: 7 November 2026. Figures change; each row names the page it came from.

What each vendor publishes

Taken from each vendor's own site on November 7, 2026. "Not published" means we did not find it on the pages we read. Expert Data Companies is independent; no vendor named here is affiliated with it or has endorsed it.
Vendor	Credential process	Expert or participant pay	Security certifications
Surge AI	Not published	Not published	Not published
micro1	Not published	Not published	Not published
Mercor	Not published	Not published	Not published
Turing	Not published	Not published	Not published
Handshake AI	Not published	No figure. Pay differs by project, and a fellow sees the hourly rate before signing up	Not published
Snorkel AI	Not published	Not published	Not published
Labelbox	Not published	Alignerr tells experts they can earn as much as $150/hr	Not published
Scale AI	Not published	Not published	Not published
Toloka	Not published	Not published	Not published
Appen	Not published	Not published	Not published
TELUS Digital	Not published	Not published	Not published
Prolific	Not published	Participants: $8/hr floor, $12/hr suggested; Prolific’s own fee comes on top, its rate not given in that article	Not published
Kili Technology	Not published	Not published	SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 (both on its pricing page)
Innodata	Not published	Not published	Not published
Centific	Not published	Not published	Not published

Disclosure: a vendor in this table could pay us a fee should one of our introductions turn into a contract. Inclusion, order and wording here are not for sale.

Where can a buyer check a credential?

Licensed professions in the US have public lookups. Degrees and publications can be confirmed too, with a little more effort. These are the registries we point buyers to; none of them is connected to this site.

National Student Clearinghouse
ORCID
FINRA BrokerCheck
SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure
CPAverify (NASBA)
DocInfo (Federation of State Medical Boards)
Certification Matters (ABMS)
Nursys
American Translators Association directory
The public attorney search of each state bar or state supreme court, for bar admission and good standing

Field by field detail, with what each check proves, is on the law and finance and science and medicine pages.

What should you ask a vendor about vetting?

Which registries do you check, for which credentials, and do you keep the evidence?
What test does an expert pass before working on a project like ours, and who wrote it?
What share of applicants in our field pass?
How often are licenses re-checked during a project?
Can we audit a sample of credential records?

Security certifications are a separate question. Kili Technology cites two security standards on its pricing page, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001; for the other vendors here we found no certification on the pages we read, which does not mean they hold none. Ask for current reports.

Terms changelog

Dated changes to vendors' published pages and announcements that affect buyers. We add a line each time we re-check.

7 Nov 2026
Baseline: every vendor page cited on this site checked, and its pay, vetting and certification wording logged as it stood that day.
Oct 2026
Appen refreshed its February write-up on verifier-scored RL tasks; the coding set stands at 500 tasks. Source.
22 Sept 2026
Series E for Snorkel AI: $350M raised, $3.5B valuation, per the company release. Source.
17 Jul 2026
Date on Prolific’s current payment-model help article, which sets the $8/hr participant floor and the $12/hr suggestion. Source.
9 Jul 2026
Mercor said it had agreed to buy Deeptune, a maker of RL environments. Source.

Where these figures come from

Surge AI (surgehq.ai) (page checked November 7, 2026)
micro1 (micro1.ai) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Mercor (mercor.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Turing (turing.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Handshake AI (support.joinhandshake.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Snorkel AI (snorkel.ai) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Labelbox (alignerr.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Scale AI (scale.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Toloka (toloka.ai) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Appen (appen.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)
TELUS Digital (telusdigital.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Prolific (researcher-help.prolific.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Kili Technology (kili-technology.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Innodata (innodata.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)
Centific (centific.com) (page checked November 7, 2026)

Questions buyers ask

Why do so few vendors publish their vetting process?

We can only report what is published, not why. In practice vendors describe vetting in sales calls and security questionnaires, so ask for it in writing during scoping.

Is SOC 2 a credential check?

No. SOC 2 and ISO 27001 describe how a company protects data and systems. They say nothing about whether an expert holds the degree or license claimed.

How often should licenses be re-checked?

At onboarding, and again for long projects; licenses lapse and board actions happen. Ask the vendor how often it re-checks and whether it tells you when an expert is removed.

Can I see the experts’ names?

Some buyers ask for named experts, others for anonymized IDs with verified credentials. Either way, ask for an audit right: the ability to spot-check the evidence behind a sample of credentials.

What should go in the contract?

A warranty that each expert holds the credential you specified, a re-check schedule, the right to remove an expert, and rework at the vendor’s cost when a credential turns out to be false.