AI-data buyer programs compared: micro1, Scale AI, Handshake AI, Mercor

A company that licenses its operating records is choosing a buyer and a set of terms, and each buyer publishes only its own. micro1, Scale AI, Handshake AI and Mercor are four programs with pages a company can read. They are not the whole landscape, and a figure on any one of those pages is not the price to accept. Frontier Desk is the company's advisor on the choice: which buyer, which exchange or structure, and which terms fit the company's data, its rights, and its plans. A company may want to raise capital, borrow, or sell, and a data licence is read in diligence on each of those. It can change valuation, exclusivity, and the intellectual-property and customer-data obligations the company still owes. The company may also want the proceeds for other work, including putting the money back into the business. The solution that fits is the one that still works for that whole situation.

Every program below, with its published terms, the quote each figure came from and the day it was checked, is in the AI-data buyer index, with a .csv and a .json.

What each program says, in a line

The four rows are what each program states on its own page. They are the program's advertisement. They do not say what another buyer would pay for the same records.

These are each buyer's own figures, taken from the pages linked in the table on 29 October 2026. The agreed prices are not published. micro1's row follows the bands on its live page that day: a headline of $200K to $2M+, a typical band of $150K to over $2M, $500K to $2M for large-scale or ongoing work, and $2M+ for highly unique data.

What each one asks for

Each list is what that program says it wants. The ask still has to fit the company's rights and the rest of its plans. It is not, by itself, a reason to take the program's number.

• micro1 asks for records across the systems a company already runs on, grouped by function: software and engineering, finance and accounting, customer support, sales and CRM, legal and contracts, operations and logistics. US-first, English, 30 or more full-time employees, with several years of records across multiple systems.
• Scale AI names its connectors: data warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks), chat (Slack, Teams, Google Chat), email and calendar, documents and files (Word, Docs, Sheets, Drive, SharePoint), work management (Jira, Confluence, Asana, Notion, Linear), and business platforms (Salesforce, HubSpot, Workday, ServiceNow, SAP, Zendesk). It says "40+ employees is our preferred starting point — though we assess every partnership on a case-by-case basis."
• Handshake AI lists more than a thousand integrated sources, including Gmail, Google Drive, Outlook, Monday.com, NetSuite, Notion, Paychex, Quickbooks, ServiceTitan and Slack. Its page calls the stated payout "indicative estimate only and is not an offer to purchase your data."
• Mercor sorts opportunities by industry (legal, healthcare, finance and insurance, professional services, manufacturing, retail and e-commerce, real estate, logistics and supply chain) and connects to the tools a company already uses. "The more tools you share, the higher your payout will be." Payment goes out "via wire transfer upon delivery of the anonymized dataset to the buyer" within "2-4 weeks of the signed agreement."

What is advertised, and what is not

• A stated ceiling is not an offer. Handshake's page is explicit: the payout is indicative. The others describe "typical" or "illustrative" ranges on their marketing pages. The agreed price depends on data volume, system coverage, due diligence and the licence terms.
• One page cannot price the others. A range answers for that program. It does not say what another buyer would pay, or which terms fit a raise, a loan, a sale of the company, or putting the proceeds back into the business.
• Minimum sizes are stated, not agreed. Micro1's 30-employee floor is on its live page today. Scale's 40-employee "starting point" is case-by-case. Handshake's 20 and 3-year rule is stated as the qualification.
• De-identification is said to be done by the buyer. Each of these four says the buyer anonymizes the data. The scope of that de-identification is a contract point, and it is part of whether the terms fit.

Buyers Frontier Desk follows closely

Frontier Desk follows Polyshares, Grepped, Mercor and micro1 closely. Each is a buyer a company's data can go to. What each one states is one offer in the comparison, read against the company's data, rights and plans. Lines below are from each company's own site on 29 October 2026.

• Polyshares licenses a company's operational record directly, including chat, email, files, CRM, tickets and accounting exports, and supplies AI labs. Its page states typical deals of $100K to $2M and above.
• Grepped connects a company's tools read-only, including messages, code, documents, records and tickets, removes identifying details, and lists the result for AI labs to license.
• Mercor connects tools the company already uses, groups opportunities by industry, and says pay follows volume, the tools connected and the depth of the data. The figures it does and does not state are in the table above.
• micro1 licenses data from everyday operations, across functions such as engineering, finance, support, sales, legal and operations. The ranges it states are in the table above.

Buyers Frontier Desk maps and tracks

Frontier Desk maps and tracks these buyers as well. They are further places a company's data might be sold or licensed. A page of theirs shows that buyer's own terms. It does not, by itself, say which buyer fits the company's data, rights and plans. Descriptions are from each company's own site on 29 October 2026.

• Scale AI turns de-identified records from the systems a company already runs into training data, and states an illustrative range of $10K to $1M+. The connectors and the size note are in the sections above.
• Gulp Data values a company's data against other data products and works on packaging it for licensing, including through a buyer network. The pages checked do not state a per-company payout for operating records.
• Nyne describes itself as the data factory for AI. It arranges licenses of business records with the owner who can authorize them, and it brings labs domain experts.
• Replay values a company's operating record, removes identifiers, and licenses the de-identified record. Its page describes the offer as an upfront payment plus a share of later licenses.
• Troveo matches a company with AI labs, anonymizes exports, and licenses them on terms the company approves. It says it pays the company on every sale, and that labs are paying six figures for company data exports.
• Turing, through Project Lazarus, acquires a company's operating record, including communications, code, tickets, wikis and the reasoning behind decisions, and states a single payout of up to $1M.
• Surge AI
• Invisible Technologies builds training data, evaluations and reinforcement-learning environments for model developers, and says it supplies off-the-shelf and custom datasets. The page checked does not describe a license of one company's operating records.
• Centific describes data collection, a data marketplace, and licensing for companies building models. The pages checked do not describe a license of one company's operating records.

Handshake AI

Handshake AI publishes one program, with its own stated range of $100K to $4M+ and its own terms, and its page calls that range an indicative estimate, not an offer to purchase the data. A single program can show a company only what that program would do. It cannot say what another buyer would pay, or which buyer fits this company's data, rights and plans. Frontier Desk sets Handshake's stated terms next to the rest of the landscape, which is how the company judges that offer against a raise, a loan, a sale, or a use of the proceeds.

The rights question each program leaves to the company

Being able to export a record is not the same as being allowed to license it. Customer contracts, employee privacy, third-party terms on the systems you export from, and any earlier licence set the limits. Those limits decide whether any program's terms are available, and they are part of the fit with a later raise, loan or sale. The rights checklist walks through what to check.

Where Frontier Desk fits

Frontier Desk works out which of these buyers, exchanges or structures fits the company's data, rights and plans, and on what terms. The aim is the solution that fits the whole situation: a raise, a loan, a sale of the company, or putting the proceeds back into the business. One program's page shows only that program. Frontier Desk keeps a record of what these programs publish and sets them side by side, which is how a company sees the buyer and the terms that fit. The data advisory works through whether the records are ready, which route fits the company's plans, and what to check in an offer. The exit roadmap says what selling or licensing the records would mean for a sale. The rights checklist is the customer, employee and earlier-licence work behind the terms.

Questions

Which states the highest ceiling? Handshake states a ceiling of $4M+ and Mercor does not publish one. The ceilings are advertisements. What a company is paid depends on the systems it connects, the depth of its history, the licence terms, and what the other buyers here would do with the same records.

What do the pages say about company size? Handshake states 20 employees and 3 years. Scale's preferred starting point is 40, assessed case by case. micro1 states 30. A floor on one page is that program's screen. It is not a decision about which buyer fits.

Can more than one of these buyers want the same records? Yes. An exclusive licence to one changes what the others can take, and it changes what a later buyer of the company is buying. The comparison is which terms fit the company's plans.

What moves a stated range? System coverage, the depth and length of the history, and whether the licence is exclusive. Each of these pages says its final figure follows those. The figure still belongs to that one program.