Mercor vs Handshake AI: Which Is Better for Selling Company Data?
Both companies pay businesses to license operational records for AI training. Here's how their programs differ, what the advertised payouts really tell you, and what to check before giving anyone access to your data.
The short answer
Mercor and Handshake AI both work with companies that have valuable records of how their businesses operate. Think customer requests, internal discussions, project decisions, financial workflows, and the work that happens between them. Both aim to turn those records into data that AI companies can use.
Mercor emphasizes connecting to the tools your company already uses and extracting an approved dataset. Handshake AI publicly targets businesses with at least 20 full-time employees and three years of operating history, and advertises payouts of $100,000 to $4 million. Its program emphasizes choosing what to share and preparing it for AI labs.
Neither company's public information establishes that it consistently pays more or offers better licensing rights. If you have a realistic opportunity with both, start by defining the same dataset and asking each for a written proposal. The key differences are what they need from your systems, what they pay for, and what happens to the data afterward.
Comparing Mercor with micro1 instead? See micro1 vs Mercor. Comparing Mercor with Troveo? See Mercor vs Troveo. Comparing Handshake AI with micro1? See micro1 vs Handshake AI.
Mercor vs Handshake AI at a glance
| Factor | Mercor and Handshake AI |
|---|---|
| Who qualifies | Handshake AI looks for 20+ full-time employees and 3+ years in operation. Mercor does not state a universal headcount minimum on its company-data page. |
| What they want | Both seek real operational history. Mercor highlights communications, CRM, code repositories and workplace documents. Handshake lists tools such as Slack, Google Drive, QuickBooks, NetSuite, ServiceTitan and AutoCAD. |
| Published payouts | Handshake advertises $100K to $4M, subject to due diligence and licensing terms. Mercor does not publish a standard seller rate card. |
| How they collect data | Mercor advertises connections to 100+ business tools and automated extraction. Handshake lets companies define the scope, but it does not publish its transfer and preparation steps. |
| Payment timing | Mercor advertises wire payment after dataset delivery, typically 2–4 weeks after signing. Handshake does not publish a payment deadline. |
| License terms | Neither publishes a standard company-data seller agreement. Ask for the actual agreement before comparing rights. |
What companies and data does each program want?
Handshake's published requirements give a useful first filter: at least 20 full-time employees and three years of operating history. Those are targeting criteria, not a promise that every qualifying business will get an offer. Its list of data sources is broad, covering everything from workplace messaging and documents to accounting, payroll, field service, design and ERP systems.
Mercor does not publish a company-size requirement. Its program lists legal, healthcare, finance, professional services, manufacturing, retail, real estate, and logistics among potential industries. It names Slack, Teams, Gmail, Salesforce, GitHub, Drive and Notion as examples of relevant systems. Without a published minimum, a smaller company can ask whether it qualifies, but should not assume that it does.
The best asset for either buyer is not simply a large collection of files. It is a useful history of work: what happened, what someone did about it, and what resulted. For example, a construction-services business might connect the original customer request to estimating, purchasing, scheduling, change orders, job completion, and any later fixes.
If you have 20–50 employees and several years of usable business history, Handshake is worth investigating because it explicitly serves that profile. Mercor is also relevant where important activity is spread across several connected tools. Actual buyer demand for your industry still matters more than a company's broad category list.
The practical difference: connecting accounts or delivering a defined dataset
Mercor describes a four-step process: choose a scope, connect approved business tools, let its platform extract and de-identify records, and receive payment after processing. It supports more than 100 connectors and covers extraction, anonymization and transfer costs. No data leaves a company's systems until that company approves it.
Handshake emphasizes a scoped data partnership. The seller determines exactly what is shared, and Handshake de-identifies the data and keeps the transaction confidential. Its public materials identify many data sources but do not say whether it will request raw exports, direct system connections, or another transfer method for a specific seller.
That is a practical difference in what has been disclosed, not proof that one method is safer. A connector can require sensitive account permissions. An export can contain information you did not intend to share. Before either route, ask to see exactly which fields and records will be selected, who can inspect them, where identifying details are removed, and who approves the final package.
A useful request is simple: show us the proposed access or export plan and a representative sample of what the AI buyer would receive, before any live collection begins.
Which pays more: Mercor or Handshake AI?
Handshake advertises partnerships ranging from $100,000 to $4 million. Its application explicitly warns that these figures and any calculated estimate are indicative, not offers. Handshake also promotes large aggregate amounts paid to partners, but that does not establish what an individual operating company should expect for a particular dataset.
Mercor does not publish an equivalent price list. Compensation depends on the volume and depth of records and the number of tools connected. More connected systems may increase the data's usefulness, but linking more tools is not a substitute for a negotiated price.
So the public numbers do not support saying Handshake pays more. To compare real offers, have both companies price the same years of history, sources, records and permitted uses. If one offer includes ongoing updates, wider use rights or extra work from your employees, those differences need their own value.
Also ask who is paying you. Both programs describe distributing prepared data to frontier AI labs. Your counterparty, the organization ultimately using the data, and the party responsible for payment may not be the same. The agreement should identify each role.
When do you actually get paid?
Mercor pays by wire transfer when the anonymized dataset is delivered to its buyer, typically two to four weeks after signing, depending on the time needed to extract and process the records. That is a published estimate, not a contractual payment deadline.
Handshake does not publish an equivalent acceptance period or payment due date. Payout depends on the sources, volume, quality, due diligence and agreed licensing terms. The actual payment schedule therefore has to come from a written proposal and contract.
Ask each company what happens between signature and money arriving: collection, filtering, approval, delivery, acceptance, invoicing and payment. Find out whether a buyer can reject part of the dataset, require additional preparation, or postpone payment while it looks for a downstream customer.
What happens to your data after the deal?
Receiving payment is only one part of a licensing agreement. Another is what the recipient gets permission to do with the records. Can it train commercial AI systems? Share the dataset with other organizations? Produce modified versions? Keep using trained models after the original files are deleted?
Mercor licenses and packages company data for AI labs, but does not publish its standard terms on exclusivity, sublicensing, permitted uses, term, or deletion. Handshake lets sellers decide what to share and keeps data de-identified and confidential, but those commitments do not settle the full license either.
Ownership and exclusivity are separate questions. Your company may still own its original records while granting a buyer an exclusive or permanent right to use them. A deal can limit future sales even when ownership technically stays with you.
Before agreeing to either program, ask for the actual company-data license, including any schedule that lists the data and the final recipient's rights. General website terms or contractor agreements for people doing AI-training jobs are not substitutes for a seller's company-data license.
What about privacy and security?
Mercor's extraction and de-identification are automated, no AI lab or outside vendor sees raw records, and engineering staff do not manually review the contents. Its site also describes encryption, logged access, isolated credentials and SOC 2 Type II controls. These are Mercor's own published commitments, not an independent review of a particular deal.
Handshake gives companies control of the approved scope, and records are de-identified and shared confidentially. Its employer program announcement adds that each partnership is scoped upfront under an NDA. A confidentiality promise matters, but sellers should still request details of the preparation process, downstream access and deletion obligations.
Neither process removes the seller's own obligations. A business may store customer messages, employee files, privileged legal documents or third-party intellectual property without having the right to license everything for AI training. De-identification reduces some risks but cannot guarantee that no record can ever be linked back to a person.
Start with a high-level, nonconfidential inventory. Identify restricted categories and permission questions before offering sample records or linking business systems.
Which one should you choose?
Start with Handshake AI if you have at least 20 full-time employees, three years of operating history and a definable package of business records. Its published eligibility requirements make it an easy program to evaluate early, but its advertised payout range is not a quote.
Start with Mercor if your best operating history is distributed across software tools and you want to explore its connector-based collection process. Ask for the exact permissions, extracted fields and payment triggers first.
Approach both if your business plausibly fits both programs and you can compare proposals for the same asset. You may discover that one wants a different scope or set of rights; if so, compare those as different deals rather than ranking the headline prices.
Neither deserves access to records merely because its website advertises a large payment. A serious buyer should be able to explain the data it wants, the rights it needs and how the seller will get paid.
Five questions to ask before signing
- Which exact systems, records and years of history are included, and what is excluded?
- Will you connect to our systems or receive an export, who sees raw records, and who approves the prepared dataset?
- What payment is guaranteed, what triggers it, and what happens if the buyer rejects part of the delivery?
- Who can use or sublicense our records, for what purposes and duration, and can we license them again?
- What warranties and liability obligations are we taking on concerning employees, customers and third-party information?
Ask for the answers in writing. If two offers cover different records, obligations or rights, compare those differences before deciding which number is higher.
Already have an offer?
Use the free DataDeals offer-comparison guide and worksheet to line up compensation, payment timing, usage rights and unanswered questions. If you want a seller-side review, request a free offer review. Start with a general summary rather than contracts, logins or raw company files.
About DataDeals: DataDeals connects businesses with AI companies interested in licensing their operational data. Our service is free for sellers. We earn referral fees from participating buyers when successful deals are completed. We disclose these arrangements before making introductions. We never charge sellers a commission or deduct a fee from their payments. This comparison uses public provider information, not private completed-deal pricing.