Data-collection networks · Crowd data vendor
Appen
About Appen
Appen is a long-running crowd data platform. Among its projects are embodied and egocentric data-collection gigs (EGO embodied data collectors) that fit robot-training; the relevance filter isolates those from its speech and text work. Its speech, text and localization work, which this site leaves out, is covered in the Appen review on AITraining.jobs, our sister database of AI-training platforms, with its pay and how acceptance works.
Stated by the employer
, RobotTraining.jobs shows 1 Appen job open.
Live Appen roles
Updated 1 Nov 2026, 06:01 UTCRoles like these you can apply to today
Similar work at other employers.
Car-Mounted 360° Video Recorder (opens the job details)
micro1 · Demonstration Collection · Remote· 4w agoDetails
$15–$20 per accepted video-hourAt-Home Video Recorder (LATAM) (opens the job details)
micro1 · Egocentric Capture · Remote· 1w agoDetails
$6 per accepted video-hour360° Video Recorder (Insta360 / GoPro MAX) (opens the job details)
micro1 · Demonstration Collection · Remote· 1mo agoDetails
$20 per accepted video-hourAt-Home Video Recorder (opens the job details)
micro1 · Egocentric Capture · Remote· 1w agoDetails
$15 per accepted video-hour
Joining through these links can earn us a referral fee. Your pay stays exactly the same.
Egocentric Capture · Malaysia· 4mo agoDetails
$3.60/hr
Some links here are referral links: when you join an employer through one, RobotTraining.jobs may receive a commission. It costs you nothing, and the employer pays you exactly the same.
Appen jobs by country
Its open roles that accept applicants in each country.
Get new Appen roles by email
We read Appen's job board every day and send you its new openings once a week, with comparable paid jobs at other employers. No cost, and you can stop any time.
Is Appen a good place to work?
Researched October 2026 · 21 sourcesMostly. Appen is an established ASX-listed firm that pays its crowd monthly, but its EGO collector gigs are short onsite contracts with no benefits, crowd workers rate it 1.5/5 on Trustpilot, and projects can stop without notice. The work is not steady: you are an independent contractor, projects fill up or stop without warning, and pay can lag, as in late 2024 when a platform switch left many contributors paid late or only in part. It pays $3.6/hr in checked postings (stated by the employer).
Actively listing 1 open role todayAppen Limited, founded in Sydney in 1996 and on the ASX (APX) since 2015, sells AI training data made by a crowd of contractors (CrowdGen says over 500,000) paid). Ryan Kolln became CEO in February 2024, weeks after Google, about 30%) of revenue, said it would end its contract. 2025 revenue was US$230.8 million; January to June 2026 brought US$119.9 million, up 17%), mostly from its China business. Appen names robotics among its new areas of work.
Crowd workers are independent contractors paid for approved hours or tasks, with no benefits. CrowdGen pays a month's earnings by day 14 of the next, to PayPal, Payoneer, Airtm or a local bank, less fees. Google raters at Appen earned $14 to $14.50 an hour after a January 2023 raise, capped at 29 hours a week (NPR).
Glassdoor (corporate staff and crowd contractors together) 3.5/5 (2,193 reviews) · Indeed (corporate staff and crowd contractors together) 3.5/5 (about 1,275 reviews) · Trustpilot (appen.com, mostly crowd workers) 1.5/5 (about 370 reviews) · Trustpilot (CrowdGen, Appen's crowd platform) 1.5/5 (104 reviews) · Blind (corporate staff) 3.0/5 (21 reviews). Read October 2026.
1 open role on Appen, independently checked 1 Nov 2026.
Global remote.
Appen warns of rising scams aimed at job seekers. Its crowd roles are posted at jobs.lever.co/appen, its own emails come from @appen.com, and crowdgen.com is its contributor site. A request for money to apply or begin, or a check mailed to you to deposit before a project, marks a scam, not Appen.
What people praise
- An independent contractor (Glassdoor, August 2025, 4 stars) titled their review "Good for flexible remote work, but not reliable long-term", praising fully remote work with flexible hours.
- A contractor training language models (Glassdoor) wrote that hourly rates on most projects, LLM work above all, beat what they had seen at other companies.
- The EGO collector posting asks for no experience, hands you the camera device on site, and has a project team guide you through each session.
What people complain about
- The same contractor (Glassdoor, August 2025) found pay low for the effort and work availability inconsistent: projects can suddenly stop.
- CrowdGen reviewers on Trustpilot report ID checks that never clear, late pay, finished tasks vanishing from their records, and support that answers with automated replies.
- On Indeed, job security and advancement is Appen's lowest score (2.3/5) and pay and benefits 2.8; reviewers write that the work dried up (April 2026) and that projects and pay steadily went down.
- The EGO collector posting (near Kuala Lumpur) is a short onsite contract: four full 9 AM to 6 PM days, own transport, address only once selected. On Oct 28, 2026 it was still up, months after its June dates.
What has gone wrong
- June 2023. Appen fired six Google raters on May 31, 2023, citing "business conditions". Their union, the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA, said they were fired for speaking out about their conditions and filed labor charges against Appen and Google on June 14. On June 23 Appen agreed to give the six their jobs back and pay them for the time lost.
- January 2024. Google told Appen in January 2024 that it would end their contract on March 19, 2024. The work brought in US$82.8 million in 2023, about a third of Appen's revenue, and at least 2,000 subcontracted workers did Alphabet work. The decision caught Appen off guard.
- October 2024. Appen moved its crowd from Appen Connect to its new CrowdGen platform in September 2024. Payment data did not migrate cleanly: many September payments were late or partial. The CEO apologised, said over two-thirds were paid on time, and promised a channel to report unpaid September hours.
- August 2026. Appen's half-year results showed revenue outside China down 27% on a year earlier, to US$43.7 million, and about US$12 million a year of further cost cuts from using AI in its own operations, most due by the end of 2026.
Best for: People near an Appen collection site who want a few paid days of hands-on recording, or remote side income on a flexible schedule, and who can live with gaps between projects and pay once a month. Not for: Anyone who needs steady hours, a regular income or benefits, or who cannot reach an onsite session at their own cost: Appen's crowd work runs project by project and can stop without notice.
Honest catches
- Pay here is stated by the employer, not measured live from a job feed, so treat it as a benchmark rather than a guaranteed rate.
Sources for this review
- Appen, H1 FY26 results (ASX announcement), published Aug 27, 2026, read Oct 28, 2026
- Appen, FY25 results and FY26 outlook (ASX announcement), published Feb 25, 2026, read Oct 28, 2026
- Wikipedia, Appen (company), read Oct 28, 2026
- Analytics Vidhya, Google cuts off Bard's training company, published Jan 30, 2024
- Alphabet Workers Union-CWA, raters file labor charges over illegal firing, published Jun 14, 2023
- Alphabet Workers Union-CWA, fired Google raters to be reinstated, published Jun 23, 2023
- KQED (NPR), Google's 'ghost workers' demand to be seen, published Apr 1, 2023
- Appen, Payments update (letter from CEO Ryan Kolln), published Oct 2024, read Oct 28, 2026
- CrowdGen, Choose how you get paid, read Oct 28, 2026
- CrowdGen, Appen Connect is now CrowdGen by Appen, read Oct 28, 2026
- CrowdGen home page, read Oct 28, 2026
- Appen, Scam awareness, read Oct 28, 2026
- Appen on Lever, EGO Embodied Data Collector Short-Term Project Contractor (Kuala Lumpur), read Oct 28, 2026
- Appen's Lever job board (45 postings), read Oct 28, 2026
- Glassdoor, Appen reviews (figures as shown in web search results; Glassdoor blocks direct reads), read Oct 28, 2026
- Glassdoor, Independent Contractor review, Aug 22, 2025 (as shown in web search results), read Oct 28, 2026
- Glassdoor, Appen pay questions and contractor answers (as shown in web search results), read Oct 28, 2026
- Indeed, Appen employee reviews (figures as shown in web search results; Indeed blocks direct reads), read Oct 28, 2026
- Trustpilot, Appen (figures as shown in web search results; Trustpilot blocks direct reads), read Oct 28, 2026
- Trustpilot, CrowdGen (figures as shown in web search results; Trustpilot blocks direct reads), read Oct 28, 2026
- Blind, Appen reviews, read Oct 28, 2026
What Appen pays
Stated by the employer · updated 2026-10-28Researched rate card (stated by the employer), updated 2026-10-28
Source examples collected October 28, 2026. This envelope spans individual advertised offers with different duties, locations or shifts. It is not a company-wide typical wage. See current openings for updated terms. (checked on jobs.lever.co, 28 Oct 2026)
Only 1 of its 1 open roles list a rate, not enough to call any of them typical for Appen, so the figure above is the researched one. Here is what each kind of work lists:
| Kind of work | Open roles | Rates stated | Highest rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egocentric Capture | 1 | $3.60/hr1 rate | $3.60/hr |
| Role | Work type | Researched pay |
|---|---|---|
| EGO Embodied Data Collector Short-Term Project Contractor | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Demonstration Collection | $3.6 per hour |
Wondering where a number comes from? Read how researched rate cards are sourced and graded.
Kinds of work at Appen
Open any of them for the day-to-day tasks, every employer hiring for it and market-wide pay.
First time doing this kind of work? Read the beginner guides or line up pay at every employer.
What our research records about Appen
8 dated facts from public sources (the company itself, filings, regulators, courts and the press), each kept with the publication it comes from in one of our research reports. Newest first; the newest is from 18 Oct 2026.
- Paid recording programs3
- Robot data vendors2
- Southeast Asia data collection2
- Latin America data collection1
Appen sells egocentric data collection for robots and embodied systems: stereo first-person capture with synchronized wrist pose and gripper state, alongside robotics demonstration, sensor fusion, LiDAR and autonomous vehicle data, captured in its own controlled kitchen, workshop, assembly and logistics facilities.
Source: Appen · In Robot data vendors
Appen says task demonstrations for its physical AI datasets are sourced from its global contributor network of more than 1 million people in more than 170 countries.
Source: Appen · In Robot data vendors
Appen's onsite egocentric data collection project in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia paid US$3.60 per hour.
Source: Appen (CrowdGen job post on Lever) · In Paid recording programs
Appen EGO Embodied Data Collector: Contributors perform everyday household activities while wearing a camera that records movement, vision and position data from a first-person view, to train AI systems and robots.
Source: Appen (CrowdGen job post on Lever) · In Paid recording programs
Appen's delivery vice-president told ABC it could collect around 60,000 hours of first-person video a month from up to 5,000 contributors worldwide, including Brazil and Mexico.
Source: ABC News (Australia) · In Latin America data collection
Appen's vice-president of delivery said it could collect around 60,000 hours of video a month from as many as 5,000 contributors worldwide, including in India, Canada, the US, Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines.
Source: ABC News (Australia) · In Paid recording programs
All 8 facts about Appen
Appen's vice-president of delivery told ABC News it could collect around 60,000 hours of video a month from up to 5,000 contributors worldwide, including in the Philippines.
Source: ABC News (Australia) · In Southeast Asia data collection
Appen's CrowdGen ran a four-day on-site egocentric data collection project between Bukit Jalil and Puchong, Kuala Lumpur, from 9 to 12 June 2026, paying US$3.60 an hour for 9am to 6pm sessions with the camera supplied on site.
Source: CrowdGen by Appen (Lever job post) · In Southeast Asia data collection
Appen (ASX: APX) is a listed company. Every robot-training role it posts, with its pay, place and the days it went up and came down, is kept role by role in the Robot hiring radar, for investors and strategy teams.
From the forum
Ask the people doing Appen work what only they can tell you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Appen a good place to work?
Mostly. Appen is an established ASX-listed firm that pays its crowd monthly, but its EGO collector gigs are short onsite contracts with no benefits, crowd workers rate it 1.5/5 on Trustpilot, and projects can stop without notice. The work is not steady: you are an independent contractor, projects fill up or stop without warning, and pay can lag, as in late 2024 when a platform switch left many contributors paid late or only in part.
Is Appen legit?
Yes. Appen Limited, founded in Sydney in 1996 and on the ASX (APX) since 2015, sells AI training data made by a crowd of contractors (CrowdGen says over 500,000) paid). Ryan Kolln became CEO in February 2024, weeks after Google, about 30%) of revenue, said it would end its contract. 2025 revenue was US$230.8 million; January to June 2026 brought US$119.9 million, up 17%), mostly from its China business. Appen names robotics among its new areas of work.
Is Appen a scam?
No. Appen is a real company. Appen warns of rising scams aimed at job seekers. Its crowd roles are posted at jobs.lever.co/appen, its own emails come from @appen.com, and crowdgen.com is its contributor site. A request for money to apply or begin, or a check mailed to you to deposit before a project, marks a scam, not Appen.
Does Appen pay?
Yes. Established global crowd platform. Payouts: Contractor payments per project.
How much does Appen pay?
$3.6/hr in checked postings. Source examples collected October 28, 2026. This envelope spans individual advertised offers with different duties, locations or shifts. It is not a company-wide typical wage. See current openings for updated terms.
Is Appen worth it?
Appen pays $3.6/hr in checked postings (stated by the employer). It works best as flexible, project-by-project income, since each project sets its own pay, equipment and eligibility. Worth knowing: Glassdoor (corporate staff and crowd contractors together) 3.5/5 (2,193 reviews) · Indeed (corporate staff and crowd contractors together) 3.5/5 (about 1,275 reviews) · Trustpilot (appen.com, mostly crowd workers) 1.5/5 (about 370 reviews) · Trustpilot (CrowdGen, Appen's crowd platform) 1.5/5 (104 reviews) · Blind (corporate staff) 3.0/5 (21 reviews).
How does Appen pay out?
Contractor payments per project.
Where is Appen open to workers?
Global remote.
How Appen stacks up against similar employers
Remote freelance work for TELUS Digital's AI Community, including a robot teleoperation and wearable-capture role at $32 to $45 an hour, open to applicants in any country.
$32 to $45 an hour on its robot teleoperation role, stated per postingStated by the employer
Wear an Insta360 X5 on your head and film ten-minute stretches of your ordinary day (cooking, cleaning, errands) for an hourly rate set per country.
$40–$120/hr by countryStated by the employer
A European expert network whose robotics program pays remote annotators to describe what robot and human hands do in short video clips.
$5–$15/hr once placedStated by the employer
Wear a headstrap with your phone, press record, and go about your day: paid per accepted hour of first-person video for robot training.
Paid per accepted hour of footageStated by the employerSorted by what an application there is likely worth to you, with a referral lift for employers that pay us a referral fee; your pay is never affected.
Hiring for Appen? We find the people (you contract them yourself) or we run the project (we deliver the robot data).
Or feature Appen's roles for 30 days ($99 for one role, $299 for every open role): a labelled Featured block above the lists and the first roles in the weekly job email.