Payment trigger
If cash timing matters, Mercor publishes wire on buyer delivery, typically 2–4 weeks after signing. Protege: Active opportunities often fulfilled under a month; fulfillment is not seller payment timing.
Mercor vs Protege
Direct licensing meets specialist licensing. Neither advertised amounts nor a public seller route establish what your business will receive.
Jump to the terms ledger ↓Research comparison; limited public terms. Pair-level evidence and scenario review is pending. Published fields alone do not meet our indexing threshold. This page is noindex and absent from the sitemap, not a negative verdict.
The terms ledger.
| Criterion | Mercor | Protege |
|---|---|---|
| Operating records | Published Slack, Gmail, Salesforce, GitHub, Notion, contracts, clinical notes and QA logs Source ↗ | Published Healthcare, video, audio/speech, spatial/physical and other domains; generic CRM/SOP archives not explicitly enumerated Source ↗ |
| Company eligibility | Unknown Not published / not established Not established in inspected sources: No numerical employee minimum published on inspected data page. Ask the provider; missing terms do not establish acceptance, free fees or a payment deadline. Inspection URLs remain in the profile source list. | Published Typically owns outright or controls broad global/all-media rights; quality and opportunity-specific qualification. Source ↗ |
| Seller geography | Unknown Not published / not established Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted. | Unknown Not published / not established Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted. |
| Published compensation | Provider claim Individually quoted; no public dollar rate card. Source ↗ | Provider claim Negotiated revenue share. Gradient Health seven-figure revenue is a provider-hosted specialist case, not an ordinary business rate. Source ↗ |
| Fees & net proceeds | Published No upfront/setup fees or deductions; provider covers extraction, anonymization and transfer. Source ↗ | Unknown Not published / not established Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted. |
| Timeline & payment trigger | Provider claim Wire upon delivery of anonymized dataset to buyer; typically 2–4 weeks from signed agreement. Source ↗ | Provider claim Active opportunities often fulfilled under a month; fulfillment is not seller payment timing. Source ↗ |
| Preparation & seller effort | Published Scope → connect 100+ supported tools → extraction/de-identification → delivery/payment. Source ↗ | Published Discovery → revenue-share agreement → curate/QA/mask → qualified deal → revenue-share payment. Source ↗ |
| Ownership & permitted use | Unknown Not published / not established Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted. | Published Retains ownership; limited defined AI training/fine-tuning/evaluation/benchmarking rights; no public exhibition/redistribution/entertainment use. Source ↗ |
| Privacy & approval | Provider claim No data leaves until approval; encryption, access logs, session-isolated credentials; SOC 2 Type II claimed, audit not inspected. Source ↗ | Provider claim Identifier removal and jurisdiction-specific workflows; optional anonymization/voice modification. Media FAQ is not a universal operating-data contract. Source ↗ |
| Exclusivity | Unknown Not published / not established Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted. | Unknown Not published / not established Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted. |
| Retention & deletion | Unknown Not published / not established Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted. | Unknown Not published / not established Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted. |
| HQ / published contact | Published San Francisco, CA named in program footer; US. Source ↗ | Published Published contact: New York, NY, US; not independently verified operational HQ. Source ↗ |
Operating records
Company eligibility
MercorUnknown
Not published / not established
Not established in inspected sources: No numerical employee minimum published on inspected data page. Ask the provider; missing terms do not establish acceptance, free fees or a payment deadline. Inspection URLs remain in the profile source list.ProtegePublished
Typically owns outright or controls broad global/all-media rights; quality and opportunity-specific qualification.
Source ↗Seller geography
MercorUnknown
Not published / not established
Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted.ProtegeUnknown
Not published / not established
Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted.Published compensation
Fees & net proceeds
MercorPublished
No upfront/setup fees or deductions; provider covers extraction, anonymization and transfer.
Source ↗ProtegeUnknown
Not published / not established
Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted.Timeline & payment trigger
Preparation & seller effort
Ownership & permitted use
MercorUnknown
Not published / not established
Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted.ProtegePublished
Retains ownership; limited defined AI training/fine-tuning/evaluation/benchmarking rights; no public exhibition/redistribution/entertainment use.
Source ↗Privacy & approval
MercorProvider claim
No data leaves until approval; encryption, access logs, session-isolated credentials; SOC 2 Type II claimed, audit not inspected.
Source ↗ProtegeProvider claim
Identifier removal and jurisdiction-specific workflows; optional anonymization/voice modification. Media FAQ is not a universal operating-data contract.
Source ↗Exclusivity
MercorUnknown
Not published / not established
Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted.ProtegeUnknown
Not published / not established
Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted.Retention & deletion
MercorUnknown
Not published / not established
Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted.ProtegeUnknown
Not published / not established
Not established in inspected sources. Ask for the actual agreement; unknown does not mean free, unrestricted or accepted.HQ / published contact
Which difference matters to your company?
Rights fit
For specialist healthcare or media rights, Protege's published categories and Gradient Health case are more relevant than ordinary CRM exports. Mercor lists Slack, Gmail, Salesforce, GitHub, Notion, contracts, clinical notes and QA logs. Do not extrapolate specialist case revenue to a small operating business.
Shared diligence, not shared guarantees.
Both routes need lawful rights to the material. Removing names does not remove confidentiality obligations or re-identification risk. Require sample approval, buyer-use restrictions, precise payment triggers and downstream retention/deletion terms.
Seller-outcome evidence
Mercor: No independently audited operating-business payout established in this research. Provider cases and partnership confirmations do not establish a typical seller outcome.
Protege: Gradient Health seller-hosted announcement corroborates partnership and imaging supply, not revenue. Provider-hosted case claims seven-figure revenue; no independently audited receipt.