Updated September 13, 2026 · Marketplace ends Sept 30

Amazon Mechanical Turk is shutting down. Here is what requesters can use instead.

Amazon closes MTurk on September 30, 2026. New HITs stop that day. This page is for people who post surveys, labels, and human review jobs — not for workers looking for side gigs. Four replacements with public pricing, not a vendor ranking.

See the comparison MTurk wind-down dates
Why this page exists: HIT submission ends in 17 days. SageMaker Ground Truth and Amazon A2I lose the MTurk worker type the same day. Some outbound links may later become affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Mechanical Turk alternatives compared

Pricing checked September 13, 2026 against each vendor’s public page. Confirm before you pay — fees move. Toloka and Surge AI are omitted because they had no public dollar price today.

Tool Best for Starting price Who is in the pool
Prolific Pay-as-you-go research and AI evaluation. You set the reward; Prolific adds a platform fee on top. No monthly seat fee on the self-serve platform. Surveys, experiments, model evals Participant floor $8/hr (recommended $12/hr). Corporate fee 42.8%; academic/non-profit 33.3% 300,000+ active, ID-checked; 300+ filters Visit Prolific
CloudResearch Connect Separate from MTurk. CloudResearch vets people at signup. Their MTurk Toolkit also dies September 30 — do not migrate there. US behavioral / market research Academic 25% (first 10 days $0 platform fee for new academic accounts); non-academic 40%. Site minimum $7.50/hr US only, age 18+ Visit Connect
Clickworker Closest “post a cheap crowd job” feel. Self-serve today is surveys only; labeling and other data jobs go through managed service. Self-serve surveys, global crowd You set pay from $0.25 per response + 40% service fee. No subscription Crowd listed at 10M+ in 136 countries Visit Clickworker
Scale AI Enterprise data engine, not a survey board. Self-serve annotation is bring-your-own workforce, not a public crowd like MTurk. ML labeling at company scale Enterprise: custom quote. Self-serve: first 1,000 labeling units free if you bring your own annotators Scale workforce or your own Visit Scale

Sources checked 2026-09-13: Amazon MTurk Closure FAQ; Prolific pricing and researcher help; CloudResearch Connect FAQs; LXT/clickworker survey-platform note (June 15, 2026); Scale AI pricing. Ordered by job, not by payment. This list is not for workers hunting extra cash.

How to pick in two minutes

Match the job you hired MTurk for. Do not buy an enterprise labeling contract if you only needed 200 survey completes.

You ran academic or product surveys

Start with Prolific. Identity checks and an hourly floor cost more per complete than old MTurk pennies, which is the point if you were throwing out junk rows.

You used MTurk for US behavioral studies

CloudResearch Connect is the nearest board that is not Amazon. Participants are US-only today. Skip the MTurk Toolkit — CloudResearch retires it on the same day Amazon closes MTurk.

You posted cheap microtasks or DIY surveys

Clickworker’s self-serve survey tool is the closest remaining marketplace. Other clickworker jobs (tagging, store checks) are managed, not a self-serve HIT list.

You labeled images or trained models on MTurk

Scale if you have budget and a sales call. Ground Truth’s MTurk worker type goes away September 30 — if you stay on AWS, plan a different workforce, not a last-minute HIT dump.

Leave Mechanical Turk before September 30

Dates below are from Amazon’s Closure FAQ. Unsubmitted HITs expire on shutdown day.

  1. 1. Stop publishing new HIT batches you cannot finish HIT submission closes September 30, 2026. Anything still unsubmitted expires automatically. Official FAQ: mturk.com/help.
  2. 2. Confirm requester payment details Amazon says to verify payment information in the Requester Portal so prepaid balances can be refunded. Expect a full balance refund within 30 days and a final AWS bill in the next cycle.
  3. 3. Approve or reject through October 30 Requesters have 30 days after closure to approve or reject completed work and to award bonuses. If you do nothing, pending HITs auto-approve.
  4. 4. Export what you still need Transaction history remains available until January 28, 2027. Download results and accounting now if you will not log in later.
  5. 5. If you used Ground Truth or A2I with MTurk workers, change the worker type Amazon: the Mechanical Turk worker type will not be available for SageMaker labeling jobs or Amazon Augmented AI human review workflows as of September 30, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Is Amazon Mechanical Turk shutting down?

Yes. Amazon says Mechanical Turk permanently closes on September 30, 2026. HIT submission stops that day. Requesters have until October 30, 2026 to approve or reject work and award bonuses. Transaction history stays available until January 28, 2027.

Does this also kill SageMaker Ground Truth?

Only the Mechanical Turk worker type. Amazon’s FAQ says SageMaker Ground Truth and Amazon Augmented AI will no longer offer the MTurk worker type on September 30, 2026. Other workforce options are a separate AWS decision — confirm on your Ground Truth console, not on this page.

What is the closest MTurk alternative for research surveys?

Prolific if you need identity-checked participants and will pay an hourly floor. CloudResearch Connect if you want an MTurk-style board that CloudResearch vets, currently US-only. Clickworker if you want cheap self-serve surveys with a global crowd.

I am a worker, not a requester. Is this page for me?

No. This comparison is for people who post tasks. Workers should verify payment settings in the MTurk Worker Portal before September 30 so remaining earnings can still pay out on the existing schedule.

Why only four tools?

Toloka and Surge AI had no public dollar price on September 13, 2026, so they are not in the table. We do not invent list prices. Scale is included with the caveat that enterprise work is quote-only.

Do you rank tools by affiliate payout?

No. Placement follows the job: surveys, US research board, cheap crowd surveys, enterprise labeling. Some links may become affiliate links later. That does not change the order on this page.