{
  "schema_version": "2026.11",
  "ledger": "Best AI Data Vendors Commercial Rate-Card Ledger (bestaidatavendors.com)",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-12T00:00:00Z",
  "currency": "USD",
  "rate_schedules_by_tier": {
    "frontier_stem_phd_and_olympiad": {
      "fully_loaded_vendor_hourly_range": [
        95,
        185
      ],
      "direct_annotator_pass_through_range": [
        70,
        140
      ],
      "typical_minutes_per_trajectory": [
        45,
        95
      ],
      "pilot_minimum_sow_usd": [
        15000,
        30000
      ],
      "recommended_rework_escrow_defect_ceiling_pct": 3.5
    },
    "verified_senior_repo_swe": {
      "fully_loaded_vendor_hourly_range": [
        65,
        145
      ],
      "direct_annotator_pass_through_range": [
        50,
        110
      ],
      "typical_minutes_per_trajectory": [
        40,
        110
      ],
      "pilot_minimum_sow_usd": [
        10000,
        25000
      ],
      "recommended_rework_escrow_defect_ceiling_pct": 4
    },
    "licensed_physician_md_and_attorney_jd": {
      "fully_loaded_vendor_hourly_range": [
        135,
        230
      ],
      "direct_annotator_pass_through_range": [
        100,
        175
      ],
      "consensus_case_alternative_usd": [
        14,
        65
      ],
      "pilot_minimum_sow_usd": [
        20000,
        45000
      ],
      "recommended_rework_escrow_defect_ceiling_pct": 2.5
    },
    "dedicated_managed_domain_pod": {
      "fully_loaded_vendor_hourly_range": [
        28,
        60
      ],
      "direct_annotator_pass_through_range": [
        16,
        36
      ],
      "pilot_minimum_sow_usd": [
        10000,
        20000
      ],
      "recommended_rework_escrow_defect_ceiling_pct": 5
    },
    "commodity_global_crowd_microtask": {
      "fully_loaded_vendor_hourly_range": [
        18,
        35
      ],
      "direct_annotator_pass_through_range": [
        7,
        16
      ],
      "hidden_rework_tco_multiplier_on_reasoning": [
        2.4,
        3.4
      ],
      "recommended_usage": "ASR dialect capture and simple OCR only — avoid for STEM/Code RLHF"
    }
  },
  "mandatory_sow_cost_protections": {
    "calibration_hours_cap_pct_of_monthly_spend": 8,
    "require_unbundled_saas_seat_line_item": true,
    "prohibit_90_day_credit_forfeiture": true,
    "zero_cost_lot_replacement_within_business_days": 5
  }
}