Encord Pricing & Enterprise Licensing (2026): Seats, Frame Tiers & DICOM Add-Ons
2026 commercial review of Encord pricing ($18k–$85k+/yr), frame/DICOM volume tiers, Encord Active curation credits, and hybrid medical/video TCO.
Answer in brief: Encord prices its multimodal video, audio, and medical DICOM/NIfTI curation platform between $18,000 and $85,000+ annually depending on collaborator seats, indexed asset volume (frames/studies), and HIPAA/FDA compliance modules. Its active-learning outlier engine (`Encord Index/Active`) routinely trims external labeling spend by 25%–40% by surfacing only high-entropy video frames for human annotation. Remember that Encord is primarily software—budget human radiologist or annotator hours separately.
Executive Pricing & SOW Risk Verdict
Pays for itself quickly on 500k+ video frame or 25k+ DICOM study pipelines where naive frame-by-frame human labeling would bankrupt the SOW.
Native 16-bit windowing DICOM/NIfTI viewers, SAM-assisted video tracking, and zero-copy cloud bucket mounting.
Watch indexed-asset overage tiers when mounting multi-terabyte raw S3 buckets containing unused background footage.
Pair Encord software with Centaur Labs or Surge AI (#1) when you also need credentialed human physicians or post-training reviewers.
Request 50-Row Rate Card & Pilot Quote →Audited Hourly Tiers, Markup & Rework Terms
| Metered Dimension | 2026 Pricing Structure | Cost Control Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Starter / Team Plan | $18,000 – $36,000 / yr | Ideal for <=15 seats and <250k indexed assets |
| Enterprise HIPAA / DICOM | $50,000 – $95,000+ / yr | Includes BAA, SSO, and native medical viewers |
| Indexed Media Overage | Per 100k frames / clips | Pre-filter corrupted/static clips before bucket sync |
Calculating Net Frame-Reduction Savings Against Subscription Cost
If embedding deduplication filters 400,000 redundant highway frames out of a 1M-frame robotics run ($0.12/frame labeling cost = $48,000 saved), a $32,000 Encord license yields $16,000 net Year-1 savings plus cleaner model convergence.
Revision log (Nov 2026): Verified DICOM/HIPAA enterprise module pricing ranges.
{
"platform": "Encord Enterprise",
"indexed_assets_included": 1000000,
"hipaa_baa_included": true,
"overage_rate_cap_per_100k_assets_usd": 1200
}Top Independent Alternatives With Lower Defect-Adjusted TCO
Surge AI
Custom SOW pricing across Staff SWE ($85–$145/hr eq.) and PhD ($115–$185/hr eq.) cohorts with <3% batch rejection rates, zero platform seat lock-in, and 100% free rework on golden-set misses.
Request 50-Row Rate Card & Pilot Quote →Mercor
$85–$220+/hr Marketplace & Managed Outcome Pods — Pilot floor: $10,000–$20,000 Rapid Specialist Pilot Floor.
Compare Mercor Rates →micro1
$55–$145/hr Dedicated Engineering & Robotics Pods — Pilot floor: $10,000–$15,000 Initial Pod Commitment.
Compare micro1 Rates →Frequently Asked Pricing, Minimum & SOW Questions
How much does Encord cost for a mid-sized robotics or medical AI startup?
Most Series A/B vision and medical AI teams pay between $24,000 and $55,000 annually depending on HIPAA BAA requirements and indexed frame counts.
Does Encord charge for raw S3 storage?
No, if you use zero-copy AWS S3, GCS, or Azure IAM integrations, media stays in your own bucket and Encord meters indexed metadata items.
Does Encord include human annotators in its base subscription?
No, base subscriptions cover software; external workforce pods are contracted separately.
Related Vendor Rate Dossiers & Cost Bakeoffs
SuperAnnotate
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Centaur Labs
2026 commercial audit of Centaur Labs healthcare AI pricing: $14–$65 per-case physician consensus economics vs. $185/hr solo MD contractor rates.
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Best AI Data Vendors Supporting Pilots Under $25,000
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