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Top 3 Hive Alternatives & Their Evaluations in 2024

As the market for AI/ML-powered solutions grows, so does the demand for data to train and deploy those solutions. Since not all companies can gather and prepare large-scale datasets by themselves, they rely on third-party data collection services to fulfill their data needs.

Hive is one such data collection service provider that gathers and prepares datasets for your data-hungry projects. Finding the right data vendor is crucial to the success of the project.

However, finding transparent and data-driven evaluations of such vendors can be difficult and time-consuming. Due to some weak points in the company (which we will discuss later in the article), companies might need information on Hive alternatives to make data-driven decisions.

This article aims to remedy that issue. We provide:

  • A data-driven evaluation of Hive, including review and features
  • Some weaknesses or cons of working with Hive
  • And top 3 Hive alternatives to help you make the right decision for your data-hungry projects.

Hive Evaluation

Company review

Established in 2013, Hive offers AI solutions focusing on computer vision (CV) and deep learning solutions. The company offers a wide range of AI and data solutions for enterprises. In this article, we will focus on their AI data services.

Hive’s data offerings:

  • Data collection and annotation through a crowdsourcing model
  • Crowd size: ~5 million
  • Data services provided in 12+ languages
  • Data transcription, including speech-to-text
  • Data translation
  • Dataset preparation specifically for visual AI

Cons of working with Hive

Here are some weak points of working with Hive identified by customer reviews from different online sources:

  • Customers suggest that overlapped images are not recognized by Hive data
  • In order to use the tool, video data must be made available on a public platform
  • Reviews from other sources stated that the company’s client management process is a bit confusing and takes time to get used to.
  • Customers also say that the Hive app requires significant improvement and that billing can be made more transparent (See screenshot below).
  • The language coverage is also significantly less than other alternatives.
  • No pricing information is provided on the website.
  • Data collection is not the key focus of the company.

User ratings

Top 3 alternatives of Hive

This section highlights the top 3 alternatives of Hive in the AI data solutions space. 

1. Clickworker

Clickworker offers AI data solutions through a crowdsourcing model. The company offers the following services:

  • Training datasets for AI/ML models (in ~45 languages and more than 70 target markets).
  • Sentiment analysis training data
  • SEO content & text creation services
  • Their data collection platform includes an application

Sponsored

Clickworker specializes in data collection and annotation through a crowd that is based in over 150 countries. They can offer scalable datasets for your data-hungry projects.

User ratings

Clickworker’s pros & Cons

Pros
  • Data collection is the key focus of the company.
  • Pricing information is available on the website, including details regarding different packages.
  • The company offers free-trial and charges no license fee.
  • The clients can also determine their own price rates for their project’s workforce.
  • Clickworker provides image data from various angles, including 360° shots. 
  • The data is provided in more than 45 languages and dialects.
Cons
  • The crowd size (~4.5 million) is slightly smaller than other alternatives, such as Hive.

2. Appen

Another alternative to Hive is Appen which also offers data collection and management services via a crowdsourcing model. Their data is mainly for developing and improving AI-powered solutions such as computer vision (CV), facial recognition, voice recognition, etc.

Appen’s offerings include:

  • Data collection service with datasets provided in over 180 languages.
  • Data services are offered by a crowd of around 1 million contributors based in over 130 countries.
  • Data solutions of all data types (image, video, audio, text).
  • Data annotation and mode evaluation services are also provided.

User ratings

Appen’s pros & cons

Pros
  • The company offers a relatively more diverse crowd (170 countries, 235 languages).
  • Also offers pre-labeled datasets.
  • Offers other services such as data transcription, classification, and translation.
Cons
  • No pricing information is provided on the website.
  • The company does not offer any free trials.
  • The crowd size is significantly smaller than other alternatives, such as Clickworker and Hive.
  • Information regarding the crowd’s demographics and qualifications is not provided on the website. 

3. Telus international

Established in 2005, Telus International is a Canadian company that offers data solutions through a crowdsourcing model to offer:

  • Scalable and custom datasets of different types (Video, image, audio, sensor-fusion, & text).
  • Content summarization, formatting, and processing
  • Data entry, analysis, and enrichment
  • Dataset creation across multiple languages

User ratings

Telus International’s pros/cons:

Pros
  • A significantly more diverse crowd than other alternatives such as Hive (500+ languages and dialects)
  • Offer secure data solutions with built-in validation and spot-checking of workers (based on client’s requirements).
Cons
  • Even though the crowd is more diverse, the size (~1 million) is significantly smaller than other alternatives, such as Clickworker and Hive.
  • No pricing details are available on the website.
  • Fewer reviews are available online to evaluate the company’s services.

For more in-depth knowledge of data collection, feel free to download our whitepaper:

Get Data Collection Whitepaper

You can also check our data-driven list of data collection/harvesting companies to find the option that best suits your project needs.

Further reading

If you need help finding a vendor or have any questions, feel free to contact us:

Find the Right Vendors
Access Cem's 2 decades of B2B tech experience as a tech consultant, enterprise leader, startup entrepreneur & industry analyst. Leverage insights informing top Fortune 500 every month.
Cem Dilmegani
Principal Analyst
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Shehmir Javaid
Shehmir Javaid is an industry analyst in AIMultiple. He has a background in logistics and supply chain technology research. He completed his MSc in logistics and operations management and Bachelor's in international business administration From Cardiff University UK.

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