If you are currently using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and have started looking for an alternative, you may want to take a look at Microworkers. The two platforms have a similar purpose, but they differ in how they handle tasks, Workers, ratings, and fees. For Requesters planning to move some of their work, understanding how both platforms work can make the transition much easier.

MTurk vs. Microworkers: Understanding the Basics

For Employers coming from MTurk, some of the terminology on Microworkers may be different at first. The good thing is that most of the concepts are easy to relate to.

Here is a quick look:

Amazon MTurk	Microworkers
Requester	Employer
Worker	Worker
HIT	Campaign
Assignment	Task / Position
Reward	Task Cost
Approve / Reject	Satisfied / Not Satisfied

The basic idea is still the same: you post work, Workers complete it, and you review the results.

Requester vs. Employer

On Amazon MTurk, the person or company that creates and posts the work is called a Requester. The Requester creates HITs, sets the requirements and reward, reviews the Workers’ submissions, and manages the work through the MTurk platform. (Source: Mturk Core Concepts)

This same role on Microworkers is called an Employer. An Employer creates campaigns, sets the task requirements and payment, selects the appropriate Worker group/zone, reviews submissions, and manages the campaign.

The role itself is very similar. The main difference is simply the name used by each platform. Once you know that Requester = Employer, it becomes easier to follow the rest of the Microworkers workflow.

HIT vs. Campaign

With MTurk, Requesters create HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks). A HIT contains the instructions and requirements for the work you want Workers to complete. You can also specify how many Workers or assignments you need. Each Worker can complete only one assignment for a particular HIT. (Source: Hits)

On Microworkers, the equivalent is a Campaign. This is where you provide the instructions, requirements, payment, and other details of the work you want Workers to complete. Unlike MTurk, Microworkers allows a Worker to take more than one position or up to unlimited positions within the same campaign when enabled by the Employer under the Hire Group settings.

Assignment vs. Task or Position

Another difference is how individual pieces of work are described.

A HIT on MTurk can have multiple assignments. Each assignment represents an individual Worker completing the HIT. (Source: Mturk Concepts)

With Microworkers, you simply specify the number of tasks or positions available for your campaign.

For example, if you need 100 Workers to complete a task, you could think of it as:

MTurk: 1 HIT with 100 Assignments

Microworkers: 1 Campaign with 100 Positions

The terminology is different, but the basic concept is easy to understand once you have used the platform.

Reward vs. Task Cost/Worker will earn

The amount you offer to the Worker is also described differently.

MTurk uses the term Reward for the amount paid to a Worker for completing an Assignment. Requesters decide how much to pay for each Assignment.

Microworkers refers to the amount offered for a task as the Task Cost/Worker will earn. This is the amount a Worker earns when the task is completed and rated Satisfied.

For example, if you set a $1 Reward on MTurk, the Worker is offered $1 for the Assignment. If you set a $1 Task Cost on Microworkers, the Worker can earn $1 for a task that meets the requirements and is rated Satisfied.

So, in simple terms:

MTurk: Reward = amount offered to the Worker

Microworkers: Task Cost = amount offered to the Worker

It is also important to remember that the amount paid to the Worker is separate from the platform’s fees. The Employer needs to consider both when calculating the total cost of a campaign.

Approve/Reject vs. Satisfied/Not Satisfied

Once Workers submit their work, the Employer needs to review it.

MTurk uses Approve and Reject. A Requester approves an Assignment when it meets the requirements. If the work does not meet the requirements, the Requester can reject it. MTurk states that Workers are paid and the applicable MTurk fees are charged when submitted work is approved. (Source: Mturk Approve/Reject)

On the other hand, Microworkers uses Satisfied and Not Satisfied.

A submission that meets the campaign requirements can be rated Satisfied, while one that does not meet the requirements can be rated Not Satisfied.

Microworkers also provides a revision option. This allows an Employer to send a task back to the Worker when something needs to be corrected instead of immediately rating it Not Satisfied. Workers have a limited time to make the requested revision.

For example, imagine your campaign asks Workers to collect the names, prices, and website links of specific products and submit the information as proof.

• The required information is complete and accurate -> Satisfied
• Some of the required data is missing or does not meet the instructions

-> Not Satisfied

• The Worker can correct the missing information -> Request a revision

This can be useful for tasks where a Worker has made a small mistake that can easily be fixed.

There is also a difference in how each platform handles the review and rating of submitted work.

Task Rating: Employer Review vs. Multiple Rating Options

One difference that MTurk Requesters may notice is how submitted work is reviewed.

MTurk uses a Requester-based review process. The Requester reviews the Worker’s submission and chooses whether to approve or reject the Assignment. MTurk also provides an auto-approval option, which automatically approves work after the selected delay if it has not already been reviewed. (Source: Mturk Review Process)

Microworkers gives Employers more options for handling task ratings. Depending on the campaign, an Employer can choose Admin Rate, Admin Review & Employer Rate, or Employer Rate Only.

For example, if an Employer has a campaign with thousands of submissions:

• Admin Rate: Microworkers admins handle the review and rating.
• Admin Review & Employer Rate: Admins review the submissions first, and the Employer rates the valid ones.
• Employer Rate Only: The Employer handles the rating after the system verification.

This gives Microworkers Employers different options depending on how much control they want over the rating process and how much time they have available for reviewing submissions.

Worker Ratings: Approval Rate vs. Success Rate

The way Worker performance is measured is another difference between the two platforms.

MTurk uses an Approval Rate. A Worker’s approval rate is based on the percentage of their Assignments that have been approved by Requesters. Requesters can also use a Worker’s approval rate as a qualification when deciding who can work on their HITs.

Microworkers uses a Success Rate. This is based on the ratings Workers receive from Employers, including Satisfied and Not Satisfied ratings. The Success Rate helps determine a Worker’s eligibility for Basic jobs and can affect their ability to accept tasks.

For example:

• MTurk: Worker submits 100 Assignments → 95 are approved → 95% Approval Rate
• Microworkers: Worker receives Satisfied/Not Satisfied ratings → these contribute to their Success Rate

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Now, let’s take a closer look at the fees.

Fees: How MTurk and Microworkers Compare

Fees are another important difference to consider when looking for an MTurk alternative. The two platforms use different fee structures, so the amount you pay a Worker is not necessarily the same as the total amount you will spend on the campaign.

MTurk Fees

MTurk generally charges a 20% fee on the reward and bonus amount paid to Workers.

However, HITs with 10 or more Assignments are charged an additional 20%, bringing the total fee to 40% of the Worker rewards. There is also an additional 5% fee when using the Masters Qualification.

For example, if you create a HIT with 10 Assignments and pay each Worker $1:

• Worker rewards: $10
• 40% MTurk fee: $4
• Total: $14

– The additional 5% Masters Qualification fee is not included in this example.

Microworkers Fees

Microworkers uses a different structure.

For the Basic section, Employers are charged a 7.5% fee on tasks rated Satisfied. Tasks rated Not Satisfied are not charged. There is also a $0.75 campaign approval fee. Campaigns that require Workers to attach screenshots or upload files as proof have an additional $0.01 per-task fee.

Under the Basic section, the minimum number of positions is 30. For example, if you create 30 positions and pay each Worker $1:

• Worker payments: $30
• 7.5% fee: $2.25
• Campaign approval fee: $0.75
• Estimated Total: $33.00

Microworkers also has a Hire Group section with a different fee structure. With the Hire Group section, Employers are charged only for tasks rated Satisfied. A 10% fee applies to task assignments of $0.10 or more, while assignments below $0.10 incur a $0.01 fee. Tasks rated Not-Satisfied and the campaign approval fee are not charged.

The important point is that MTurk and Microworkers do not calculate fees in exactly the same way. Employers should look at the total campaign cost, including Worker payments and applicable fees, when comparing the two.

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Next, let’s take a look at Worker targeting.

Worker Targeting

The type of Worker you need can also affect how you set up your campaign.

Some tasks can be completed by Workers from anywhere, while others require people from a specific country or market.

MTurk allows Requesters to use qualifications to restrict who can work on a HIT.

Microworkers also provides different Worker groups and targeting options for Employers.

For example, if you are testing an application intended for US customers, you may want to target US Workers. For a general data collection task, a wider Worker group may be more appropriate.

When moving a task from MTurk, review the Worker requirements rather than simply copying the old setup.

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Another thing to keep in mind when moving your work is how you want to manage the flow of your campaigns.

Campaign Scheduling and Position Limits

Microworkers provides options for controlling the number of positions that can be completed within a certain period. Employers can use Maximum Positions per Day feature with Scheduler option when appropriate.

For example, instead of making all 500 positions available at once, you may want to limit how many positions can be completed each day.

This can be useful for projects where you need a steady number of responses instead of receiving all submissions at once.

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Campaign Templates

If you regularly run similar tasks, creating a new campaign from scratch each time can take unnecessary effort.

Microworkers provides campaign templates that can help Employers reuse common task structures. This can be useful for recurring projects such as surveys, annotation, data collection, and other types of microtasks.

Instead of rebuilding everything, you can start with an existing structure and make the changes needed for the new campaign.

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Considering a Move From MTurk?

With MTurk no longer accepting new Requester registrations, businesses looking for another platform may be exploring how to continue their crowdsourcing work elsewhere. (Source: Mturk)

Microworkers is one option to consider. Like MTurk, it connects businesses with Workers who can handle a wide range of online tasks, including data collection, research, data processing, and other microtasks.

You can start small:

Choose one project → recreate it → run a test → review the results → improve the workflow → then move more projects.

If you want to get familiar with Microworkers before launching a real campaign, you can also try our Sandbox. It provides a safe environment where you can explore the platform and test how your tasks and workflows work before running them with real Workers.

This gives your team time to become familiar with Microworkers, experiment with different campaign setups, and make adjustments without putting an entire project at risk.

Once you’re comfortable with the workflow, you can move on to your first live campaign and gradually expand from there.

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Ready to try Microworkers?

Changing platforms is always a decision that should be based on your own project requirements.

The easiest way to know whether Microworkers works for you is to try it.

Take one MTurk project, recreate it on Microworkers, run a small campaign, and compare the results.

If you need help creating your campaigns, choosing the right setup, or planning your projects, you can always reach out to our Support Team for assistance.

For Employers with larger or more specific projects, you can also work with a Microworkers Project Manager who can help you plan and organize your projects based on your requirements.

Ready to get started? Try your first project on Microworkers and let us help you along the way. 😉