Appen Review – Work from Home and Earn Money Online 2024

Appen offer work from home projects for over 1 million flexible workers in 170+ countries and have won a number of awards including winning the 2021 BIG Innovation Award! The data collection company that is Appen, is most known for using information (gathered from their flexible workers) to make artificially intelligent (AI) programs.

Independent contractors can complete a variety of admin work from search engine evaluation to transcription and translation. If you’re looking for a work-from-home side gig then this might just be the place for you! Read on to find out more about the flexible work provider – Appen.

Laptop and Coffee Mug on Wooden desk

Work from home with Appen

Is Appen legit?

Yes. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Sydney Australia, Appen now operates in 170 countries and employs over 1 million flexible contractors worldwide.

Appen is a technology company that works with a range of well-known companies to improve the customer experience of eCommerce, Search Engine, Voice Recognition, Social Media and more. Their aim is to improve the world of technology. They do this through hiring flexible temporary workers (you) to perform online tasks like speaking phrases into a microphone or rating social media ads and search engines.

Appen reviews across the web are very mixed with some people enjoying the option of flexible working and others disappointed at the lack of training and communication from management.

Available Appen projects

Once you’ve signed up, you will have access to the open projects tab. Projects are updated regularly so if there isn’t anything for you right now it’s worth revisiting regularly. You’ll be able to see the project details, workload and payment before applying. They regularly update new projects available, common tasks include:

  • data annotation – add metadata or labels to raw data, making it understandable and useful for machine learning algorithms and data analysis.
  • translation – converting written or spoken content from one language (the source language) into another language (the target language) while preserving the meaning, context, and tone of the original text or speech.
  • transcription – converting spoken language, typically in the form of audio or video recordings, into written text.
  • speech collection – recording, gathering, or collecting spoken language or speech data from individuals for various purposes, such as research, development of speech recognition systems.
  • social media evaluation – assess and evaluate the content and performance of social media platforms.
  • search engine evaluation – assess and evaluate the quality of search engine results to help improve the accuracy and relevance of search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo.
  • data entry – manually inputting, transcribing, or updating information from one format into a computer system or database.

The exact requirements and working hours vary per contract and I only have experience of the evaluation roles so I couldn’t explain how the rest of the tasks work. Some projects will require you to complete additional training, download apps and/or get your friends and family involved with the data collection.

My experience as a Social Media Evaluator (SME)

One of the most common jobs on Appen is the Social Media Evaluator role. A SME provides feedback on ads, news feeds, and search results through social media platforms. These roles tend to be contracted for between 3-12 months.

Social Media Evaluator Requirements: 

  • Access to a computer and/or access to a smartphone
  • Internet access
  • An active social media account (e.g. Facebook)
  • Basic computer literacy
  • Read the guidelines and pass a qualification questionnaire

Working Hours: You’re usually required to work for 1 hour a day for at least 5 days (a week). But it’s up to you when you complete this hour of work.

How much does Appen pay? Usually $14/£10 an hour.

Apply to become a Social Media Evaluator 

My experience as a Search Engine Evaluator

Your main responsibility as a search engine evaluator is to filter or rate search engine results based on different criteria (you’ll be given details of this in your project brief). An example of the tasks I’ve often been required to do is rate how relevant/appropriate results of a search query are.

Search Engine Evaluator Requirements: 

  • Access to a computer and/or access to a smartphone
  • Adequate internet speed
  • Basic computer literacy
  • Read the guidelines and pass a qualification questionnaire

Working Hours: You’re usually required to work 20 hours a week, but it’s up to you to choose when you want to work these hours throughout the week.

How much does Appen pay? Usually $14/£10 an hour.

Apply to become a Search Engine Evaluator

How much does Appen pay?

The most common question that I get asked is how much does appen pay. Payment can vary depending on the project and job that you sign up for. The average appen data collection salary is around $14/£10 per hour. In most cases, you will need to record your hours and submit an invoice at the end of each month.

You receive payment monthly (within 30 days of your invoice) through your preferred payment method. In most cases you can choose to be paid directly into your bank, via PayPal or through Payoneer.

As you will be working as an Independent Contractor, you will need to take care of your own taxes. Remember that you need to declare extra income to HMRC once you earn more than £1000 (personal allowance). I record all my extra income using a spreadsheet and am registering as self-employed (sole trader).

How to apply for projects?

Sign up for an Appen account by visiting the link below. Select your country and language. You may be required to take and pass a qualification exam to be accepted as an independent evaluator. Once you’ve completed and passed the exam you’ll have access to more projects.

For each project, you will receive a brief which includes any working requirements and guidelines. In some cases, completion of a qualification is a requirement. You are not paid for any training you complete, but you will start earning from the moment you complete the training.

Some of the Appen reviews online are quite negative. My personal experience as a search engine evaluator with Appen has been great. I completed a qualification test and received an email within a week to confirm my place on the project. I’ve worked on several projects now and earned over £4000 from them.

Apply to work with Appen

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I guess you’re reading this because you want to earn money (or work from home)? You have come to the right place! In addition to this post, I have tons more ways for you to earn money! Let me know your thoughts on Appen in the comments section.