Scale AI vs Labelbox: which robotics data engine should a robot-learning team pick in 2026?
Last updated: 2026-11-09 · Independent research compiled from each company's own website. We have not tested either product.
Answer in brief
Both are managed data engines that record real-world demonstrations, annotate them and deliver training-ready data for robot learning. Both are sales-led and neither publishes prices. Choose Scale AI's Physical AI Data Engine if you need very large volume and a partner that writes your data spec with you. Scale says more than 1,000 hours of demonstration data reach its platform every day. It has in-house roboticists, and it runs datasets through its own policy fine-tuning and evaluation before listing them. Choose Labelbox Terra if you want one episode format from pre-training through post-training to evals, seven hardware-synchronized rig types to choose from, and a diversity engine that steers collection toward the environment and task combinations you lack.
Top pick: Scale AI, for frontier-scale humanoid and foundation-model programs. Scale offers teleoperated bimanual robots, the robotless Scale Harness and your own hardware run by Scale. Collection runs in data factories, homes and commercial sites. Scale names Generalist and Physical Intelligence as partners. Visit Scale AI →
Strong alternative: Labelbox Terra, for teams that care most about coverage and evals. Labelbox says Terra had produced 1 PB+ as of January 2026. Its episodes have up to 4 synced camera streams, and its standardized evals are scored against your policy. Visit Labelbox →
Side by side: the specs that matter
| What you're buying | Scale AI: Physical AI Data Engine | Labelbox: Terra |
|---|---|---|
| Capture sources | Robotics data factories, at-home collectors worldwide, in-field commercial and industrial deployments | Alignerr network and specialist third-party partners, on Labelbox rigs, in homes, workplaces and its San Francisco robotics lab |
| Embodiments / rigs | Teleoperated bimanual manipulators; Scale Harness (robotless, egocentric); bespoke collection on your hardware | 7 rigs: ego mono, ego stereo, ego trio, ego + wrist, trio + instrumented gripper, overhead, teleoperation |
| Stated scale | 1,000+ hours of demonstrations uploaded per day | 1 PB+ produced as of January 2026 |
| Annotation | Multi-modal grounding annotations and expert human feedback on every demonstration | Auto-labels for scene, object and action segments; action streams and success labels |
| Quality gate | Sensor calibration and validation; datasets fine-tuned and evaluated before listing | Each episode auto-categorized and validated, with human review of edge cases. Failed episodes are re-recorded, not shipped |
| Evals | Internal policy evaluation before listing | Standardized manipulation and navigation evals, run against your policy and reported per environment |
| Security stated | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001; GDPR, CCPA; optional onshore processing | Not stated on the Terra page |
| Pricing | Custom quote (book a demo) | Custom program scoping (talk to sales) |
Pick Scale AI when volume and validation win the argument
- You need many embodiments and environments at once. Scale combines factory, residential and commercial collection, and adds a robotless egocentric harness for dexterous capture.
- You want help writing the spec. Scale says an internal team of roboticists builds data specifications for each program, and a dedicated engineering and operations team supports each engagement.
- Procurement needs certifications. SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 are stated on the product page.
- You already run your own robots. Under the Bespoke Collection option, Scale manages and operates your hardware.
Pick Labelbox Terra when coverage and consistency are the bottleneck
- You care about diversity more than raw hours. Terra counts every episode against a target distribution across environments (kitchen, office, warehouse, retail, home, lab) and tasks (pick and place, stack, insert, tool use, fold, pour, open/close, navigate), then sends collectors to the gaps.
- You want one data shape across the whole lifecycle. Every rig writes the same episode format, so pre-training video, post-training demonstrations and eval episodes line up.
- You want instrumented-gripper data. The trio + gripper rig records gripper state for action-labeled demonstrations.
- You can commission a task list. Labelbox says most programs start with a task list and a target distribution.
Pricing model
Neither company publishes rates. Scale sends you to a demo and custom quote. Labelbox scopes each program and shows you the first episodes. Ask both for the billing unit (hours, episodes or a program fee), who owns rights to the delivered data, and the criteria for re-recording failed episodes.
FAQ
Does Labelbox build robots?
No. Labelbox says Terra produces the data robots learn from and the evals that measure them, and works with your hardware or Labelbox's.
Who records the data for each vendor?
Scale lists data factories, distributed home collectors and in-field deployments. It develops its collection cells in its San Francisco lab before rolling them out to global partners. Labelbox records through its Alignerr network and third-party partners, on rigs it supplies.
Which one offers evaluations?
Both, in different ways. Scale runs its own policy fine-tuning and evaluation before it lists a dataset. Terra runs standardized evals against your policy and reports results per environment.
Is either suitable for a small team?
Both are sales-led programs. Smaller teams should also look at the platforms and pilot-friendly vendors on our how-to-choose guide.
Keep comparing
See the full ranked list of the best robotics data companies · Scale AI review · Labelbox review · Alternatives to Scale AI · Alternatives to Labelbox · Labelbox vs Encord
Visit Scale AI → · Visit Labelbox →
Sources
- scale.com/physical-ai (read 2026-11-09)
- labelbox.com/products/terra (read 2026-11-09)