A search for an employee and a project to deploy AI can both start with “we need AI talent.” They are different buying decisions. Before comparing Refery and Mercor, write down what you want to own at the end of the engagement.
Refery is a startup recruiting network for VC-backed Seed to Series B companies hiring Engineering, AI, and GTM talent. It combines specialist independent recruiters with referrals from founders, operators, and investors.
Correction: Earlier versions included unsupported performance benchmarks and an overly narrow description of Mercor as an hourly contractor marketplace. Those claims have been withdrawn. This guide uses the current official product description and does not compare unverified hiring results.
Start with the unit you are buying
Mercor’s enterprise offering describes AI strategy, agent development, evaluation, and optimization work. Treat that as a service scope to examine with Mercor, not as evidence that every Mercor engagement has the same staffing or billing model. Source checked September 19, 2026.
Refery’s employee-search brief starts elsewhere: which person will join your team, what they will own, and what evidence would make you hire them. See the current Refery vs Mercor overview for the product-level comparison.
| Question to settle | Employee search | AI project or service engagement |
|---|---|---|
| What are you selecting? | A person for a defined role on your team | A provider and an agreed scope of work |
| What evidence matters? | Relevant work, judgment, collaboration, and references | Proposed approach, evaluation criteria, delivery responsibilities, and acceptance tests |
| What continues afterward? | The employee’s responsibilities, under the employment agreement | Whatever support, handover, and ongoing work the service agreement provides |
| What must be priced? | Compensation and the recruiting agreement | Deliverables, usage, support, and change requests in the proposal |
This table is a buying framework, not a claim about either provider’s results.
If you need an employee, make the role concrete
“We need an AI engineer” is not enough. Specify whether the person will build an application, work on models and evaluations, own infrastructure, or implement systems with customers.
Then name the first outcomes: a production feature, an evaluation suite, a deployment, or a reliability target. Say who will manage the person and what help already exists internally. Those details determine which experience is relevant.
Use Refery’s AI recruiting guide and AI engineer hiring brief to prepare the search.
If you need a project, define the handover
Ask the provider what will be delivered, how you will test it, which systems it needs to access, and who will maintain the work. Clarify ownership and support in writing. Do not assume knowledge disappears after a contract or automatically stays because a project involved an employee.
A company can need both an external engagement and an internal hire. Define their responsibilities so you do not pay two parties to solve an ambiguous problem.
Compare the actual proposals
Refery charges 15% to 25% of first-year base salary on a successful hire, with no retainer, no exclusivity, and a 90-day guarantee under the client agreement. See recruiting fees.
Ask Mercor for the current scope and commercial proposal relevant to your requirement. This guide does not infer Mercor’s price, billing unit, exclusivity, or guarantee.
Written by Refery. No head-to-head performance study is presented here. Share your hiring brief if the missing piece is a person who will own the work.