Encord alternative for image annotation teams that want a published price
ImageLabeling is an Encord alternative for teams that label images and want to see the monthly price before they talk to sales. Starter is 49 USD a month, Team with 10 seats is 149 USD, Business with 30 seats is 499 USD, and yearly billing cuts each by about half. Labeling runs in the browser with boxes, polygons, masks and keypoints, AI pre-labels, a labeler and reviewer flow with consensus, and COCO, YOLO and Pascal VOC export. If you label video, medical scans or many data types in one platform, Encord covers more.
What is the best Encord alternative for image annotation?
For image only work, pick a hosted tool built for images with a price you can put in a budget. Encord is a wide data platform for annotation, curation and model evaluation across images, video and other modalities, and it is sold by quote. That breadth is the point for large multimodal teams. A team that draws boxes and masks on photos pays for a platform it uses a small part of, and waits for a sales cycle before the first label. ImageLabeling ships the image editor, AI pre-labels and review ready to use, and you can test it on one of your own images first. The image annotation workflow page shows each step.
Encord vs ImageLabeling for image annotation
Encord details come from its public pricing page as summarized by third party reviewers in October 2026. Check the vendor page before you buy, plans change.
Encord wins when the data is multimodal, when you need video or medical formats, when you want data curation and model evaluation next to labeling, or when procurement already runs enterprise contracts. ImageLabeling wins when images are the only data, when the team lead has to name a monthly number this week, and when you want to be labeling the same afternoon.
| What you compare | Encord | ImageLabeling |
|---|---|---|
| Data types | Images, video and other modalities, with complex ontologies | Images only, video frames can be uploaded as images |
| Plans | Starter, Team and Enterprise | Starter, Team, Business and Enterprise |
| Price shown on the website | No dollar amounts, custom pricing by quote | 49, 149 and 499 USD a month, or 24, 74 and 249 USD a month billed yearly |
| Free tier | No permanent free tier reported | Demo on your own image, paid plans from 24 USD a month billed yearly |
| Sizing | Data volume tiers, with an active data count | 10 seats on Team, 30 on Business, stored images and AI pre-labels listed per plan |
| Review | Customizable workflows, performance analytics on Team | Labeler then reviewer flow, consensus from Team, QA scores per labeler on Business |
| AI pre-labels | Model assisted labeling and data agents on higher tiers | Included on every plan, 1,000 images on Starter, 3,500 on Team, 12,000 on Business |
| SSO | Enterprise | Google and Microsoft SSO on Business, SAML SSO on Enterprise |
| Export | Standard formats plus SDK access | COCO, YOLO, Pascal VOC and CSV, with frozen dataset versions |
What a team pays for Encord and for ImageLabeling
Encord does not print a number, so any cost comparison starts with a quote request. Ask for the price per month for your seat count and your stored image count, what counts as active data, and what happens to the price when you add a temporary labeler. Get the answers in writing.
On ImageLabeling the Team plan is 149 USD a month for 10 seats, or 74 USD a month billed yearly. Business is 499 USD for 30 seats. The cost does not move when you add a labeler for one project. The pricing page lists every limit.
When an image focused tool fits better than Encord
Teams comparing more tools can read the same comparison for the Labelbox alternative, the SuperAnnotate alternative and the Label Studio alternative.
- You label photos for detection, segmentation or keypoint models and never touch video timelines or DICOM.
- Your budget owner wants a published monthly price instead of a quote cycle.
- You add labelers for one project and do not want the bill to follow the headcount.
- You want AI pre-labels on every new batch without an enterprise contract.
- You need review with consensus and per labeler QA scores that a manager can read at a glance.
When to stay with Encord
In those cases ImageLabeling would cover only the image part of your work.
- You label video, medical imaging or several modalities and want one platform.
- You need data curation, active learning and model evaluation in the same product.
- Your security review already approved Encord and your contract covers VPC or on premise deployment.
- Your volume is far beyond what a flat image plan is sized for.
How to move an image project from Encord
Most teams move one project in an afternoon.
- Export the labels in COCO or YOLO form and keep the original image files.
- Upload the images to a new ImageLabeling project and import the file. Images match by file name and categories become classes in your schema.
- Send the imported labels to review, so reviewers check old work before it enters a version.
- Run AI pre-labels on the images that were never labeled, then freeze a dataset version.
- Export COCO or YOLO for the next training run. The YOLO labeling tool page covers class order and file layout.
Teams that move image labeling to a published price
- Manufacturing quality teams labeling defect photos every week, see defect detection datasets.
- Retail analytics teams that label shelf photos for each new store format, see retail shelf image annotation.
- Robotics teams that retrain pick and place models for every release, see robotics dataset labeling.
- Startups that need review and consensus without a procurement cycle.
FAQ
What is the best Encord alternative for image annotation?
For image only work, the best Encord alternative is a hosted tool with a published price, AI pre-labels and review. Encord is built for multimodal data, video, medical formats and model evaluation, and it sells by quote. ImageLabeling covers images only and lists 49, 149 and 499 USD plans.
How much does Encord cost?
Encord uses custom pricing. Its public pricing page, as summarized by third party reviewers in October 2026, lists Starter, Team and Enterprise tiers with no dollar amounts and no permanent free tier. You need a sales quote to know the number, so ask for it in writing.
Does Encord have a free plan?
Third party summaries of the Encord pricing page in October 2026 say it is a paid product without a permanent free tier. Check encord.com/pricing for the current terms before you plan a trial.
Can I move image projects from Encord to ImageLabeling?
Yes for image projects. Export labels in COCO or another standard format, upload the same images to ImageLabeling and import the file. Boxes, polygons and classes arrive as editable objects that reviewers can check before you freeze a dataset version.
Does ImageLabeling replace Encord for video and DICOM?
No. ImageLabeling labels images only. You can extract video frames and label them as images, but there is no timeline editor, DICOM viewer or multimodal data curation. If those are core to your work, stay with Encord.
Can I try ImageLabeling before I buy?
Yes. The demo on the homepage labels one of your own images with AI pre-labels you can edit, with no account needed. Plans start at 24 USD a month billed yearly, and you can cancel anytime.
Label one of your images before you change tools
Drop an image from your current project into the demo and see the AI pre-labels and the editor before you move a single file.