CVAT

Image & Video Data Annotation Platform for Computer Vision applications

Quick facts

Company
CVAT
Service type
Data annotation / AI training data
Specialties
image
Hiring status
Check the company application page for availability
Website
Website
Careers
Careers page
Application guide source checked
Not yet verified

Application process overview

CVAT (Computer Vision Annotation Tool) is an open-source image and video annotation platform originally built inside Intel in 2016, publicly released in 2018, and now maintained by CVAT.ai Corporation in partnership with OpenCV. It is primarily a B2B tool that teams self-host or use via cvat.ai's hosted version to label data for computer vision, though CVAT.ai Corporation also hires its own in-house data annotation specialists for client projects.

Key findings

Application Process: For CVAT as a tool, users simply sign up at app.cvat.ai for the hosted version or deploy the open-source edition from GitHub. For paid annotator roles, candidates apply via the CVAT Careers page (cvat.ai/careers) for the Data Annotation Specialist position.<br><br>Assessments: Role-specific screening for annotator hires (accuracy tests on images/video/point clouds); no public test for tool users.<br><br>Job Types / Expertise: Bounding boxes, polygons, keypoints/skeletons, cuboids, segmentation masks, 3D point-cloud annotation, and video tracking for computer-vision ML.<br><br>Compensation: Third-party listings (ZipRecruiter) cite a wide $15-$109/hr range for CVAT-skilled annotators hired by outside firms; CVAT.ai's own salaries are not publicly disclosed.<br><br>Flexibility / Remote work: Fully remote roles advertised. The tool itself is browser-based and self-hostable.<br><br>Challenges / Concerns: Most openings are engineering roles, not mass annotator hiring — independent annotators looking for piece-work will find few opportunities directly at CVAT.ai. Hosted version has usage tiers and learning curve for complex tasks.<br><br>Legitimacy: Legitimate; CVAT.ai Corporation (private) is the commercial steward, MIT-licensed open source, backed by OpenCV since 2022.

Conclusion

CVAT is best understood as a tooling company rather than a gig platform: the product is widely trusted by ML teams and is the de facto open-source standard for computer-vision labeling, but opportunities for independent annotators to earn money directly through CVAT.ai are limited to a small number of in-house specialist roles. It suits ML engineers who need a powerful, free annotation tool, enterprise teams who want SSO/RBAC via CVAT Enterprise, and a small pool of experienced annotators seeking full-time employment. Freelancers looking for volume task work should look elsewhere, though CVAT proficiency is a sought-after skill on adjacent platforms.