Sama review: a top training data company for production computer vision

Answer in brief: Sama is our runner-up for computer vision training data in 2026, and the annotation specialist to pick when execution quality is the priority. Founded in 2008, it handles image, video, 3D point-cloud and fused-sensor annotation, plus validation, model evaluation and Sama GenAI. It claims a 99% first-batch acceptance rate and an average customer tenure of 8 years, and it is a certified B Corp. In April 2026, Meta ended its contract with Sama. Pricing is scoped in a consultation. This review is independent research from public sources.

Best-for verdict: runner-up, computer vision. It publishes the most detailed annotation capabilities of any vendor we reviewed. Visit Sama →

What Sama does for training data buyers

Sama Annotate: bounding boxes, polygons, keypoints, cuboids, segmentation, and temporal or spatial tracking across image, video, 3D point clouds and fused video/point-cloud data.
3D tools: sensor fusion, 3D-to-2D projection, automatic ground detection and model-generated pre-annotations.
Sama Validate and Curate: catch errors early and pick the data worth labeling.
Sama GenAI and model evaluation: fact-checking, instruction-following assessment, preference ranking and RLHF, captioning and RAG evaluation.

Who it fits

Sama fits production computer-vision teams in retail, ADAS and autonomous vehicles, agriculture, consumer tech and robotics, and buyers who value impact sourcing.

Why it stands out

Quality claims. Sama reports a 99% first-batch acceptance rate and says customers stay an average of 8 years.
Named cases. Walmart (product images and attributes across 2.5M+ SKUs), PolyPerception (waste-object labeling), Volumental (3D foot scans with a reported 97.8% accuracy) and Indoor Robotics.
A clear process. Annotation strategy, then labeling guides, then ongoing calibration as data changes.
Impact. As a certified B Corp, Sama says it has built careers for over 15,000 associates.

The catches

Meta contract ended. Meta ended its work with Sama in April 2026 after investigating reviews of smart-glasses footage. Sama said 1,108 staff received redundancy notices (AP). Ask about current capacity and data-handling controls.
Less frontier-LLM focus. Sama does relatively little RL-environment or frontier reasoning work.
Older funding. Its last documented major round was a $70M Series B in 2021.

Pricing

Custom. Timelines, scope and pricing are set in a consultation.

Best alternatives to Sama

Scale AI, our computer-vision winner.
iMerit, for medical imaging, LiDAR and regulated data.
TELUS Digital, for very large managed perception programs.

Sama FAQ

What does Sama annotate?

Sama annotates image, video, 3D point-cloud and fused sensor data, and also offers validation, model evaluation and GenAI data.

Is Sama a B Corp?

Sama describes itself as a certified B Corp and announced its recertification with its 2024 impact report.

Did Meta stop working with Sama?

Yes. Meta ended its contract in April 2026, and Sama said 1,108 staff received redundancy notices (AP).

Sources

Visit Sama →

← Back to the ranked list of the best training data companies