Reconcile AI contractor pay with your work log

A payout total tells you what a platform says it will pay. It may not explain which work made up that total, or whether all of your hours and completed tasks were counted. To check the details, reconcile the platform’s report against a work record made during the same period.

RaterSidekick’s Pay Checker compares your records with platform reports. Its value depends on getting the dates and fields lined up: a weekly report cannot tell you much about a session logged outside that week, and a report with no task count cannot confirm a task-count discrepancy.

1. Set the period before you compare

Choose one platform and one pay period. Write down the period’s start and end dates, including the time zone if the platform uses one. If the platform groups work by a different cutoff than your own week, use the platform’s dates for this comparison and note the difference.

Keep the comparison narrow. Start with one period on DataAnnotation or Outlier rather than mixing several platforms or weeks into one total. That makes it easier to trace a difference back to a particular set of sessions or tasks.

Before relying on a time comparison, check that both records measure the same thing. A platform timer and a personal work log can have different boundaries. Our guide to interpreting platform timer drift covers why matching those boundaries matters.

2. Make sure your own record is usable

RaterSidekick is a Chrome extension that tracks work sessions, tasks and estimated earnings across AI contractor platforms. It runs only on websites you explicitly designate. To record task completion, it detects the keyboard shortcut you select. That means your task count depends on using that shortcut consistently; a task you completed without triggering it may be absent from your record.

RaterSidekick does not capture screenshots, keystrokes, screen recordings or task content. For this workflow, you are comparing work records and report figures, not reviewing saved prompts or answers.

If you already have older work history in a spreadsheet or platform export, import it before comparing. RaterSidekick also supports importing history from Clockify. Keep track of which dates came from an import and which you recorded while working, so you can explain the source of a figure if something looks off.

3. Bring in the platform report

Get the report for the exact pay period you chose. If the platform offers an export that you can import, use that. RaterSidekick supports spreadsheet and platform-export imports. If the report is not available in an importable form, use the figures shown in the report as your comparison reference rather than assuming the import will accept every document type.

Check the report’s scope before comparing totals. Does it show submitted tasks, approved tasks, hours, earnings, or only a payout amount? Record which fields it actually contains. A payout amount alone cannot explain a task-count or time difference.

4. Compare like with like in Pay Checker

Use Pay Checker to compare your records with the platform report, keeping the same platform and pay period in view. Compare only fields represented in both records. For example, if both show task counts, check those counts; if both show time, compare the time totals. Treat an earnings comparison as an estimate when your own earnings figure is estimated rather than a confirmed payment.

Do not turn every mismatch into a pay claim. First check whether the report and your log cover the same dates, whether the platform excludes work that is pending review, and whether your task-completion shortcut was used for each task. These are questions to verify against the report and your own records, not assumptions about how a platform calculates pay.

5. Investigate the gaps before raising a dispute

Make a short list of the specific differences: a session in your log that is not reflected in reported time, a task count that does not line up, or estimated earnings that differ from the report. For each one, note the date and the figures on both sides. Then check the platform’s own status or payment information for that period, if available.

A missing task in your RaterSidekick record may mean the shortcut was not triggered; it does not by itself show that the platform failed to credit the task. Likewise, a higher logged time does not prove that all of it qualifies for payment. Keep the evidence and the conclusion separate.

Once you have checked the period and the underlying entries, raise a focused question with the platform if a gap remains. Include the dates and the exact figures that do not match. A narrow, documented query is more useful than a general claim that a weekly total looks wrong.

Repeat the process each pay period. A consistent record makes it easier to spot a missing submission while the details are fresh, rather than reconstructing several weeks of work after a dispute deadline approaches.