Free and open first

Best AI Image Annotation Tools in 2026

Labeling images can involve drawing regions, assigning categories, and reviewing annotations before they are used elsewhere. Compare AI-assisted labeling and annotation types, then consider API access and deployment options in light of your workflow. Export formats and review workflow describe how labeled work can move through a project; free-plan availability and paid-from pricing add cost context. Label Studio, COCO Annotator, and Roboflow are among the entries to compare against the kinds of images and review steps you handle. The listed criteria can help you assess whether a tool’s annotation capabilities and setup suit your needs.

24 apps
Research read 23 Sept 2026
How the order is worked out

1

COCO Annotator

Free plan Open source APILinuxSelf-hosted+2

COCO Annotator offers varied annotation types, assisted labeling, and COCO-format data handling in a self-hosted tool.

9.2 Free plan Visit site
2

Label Studio

Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+3

Label Studio covers a wide range of annotation workflows, deployment options, and integrations.

8.9 Free plan Visit site
3

MakeSense.ai

Free plan Open source LinuxMacSelf-hosted+2

Pick MakeSense.ai if you need a free browser tool for photo annotation and dataset preparation, especially for a small computer vision project.

8.9 Free plan Visit site
4

VGG Image Annotator

Free plan Open source LinuxMacSelf-hosted+2

VIA offers offline manual annotation and several export options at no cost. Choose VIA3 for audio, video or shared projects; VIA2 remains maintained but is limited to images and lacks sharing.

8.5 Free plan Visit site
5

BasicAI

Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb

BasicAI supports several data types, team workflows and quality checks, with hosted and on-premise deployment options.

7.5 Free plan · paid from $9/user/mo Visit site
6

CVAT

Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb

CVAT combines varied annotation tools with review workflows, storage connections, and broad export options.

7.4 Free plan · paid from $23/user/mo (annual) Visit site
7

LabelMe

Free plan LinuxSelf-hostedWeb+1

LabelMe provides annotation modes, collection navigation and XML output for image-labeling work. Its web-server requirements and file constraints are important to review before setup.

7.1 Free plan Visit site
8

Roboflow

Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+4

Roboflow brings computer vision dataset work, inference, and deployment into one platform.

7.1 Free plan · paid from $79/mo (annual) · 14-day trial Visit site
9

Pixano

Free plan APILinuxMac+3

Pixano combines dataset exploration with a broad set of annotation and AI-assisted features. Teams should account for its stated active development and possible API changes when planning around it.

6.9 Free plan Visit site
10

Supervisely

Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb

Supervisely combines annotation, dataset management and model workflows, with options ranging from a limited free Community plan to custom Enterprise deployment.

6.9 Free plan · paid from €199/mo · 30-day trial Visit site
11

Labelbox

Free plan APIWeb

Choose Labelbox if you need AI training data services, reinforcement learning environments, or enterprise agent workflows connected to other apps.

6.8 Free plan Visit site
12

Segments.ai

Free plan APIWeb

Segments.ai combines image and point-cloud annotation with tools for multi-sensor and sequence workflows. Teams should weigh the Core point-cloud limit and request a quote for commercial plans.

6.8 Pricing on request · 14-day trial Visit site
13

V7 Darwin

Free plan APIWeb

Choose V7 Darwin if your team needs to prepare varied datasets with model-assisted annotation, configurable review stages, and cloud or developer integrations.

6.7 Free plan · pricing on request Visit site
14

YoloLabel

Free plan APILinuxMac+2

YoloLabel combines manual bounding-box annotation with local and cloud-assisted labeling options. Keep its unsaved-slider warning and the cloud service's monthly quota in mind.

6.6 Free plan Visit site
15

Keylabs

Free trial APISelf-hostedWeb

Keylabs brings varied annotation tools, model support, integrations, and deployment choices into one platform.

6.2 From $1 Visit site
16

Kili Technology

Free trial APISelf-hostedWeb

Kili combines broad data support with configurable review and quality tools for AI dataset work. Trial limits and pricing on request are worth weighing against the team's intended scale.

6.2 Pricing on request · 14-day trial Visit site
17

Dataloop

Paid APILinuxMac+2

Choose Dataloop if you need an AI development platform that combines unstructured data, model workflows, pipelines and human feedback.

6.0 Pricing on request Visit site
18

Encord

Paid APISelf-hostedWeb

Encord combines multimodal annotation with dataset curation and model evaluation for AI development teams.

5.8 Pricing on request Visit site
19

Prodigy

Paid APILinuxMac+3

Prodigy combines broad annotation coverage with developer control over workflows, interfaces, storage, and deployment.

5.6 From $390 Visit site
20

RectLabel

Free trial Mac

RectLabel provides broad annotation, model-assisted labeling, OCR, workflow tools, and dataset exports for Mac users.

5.6 From $9.99/yr Visit site
21

SuperAnnotate

Paid APIMacWeb+1

Choose SuperAnnotate if your AI team needs annotation across multiple modalities, model-assisted workflows, and analytics for managing contributors and projects.

5.4 Pricing on request Visit site
22

Scale Rapid

Paid APIWeb

Scale Rapid offers flexible project setup, data upload, annotation options, and quality feedback for machine learning work.

5.2 Visit site
23

Guanex AI Annotation Platform

Paid Self-hosted

Choose Guanex AI Annotation Platform if your computer vision team needs assisted labeling and dataset quality analytics for image or video data within self-hosted, on-premise, or air-gapped…

5.1 Pricing on request Visit site
24

Amazon SageMaker Ground Truth

Paid Web

4.6 Visit site

#1Places #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 on this list can be bought by the makers of the software on it. See the price

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