Employer of record services compared

A start-up signs a senior engineer in Portugal and a sales lead in Brazil, and neither country has a company of its own to hire through. An employer of record, usually shortened to EOR, solves that by putting the hire on the payroll of a local entity it already owns, while the customer directs the daily work. The nine services on this page each employ people in countries where the customer has no entity, issue local contracts with benefits, and run payroll with tax filings. We read every price on the vendor's own website, and each product page links to the pages we used.

What an employer of record does

The EOR becomes the legal employer. It signs the employment contract, pays salary and statutory contributions, withholds tax and handles termination under local law. The customer keeps control of the work, the team and the budget. Deel says its owned entities and payroll engine cover 130+ countries, and Remote says it owns and operates 100+ entities across 90+ countries. Rivermate works through 38 entities it owns plus partner entities, so the legal employer in a given country may be a partner rather than Rivermate itself. Ask which one applies to you.

Country counts vary between vendors and sometimes between pages of the same vendor. Skuad states 160+ countries in one place and 150+ in an FAQ on the same page, and RemoFirst lists two different counts for visa support. Treat any count as a starting point and ask for a written answer about your specific country before signing.

Why companies use one instead of opening an entity

Opening a subsidiary means registering a company, a bank account, tax and social security accounts, and usually local payroll software and an accountant. For one or two hires that cost and delay rarely make sense. The EOR price is a monthly fee per employee, and the vendor says in several cases that setup is included, as Oyster and RemoFirst do.

The other reason is tax exposure. A company that hires abroad directly can create a permanent establishment, which means a taxable presence in that country. HMRC's international manual describes the two usual routes: a fixed place of business through which the business is wholly or partly carried on, and a dependent agent who regularly uses authority to conclude contracts in the enterprise's name. It adds that preparatory or auxiliary activities are generally excluded and that the wording of the relevant tax treaty can differ. An EOR does not remove this analysis. A remote employee who signs contracts for you can still raise the question, so a sales hire deserves a conversation with a tax adviser before the first contract is signed.

Misclassification is the other legal risk

Many companies start by paying a foreign worker as a contractor, then find the arrangement is employment in the eyes of the local authority. In the United States the Department of Labor describes misclassification as treating a worker who is an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act as an independent contractor, which can deny that worker minimum wage, overtime and other protections. The same page says employers are responsible for determining whether a worker is an employee, and it notes that a rule on that question took effect on March 11, 2024. Check the Department's site for the current status, because that rule has been the subject of change.

The UK has its own version. Under the off-payroll working rules, the client usually decides whether a worker is employed for tax purposes and must give a status determination statement with reasons. If the worker is deemed employed, the deemed employer deducts income tax and employee National Insurance from the fees and pays employer National Insurance. Converting a long-term contractor to an EOR employment contract moves that decision into a regular payroll, and Remote markets exactly that contractor conversion.

How the fees compare

All nine publish a starting price per employee per month. The word "starting" matters: most pages say the rate can change with the country, the headcount or the services chosen.

Product	Starting fee per employee per month
RemoFirst	$199
Skuad	$199
Rivermate	$349
Playroll	$399
Deel	$599
Remote	$599 on an annual contract
G-P	$599
Oyster	$699
Lano	499 euros, no USD price published

The spread between $199 and $699 is large. Five hires for a year cost $11,940 at $199 and $41,940 at $699, before any statutory costs. The cheaper end does not tell you what you will pay in your countries. RemoFirst and Rivermate say outright that the rate varies by country, and Skuad directs buyers to a demo for its full fee structure.

The monthly fee is also not the whole bill. Playroll says statutory employment costs and government charges are billed separately, and G-P says the same about statutory taxes. Salary, employer social contributions and benefits come on top of the fee at every vendor, so ask each one for a total employment cost sheet for a named role in a named country.

Deposits, add-ons and currency

Deposits catch buyers who only compare the headline fee. Playroll asks for a fully refundable deposit equal to one month's salary when you onboard someone. Oyster requires a refundable deposit and does not publish the amount. Remote says it charges no standard deposit, though it may require a refundable reserve in some cases and discloses the amount before payment.

Add-ons also change the price. RemoFirst offers health insurance from $55 per person per month. Remote charges $39 per employee per month for its equity add-on. Visa support is an extra at RemoFirst, Playroll and Lano.

Currency handling can add small percentages across a year of payroll. Remote sets one exchange rate per monthly billing cycle and locks it for that cycle, and Oyster charges a conversion fee when you pay in a currency other than the contract currency without publishing the amount. Lano lists its price in euros only and charges 25 euros per SWIFT payment, so a US customer should model both the exchange rate and the transfer fee.

Contract terms to compare

Contract length differs more than price in some cases. Deel offers month-to-month pricing, Playroll states no minimum commitment, RemoFirst says it has no annual contracts and no termination fees, and G-P states no minimum contract length. Remote's $599 rate applies to annual contracts, so a company that wants to hire for a short project should compare it against month-to-month offers.

Termination is where the cost of leaving an employee shows up. Local law, not the EOR, sets notice periods and severance in most countries. Oyster says the fee includes processing terminations, while RemoFirst states there are no termination fees. Ask each vendor for the severance and notice calculation for a worker with three years of service, because that figure is paid by the customer through the EOR whichever vendor processes it.

Security and compliance claims

An EOR holds salary, tax identifiers, bank accounts and passports, so security reports matter. Deel's security page states SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR compliance. Remote lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and GDPR on its EOR page, and Oyster's page says its most recent SOC 2 Type II report is available on its security dashboard. G-P shows an AICPA SOC 2 Type II badge, and Lano published a May 2024 post announcing SOC 2 Type II certification.

Some claims are weaker than they look. Rivermate says it is GDPR compliant and notes that its AWS hosting is SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001 compliant, which is not a certification of Rivermate itself. We did not find a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 statement on the Playroll or Skuad pages we read. Ask any shortlisted vendor for the audit report date and scope.

Integrations

Payroll and HR data usually has to reach an HRIS and an accounting system. Deel lists QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Okta, BambooHR and HiBob, among others. Remote lists Workday, Personio and BambooHR, and Oyster lists Xero, QuickBooks, Carta, HiBob and Greenhouse. Lano names HiBob, Workday, Personio, Sage and Zoho People, while Playroll names HiBob and BambooHR. G-P describes an API-first platform and a Workday customer quote. Rivermate, Skuad and RemoFirst do not name specific tools on the pages we read.

What to test before signing

• Ask for the full cost sheet for one real role in one real country, including employer contributions, benefits, deposit and currency fees.
• Ask who the legal employer is in each of your countries, the vendor's own entity or a partner.
• Request a sample employment contract and have local counsel read it for probation, notice and non-compete terms.
• Ask for the SOC 2 report date and scope, and for the vendor's written position on the permanent establishment risk of your planned hire.
• Ask what happens to your employees if the vendor ends the contract, and how long the notice period is.