Enter your business details to see what each option would cost you. Prices are live from our database and shown in US dollars.
Hiring someone in another country is a different problem from running HR for a US team. Your company has no legal right to employ anyone in Portugal, Brazil or the Philippines until it registers there, and registering takes months and a local accountant. An employer of record removes that step: the provider's local entity employs your hire, runs their payroll, withholds their taxes and provides their statutory benefits, while the person works for you. This guide compares the employer of record services that publish or quote that fee for a US business looking to hire international employees, and the table above opens costed for three overseas employees, so you can see the monthly fee before you talk to sales.
How we chose
We picked only providers that sell an employer of record service themselves and either publish its price or quote it, so every pick appears in the table above in Employer of Record mode. We then weighted five things: what the service costs per employee and whether that figure is firm or a starting price; whether the same vendor can also pay your US staff, or co-employ them through a PEO; contractor management and misclassification cover, for the people abroad who are not employees; contract terms, deposits and minimums; and how the platform behaves once you outgrow the employer of record in a country and open your own entity. Picks are ordered on fit for a first overseas hire, not on price: the table ranks on price, live. Plans and pricing checked September 2026, and every figure on this page is read from our database when the page loads.
What an employer of record buyer should prioritize
Firm price or starting price. Several providers publish only a floor for their employer of record fee, and the real figure depends on the country. A floor is a fair starting point for a budget, not a quote, so our table marks it "from" and never awards it the Cheapest badge.
What sits outside the fee. The monthly fee pays for the service. Your hire's salary, the employer social charges of their country and any benefits you add are on top, and they are usually far larger than the fee. Ask each provider for a full cost of employment for your hire's country and salary before comparing.
Your US team. An employer of record covers the people abroad. Your domestic W-2 staff still need US payroll with federal and state filing, so decide whether you want one vendor for both or keep the payroll you already have.
The exit. An employer of record is a rental. If a country grows to several hires, you will want a provider that can run payroll through your own entity there rather than one you have to leave.
What each charges to employ someone abroad
These are the figures the table above is built from, per employee per month, before the hire's salary and employer costs.
- Deel: $599/emp/mo, a published figure. Its contractor payments row in our payroll table reads Yes ($49/contractor), and our Deel pricing guide covers the rest of its bill.
- Payoneer Workforce Management: $199/emp/mo (from), a starting price. Its global hiring entry reads Yes (EOR, AOR and contractors in 160+ countries; payroll in 70+ currencies). Its contractor payments row in our payroll table reads Yes (from $19), a starting price per contractor, and its misclassification cover reads Yes (AOR). Our Payoneer Workforce Management pricing guide sets out each line.
- Multiplier: $499/emp/mo (from), a starting price, with contractor management quoted per engagement. See our Multiplier pricing guide.
- Oyster: $699/emp/mo, a published figure, with a refundable deposit before an employer of record hire starts. Its global hiring entry reads Yes (EOR in 120+ countries, contractors in 180+).
- Rippling: Quote. Its global hiring entry reads Add-on (global payroll + EOR), and our Rippling pricing guide covers what the platform itself costs.
If two of these are on your shortlist, our Deel vs Multiplier head-to-head compares them row by row.
Own entity, employer of record or contractor
Three routes cover almost every overseas hire, and the right one follows from two questions.
Is the person an employee or a genuine contractor? If you direct their work, set their hours and want them exclusively, the country they live in will usually treat them as an employee whatever the contract says. That points to an employer of record, or to your own entity. If they run their own business, invoice several clients and control how the work is done, contractor management is the lighter route. Misclassify an employee as a contractor and the back taxes, penalties and severance land on you, which is what Agent of Record cover and misclassification protection are sold to absorb.
How many people will you have in that country? For a first hire, an employer of record is almost always the practical route: no incorporation, no local registration, and a hire who can start within weeks. As a country grows, the per-head fee starts to outweigh the cost of opening and running your own entity there, and at that point you move the team onto your own entity and run global payroll through it. Deel and Rippling both run global payroll through your own entities, so the move can happen without changing vendor.
The verdict
Choose on the shape of your team, then let the table rank the price. Deel at $599/emp/mo fits a company that wants its overseas hires and its US payroll on one platform. Payoneer Workforce Management, $199/emp/mo (from), fits a team paying people across many currencies that wants Agent of Record cover beside its contractors. Multiplier, $499/emp/mo (from), fits a focused first hire with no setup fee and no minimum. Oyster, $699/emp/mo, fits a company that also wants a US PEO from the same vendor. Rippling fits a business already running US payroll on it, with the employer of record fee quoted. The table above opens costed for three people employed overseas; change the number to match your plan.
Hiring abroad, or managing a remote team?
This guide is the buying decision for employing your first people abroad: Employer of Record, your own entity or a contractor. Once your team is already spread across several countries and states, the question becomes running HR for all of them from one system, which our guide to the best HR software for remote teams covers. If most of your overseas people are contractors rather than employees, our guide to payroll software for contractors compares per-contractor pricing.