If the big EOR providers charge about the same, what actually separates them?

Summary

Deel, Remote and Oyster all list employer of record fees between $599 and $699 per employee per month, so price rarely settles the choice. What does differ is whose entity employs your hire in a given country, when the monthly payroll cutoff falls, and what the contract commits you to beyond the list price. A bonus approved on the 15th misses the month at Remote in most countries and makes it at Deel.

Whose entity signs the contract

Coverage claims all look alike on a pricing page. Remote says it owns its own legal entities in each country it operates in. Oyster says it hires "through our owned entities and vetted partners." In a partner country, the company that signs your employee's contract is a local firm, not the EOR you are paying.

That is not automatically a problem. It does change who you are dealing with when something goes wrong, and it varies country by country within the same provider. A separate piece compares the owned-entity and partner models in detail.

The payroll calendar

Remote's cutoff is the 11th of each month, or the 16th in some countries, including Germany, India, the Netherlands and Australia. Anything approved later goes into the following month's pay, and Remote says it usually cannot pay those items off-cycle. Contract amendments have an earlier deadline, the 5th.

Deel's cutoff is the 20th. Expenses have to be in by 11:59 AM Pacific time and bonuses by 11:59 PM, and Deel issues its invoices on the 23rd.

Cash moves on different schedules too. Remote sends a prefunding invoice on the first business day of the month, based on estimated costs and usually due in 14 days, then reconciles the actual costs and its fee around the third business day of the next month. It may extend payment to 30 days if you put down a one-month reserve. For a sales team paid commission at month end, a gap of nine days in the cutoff matters more than a $100 gap in the fee. Funding and cutoffs have their own article.

What you are committing to

Deel prices EOR month to month with no long-term commitment and says you can cancel at any time. It adds that local labor law still applies to the people you employ, so notice periods and severance come with them. Remote's EOR page says it has no minimums or contract lengths and quotes $599 a month on annual billing or $699 on monthly, while its pricing page shows only the $699.

Oyster sells EOR as annual seats at a reduced fee. When a seat empties, you can reuse it for a new hire or a backfill at no extra cost. If you expect turnover during the year, that clause can matter more than a lower monthly figure.

Multiplier's plans each carry "+ Compliance mandated add-ons" and "+ Implementation fee as applicable," and the company says about 11% of the countries it supports have adjusted pricing. The number on the plan card is where the quote starts, not where it ends. Reading quotes and the costs that sit outside them are covered in separate articles.

Sources

• https://remote.com/services/employer-of-record
• https://www.oysterhr.com/direct-plus
• https://support.remote.com/hc/en-us/articles/4410446893965-What-is-the-payroll-cutoff
• https://help.letsdeel.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4419648055185-What-Are-the-Payroll-Cut-off-Dates-and-Times
• https://support.remote.com/hc/en-us/articles/4634363931533-What-is-the-invoice-process-for-EOR-customers
• https://support.remote.com/hc/en-us/articles/4634470875533-What-are-the-invoice-payment-terms
• https://www.deel.com/pricing/
• https://www.oysterhr.com/pricing
• https://www.usemultiplier.com/pricing

Related on this site

• What an employer of record charges
• Who publishes an EOR price and who makes you ask
• Who employs your hire in a country where the EOR has no entity of its own?
• When does an EOR need the payroll money, and what happens to a bonus approved after the cutoff?
• What does an EOR charge you on top of the monthly fee?
• What happens to your employees when you move them to a different EOR?