Do EOR providers charge a flat fee or a percentage of salary?

Summary

On their own pricing pages, a flat fee per employee per month. None of the providers checked for this article publishes a percentage-of-salary fee, and the familiar 10% to 15% figure shows up only in explainers where Atlas and Oyster describe what "some providers" do. Where flat fees differ is in whether the number changes by country, drops with annual billing, or comes with a separate country charge on top.

The percentage model, on paper

Remote's own EOR page says EOR costs "usually come in two forms: a flat fee or a percentage-based pricing model." Remote itself charges the flat kind: $599 a month per employee paid annually, $699 paid monthly.

Atlas writes that some providers "charge a percentage of each employee's gross salary," commonly 10% to 15%. Oyster's pricing guide gives the same 10% to 15% range. Both sell a flat per-employee fee themselves. Across Remote, Deel, Oyster, Multiplier, Atlas, Papaya, RemoFirst, Native Teams, Rivermate, Skuad, Pebl, and G-P, no pricing page quoted a percentage as that company's own fee.

Where a percentage would come out cheaper

If a percentage quote does land on your desk, the comparison is a single division. A $599 monthly fee is $7,188 a year.

• At 10% of gross pay, the two are equal at a $71,880 salary. Below that the percentage costs less; above it the flat fee does.
• At 15%, the crossover drops to $47,920.
• For a $120,000 engineer, 10% is $12,000 a year and 15% is $18,000, against $7,188 flat.
• For a $40,000 support hire, 10% is $4,000 and 15% is $6,000.

The percentages here are the explainer ranges plugged in as assumptions, not anyone's actual quote. A percentage fee also rises every time you give a raise, which a flat fee never does.

How flat fees still differ

Deel charges $599 per EOR employee per month, month to month, with no long-term commitment. Remote's standard price is $699, billed monthly on active usage. Those two are the plain version: one number for every country.

Papaya splits by region in one version of its pricing page, which starts from $650 and says in its FAQ that the fee is 650 euros per employee per month in European countries and 650 dollars in most countries elsewhere. Opened the same day in a different browser, the page shows starting from $499 and no such answer. Multiplier has a standard price, $459 a month on its Core plan billed annually or $499 on a monthly contract, and says about 11% of the countries it supports carry adjusted pricing that reflects local wages, statutory requirements, and payroll complexity.

Some providers publish only a floor. RemoFirst starts at $199 and says the fee "may vary based on local country requirements." Rivermate shows a band of $319 to $639 that moves with country, headcount, project, and whether the hire is local or an expat. Atlas starts at $599 for its platform fee and adds a country-specific Local Employer Services rate covering mandatory employment costs and the cost of doing business there.

Annual billing is the last lever. The gap between Remote's $599 and $699, and between Multiplier's $459 and $499, is the price of paying monthly. Oyster sells annual seats at a reduced fee.

Sources

• https://remote.com/services/employer-of-record
• https://support.remote.com/hc/en-us/articles/37480463833229
• https://www.atlashxm.com/resources/how-employer-of-record-pricing-works
• https://www.oysterhr.com/library/employer-of-record-pricing
• https://www.oysterhr.com/pricing
• https://www.deel.com/pricing/
• https://www.papayaglobal.com/pricing/
• https://www.usemultiplier.com/pricing
• https://remofirst.com/price
• https://www.rivermate.com/pricing
• https://www.atlashxm.com/pricing

Related on this site

• What an employer of record charges
• Who publishes an EOR price and who makes you ask
• Is the price on an EOR pricing page the price you'll actually pay?
• How do you add up what one EOR hire really costs in a year?
• What does an EOR's monthly fee actually pay for?