Deel or Remote for one hire: $599 against $699, and the deposit that decides it

Summary

• Deel lists $599 per employee per month, Remote $699. Over a year that is $1,200 apart for one person, and the gap does not move with the salary.
• Deel takes a deposit: one to one and a half months of everything it bills you, and more if you remove probation or lengthen the notice period. Remote's pricing page says it holds reserves only "in rare, high risk circumstances."
• Payroll cutoffs differ: the 11th at Remote (the 16th in some countries), the 20th at Deel.
• Remote's $599 exists only inside a signed Order Form, which can carry a minimum contract value and a true-up invoice if you fall short.
• The hiring country's statutory employer cost is identical either way. Only the fee, the deposit, the calendar and the contract terms differ.

$1,200 a year is the easy part

Twelve months of Deel come to $7,188 for one employee; twelve months of Remote, $8,388. Put a real salary next to those numbers and they shrink. A $90,000 hire in the United States carries $6,927 of statutory employer cost on this site's formula, so the year is $104,115 with Deel and $105,315 with Remote, about 1.2% apart. Hire the same person in Germany at €60,000 and the statutory layer alone is €12,780; the fee stays on its own line in dollars, because this site converts nothing.

Three things move more money than the $100, and none of them is on the price card.

The deposit grows with the contract you write

Deel's help center sets the standard EOR deposit at one to one and a half months of all monthly charges, meaning salary, employer costs, fixed allowances and the management fee together. Then it lists what pushes it up: dropping the probation period means a two-month deposit; paid leave more than eight days above the legal minimum means two months of salary; every month added to the notice period adds a month of deposit, so a three-month notice clause means a three-month deposit; variable pay above $100,000 is reviewed case by case, and in Israel, France, Germany and the Netherlands the full amount is deposited.

Take a German hire on €60,000 with three months' notice, which is a normal clause for a senior role there. Salary is €5,000 a month and the statutory employer layer another €1,065 on this site's numbers, so each month Deel bills is about €6,065 before its fee. Three of them is €18,195 plus fees, paid before the first $599 invoice. It comes back within 60 days after the termination is complete and every invoice is settled.

Remote's pricing page names the things other providers charge extra deposits for, leave above the minimum, removing probation, incentive plans, monthly severance accruals, and answers with two words: "We don't."

The 11th and the 20th

Remote closes payroll at 11:59 p.m. UTC on the 11th, or the 16th in Germany, the Netherlands and some other countries. Anything approved after that is paid with the following month. Deel's cutoff is the 20th, with bonuses accepted until 11:59 p.m. Pacific time and expenses until 11:59 a.m.

If you pay sales commission at month end on numbers that close around the 15th, that nine-day gap decides whether the money lands this month or next. It matters more in practice than the $100.

Remote's $599 is a number you negotiate, not one you budget

Remote's pricing page shows $699 and has no annual toggle. An older EOR page still says $599 when paid annually; the current pages do not repeat it. The route to a discount is an Order Form, and Remote's own support article says that contract "can include committed arrangements." If it includes a minimum contract value and your year's fees fall short, Remote bills the difference as a true-up. Its example: commit $100,000, spend $85,000, receive an invoice for $15,000. At $8,388 per employee-year, that is nearly two people you paid for and never hired.

Deel sells month to month and says you can cancel any time. The people you employ through it still carry their local notice periods and severance, which its FAQ is careful to add.

The questions that settle it

• Will the contract remove probation or carry a long notice period? If yes, Deel's deposit ties up cash before anyone starts.
• Do many of your approvals land mid-month? Deel's 20th gives you nine more days.
• Is the year's hiring plan firm enough to commit to? If so, Remote's Order Form is where its $100 discount lives. If the plan can slip a quarter, the true-up is larger than the discount.

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Sources

• https://www.deel.com/pricing
• https://help.letsdeel.com/hc/en-gb/articles/15574494993297-About-EOR-Deposit-Calculations
• https://help.letsdeel.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4419482456721-About-EOR-Deposit-Refunds
• https://help.letsdeel.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4419648055185-What-Are-the-Payroll-Cut-off-Dates-and-Times
• https://remote.com/pricing
• https://support.remote.com/hc/en-us/articles/37480463833229-How-much-is-the-management-fee-for-employees
• https://support.remote.com/hc/en-us/articles/47842035392909-What-is-a-true-up-invoice-and-when-will-you-receive-one
• https://support.remote.com/hc/en-us/articles/4410446893965-What-is-the-payroll-cutoff
• Employer cost of hiring in United States, on this site
• Employer cost of hiring in Germany, on this site

Related on this site

• What does Deel's EOR cost once you look past the $599?
• Can you pay Remote less than $699 a month, and what's the catch?
• 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?

Related on this site

• Deel at $599 and RemoFirst at $199: what the $400 a month is buying
• Remote and Oyster both charge $699. The year's bill is still different