Oyster's $699 and the deposit that comes before the contract
Summary
Oyster's pricing page is one of the busier ones in this site's table. Beyond the $699 EOR fee it lists contractors, hourly HR advice, visas and a startup discount. This piece puts those items in the order the cash leaves your account during the first year of one hire.
1. The deposit, before any contract
Oyster requires a refundable deposit for every EOR employee. In the support article this site read, it is normally one month, the invoice arrives within two business days, and no agreements are shared until the money clears. Your candidate reads the contract after you have paid.
Remote holds reserves "in rare, high risk circumstances"; Deel takes one to one and a half months of all charges. Oyster's position is: always, and first.
2. The first $699, or an annual seat
The list price is $699 a month. Annual billing is discounted by an amount the page does not give. Oyster describes annual billing as seats: when a seat empties, the next hire or a backfill takes it at no extra charge. For a team that expects turnover within the year, that clause is worth more than the discount rate.
Billing currencies are USD, EUR, GBP and CAD. Paying in a currency other than the contract's adds a conversion fee.
Oyster's pricing guide says there are "no fee increases tied to role changes, tenure, or lifecycle events" and "no surprises when offboarding." The pricing page says processing terminations is included in the subscription. On the page's own account, the only charge Oyster itself adds outside $699 is the conversion fee.
3. Salary and the statutory layer, every month
This is not Oyster's money and it is the same with every provider. On this site's formula a €60,000 hire in Germany carries €12,780 of statutory employer cost and a £55,000 hire in the UK carries £9,846. The fee stays on its own dollar line; nothing is converted.
4. Services you might add
- People Partner, hourly HR advice, $300 an hour
- Benefits packages, visa sponsorship, the Salary Insights tool and Oyster Shell misclassification protection: no prices on the page
- Contractors: free for 30 days, then $29 per contractor per month
5. The discount lines
Startups: up to $1,200 off EOR subscription fees. Nonprofits and B Corps: discounts. Refugee hires: free or discounted. Conditions are not on the page. $1,200 is 1.7 months of the fee.
Countries and the employing entity
The pricing page claims compliant employment in 120+ countries. On the country availability page, the United Kingdom, India and Mexico show as EOR-available; Germany did not appear in the portion this site could retrieve, which may be a retrieval limit rather than an absence, so it stays unconfirmed. Albania carries a note that EOR "might require more time and/or a minimum number of hires."
Oyster employs through "our owned entities and vetted partners" and does not say which country is which.
One person, one year, in order
| When | What leaves |
|---|---|
| Before the contract | Deposit, normally one month, refundable |
| Every month | Salary, the hiring country's statutory employer cost, $699 |
| Fees for the year | $8,388 monthly; annual seats discounted by an unpublished amount |
| On exit | Local notice and severance (the client's); no Oyster processing fee; deposit refunded |
Links on this page currently go directly to providers without affiliate tracking.
Sources
- https://www.oysterhr.com/pricing
- https://www.oysterhr.com/library/employer-of-record-pricing
- https://www.oysterhr.com/direct-plus
- https://www.oysterhr.com/country-availability
- https://support.oysterhr.com/hc/en-us/articles/34221595587089
- https://legal.oysterhr.com/legal/terms
Related on this site
- What does an EOR charge you on top of the monthly fee?
- How long before an EOR hire can actually start work?
- Remote and Oyster both charge $699. The year's bill is still different
- Does "130+ countries" mean an EOR can hire in the country you need?
Related on this site
- RemoFirst's $199: what the page promises, what it leaves open, and who signs the contract
- Papaya Global's EOR price: from $650 in August to $499 in September, and what we can and cannot say about it
Written by Kaz, independent publisher. No commercial relationship with the providers named unless it is listed on the disclosure page.
Page last updated 2026-10-02. Sources are listed per figure and labeled statutory or payroll reference. Rates last verified 2026-08-21. This is not legal, tax or payroll advice and we do not file anyone's payroll.
Every formula on this site is written out in full on Method. Ordering is by computed cost, never by what a provider pays us.
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