If the deposit is why you want an Oyster alternative, where do you go?

Summary

Summary

Only two providers state on their pages that they take no deposit: Remote (reserves in rare, high-risk cases only) and Horizons' EOR Plus ($399, annual, five or more people). Remote costs the same $699 as Oyster; Plus is $3,600 a year less but conditional. If the reason is the fee, twelve providers are cheaper. If it is billing currency, Remote's twelve currencies beat Oyster's four. Nothing on anyone else's page matches Oyster's reusable annual seats or its $300-an-hour People Partner service.

Oyster's page, as the baseline

• $699 per employee per month, list; annual discount of an unpublished size; annual seats reusable when one empties
• Refundable deposit, normally one month; invoice within two business days; no agreements until paid
• Billing in USD, EUR, GBP, CAD; conversion fee outside the contract currency
• Owned entities and vetted partners; 120+ countries
• Contractors free for 30 days then $29; People Partner at $300 an hour; up to $1,200 off for startups

By published fee, with each page's position on deposits

Scroll sideways on a phone.

When the deposit is the reason

What marks Oyster's deposit is "always" and "first." The amount, normally a month, is Playroll's band and a lower floor than Deel's. So if the amount is the problem there is almost nowhere to go; if the timing is the problem, Deel (countersigns after the deposit, the same order) and Playroll (silent on timing) are not necessarily better.

The clear improvements are Remote and Horizons' Plus. Remote costs the same; Plus requires an annual contract and five people. For a company hiring one person, there is no option on any page that removes the deposit without raising the fee. The seven "nothing" rows do not mean no deposit; they mean the page does not say.

When the fee is the reason

Twelve providers are under $699. For a $90,000 hire in the United States, the year is $105,315 at Oyster, $99,315 at RemoFirst, $104,115 at Deel. With a one-month deposit ($7,500), Oyster's signing month is $15,976 (salary $7,500, statutory $577, $699, deposit $7,500); Remote's, without one, is $8,776.

What only Oyster has

• Annual seats that pass to the next hire or a backfill at no extra charge
• People Partner, hourly HR advice at $300
• Up to $1,200 off for startups, discounts for nonprofits and B Corps, free or discounted refugee hires

If you need any of these, no other page offers an equivalent. If you do not, any row above is a candidate.

Links on this page currently go directly to providers without affiliate tracking.

Sources

• https://www.oysterhr.com/pricing
• https://support.oysterhr.com/hc/en-us/articles/34221595587089
• https://seatbill.com/employer-of-record/providers
• https://remote.com/pricing
• https://remotepeople.com/pricing/
• https://www.playroll.com/pricing/employer-of-record
• https://help.letsdeel.com/hc/en-gb/articles/15574494993297-About-EOR-Deposit-Calculations

Related on this site

• Oyster's $699 and the deposit that comes before the contract
• Remote and Oyster both charge $699
• Oyster charges $699 and RemoFirst $199
• What does an EOR charge you on top of the monthly fee?

Related on this site

• Looking for a RemoFirst alternative: what you gain above $199 and what you lose below it
• If Rippling only quotes its EOR, which providers publish a price instead?