How a small team should choose an employer of record: public prices, minimum terms, deposits and exit costs for six providers, with 1, 3 and 5 hire cost examples.
Six providers on public prices
We include only prices published by the vendor or, where marked, a vendor blog. Multiplier's figures came from a third-party summary and Rippling and Papaya Global do not publish prices we could retrieve, so they are not in this table.
| Provider |
EOR price |
Stated terms |
Stated coverage |
| RemoFirst |
from $199 |
"No hidden fees, setup fees, or minimum contract terms"; benefits from $55 per person per month, visas and equipment on request |
185+ countries (claim) |
| Playroll |
from $399 |
"Never charges onboarding or offboarding fees" (vendor blog) |
180+ regions (search snippet) |
| Deel |
$599 |
Pricing page says no long-term commitments |
150+ (claim) |
| G-P |
from $599 |
Volume discounts; no minimum contract length |
180+ (claim) |
| Remote |
$699 |
No platform, onboarding or setup fees for most products |
90+ (EOR) |
| Oyster |
$699 |
No minimum team size; annual discounts; refundable deposit required |
120+ (EOR) |
Sources: RemoFirst, Playroll, Deel, G-P, Remote, Oyster. Playroll's own pricing page returned a 404 for us, so confirm its terms directly.
Cost for 1, 3 and 5 hires
Fees only, 12 months, using list prices as floors. Salary and employer taxes are the same whichever provider you pick and are excluded.
| Provider |
1 hire |
3 hires |
5 hires |
| RemoFirst |
$199 x 12 = $2,388 |
$7,164 |
$11,940 |
| Playroll |
$399 x 12 = $4,788 |
$14,364 |
$23,940 |
| Deel / G-P |
$599 x 12 = $7,188 |
$21,564 |
$35,940 |
| Remote / Oyster |
$699 x 12 = $8,388 |
$25,164 |
$41,940 |
Arithmetic: 3 hires = fee x 36; 5 hires = fee x 60. For example, $599 x 36 = $21,564 and $699 x 60 = $41,940.
The gap between the cheapest and dearest row is $41,940 - $11,940 = $30,000 at five hires, which is 71% below the dearest. At one hire the gap is $8,388 - $2,388 = $6,000. Compare that with the salary on top. On a hypothetical $60,000 salary the Remote/Oyster fee is 14% of salary ($8,388 / $60,000 = 0.1398), and the RemoFirst fee 4% ($2,388 / $60,000 = 0.0398). For a $30,000 salary the shares double to 28% and 8%, which is why EOR is hardest to justify for lower-salary roles.
Month-to-month in practice
"No minimum term" on a pricing page is not the same as a month-to-month contract. Three things to confirm:
- Notice to end the service. If you end the engagement, how much notice does the EOR need from you, and is that separate from the employee's statutory notice?
- The employee's notice and severance. These come from the country and are owed regardless of the plan. On a hypothetical $60,000 salary: Poland 1 month's notice for 6 months-3 years' tenure is $60,000 / 12 = $5,000; the Philippines' authorized-cause separation pay is 1 month per year of service, or $5,000 per year; Mexico's 3-month indemnity is $15,000. Plan for these as a cost of hiring, not a surprise.
- Probation. Probation windows differ: Poland up to 3 months, Colombia up to 2, Brazil's experience contract up to 90 days. Termination in probation is cheaper, so a trial period matters more than a month-to-month plan.
Oyster's pricing page mentions annual discounts, which suggests month-to-month costs more than the annual rate; the size of the discount is not published. Playroll's "no onboarding or offboarding fees" is the only explicit exit-fee statement we found, and it is from a vendor blog.
Deposits and cash flow
Oyster requires a refundable deposit for EOR; the amount is not on the pricing page. For a small business, a deposit is working capital you will not have for months. Ask for the amount, the refund trigger and the refund time. We found no deposit statement for the other five; that is absence of evidence, not a promise.
When an EOR is the wrong tool
- A genuine contractor. For project work with someone who has other clients, contractor seats cost $25-$49 a month. See EOR vs contractor for the risk table by country.
- Many hires in one country. An entity may become cheaper than 10+ EOR seats at $599; see EOR vs PEO vs own entity. We do not hold a verified break-even number, so run the comparison on a written quote.
- Payroll only. If you already have an entity, Remote lists Global Payroll at $29 per employee, plus implementation and delivery fees.
A shortlist method
- Pick the country first. Employer cost matters more than the fee: Poland's midpoint of 20.8% adds $12,480 on a $60,000 salary and Mexico's 31.5% adds $18,900, a $6,420 gap per head.
- Ask two or three providers for a signed year-one total for your country and headcount, including deposit, benefits, FX, equipment and exit.
- Prefer the one with the shortest notice to leave and the clearest exit terms, not necessarily the lowest fee.
- Check coverage for your actual country, not the global claim.
- Re-quote at hire three: volume terms may be negotiable (G-P lists volume discounts; amounts are not public).
Bottom line
For a team of one to three, the realistic shortlist is RemoFirst and Playroll for price, and Deel or G-P if you want a larger platform with a published flat fee and no stated long-term commitment. The cheapest fee saves $6,000 per hire per year against the dearest ($8,388 - $2,388), but "starting at" prices, deposits and exit terms decide whether that saving is real, so get them in writing for your country. Prices change; verify with provider before you sign. This is general information, not legal or tax advice, and we have not tested any of these products.