EOR vs global payroll: what each costs and who is the employer

The short answer

EOR fee

$399 to $699per employee per month, list price

Global payroll fee

$10 to $29per employee per month, plus entity fees at some providers

Legal employer

EOR: the providerGlobal payroll: your own entity

Needs your own entity?

EOR: noGlobal payroll: yes

Pick an EOR when you have no company in the country, or only a handful of people there. Pick global payroll when you already own a local subsidiary, or when headcount in one country is high enough that the EOR fee costs more than running your own entity. Several providers sell both, so you can start on EOR and move people to payroll later. Our plain explanation of how an employer of record works covers the EOR model in more detail.

Who is the legal employer, and who carries the risk

This is the difference that matters more than price.

• EOR: the provider's local entity signs the employment contract, registers as the employer, withholds income tax and social contributions, files the returns and runs statutory benefits. You direct the work. The employee's contract names the provider, not you.
• Global payroll: your subsidiary is the employer. The provider calculates and pays wages for it. Registrations, filings, employment contracts and any penalty for a missed filing belong to your entity, even when the provider made the error.

An EOR moves the legal employer role. It does not move the cost of employment. Remote treats severance as a pass-through cost, Oyster bills "Transition Costs (including severance)", and Multiplier's terms say the client pays termination legal and admin costs. On the pages we checked, none of the EOR providers publishes a guarantee that it will pay tax penalties caused by its own mistakes. Ask for that clause in writing.

Published prices, side by side

Global payroll prices look tiny next to EOR fees because they leave out everything an entity costs to keep alive: incorporation, a registered address, local accounting, annual filings and, in some countries, an audit. Deel, Atlas and Pebl do not publish a global payroll price at all. For the full EOR price list and the deposits each provider asks for, see what an employer of record costs in 2026. To compare payroll providers on their own, see our global payroll provider comparison.

What 5, 10 and 25 employees cost in one country

The table shows provider fees only, for staff in one country. Salary and employer social contributions are the same under both models, so they are left out. EOR uses the $599 list price shared by Deel, Remote and Atlas. Global payroll uses Oyster ($290 per entity plus $29 per employee), Remote (from $29) and Multiplier (from $20).

At 10 employees the EOR route costs $71,880 a year in fees against $6,960 for Oyster payroll. The $64,920 difference is the budget your own entity has to fit inside: local accountant, filings, registered office, bank fees, legal help and your own staff time. If the entity costs less than that, payroll wins. Our EOR vs own entity break-even guide works through that math with overhead figures you replace with local quotes. Use the international employee cost calculator to add salary and employer contributions for a given country.

Which one fits your situation

Contract and exit terms to check before you sign

• Notice to leave. Remote's terms run 12 months, renew automatically and need 30 days' notice, but payroll services need 90 days. Oyster allows termination on 30 days' written notice. Multiplier says "no minimum contract term" but needs a 30-day lead time to process an employee termination (60 days for bulk).
• Price rises. Remote order forms raise prices at renewal by the greater of 8% or US CPI.
• Long promo terms. A promotion on Deel’s pricing page needs a two-year minimum term on PEO order forms, and ending early means paying full list price for the whole term. Deel’s EOR terms would not load, so ask whether any EOR order form carries a similar term.
• Deposits. EOR deposits are common; we found no published deposit terms for global payroll. Oyster asks for at least one month of total service cost and refunds it about 60 days after the end date. Playroll asks for one month's salary. Multiplier calculates its deposit from costs, fees and notice periods.
• Moving staff from EOR to your entity. The person has to sign a new contract with your subsidiary. Ask the EOR how it handles the transfer, what it bills as transition costs and whether accrued leave carries over.

Buyers report problems with EOR payroll accuracy and late pay, so ask how errors are corrected. One Deel customer wrote on Trustpilot (Oct 13, 2026) that they reject the payroll draft "at least once every time". Oyster reviewers describe held wages (Jul 29, 2026). See our ranked list of EOR providers for how each one scores.

Common mistakes

• Comparing $29 to $599 as if they buy the same thing. One includes a legal employer. The other assumes you already have one.
• Keeping 20 people on an EOR for years. At $599 each that is $143,760 a year in fees in one country (599 x 20 x 12). Run the break-even each year.
• Opening an entity for one hire. You take on registrations and annual filings for a single salary. An EOR is usually cheaper until headcount grows.
• Assuming payroll errors are the provider's problem. With global payroll, your entity is the taxpayer. With an EOR, check the contract for who pays penalties.
• Forgetting contractors. If the person can work as an independent contractor, neither service is needed. Compare contractor of record pricing and the EOR vs agent of record trade-offs.