Hire and pay employees or contractors in 150+ countries — without setting up a legal entity. These platforms handle local compliance, payroll, and benefits so you don't have to.
Global hiring used to require a local entity in every country you operated in — a process that cost $10,000–$50,000 per country and took months. Employer of Record (EOR) platforms changed that. For a monthly per-employee fee, they become the legal employer in any country, handling payroll, benefits, tax withholding, and labor law compliance on your behalf. The market has matured fast: four platforms now dominate, each with distinct strengths. Deel leads on platform breadth and all-in-one integration. Remote leads on legal transparency and contractor pricing. Rippling leads on IT and Finance automation for mid-market companies. Oyster leads for distributed teams that want HR advisory alongside software.
Founders, HR leaders, and operations teams at companies with distributed or international workforces who need to hire, pay, and manage employees or contractors across multiple countries without establishing local legal entities.
Before picking a tool, ask yourself these questions:
Deel is the default recommendation for most companies: it covers the most ground (EOR, contractors, payroll, visas, IT hardware) at the same $599/month EOR price as Remote. Choose Remote if contractor management volume is high — the $29/month rate and free HRIS make it the most cost-effective choice for contractor-first teams. Choose Rippling only if you're a mid-market company that needs HR, IT, and Finance automation unified in a single platform and are willing to go through a sales process. Oyster is the specialist pick for non-profits, B-Corps, and distributed teams wanting HR advisory support alongside their software.
