What is the best employer of record?

It depends on the hire. For the lowest fee, RemoFirst at $199/employee/month is the cheapest provider we track. For compliance-sensitive or regulated-industry hires, Remote's 100% owned-entity model is the strongest. For the widest country coverage, Deel. The ranking above recomputes for your specific country and salary, which is the only honest way to answer the question.

How much does an employer of record cost in 2026?

Platform fees across the providers we track run $199–$699/employee/month, on top of the employee's salary and the statutory employer contributions in their country, which typically add 10–30% of salary depending on the market. The all-in monthly figure — not the sticker fee — is what you should compare.

Is the cheapest EOR the best?

Rarely. A low sticker fee can be offset by a wide FX spread, a large refundable deposit, setup or offboarding fees, or a partner-entity model you wouldn't accept in an audit-sensitive country. Compare total monthly cost and entity model together.

Owned entities vs partner networks — which is better?

Owned entities give a cleaner compliance chain and faster issue resolution, which matters in countries with strict misclassification enforcement (Germany, Spain, France, Brazil). Partner networks enable wider country coverage at lower cost. For most hires either works; for regulated industries, prefer owned entities.

How often is this ranking updated?

Provider prices are re-verified against each provider's own site (most recently 4 September 2026) and statutory employer-cost data is reviewed against government sources (last review 28 August 2026). Each figure on this page carries its own verification date, and anything a provider doesn't publish is labelled as a modelled estimate.

Ranked

Best Employer of Record providers 2026

There is no single best Employer of Record — the right provider depends on your hire's country, salary and how audit-sensitive the role is. On pure cost, RemoFirst ($199/employee/month) is the cheapest reputable option we track; Remote is the strongest for compliance-sensitive hiring because it operates only owned entities; Deel offers the widest country coverage; and Multiplier is the strongest APAC specialist. The live ranking below re-sorts itself for your actual country and salary, and every price shown is dated and sourced.

Key figures at a glance

Provider	Monthly fee	FX spread	Deposit	Term	Entity model
RemoFirst	$199/employee	~1.5% (est.)	1× monthly cost	month-to-month	Partner network
Pebl	$399/employee	not published	1.5× monthly cost	12-month	Mixed (owned + partners)
Multiplier	$459/employee	~2.0% (est.)	1× monthly cost	month-to-month	Mixed (owned + partners)
Papaya Global	$499/employee	not published	1× monthly cost	12-month	Mixed (owned + partners)
Rippling EOR	$500/employeeour estimate — not published	not published	1× monthly cost	month-to-month	Partner network
Deel	$599/employee	~3.0% (est.)	1× monthly cost	month-to-month	Mixed (owned + partners)
Oyster	$699/employee	~2.5% (est.)	1× monthly cost	month-to-month	Partner network
Remote	$699/employee	~0.5% (est.)	None (standard)	month-to-month	100% owned entities

Prices verified 4 September 2026 against each provider's own site. Where a provider publishes nothing, the figure is labelled as our estimate or "not published".

Real all-in cost, live

Hire country

Annual salary (USD)

Providers are ranked live by our scoring model: entity ownership in audit-sensitive countries, regional specialisation, contract terms and fee level — with total monthly cost as the tiebreaker. Change the country or salary and the ranking recomputes. Full detail on the methodology page. Methodology.

1
RemoFirst
$199/mo fee · deposit $7,784
$7,784/mo all-in
top ranked
2
Multiplier
$459/mo fee · deposit $8,050
$8,050/mo all-in
3
Rippling EOR
$500 (est.)/mo fee · deposit $8,092
$8,092/mo all-in
4
Deel
$599/mo fee · deposit $8,199
$8,199/mo all-in
5
Pebl
$399/mo fee · deposit $11,983
$7,989/mo all-in
6
Remote
$699/mo fee · deposit $0
$8,284/mo all-in
7
Oyster
$699/mo fee · deposit $8,298
$8,298/mo all-in
8
Papaya Global
$499/mo fee · deposit $8,091
$8,091/mo all-in

All-in = salary + United Kingdom statutory employer contributions + platform fee (with FX) + amortised one-time fees, billed in USD. Ranking basis: balanced market — ranked by total monthly cost.

Open the full calculator with 8 providers and every fee detail →

Provider-by-provider verdicts

1RemoFirst

$199/employee/month

Best for:: Cost-sensitive teams and lower-salary roles where a flat fee dominates the total.
Not for:: Audit-sensitive hires in strictly regulated markets — it runs on partner entities.

Full RemoFirst pricing breakdown →Visit RemoFirst

2Multiplier

$459/employee/month

Best for:: APAC hiring, especially India and the Philippines, with owned regional entities.
Not for:: LATAM-heavy hiring plans, where its coverage is thinner.

Full Multiplier pricing breakdown →Visit Multiplier

3Rippling EOR

$500 (our estimate — not published)/employee/month

Best for:: Teams already standardising on Rippling HRIS who want global hiring in the same system.
Not for:: Buyers who want a published EOR price — Rippling quotes custom only.

Full Rippling EOR pricing breakdown →Visit Rippling EOR

4Deel

$599/employee/month

Best for:: The widest country coverage and a broad contractor + EOR + payroll stack.
Not for:: Non-USD salaries where its estimated ~3% FX spread adds up and isn't negotiated down.

Full Deel pricing breakdown →Visit Deel

5Pebl

$399/employee/month

12-month lock-in

Best for:: Enterprise teams wanting a dedicated, high-touch service (formerly Velocity Global).
Not for:: Anyone needing transparent terms up front — deposit and minimum term are no longer published.

Full Pebl pricing breakdown →Visit Pebl

6Remote

$699/employee/month

Best for:: Compliance-first hiring in regulated industries — 100% owned entities, no standard deposit.
Not for:: Hires in countries outside Remote's owned-entity list.

Full Remote pricing breakdown →Visit Remote

7Oyster