Oyster EOR review 2026
An independent, calculation-driven look at Oyster: what it publishes, what it doesn't, where it operates, what a hire actually costs, and how it ranks against the rest of the market.
Independent review · Commercial relationships and reader offers do not affect EOR Lens rankings or calculations. Commercial disclosure
Oyster at a glance
- EOR pricing
- $699/employee/month
- Contractor pricing
- $29/contractor/month
- Managed payroll
- Not publicly disclosed
- Currency conversion
- FX rate-fixing rule published; exact markup not disclosed. Rate fixed at the close of the previous month. Conversion is trued up at reconciliation after payroll runs. EOR Lens does not assume a figure where the provider publishes none.
- Security deposit
- Refundable deposit required; number of months not publishedEOR Lens modelling assumption: 1 month of total cost
- Setup fee
- None
- Contract term
- Not publicly disclosedEOR Lens modelling assumption: month-to-month
- Cancellation notice
- 30 days
- Immigration support
- Not publicly disclosed
- EOR country coverage
- 56 published markets
- Entity model
- Partner network
Best suited to: Teams that want a published price and a polished onboarding experience.
Values shown without a label are quoted from the provider's own published pages. "Not publicly disclosed" means we could not find a provider-published figure in the sources reviewed, and any figure labelled an EOR Lens modelling assumption is our own comparison figure rather than a provider fact. Confirm both in your quote. Last verified 2026-09-04.
Billing & transaction tax
How this provider states it invoices and allocates tax on its own fees. Transaction tax is a customer-side matter. It depends on where your business is established and on your tax status, and no amount is added to the costs shown.
- Invoicing entity
- Oyster HR, Inc.
- Invoice currency
- Set in the individual service agreement
- Tax treatment of fees
- Fees exclude all taxes including VAT, GST, sales, use and withholding taxes; VAT Oyster incurs is rebilled as an administrative cost.
- Withholding gross-up
- Not publicly verified
Source: provider-published · Oyster Terms and Conditions · verified 2026-09-06
What a hire costs through Oyster
Using the currently modelled provider-cost basis, the lowest-cost alternative is RemoFirst at $7,930/month, $500/month less than Oyster ($6,000/year difference).
Uses the same calculation engine as the main calculator: converted base salary, United Kingdom statutory employer costs, the provider fee, and amortised one-time fees. Provider-specific currency-conversion cost is excluded rather than estimated, and stated separately in this provider’s fees and terms; conditional charges are excluded too.
Where Oyster operates
Oyster publishes hiring coverage in 56 countries across 4 regions. Countries not listed here are not published as supported; confirm directly with the provider.
Source: Oyster's own country pages (checked 2026-09-05).
Linked countries have a full employer cost breakdown on EOR Lens; the rest are published by the provider but not yet modelled here.
Oyster contractor pricing
Engaging someone as a contractor rather than employing them through an EOR is a different product with different pricing and different risk. This is what Oyster publishes for contractors.
- Global Contractors
- $29 per contractor per month
First 30 days are free; the fee starts once a contractor is engaged.
Source: Free for 30 days, then USD 29 per contractor/month
www.oysterhr.com, checked 2026-09-05.
Contractor fees exclude currency conversion and payment costs, which are charged separately by most providers. Misclassifying an employee as a contractor carries back-tax and penalty risk that dwarfs the monthly fee. Compare every published contractor price on the contractor pricing page.
Oyster vs alternatives
Figures without a label are published by the provider. Anything marked an EOR Lens assumption is our own comparison figure, not a provider statement. "Not publicly disclosed" means the provider does not state it publicly, which is not the same as the answer being unfavourable.
| Factor | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EOR base fee | $699/employee/month | $699/employee/month | From $599/employee/month | Not publicly disclosed · EOR Lens assumption $500 | From $499/employee/month |
| Contractor fee | $29 | $29 | $49 | Not publicly disclosed | $5 |
| EOR coverage | 56 published | 92 published | 115 published | 63 published | 128 published |
| Entity model | Partner network | 100% owned entities | Mixed (owned + partners) | Partner network | Mixed (owned + partners) |
| FX disclosure | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
| Deposit | Refundable deposit required; number of months not published · EOR Lens assumption: 1 month of total cost | No standard deposit; reserve payments only in rare high-risk cases | Not publicly disclosed · EOR Lens assumption: 1 month of total cost | Not publicly disclosed · EOR Lens assumption: 1 month of total cost | Not publicly disclosed · EOR Lens assumption: 1 month of total cost |
| Setup fee | None | None | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
| Contract term | month-to-month (EOR Lens assumption) | month-to-month (EOR Lens assumption) | month-to-month (EOR Lens assumption) | month-to-month (EOR Lens assumption) | 12-month (EOR Lens assumption) |
| Immigration support | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
| Best suited to | Teams that want a published price and a polished onboarding experience. | Audit-sensitive hires where an owned entity in the country matters. | Broadest country coverage, especially LATAM, where owned entities matter. | Teams already running Rippling HRIS that want EOR inside the same system. | Enterprises combining global payroll and EOR with heavy reporting needs. |
Provider pricing is shown exactly as each provider publishes it, including starting-at prices, ranges and quote-only pricing. Published pricing may change or be negotiated.
Oyster strengths and limitations
Where Oyster is strong
- Polished UX
- Transparent pricing
Where Oyster is weaker
- Mid-tier on price
Pricing transparency: what Oyster publishes
Oyster publishes 4 of 8 facts we check on every provider. Each published fact below carries a quote, a source link and the date we checked it.
FX markup
Not publicly disclosed; confirm with providerNo FX margin published. EOR Lens no longer models a currency-conversion percentage, so conversion cost is excluded from the totals shown.
Security deposit / pre-funding
Refundable deposit required; number of months not published“A refundable deposit is required to start an engagement”
Source · checked 2026-09-04
Offboarding fee
None“Oyster does not add extra charges for essentials like setup and onboarding, talking to HR experts, or processing terminations”
Provider-wide. Re-verified 15 Sep 2026 on the pricing-page FAQ, which names terminations explicitly. Earlier customer terms (2021, 2022) carried an explicit "no off-boarding fees" promise that the current terms no longer repeat; the current terms instead invoice "Transition Costs", which are statutory end-of-employment amounts passed through and are not a provider fee. The current pricing FAQ is the more recent and more specific source, so the provider charge is recorded as none.
Source · checked 2026-09-15
Minimum headcount
Not publicly disclosed; confirm with providerMinimum contract term
Not publicly disclosed; confirm with providerNo minimum term published. The customer terms grant either party termination for convenience on thirty days' written notice; that is a cancellation-notice fact, recorded separately, and is not treated as a published minimum commitment. "Annual discounts available" on the pricing page is a billing option, not a commitment.
Support response commitment
Not publicly disclosed; confirm with providerFAQ
Oyster publishes $699/employee/month. The verified monthly cost also includes the employee's gross salary, statutory employer costs in the hire country and any amortised one-time fees. Currency-conversion cost is excluded, since it is not comparably published across the providers we track. Use the cost checker on this page for a specific country and salary.
Oyster publishes EOR coverage in 56 markets, listed in full on this page. Countries outside that list are not published as supported.
Not on headline price alone. Deel ($599), Papaya Global ($499) publish lower per-employee fees. Ranking on total cost depends on the hire country and salary, which the cost checker above calculates.
Oyster does not publish a currency conversion margin. Our comparison therefore excludes any currency-conversion cost rather than assuming one, so the totals we show are verified costs before FX. This is not published by the provider, so confirm it in writing before you sign.
Oyster publishes its deposit position: Refundable deposit required; number of months not published
Oyster operates through a partner network rather than owned entities in most markets.
Oyster does not publish an immigration or visa support offering. This is not published by the provider, so confirm it in writing before you sign.
Yes. Oyster lists contractor management at $29/contractor/month.
Remote, Deel, Rippling EOR, Papaya Global are the closest alternatives on published pricing and coverage. Which one is cheapest depends entirely on the hire country, so run the same salary through the calculator to see.
Sources
- Oyster pricingchecked 2026-09-04
- Oyster published country coveragechecked 2026-09-05
Evaluating Oyster?
$699/employee/month confirmed on oysterhr.com/pricing (4 Sep 2026). Oyster charges no setup, onboarding or offboarding fees, but does require a refundable deposit to start an engagement; it does not publish how many months, so one month is modelled here.
Keep comparing
Comparisons featuring Oyster
Pages that put this provider directly against another, or rank it inside a shortlist.
Other providers we review
Alphabetical. Placement is never sold or influenced by commercial terms.
Employer costs where Oyster's coverage is verified
Countries where we individually checked this provider's coverage evidence.