Employer of Record (EOR) Cost Calculator

Most providers charge $199 to $1,000 per employee per month, and the majority of buyers pay $400 to $700. RemoFirst lists $199, Multiplier $400, Deel and Remote $599, Oyster HR $499 to $699, Papaya Global $650 to $770. A minority price at 8% to 16% of gross salary instead. That fee is separate from statutory employer contributions, which add a further 2% to 60% on top of salary depending on the country.

Gross salary, plus statutory employer contributions, plus any legally required 13th or 14th month pay, plus severance and holiday accruals you fund monthly, plus the service fee, plus VAT on that fee, plus the currency conversion spread. In a light market like the UAE that lands around 1.15 times gross salary once the fee is in. In Brazil it is closer to 1.9 times.

Usually not. Most providers bill statutory contributions as a pass-through on top of the service fee, and a minority quote an all-in per-employee rate. This is the single most common source of budget surprise, so get it confirmed in writing before you sign. Ask for a sample invoice rather than a summary.

Below roughly three to four employees in one country, yes. Above that an entity is usually cheaper on a three-year view, provided you are certain you are staying. Statutory contributions are identical either way, so incorporating only saves you the service fee while adding $14,000 to $25,000 a year in accounting, filings and compliance overhead. An entity also takes two to six months to stand up against one to two weeks to onboard through a provider.

Yes, and most buyers do not. Discounts typically start at five to ten employees, and 20% to 40% off list is normal above twenty. Annual billing usually saves a further 10% to 20% over month to month, and multi-year commitments add a few points on top. If you are paying list price for more than five people, you have not asked. Getting a competing quote is the fastest way to move the number.

Fees track the cost of maintaining a compliant local entity, the complexity of local labour law, and how much termination risk the provider absorbs. Countries with strict dismissal protection, mandatory works councils or slow government processes cost more to service. Coverage model matters too: where a provider relies on a local partner rather than its own entity, you are usually paying a partner margin on top.

Most providers hold one to two months of gross salary as a deposit against payroll funding, sometimes topped up as you add headcount. It is refundable when you offboard, less any outstanding liabilities. Treat it as working capital tied up rather than a cost, but do put it in your cash plan. On five hires at $6,000 a month with a two-month deposit, that is $60,000 sitting with your provider.

If it is statutory in that country, yes. It is a legal obligation of employment, not a provider policy. Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Indonesia, Argentina, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece and Belgium all require it, and Portugal, Spain and Greece pay fourteen times a year. In Singapore, Switzerland, China, Hong Kong and South Africa a 13th month is customary rather than mandatory, so it depends on what you offer to stay competitive.

In most jurisdictions yes, because it is a service. Whether you can recover it depends on where your own entity is registered and which place-of-supply rules apply. UK, EU, Indian, Australian and most Latin American engagements typically carry it. A €700 fee in Germany is €833 once VAT is added. Ask your provider to quote the fee both gross and net.

By total employer burden: Brazil, Spain, Colombia, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Italy and Portugal sit at the top, all adding 45% or more on top of gross salary. By service fee alone, Switzerland, China, France and Brazil tend to be highest, because entity maintenance and compliance complexity are highest there. Romania, New Zealand, Thailand and the UAE are among the lightest.

Contribution rates and ceilings are current as of the review date shown on the tool, and applied line by line rather than as a blended percentage, which is why our figures for senior salaries come out lower than most calculators. Expect a provider quote to differ by a few percent. Regional rates, work accident classifications, collective agreements and employee age all move the number. Use this to set a budget, then validate against a written quote.

No. Contractors carry no employer contributions, no statutory severance and no 13th month. If you are comparing the two, be careful: paying a contractor who works like an employee is exactly the misclassification exposure an EOR exists to remove. We cover the risk in our guide to employee misclassification.

An EOR becomes the legal employer in a country where you have no entity, so it can hire on your behalf from scratch. A PEO co-employs staff alongside your existing local entity and handles administration, which means you still need that entity. If you have no legal presence in the country, a PEO is not an option. See our full comparison of EOR vs PEO.

Quarterly, and immediately after a country announces a contribution rate change. Most changes land in January, so the first-quarter refresh is the significant one. The calculator and the 184-country rate table are generated from the same dataset, so they are never out of step with each other. The review date is shown on both.