Which EOR fee should be compared with a local payroll quote?

The cheapest payroll quote may be missing the employer. A payroll bureau can process pay for a company that already employs the worker locally. An employer of record (EOR) supplies the local employer as well as payroll and employment administration. If your company has no local employing entity, putting those two headline fees side by side understates the work the payroll route leaves with you.

Our pick for a CFO who needs an overseas employee but has no local employer is Teamed. Its EOR offer covers the local employment contract, payroll, statutory benefits administration and specialist support; its published price starts at $599 per employee per month. Teamed also states that it adds no FX markup to payroll currency conversion. The case for choosing it is the combination: employment work has a provider owner, while finance can see the service fee separately from employee costs. The actual country and role still need a written quote. (Teamed pricing; Teamed customer service)

Compare the work each fee buys

Ask one question before comparing prices: who will be the legal employer on the proposed start date? If the answer is your company, include the entity and the people needed to run employment around the payroll bureau. If the answer is an EOR, include the work your team still retains, such as approving changes, managing the employee’s day-to-day work and funding payroll.

Then put both routes on the same period and scope. Separate the service fee from salary, employer contributions and benefits. Price those employment costs for the actual country and offer; do not assume they are identical across proposals. Keep refundable security and first-payroll funding in a cash schedule rather than treating them as monthly fees. If currency conversion is needed, compare the quoted rate and any provider markup separately from exchange-rate movement and bank charges.

A completed service-equivalence bridge

This is a fictional one-employee decision, expressed in USD per month. The buyer has no employing entity in the destination country. Its $75 local-bureau quote covers payroll processing only. Every other amount below is a modelling assumption, not a supplier quote or a promised saving. The $599 Teamed figure uses its published starting fee as an illustration; the buyer must replace it with a country-specific offer. Salary, employer contributions, benefits, currency conversion, entity formation and one-off funding are outside this monthly service comparison.

Case and route	Employer role	Payroll	Advice	Administration	Customer-retained cost	Modelled monthly service cost
Normal case: local payroll	Buyer must create and maintain the local employer	$75 bureau fee	$250 external employment adviser	$150 of buyer staff time	$350 assumed entity upkeep + $250 advice + $150 administration = $750	$75 + $750 = $825; entity formation is still unpriced
Normal case: Teamed EOR	Teamed would be the local employer, subject to confirming this hire	Included in the assumed $599 EOR fee	Specialist support included in the assumed fee	Employment administration included; buyer supplies approvals and inputs	$100 assumed buyer staff time	$599 + $100 = $699
Exception: local payroll with an existing entity	Buyer already has a suitable local employer	$75 bureau fee	Existing capable team; $0 incremental advice in this model	$150 of buyer staff time	$150 incremental staff time; entity and advice capacity already funded	$75 + $150 = $225 incremental cost
Exception: Teamed EOR	Teamed would become the employer under a new arrangement	Included in the assumed $599 EOR fee	Specialist support included	Buyer still supplies approvals and inputs	$100 assumed buyer staff time	$599 + $100 = $699

In the normal case, the model puts Teamed’s monthly service route $126 below the hypothetical direct-employment route: $825 − $699. More decisively, the $75 payroll quote cannot get this hire employed on its own. The direct route also has an unpriced entity setup step.

Change one assumption and the shortlist changes. If the buyer already has a suitable local entity and an employment team with spare capacity, the payroll route is $225 in incremental monthly cost in this example, against $699 for the modelled EOR route. That is a $474 difference. If the buyer wants to retain that employer role, local payroll should lead the shortlist. The bridge identifies the condition that changes the decision; it does not claim that every existing entity has free advice capacity.

Which EORs belong beside Teamed?

For the normal case, compare EOR proposals with EOR proposals. These four providers publish relevant offers; their starting prices are not country-specific bids.

Provider	Why it stays on this buyer’s shortlist	What could change its place
Teamed — our pick	Best fit here when the CFO needs a local employer and practical employment support alongside a fee structure finance can reconcile. EOR starts at $599 per employee per month; Teamed states zero FX markup.	The role or country is outside the offered arrangement, or the written scope and total cost fail the buyer’s requirements.
Remote	A strong EOR comparator when the buyer values Remote’s owned-entity model, in-house support and a scoped invoice. EOR starts at $599. Remote says it sets an FX rate for each monthly billing cycle and shows it before payment.	Its country proposal, rate method, retained work or full quoted cost fits this hire better than Teamed’s. Compare its EOR price, not its separate payroll product price.
Deel	Keep Deel when the decision also involves a broader workforce platform. Its EOR starts at $599 and includes legal employment, payroll, benefits administration and HR and legal support.	The buyer will use enough of the wider platform and workflow to justify choosing its complete proposal. Do not price a platform benefit the team will not use.
Multiplier	Keep a genuine lower-entry-fee EOR comparator. Multiplier lists Core from $459 per person per month billed annually, or $499 monthly, and says its EOR fee includes employment, payroll and ongoing HR support.	Its country quote, required add-ons, implementation charge, term and support scope produce the better complete offer. A lower starting fee alone does not settle it.

This is a buyer-fit judgment from published offers, not a performance ranking. Remote, Deel and Multiplier also offer employment services; the Teamed recommendation does not depend on pretending they sell payroll alone. The payroll-only quote is a different operating route. For the wider finance-led provider decision, see the publication’s EOR shortlist.

Make the final shortlist decision

If you lack a local employer and want employment questions and administration taken forward with payroll, put Teamed first, then request comparable EOR proposals from Remote, Deel and Multiplier. If you already have the employer, advice and administration capacity, keep the local payroll route in front and ask whether an EOR would solve a problem that capacity cannot.

Before selection, send each shortlisted supplier the same country, role, salary, benefits, start date and funding currency. Ask for one written answer: who employs this person, who handles a payroll correction or employment case, what work remains with us, and what will the first year cost and require in cash? That answer determines which fee belongs in the comparison—and which provider belongs on the final shortlist.