Hire, pay and stay compliant in 180+ countries without setting up local entities
Oyster is an Employer of Record (EOR) and global contractor platform: it lets you hire and pay full-time employees in 180+ countries by using its own legal entities as the employer of record, while you stay the day-to-day manager. We picked it because Oysters direct ownership of entities in around 90 of the most-hired-from countries (rather than reselling third-party EOR providers like some competitors do) translates into faster onboarding, cleaner contracts and fewer surprise compliance bills. For a Series A-to-C scale-up hiring a senior engineer in Argentina or a designer in Portugal, this is the path that does not require a tax lawyer on retainer.
You pick a country, Oyster generates a locally compliant employment contract reviewed by in-country legal counsel, the employee signs and onboards, and Oyster runs payroll in local currency, withholds local taxes and statutory contributions, manages benefits (private health, pension, equity allocations where allowed) and handles termination if the role ends. From your side it looks like one monthly invoice in your billing currency. The platform supports multi-entity rollouts (some staff in your own US/UK entity, some on Oyster) and gives you a single org chart, time-off calendar and expense workflow across both.
Contractors get a separate flow: standard contractor agreement, milestone or hourly invoicing, payment in 140+ currencies, and 1099/W-8 paperwork generation. Equity is handled through Oysters integration with Carta and Pulley, which is the bit that usually breaks on smaller EOR platforms.
Three buyer paths. Contractor at $29/contractor/month flat, billed annually, covers contracts, payments and tax forms. Employer of Record (EOR) at $599/employee/month flat covers all employer payroll, benefits, compliance, and termination handling. Scale is bespoke and includes volume discounts for 50+ employees, custom benefits and a dedicated CSM. Set-up fees were eliminated in 2024 — you do not pay an onboarding charge per hire any more, which is a meaningful change versus older quotes you might have seen. Currency conversion and local statutory employer costs (employer-side payroll taxes, mandatory benefits, severance accruals) sit on top of the platform fee and are pre-disclosed per country in the quote. Health insurance via Oyster is opt-in and varies by country.
| Provider | EOR pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Oyster | $599/employee/month | Direct entities in 90+ countries, scale-up friendly |
| Deel | $599/employee/month | Largest contractor base, slick UX, more upsell |
| Remote | $599/employee/month | Owned entities focus, strong product engineering |
| Velocity Global | From $699/employee/month | Enterprise relocations and immigration support |
| Multiplier | From $400/employee/month | APAC-first hiring at lower fees |
Get a country quote for your next hire — Oyster does not charge for the discovery call and now waives the historical setup fee.
Early-stage founders need to move fast into new markets but lack in-house tax and compliance expertise. Oyster PerkP removes the legal and accounting friction—founders can post a job in Berlin, Singapore, or São Paulo and have a compliant hire within weeks, not months. The platform handles all statutory filings and benefits enrollment automatically.
Finance teams managing payroll across 3+ countries spend hours reconciling spreadsheets, chasing tax receipts, and validating deductions. Oyster PerkP consolidates all payroll, tax, and benefits data into one system with audit trails. RevOps leaders use it to forecast cash burn accurately and catch compliance gaps before they become expensive.
Engineering managers in remote-first companies field constant questions about net pay, tax withholding, and health coverage across different countries. Oyster PerkP gives managers real-time visibility into each report's earnings and benefits, so they can answer questions directly and reduce friction with finance.
Quarterly access to product leadership.
Bonus credits redeemable on partner tooling.
We re-verify the offer every quarter so it never goes stale.
Hit the button on this page — opens the partner site in a new tab.
Check your investor or accelerator benefits portal for the Oyster partner code. Y Combinator, Sequoia, and most Tier 1 VCs have codes available.
Renewals stay at the same rate — verified by us, not the vendor.
| Feature | Oyster |
|---|---|
| Free trial | 14 days |
| Cheapest paid plan | $0/mo |
| Annual discount | Up to 25% |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Setup time | < 1 hour |
| Best for | Founders |
“Best contractor tool for a distributed agency model”
“Solved global hiring without entity setup costs”
“Competitive EOR pricing with a genuinely good self-serve experience”
