TL;DR: Use Shor. You get employees and contractors in 150+ countries at some of the lowest published prices in the market: $299-449/month per employee, $19/month per contractor, flat disclosed 2% FX.
Remote is a genuinely good product, and it earns its reputation the honest way: owned legal entities in most of its markets and pricing you can read without a sales call. But at $699/month per EOR employee, it carries the highest published sticker among the major platforms, and the $29/month contractor plan leaves things like indemnity coverage to a $99/month Plus tier. If the price, or paying more to unlock the tier that actually covers you, is why you're reading, here are seven alternatives.
Full disclosure up front: we build Shor, and it's first on this list. We've kept every entry honest, including the part where Remote's entity ownership is genuinely hard to beat.
All pricing below is from each provider's published pricing pages or cited independent guides, as of August 2026.
What Remote gets right
Before the list, credit where due, because this is what any alternative has to clear. Remote owns legal entities in most of its markets rather than working through third-party partners. Fewer intermediaries matters most in the sensitive moments: terminations, IP assignment, disputes. Its pricing page also states it charges no security deposits outside rare high-risk cases, which is real cash flow relief compared to providers that hold a month or more up front. If owned entities in your specific countries are your top criterion, weigh that seriously before switching on price alone.
The short version
| Provider | EOR (per employee/mo) | Contractors (per contractor/mo) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shor | $299-449 | $19 | Seed to Series B startups, contractor-heavy teams |
| Deel | $599 | $49 | Product breadth, brand recognition |
| Oyster | $699 | $29 | Onboarding experience, HR polish |
| Rippling | Quote-based | Quote-based | Teams that want HR + IT + payroll in one suite |
| Multiplier | From $400 | From $40 | Mid-market, APAC coverage |
| Remofirst | From $199 | From $25 | Pure lowest sticker price |
| Papaya Global | Quote-based | Quote-based | Enterprise payroll operations |
1. Shor
Shor is international payroll built for founders: hire and pay employees and contractors in 150+ countries, set up in minutes, with a founder in your Slack instead of a ticket queue.
- Pricing: $299-449/month per EOR employee depending on country, $19/month per contractor, and running payroll on your own entity from $50-60/month per employee. No setup fees, no minimums, month-to-month billing.
- The FX difference: a flat, disclosed 2% margin on every conversion, shown on every receipt. Remote prices conversion at a "Remote FX rate" that isn't published as a number, so you can't compare it in advance.
- Deposits: country-dependent, and quoted up front before you sign, so the cash-flow picture is on the table from day one.
- Leaving: no initial term, no early termination fee, no per-employee offboarding fee. Month-to-month, 30 days' notice. The unavoidable part is the employee's, not ours: EOR terminations run through local labor law, where notice and severance vary by country and often with tenure.
- Strengths: price transparency, contractor-first workflows, same-day payment rails to India, the Philippines, Nigeria, and 12+ LATAM corridors, founder-level support.
- Honest limits: we're a startup. If owned entities in every market or enterprise procurement processes are non-negotiable, Remote and the larger platforms are further along there.
See full pricing, including every statutory cost per country.
2. Deel
Deel is the biggest brand in the category, with the widest product surface: EOR, contractors, Contractor of Record, US PEO, and more.
- Pricing: $599/month per EOR employee, $49/month per contractor, $325/month Contractor of Record, $125/month US PEO.
- Strengths: product breadth, large coverage map, name recognition with investors and counsel.
- Watch for: independent guides report security deposits around one month of total employment cost, FX markup in the 0.6-2% range, and country surcharges of roughly $50-150/month in heavier-compliance markets. If you're leaving Remote over cost, price the full stack, not just the $599 vs. $699 line.
3. Oyster
Oyster leans into the HR experience: polished onboarding flows, good employee-facing UX, and strong documentation.
- Pricing: $699/month per EOR employee, $29/month per contractor, per an independent pricing guide, with discounts reported for annual commitments.
- Strengths: onboarding polish, HR tooling, a strong employee experience.
- Watch for: the sticker matches Remote's, so a switch here is about product taste rather than savings.
4. Rippling
Rippling is a different animal: a workforce platform where global payroll is one module among HR, IT, device management, and finance tools.
- Pricing: quote-based; you'll need a sales conversation to get numbers.
- Strengths: if you want one system for laptops, app provisioning, US payroll, and international hiring, nobody bundles more.
- Watch for: the all-in price depends on how many modules you adopt, and you can't see it without talking to sales.
5. Multiplier
Multiplier competes on price against the big three with particular depth in Asia-Pacific.
- Pricing: from $400/month per EOR employee, from $40/month per contractor, per an independent guide, with volume discounts reported at scale.
- Strengths: a meaningful discount to Remote's $699, APAC coverage.
- Watch for: thinner self-serve resources than the bigger platforms; independent guides note FX margins vary by corridor, so get yours in writing.
6. Remofirst
Remofirst is the budget option, and honestly, at pure sticker price it undercuts everyone on this list, including us.
- Pricing: from $199/month per EOR employee, from $25/month per contractor, per an independent guide.
- Strengths: the lowest published EOR base fee in the market.
- Watch for: coverage relies heavily on local partners (the opposite of Remote's owned-entity model), support is lighter, and the low base fee makes it especially important to ask how FX conversion is priced.
7. Papaya Global
Papaya is built for enterprise payroll operations: consolidating payroll data and payments across many countries and vendors.
- Pricing: quote-based, with independent guides reporting EOR from roughly $599/month.
- Strengths: payroll data infrastructure, payments licensing, enterprise reporting.
- Watch for: it's aimed at companies far larger than a typical startup; the product shines at hundreds of employees, not five.
How to actually choose
Three questions cut through most of the noise:
- Do you actually need owned entities? This is Remote's strongest card. If your hires are in countries where entity ownership matters to you, ask each alternative who the employing entity is there. If your team is mostly contractors, it barely matters, and you're overpaying for it.
- What's your employee-to-contractor mix? Contractor-heavy teams should weight the per-contractor fee and FX margin far more than the EOR fee. At 10 contractors, the gap between $19 and $29 per month is $1,200/year before FX even enters the math.
- Will anyone state the FX margin as a number? Salaries cross borders every month, and an undisclosed spread compounds quietly. Whoever you pick, get the FX answer in writing.
All third-party pricing and features referenced are from each provider's published pages or the cited sources as of August 2026 and may change; confirm details with each provider. All trademarks belong to their respective owners, and no provider mentioned here is affiliated with or endorses Shor.
FAQ
What is the cheapest Remote alternative? By published base fee, Remofirst (EOR from $199/month). For contractor-heavy startups, Shor's $19/month per contractor with a flat disclosed 2% FX margin is typically the lowest all-in cost. Always compare the full stack: base fee, contractor fee, FX margin, and deposits.
Why do companies switch away from Remote? The most common trigger is price: $699/month per employee is the highest published sticker among the major platforms, and useful contractor features like indemnity sit in a $99/month tier rather than the $29 base plan. Companies that stay usually stay for the owned-entity model, which is real.
Is Remote or Deel cheaper? On published stickers, Deel is lower ($599 vs. $699 per EOR employee) but its contractor fee is higher ($49 vs. $29). Independent guides also report deposits and country surcharges at Deel, while Remote states it charges no deposits outside rare high-risk cases. The cheaper option depends on your team's mix and countries.
Does Shor really publish all its pricing? Yes. $299-449/month per EOR employee by country, $19/month per contractor, own-entity payroll from $50-60/month, and a flat 2% FX margin shown on every receipt. Deposits vary by country and are quoted up front. The pricing calculator on our homepage shows every statutory line item per country.