How much does an EOR cost per employee per month?

An employer of record (EOR) charges a service fee for employing someone on your behalf. Among the providers checked for this article, published EOR fees range from $299 to $699 per employee per month. Shor charges $299 or $449 depending on the country. Those fees sit on top of the employee's salary, employer contributions, benefits, and any currency conversion costs. They are not the full monthly cost of the hire.

Disclosure: we build Shor. The provider prices linked below were checked on October 13, 2026. They are examples of published prices, not a market-wide minimum or maximum.

If you are budgeting for your first international employee, you need two numbers: the recurring monthly cost and the cash required before they start. Here is how to work out both.

To estimate your own hire, use our EOR pricing calculator. Choose the hiring country and EOR employment option, then enter the annual gross salary to see estimated monthly salary, employer contributions, and Shor's service fee. Budget separately for benefits, currency conversion, and any deposit.

What is the monthly EOR fee?

The fee pays for the legal employment service and its administration. The exact scope varies, but it commonly includes the employment agreement, payroll processing, tax filings, benefits administration, and ongoing employment support. Deel's pricing page describes those services as part of its EOR offering.

For a sense of the published prices:

• Shor charges $299 in standard markets or $449 in premium markets per employee per month.
• Deel lists $599 per EOR employee per month.
• Remote starts at $599 per employee per month.
• Oyster lists $699 per employee per month, with annual discounts available.

Use these as starting points for a country-specific quote. Check whether a quoted monthly price requires an annual commitment, and whether additional services are mandatory for your hire. A discounted annual seat and a cancellable monthly service have different cash and commitment implications.

For a broader provider comparison, see our EOR pricing comparison. This guide focuses on turning the fee into a hiring budget.

What do you pay on top of the EOR fee?

Gross salary. Start with the employee's agreed salary before their tax and social contribution deductions. Employee deductions come out of gross pay; do not add them to the employer budget again. If the candidate asks for a guaranteed take-home amount, get a payroll calculation before agreeing to a gross salary.

Employer contributions. Employer payroll taxes, social insurance, pension contributions, and other statutory charges depend on the country and employee circumstances. Some use salary thresholds or caps. Ask for the individual items and their calculation bases rather than applying one percentage to every country. Our employer costs by country is a starting point for those estimates.

Benefits and other compensation. Benefits administration and the cost of the benefits themselves are different things. Ask whether insurance premiums, allowances, bonuses, commissions, and any required additional salary payments are included in the estimate. Where a payment is annual, show both its monthly budget allowance and when the cash is actually due.

Currency conversion and payment charges. Confirm the salary currency, invoice currency, exchange-rate source, and conversion margin. Ask which amount is converted and whether bank or funding fees apply. Two providers quoting the same service fee can still produce different totals.

Additional services. Immigration, equipment, recruitment, and specialist advice may be separate purchases. Include what your specific hire needs, but do not assume every employee requires every add-on.

The practical formula is:

Monthly employment budget = gross salary + employer contributions + benefits and compensation allowances + EOR fee + applicable conversion and payment costs.

Keep refundable deposits outside that recurring total. They affect cash available to the business, but treating them as another monthly expense makes the comparison misleading.

A worked example for one employee

Suppose you are hiring someone on a gross salary equivalent to $4,000 a month. The following is an illustrative budget, not a quote for a particular country or provider. The 20% employer contribution assumption and benefit amount are chosen to demonstrate the calculation.

1. Gross salary: $4,000.
2. Employer contributions, assumed at 20% of salary: $800.
3. Benefits, assumed separately: $150.
4. EOR service fee, assumed at $299: $299.

That gives you $5,249 per employee per month before currency conversion or other charges. The annual equivalent is $62,988, assuming all twelve months are identical and no additional compensation is due.

The EOR fee is $299, but the budget above the employee's $4,000 gross salary is $1,249. Most of that difference comes from employment costs rather than the platform subscription.

For a separate currency-conversion illustration, assume the contract charges a 2% fee on the $4,950 salary, contribution, and benefit subtotal. That would add $99, making the monthly total $5,348. Actual conversion pricing may be embedded in an exchange rate and may use a different base, so use the provider's calculation for a real quote.

If five hires had exactly those same costs, the monthly budget would be $26,740. For a team spread across countries, calculate each person separately and then add the totals.

How much cash do you need before the employee starts?

Your first funding request may be larger than a normal month's cost. Separate three items:

• Payroll funding: money supplied in advance to cover salary, contributions, benefits, and fees. It pays for that payroll period; it is not a second salary charge.
• A refundable deposit: security held under the provider's contract. Ask what it covers, whether it changes after a salary increase, and when it is returned or applied to final liabilities.
• One-time charges: any agreed setup, equipment, immigration, or other onboarding costs.

Deposit policies vary. For example, Oyster says it requires a refundable EOR deposit, while Shor quotes any country-specific deposit before signing. Get the amount and funding deadline in writing.

If the illustrative $5,348 monthly budget above required both the first month's funding and a separate $5,000 refundable deposit, you would need $10,348 upfront, before any one-time charges. Your recurring monthly budget would still be $5,348. The deposit is an assumed amount for this example, not a provider's policy.

Why does the cost vary by country and employee?

The same salary and EOR fee do not guarantee the same employment cost. Local contribution rules, benefit requirements, salary caps, and compensation arrangements change the calculation. Salary changes can affect both payroll and deposits. Exchange-rate movements can change the invoice in your funding currency even when the employee's local salary stays the same.

For each quote, use the same country, gross salary, start date, benefits, funding currency, and contract duration. Ask the provider to identify assumptions that are still estimates. That makes a price difference easier to explain.

A flat monthly EOR fee is straightforward to model: multiply the fee by the number of employees and months. If you receive a percentage-based quote, confirm whether the percentage applies to gross salary, total payroll, or another base. As a purely mathematical example, 10% of a $4,000 salary is $400, while 10% of an $8,000 salary is $800. Check for minimum fees as well.

What does Shor cost per employee per month?

Shor's published EOR fee is $299 or $449 per employee per month, depending on the country. Salary, employer contributions, and benefits are separate. Currency conversion carries a disclosed 2% FX margin.

There are no setup fees, minimums, or annual lock-ins. The service is month-to-month with 30-day cancellation. Any country-specific deposit is quoted before signing. Employee notice and severance obligations still follow local law, so cancelling the service does not erase employment liabilities. See Shor's pricing terms.

Use the employer cost calculator to estimate a hire's salary, statutory employer costs, and service fee. Then confirm benefits, conversion, deposits, and any items outside the estimate before committing to an offer.

What should you ask for in an EOR quote?

Ask for one itemized example of a normal month and a separate first-funding amount. Both should use your candidate's country and proposed compensation.

Get written answers to five questions:

1. What is the exact monthly service fee for this country, and what commitment does it require?
2. Which employer contributions, benefits, and compensation items are included in the total?
3. What exchange rate, conversion margin, and payment charges apply, and to which amounts?
4. What must we fund before the start date, including deposits, and when can those deposits be returned?
5. What changes in a bonus month, after a salary increase, or when employment ends?

For the wider employment and contract questions, use our EOR due-diligence checklist. Once payroll begins, the EOR invoice audit guide helps you compare the bill with the quote.

EOR pricing comparison: fees, FX, and minimum commitments

Here is the comparison to use alongside your country-specific quote. Prices are in USD per employee per month, checked October 13, 2026. Service fees exclude salary, employer contributions, benefits, and applicable conversion costs.

Monthly fees and commitments

Remote's starting price and monthly rate are different reference points. Its management-fee guide lists $699 for standard monthly usage and explains that an order form can include discounts and commitments. Confirm the terms attached to a $599 quote. Oyster's annual plan purchases seats for a year and is non-refundable, although seats can be reused for replacement hires.

FX fees and upfront costs

Deel's exchange-rate policy separates FX from payment-method fees. Its deposit guide bases the standard deposit on salary, employer costs, fixed allowances, and management fees. The other rows link to each provider's published pricing terms.

An unpublished FX percentage does not mean free conversion. Ask for the rate, calculation base, and any funding charges in writing. Likewise, a monthly service agreement does not remove the employee's notice, final-pay, or severance obligations.

Use the EOR pricing calculator to estimate salary, statutory contributions, and Shor's fee, then add benefits, FX, deposits, and other quoted items to your funding plan.

Third-party prices may change; confirm current terms with each provider. Trademarks belong to their respective owners. Inclusion does not imply affiliation with or endorsement of Shor.