Oyster HR vs. Remote

When hiring the best talent, it's important to consider candidates from all over the world. There are many global employment solutions to help you manage contractors and employ part-time or full-time employees from anywhere - but how do you know which is best for you?

Find out how Remote and Oyster compare on pricing, contractor management, and employer of record capabilities.

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  • Pricing

  • EOR Capabilities

  • Global Payroll Capabilities

  • Contractor Capabilities

  • Security

  • Integrations

Remote

Oyster HR

Employees

$599 per employee per month

Starts at $399 per employee per month, up to $699 based on country selection

Additional fees for employees

No additional fees

No extra fees

Contractors

$29 per contractor per month: only pay for the contractors you actually work with

$29 per month after the first two contractors

Additional fees for contractors

3% credit card processing fee

No extra fees

Payroll

$50 per employee per month

N/A

Additional fees for global payroll

Implementation: 1 month of payroll

Year-end closing: 1 month of payroll

Optional country-specific services apply separately



N/A

Startups

15% discount on Remote service fees for an unlimited number of hires for 12 months with the code RFS15OFF

Social Purpose Organisations (nonprofits, charities, social enterprises, benefit corporations)

15% discount on Remote service fees for an unlimited number of hires for 12 months with the code RFG15OFF

Free for 1st employee, then 30% off for up to 10 employees. Limited time offer and only available for nonprofits and B-Corps

Hiring Refugee Talent

Free for any full-time refugee talent hired

In countries where Oyster HR has direct entities: Hire up to 10 refugees for free through the Oyster platform


In countries where Oyster HR has indirect entities through local partners: Pay the cost of hiring charged by local partners

Owned entities

100% fully owned entities

Country Explorer

Mix of third-party vendors and owned entities.

Localised benefits package and administration

Ironclad IP and invention rights protection

Equity incentive planning support

Employee mobile app

Transparent service metrics

Number of countries supported

80+

3

Government / Labour authority declarations

N/A

Tax authority declarations

N/A

Reporting

N/A

Payroll support

N/A

Global payments

Exchange fees

Mid-market rate plus 1%

$0

Locally compliant contracts

Tax document management

Localised guidance for hiring contractors in each country

Contractor payment methods

Wire transfer, Wise, Payoneer

Wire transfer

Contractor payment card

Contractor health benefits

SafetyWing, Allianz Global

GDPR Compliant

SOC 2 Compliant

ISO 27001 Certified

Customizable API

Greenhouse

BambooHR

HiBob

Personio

Coming soon

See our detailed comparison of Oyster HR vs Remote

* Competitive data on this page was collected as of June 24th, 2021 and is subject to change or update. Remote does not make any representations as to the completeness or accuracy of the information on this page.

Detailed comparison

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Questions to ask when comparing global employment solutions

Take advantage of these special savings, plus full access to our Remote platform and our network of dedicated HR experts now.

  • Does the provider own its entities?

    Remote owns entities in every country we serve, which means we can provide greater transparency, unparalleled compliance, fair pricing, and more. Working with a provider that only operates through owned entities creates a more consistent and integrated experience for your team.

  • Is my Intellectual Property (IP) protected?

    Your IP is your business. Some providers outsource HR and payroll administration to local third parties, which can cause you a lot of headaches by exposing your IP to risk. Be prepared to have local legal IP and invention rights experts review contracts with each third party to ensure maximum protection in each country.

  • Is my sensitive data secured?

    Data breaches are a big issue, so it’s crucial for your global employment provider to treat your organisational and employee data as a trusted custodian. But not all organisations will be rigorous with their data protection, especially if they’re working through third-party local providers and transferring your data to those unknown parties. For maximum security, look for providers that are GDPR and SOC 2 compliant and who own their own local entities.

Compare Oyster HR vs. Remote in more detail

  • Employer of record capabilities

  • Contractor management

  • Global payroll

  • Intellectual property protections

  • Data security

  • Software and platform

  • Customer support

Remote pricing is simple, transparent, and fair. You’ll pay just $599 per employee per month when billed annually. That includes global payroll, taxes, benefits, compliance, and 24/7 customer service. Contractor management is $29 per contractor per month in more than 170 countries. There are no hidden fees — the price you see is the price you pay.

Oyster HR's pricing varies by country and does not offer the same commitment regarding hidden fees. Pricing starts at $499 to $699. Oyster also offers a contractor management service that starts at $29 per contractor, per month with the first two contractors free.

Remote

Own Legal Entities

Cost

From $599 /employee/month no long term commitments or extra fees

Over $100k per location, depending on country requirements and ongoing administration

Time

Onboarding in minutes

3-12 months depending on country

Administration

24/7 support from our network of local HR, legal and finance experts.

Find and manage your own HR, legal, finance experts to ensure compliance with local laws

Cost of winding down an entity if you decide to close it

There are no commitments and you can always transfer your employees.

You may have to spend thousands and keep working with gov/administrators to wind down over months.

Get Started

Employer of record capabilities

Remote owns legal entities in every country where we operate, meaning an integrated and consistent experience across payroll, benefits, and support for your global workforce. Our technology platform and in-house HR experts manage everything so you can focus on growing your team. 

Oyster operates its own legal entities in some locations while relying on local providers to increase their coverage in more countries. This hybrid model allows Oyster to offer services in a high number of countries, although it can create an inconsistent experience and adds an unknown third party between you and your workforce.

Contractor management

Remote offers contractor invoice management and payments for a low cost of $29 per contractor per month in more than 170 countries. Contractors submit their invoice for approval through the Remote platform. Payments are made in local currencies, with zero extra currency exchange fees. 

Oyster gives you the first two contractors free, then charges $29.99 per contractor per month. Oyster’s platform allows contractors to agree to localised contracts, submit invoices for approval, and pay contractors in multiple currencies, but they do not offer any tax form generation. Your finance team will have to manually generate tax forms every year.

Global payroll

Remote's simple Global Payroll platform enables businesses to calculate payroll and taxes for own-entity employees around the world, while ensuring compliance with local regulations. Transparent pricing and our user-friendly platform makes international expansion easy.

Oyster does not offer global payroll services, meaning you'll need to use multiple providers to manage your global workforce - resulting in inefficient processes and additional costs.

Intellectual property protections

Remote offers the strongest protection for intellectual property (IP) rights in the industry. As the only global employment solution that never relies on third-party providers, Remote has a unique two-step IP transfer process called Remote IP Guard that ensures your IP is protected to the fullest extent of the law in every country. 

Oyster works with unknown third-party providers in some locations. Your intellectual property rights must pass through those unknown partners before being transferred to you, with no guarantee that local laws will protect your IP and invention rights in these situations.

Data security

Remote is fully compliant with European GDPR rules and has achieved the rigorous SOC 2 certification to keep your data safe. 

Oyster is compliant with GDPR but does not have SOC 2 certification. With our longstanding commitment to security, Remote remains the most reliable global employment option for your international team.

Software and platform

Remote significantly reduces time-to-hire from weeks to days with our streamlined onboarding process, negating the need for long back-and-forth email chains. 

Contractors and employees complete a simple identity verification process and provide all the information needed to sign their contracts and get paid. Expenses, PTO tracking, secure document storage, and more are all included within the same platform. 

Oyster offers a modern user interface to manage people, payments, benefits, and compliance but does not offer several of the important features that make Remote’s platform so reliable and easy to use.

Customer support

Remote’s support team is based all around the world, ensuring timely and expert responses 24/7. Remote has the in-house experience to help you with onboarding, management, and off-boarding with no third-party providers.

Oyster offers in-house support for countries they operate local entities for, while referring to external providers for other countries. This can lead to delays, confusion, and a slower support experience.

* Competitive data on this page was updated as of February 20th, 2023 and is subject to change or update. Remote does not make any representations as to the completeness or accuracy of the information on this page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Oyster HR is an automated global employment platform that helps companies hire globally. Its key functions include global hiring, onboarding, payroll, benefits, pay management, and compliance.

While Oyster HR performs these key functions well, Remote has an advantage because it owns 100% of the entities in the countries we operate in. Remote also offers an employee mobile app, so your team can conveniently access their data on the go.


Oyster HR charges a refundable deposit that’s equal to one month’s cost of services for each new hire. This deposit allows Oyster HR to cover any expenses tied to the team member’s service for your company. You’ll receive the refund after 60 days of the team member’s departure.

Unlike most companies in the industry, including Oyster HR, Remote doesn’t require a security deposit. Instead, we offer a low flat fee with no hidden charges and no minimum commitments. What you see is what you pay for.


Oyster HR isn’t a professional employer organisation (PEO).

When you use a PEO, it becomes the HR arm of your business through co-employment. In that arrangement, both you and the PEO become the legal employers of your team members. To use a PEO, though, you must own a legal entity in the countries you intend to hire in.


Yes, Oyster HR is an EOR. But it doesn’t have direct entities in all the countries it offers EOR services, so, for some countries, there is also a third-party vendor providing EOR services. As a result, these vendors, rather than Oyster HR, are the legal employers of team members in those regions.

Unfortunately, relying on third parties can bring delays, increased fees, data protection risks, and poor customer support. 

With Remote, there’s no need to set up a local entity of your own or use third-party providers. You can be up and running within minutes and aren’t entangled with third parties.


Oyster HR caters to a wide range of ventures, including small businesses. 

Likewise, Remote supports startups, SMBs, and heavyweights alike. No matter where you are on your business journey, we’re here to help you scale on a global level.


The main difference between Oyster HR and Remote is that Remote owns entities in all the countries it serves. Since we don’t rely on third-party providers, we’re able to maximise data protection and provide a consistent, clear, and responsive service with no hidden fees. This also means we’re able to keep you compliant globally while you focus on scaling your business.

Integrations built to simplify HR from end to end

Remote partners with the most powerful HR systems to seamlessly connect their people, payroll, and HR data. Through our Remote API and native partner integrations, we empower our partners to leverage our global infrastructure in their offerings and help more customers scale their global teams faster.

Customer Stories

Don’t just take our word for it

See how we help customers simply hire, pay and manage their team

  • “We’re a publicly listed company, so we needed the stability and reliability of a well-known brand to help us scale; with the support, the roadmap, and the ability to support multiple countries — and handle all the compliance wherever we wanted to hire. Remote immediately ticked all those boxes."
  • "Remote is a very strong partner for us. Onboarding is easy and everything is compliant, from their benefits, payroll, contract and other nuances specific to that particular country. The platform is very easy and straightforward for the new joiners, which wasn't the case with our previous provider. It’s a better experience for our global workforce."
  • “Remote has been instrumental in our growth. It would have been impossible to manage such a high volume of hires internally without their support. They provide the whole package, combined with great account management.”