Remote Pricing: EOR, Global Payroll and Contractor Costs

Remote's advertised entry prices range from $29 per employee per month for Global Payroll to $599 per employee per month for Employer of Record (EOR) on an annual contract, but those two figures do not buy the same service. For standard monthly EOR billing, Remote's help center lists $699 per employee. Its basic Contractor Management starts at $29 per active contractor monthly, Contractor Management Plus at $99, Contractor of Record at a $325 minimum with a 15% invoice-based fee, and US PEO at $99 per employee. Those are US-dollar list starting points checked on 2026-10-27 UTC, not comprehensive quotes for wages, statutory costs or local employment. We have not purchased a Remote plan or independently verified a customer invoice.

Read the Remote Toollers software profile for the product identity and available catalog information. The core pricing question is whether you already employ the worker through your own entity, need a local employer-of-record arrangement, or engage a legally independent contractor. Until that decision is made, comparing monthly figures is misleading.

Remote pricing plans and service lines

These are six separately marketed offerings on Remote's official pricing page. “Not separately published” in the annual column means we found no distinct public annual-equivalent discount for that service, not that annual agreements are impossible. The $599 EOR rate is already expressed as a monthly service charge tied to an annual contract; it should not be confused with a $599 total annual fee or an unconditional pay-as-you-go price. Similarly, the $325 Contractor of Record value is a minimum, not a fixed service cap. Always ask whether a proposal is charged monthly, committed annually, payable in advance or based on actual active workers.

Global Payroll: from $29 per employee per month

Remote positions Global Payroll for employers that already own a local entity where their staff work. Its official description covers local gross-to-net calculations, tax and statutory contribution remittances, time and expense synchronization and reporting by country, entity and cost center. If your company has entities in three countries and wants consolidated finance reporting, this may be the appropriate service. If you do not have an employing entity in a country, the $29 figure is not a way to avoid one; you would need an EOR or another lawful arrangement. The price is described as a starting rate, so the cost and country list for each employing entity require a quote.

There is a material setup-fee question worth putting on the procurement checklist. Remote's current central pricing page says no standard setup or onboarding fees, but country-specific official pages have mentioned implementation charges for onboarding payroll entities and recurring payroll-delivery infrastructure costs. Public sources do not reconcile these statements for every product and date. Before comparing Remote with Deel Payroll or other processors, request a line-item implementation schedule by country, any one-time migration or parallel-run charges, bank setup responsibilities and a statement of which integrations are included.

Employer of Record: $599 on annual terms or $699 standard monthly

Remote's EOR offering is for hiring employees in supported countries without forming your own local entity. It provides the legal employer arrangement, onboarding, local payroll and benefits administration. The live pricing page quotes a $599-per-employee monthly starting rate for annual contracts, whereas Remote's official management-fee help article gives $699 per employee monthly as the standard rate billed by active use. This distinction is not a contradiction so much as a difference in commercial basis, but a written proposal must specify the applicable schedule and any discounts. The signed order form, not the marketing page, determines what your organization owes.

Be careful about the components outside that EOR management fee. An employee still receives salary; the employer or funding customer must cover applicable payroll taxes, mandatory benefits, insurance, vacation obligations and country-specific liabilities. Remote explains that certain employment circumstances may require a refundable reserve payment even though there is no blanket deposit fee. The reserve can affect cash flow despite being refundable subject to obligations. For the full first-year budget, ask for service fees, mandatory employment costs, forecast cash reserves, hiring and exit charges, payment timing and a conservative FX assumption.

Contractor Management: $29 per active contractor

Under standard Contractor Management, the customer retains the contract with the independent contractor. Remote documents contract creation, onboarding, invoice approval, payment administration and compliance-screening functions. Its billing support page says the $29 subscription is charged on the first business day for the previous month's billable activity; it does not apply during months with no qualifying activity. This can suit companies that use specialized freelancers only in certain months. It is still important to ask whether an invoice, an active contract, a payment or another event makes an individual billable, because the accounting result depends on that definition.

The service's price should not be interpreted as a complete employment-compliance insurance policy. A business must still classify workers correctly, document the commercial work, observe tax reporting requirements and confirm which countries and payout methods are supported. Invoice currency, payment rails and transfer fees are distinct from the subscription. For a team with many sporadically active contractors, request a sample invoice showing zero-activity months and the treatment of contractors who remain onboarded but have not submitted payable work.

Contractor Management Plus: $99 per contractor

Contractor Management Plus adds vendor-drafted agreements and defined misclassification-related indemnity protection. Remote's marketing footnote puts an eligible per-contractor limit at $100,000 and a company aggregate at $1 million over the term, subject to the actual service warranty and exclusions. The $99 monthly charge is paid in advance; the help-center article says the subscription is billed in months without activity. A newly upgraded contractor can also trigger a prorated first period plus the next full month. Buyers should therefore model Plus as a recurring enrolled-contractor commitment rather than a pure pay-per-invoice service.

Before purchasing the upgrade, legal counsel should evaluate the precise indemnity trigger, policy exclusions, responsibility for classification decisions and available appeal process. The headline cap is not the amount a customer automatically receives whenever a classification issue occurs. If your contractor work is low volume and legally straightforward, the additional $70 difference from the basic monthly starting rate may not be justified. When engagements span jurisdictions with uncertain classification rules, contract drafting and risk-sharing could be worth investigating, but that remains a judgment tied to the actual workforce.

Contractor of Record: the greater of 15% or $325

Contractor of Record differs from the preceding options because Remote, rather than the customer, holds the agreement with the contractor. Its main marketing page advertises “starting at $325 per contractor per month.” The more revealing official subscription billing page says Remote charges 15% of the contractor's monthly invoice with a minimum of $325 per contractor, whichever is higher. A contractor invoice of $2,000 produces a 15% calculation of $300, so the $325 minimum applies. A $4,000 invoice produces $600 in service fees. Both examples exclude the contractor compensation itself, taxes where relevant and any payment-related fees. The minimum can also apply while a qualifying agreement remains active.

This variable structure means Contractor of Record can be considerably more expensive for high-compensation contractors than the static entry price suggests. It may still be preferable where the benefit of a Remote-held contract, locally supported compliance workflow and IP provisions is material. The correct comparison is total contractor compensation plus the applicable Remote service fee and funding/FX items, not $325 versus $29 in isolation. Ask how the fee is treated for partial months, retainer payments, milestone invoices, credits and early termination.

US Professional Employer Organization: from $99 per employee

Remote advertises its US PEO service from $99 per employee monthly with payroll, HR compliance support, onboarding guidance and specialist resources. The pricing page says it is billed in US dollars and requires a US bank account. PEO co-employment is legally and operationally different from the EOR arrangement used for countries where you lack an employer entity. US buyers should compare PEO terms, benefits and support service depth against local providers; the advertised per-employee fee may not represent insurance premiums, benefits contributions, workers' compensation or other negotiated items.

Three practical budgeting scenarios

Scenario 1: 12 employees on existing foreign entities

If all twelve employees qualify for Remote Global Payroll at the advertised $29 floor, simple service-fee arithmetic is 12 × $29 = $348 per month, or $4,176 over twelve identical months. This is a scenario illustration, not an official quotation. It assumes every employee is eligible for the lowest published rate and ignores country-specific service schedules, potential entity setup, salaries, payroll taxes, bank funding and other charges. We would ask Remote for a country-by-country proposal before using $348 as an approved financial forecast.

Scenario 2: three EOR employees on an annual agreement

For three eligible EOR employees at the $599 annual-commitment monthly starting rate, management fees alone would start at 3 × $599 = $1,797 per month and 12 × $1,797 = $21,564 over a fully staffed year at unchanged rates. At the standard $699 monthly fee, three employees would produce $2,097 in fees for an equivalent month. A future country, employee start date, local benefit or discount can change the total. More importantly, salary, employer taxes, required benefits, reserves, possible immigration costs and termination liabilities do not disappear because Remote is the local employer.

Scenario 3: five contractors with mixed activity

Assume five contractors are active and billable in a particular month under the standard $29 Contractor Management tier. The subscription illustration is 5 × $29 = $145, excluding contractor invoices and payment costs. If the same five contractors all remain on Plus, the starting recurring subscription illustration becomes 5 × $99 = $495 even in a month without activity, subject to Remote's billing rules. One $4,000-invoice contractor moved to Contractor of Record would instead face a $600 management fee for that month under the current 15%-or-$325 formula. These examples demonstrate why services with different contractual responsibilities must not be compared by their entry dollar figure alone.

What else can change the final bill?

Currency conversion and payment funding

Remote says when payroll costs are in a currency different from the customer's billing currency, it applies its Remote FX rate and shows it in the invoice breakdown. This makes the conversion rate part of the effective payroll cost even when the service subscription is listed in US dollars. Ask which invoice lines are converted, when the rate is set, what foreign currency is paid to workers and whether separate banking costs apply. A percent change in employee salary due to FX can dwarf the monthly platform fee for larger teams. We did not find evidence sufficient to calculate a universal FX markup and therefore do not publish one.

Reserves, employment liabilities and country rules

The main pricing FAQ says Remote does not charge a standard deposit fee, but a refundable reserve can be required in specific employment circumstances. These funds remain linked to potential employee obligations until credited or refunded subject to unsettled charges. An employer planning several EOR hires should distinguish expense from cash collateral in its treasury forecast. Ask for the reserve calculation, release trigger, refund timeline and the local events that could lead to withheld amounts. Obtain a worked country estimate showing statutory employer burden, holiday pay, insurance and mandatory benefits separately from the Remote management charge.

Support, integrations and upgrades

Remote's published platform offering includes HR records, reporting and connector options, yet public pages do not guarantee that every customer receives the same implementation specialist, service levels or configurable integrations. If the buyer needs two-way Workday sync, a particular NetSuite export or a dedicated support contact, those should be included in the statement of work. Pricing teams should ask which support tiers are included, whether payroll reprocessing or off-cycle runs incur additional charges and whether a revised employee mix requires amendment to the original order. A quote with unclear service boundaries is not price transparency.

Free plan, trial, contract and cancellation

We did not locate a current, broadly available free tier or self-serve trial for the covered paid Global Payroll, EOR and contractor services. Remote offers demonstrations and sales-led onboarding, which is different from creating a free sandbox and processing test payroll. Do not promise no-credit-card trials or unlimited free HR use on the basis of a pricing-card omission. If the sales team provides a sandbox or promotional period, get exact data restrictions, duration, renewal pricing and cancellation terms in writing before loading employee records.

Contract length varies by product. The EOR starting rate explicitly refers to annual contracts, while Remote's help center describes pay-as-you-go arrangements and order forms with negotiated commitments. Standard Contractor Management is charged after billable usage, whereas Plus is advanced monthly billing, including inactive periods. The public evidence is not sufficient to state one universal early-termination penalty or refund policy for every product, country and customer. Ask for notice periods, proration rules, offboarding steps, final payroll corrections, data export, records retention and reserve refunds. A lower annual service rate may be unattractive if projected hiring dates or countries are uncertain.

Which Remote product is worth paying for?

For a team whose highest-cost problem is international hiring without a legal entity, paying for EOR can be more appropriate than building and maintaining a new company solely for a few hires. For an established multinational with legal entities and payroll specialists, Global Payroll may represent a narrower operating cost. For a US-only small business, Gusto publishes a simple base-fee and per-person plan structure while ADP RUN and Paychex Flex generally request tailored payroll quotes. These US products are not one-for-one replacements for cross-border EOR, and their rates should be compared only for matching workflows.

Deel Payroll and Rippling are more relevant for international payroll comparisons. Deel's broader vendor suite also sells EOR separately; Rippling has both global payroll and EOR products. To obtain a fair comparison, normalize identical countries, worker counts, payroll frequency, required integrations, employment model and included implementation. A per-employee subscription alone will not tell you the cost of operating a compliant cross-border workforce.

How we checked the prices

Two corrections need special attention in the Tool record. First, its Contractor of Record plan notes a $325 minimum but omits the official 15% invoice-based formula, which materially affects higher-priced engagements. Second, the FAQ and country-page disclosures around Global Payroll implementation fees should be reconciled with Remote's current main pricing statement. Ask sales to confirm which wording governs your proposal. Until then, a pricing guide should disclose both sources and leave the conflict explicitly unresolved.

Bottom line

Remote's menu provides useful public starting points, especially for separating $29 direct payroll, $599 annual EOR, and the $29/$99 contractor subscription tiers. The cheapest suitable product depends on the legal engagement, not on an arbitrary feature ranking. We recommend requesting a twelve-month and renewal-year quote including worker count, countries, payment currency, payroll funding and exit costs. Use a parallel estimate from a genuinely comparable provider and make the vendor identify who bears errors, legal obligations and FX movement. Only then can a finance team determine the real value of the service.

Sources

Sources checked 2026-10-27 UTC. Published pricing and help content are vendor representations subject to change. The figures are in USD, no currency conversion was performed, and the scenarios are transparent arithmetic rather than actual client invoices.

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