Deel vs. Remote: Which Is Better for Your Global Hiring Plan?

Deel and Remote are the two employer-of-record providers most global-hiring shortlists start with, and the decision between them is usually smaller than either vendor's marketing suggests. Both let a company employ people in countries where it has no local entity, both publish list prices, and both make broad coverage and compliance claims.

Start by fixing the price comparison everyone quotes. Deel publishes $599 per EOR employee per month. Remote publishes $599 per employee per month when paid annually, or $699 when paid monthly. On annual billing the two list prices are identical. On month-to-month billing Deel is $100 lower. The badge price is not a difference between these two companies until you fix the billing term.

What does separate them on public evidence is narrower, and less flattering to both: different contractor-management pricing, one published FX figure and one unquantified, different statements about entity ownership and footprint, and — the largest published gap, and the one neither pricing page shows — a deposit on every Deel EOR hire of one to one and a half times total monthly charges, against no upfront deposit at Remote. None of that decides the question by itself. The right provider depends on the worker's exact country, the worker type, the total quoted cost rather than the monthly badge price, and contract terms neither company publishes in full. This comparison puts both providers on identical fields, shows what is verified and what is not, and gives you a decision rule built to survive the sales call.

On this page

• Deel vs. Remote at a glance
• Check the hiring path before comparing providers
• Is an EOR arrangement even permitted where your worker sits?
• Deel and Remote compared on the fields that change the decision
• What does a Deel or Remote employee actually cost in year one?
• Choose Deel, choose Remote, or choose neither
• Deel or Remote: which fits your situation?
• Onboarding, support, and exiting an EOR
• What an EOR does not cover: risks that stay with you
• Frequently asked questions
• Next step: send both providers the same scenario
• Sources and last verified date

Deel vs. Remote at a glance

Pricing, coverage, entity, discount, deposit, FX and contract-posture information checked August 8, 2026. Prices and claims below are public list figures and provider statements, not quotes.

Your situation	Stronger starting point
Your target countries sit inside Deel's stated EOR footprint — its own pages state both 130+ and 150+ (see the country-count note below) — you need month-to-month billing without giving up the lower fee, or you want employees and contractors in one stack.	Deel
You qualify for the published 15% startup discount, a stated no-upfront-deposit posture helps your cash plan, you want a published FX figure rather than an unquantified one, or you pay many contractors at $29 each per month.	Remote
You already run a local entity, the role is a genuine contractor engagement, planned headcount may justify your own entity, or neither provider passes the exact country and contract check.	Neither — compare another path

Public list price is not total employer cost. Do not name a cost winner until both quotes use the same country, salary, currency, benefits, start date, headcount, worker type, immigration need, term, and special payroll requirements.

Choose neither yet if you have not confirmed the worker's exact country, the worker's classification, and your own entity status — those gates decide the service category before any provider comparison matters. Send anything touching classification, permanent establishment, immigration, works councils, or data transfer to qualified counsel or a tax adviser in parallel with the quotes, not after them.

The differences most likely to move a shortlist, on public evidence:

Field	Deel	Remote	Status
EOR fee, annual basis	$599/employee/month	$599/employee/month	Verified — identical
EOR fee, month-to-month	$599/employee/month	$699/employee/month	Verified — the $100 gap exists only here
Stated EOR footprint	Conflicting — Deel's own pages state 130+ and 150+ (see the country-count note below)	90+ countries	Verified with limitation — provider-stated; Deel's figures conflict across its own pages
Contractor management fee	$49/contractor/month	$29/contractor/month	Verified
Deposit or reserve on an EOR hire	Deposit on every hire, standard 1–1.5× total monthly charges	No upfront deposit; reserves in rare high-risk cases, and automatic on two named contract terms	Verified — both from provider help centres, not pricing pages
Published FX treatment	Described as competitive; no figure published	Mid-market plus 1% on the startups page; unquantified in general pricing terms	Verified with limitation — one figure, one promotional page
Published discount offers	No EOR discount; a US PEO promotion carries a two-year term	15% for 12 months, stated eligibility, EOR included	Verified
What these figures are not	Service fee only	Service fee only	Applies to both columns: excludes salary, statutory employer cost, mandatory additional compensation, benefits, deposits and reserves, FX, service taxes, and one-time fees

Check the hiring path before comparing providers

Provider choice is the last gate, not the first. Run the Five Gates Before a Shortlist in order:

1. Exact worker country and worksite. The provider must support employment in that jurisdiction for that arrangement. Country availability is a gate, not a score: the provider must support the exact worker, worksite, and service arrangement — a larger country count proves nothing about your country. Availability is also not only a vendor question: several countries license the third-party employment and assignment of workers, and a provider's country count answers none of that. Start with the licensing check in the next section, then put the question to local employment counsel before you compare fees.
2. Employee or genuine contractor. If the relationship looks like employment, contractor tooling does not make it lawful; review contractor misclassification risk before choosing a payment product.
3. Entity status. If you already operate a local entity, payroll — not an EOR — may be the relevant product. For US headcount specifically, a PEO co-employment arrangement is a third and legally different option; both providers sell one.
4. Service category. An employer of record is a company that becomes the legal employer of your worker in that worker's country while your business keeps day-to-day direction of the work. Confirm you need what an employer of record does rather than global payroll, contractor management, a PEO, or your own entity.
5. Escalation flags. Immigration needs, permanent-establishment exposure, works councils (statutory employee-representation bodies, common in Europe and often decisive), data-protection requirements, and IP questions call for qualified legal, tax, or immigration advice; no provider selection resolves them by itself.

First action: define one hiring scenario — country, worker type, salary, currency, benefits, start date, headcount, term — and send identical quote requests to both providers, requiring line-item answers. Everything below tells you what to compare when the quotes come back.

Is an EOR arrangement even permitted where your worker sits?

In several countries the activity is regulated, not just the employer. Placing a worker on a third party's payroll to work under your direction can fall inside a licensed regime for temporary work agencies, labour leasing, or personnel supply — and where it does, using an unlicensed provider can transfer the employment relationship to you, which is the opposite of what an EOR is bought for. Neither Deel nor Remote publishes a licensing position by country, and no provider's country count answers this question.

Scope of this table. It covers the ten countries in the EOR Hub country programme. It states the governing regime and the authority for each, not whether Deel, Remote, or any other provider holds a licence there — that is a fact about a specific local entity and it belongs in your quote and your counsel's file, not in a comparison table. For any country not listed, the equivalent authority is the national labour ministry or labour inspectorate of the worker's country; ask the provider to name the regime and the authority, and confirm with local counsel. Sources are national-language government or court publications; regimes were checked August 8, 2026, are rechecked on this site's monthly-to-quarterly cadence and immediately on any known legal change, and do change frequently.

Country	Regime and authority	What it means before you sign
Portugal	Temporary assignment of workers licensed by the Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP) under Decreto-Lei n.º 260/2009 and Código do Trabalho arts. 172.º–192.º; public national register of licensed agencies with alvará numbers	Contracts made by an unlicensed agency are null, and the worker is treated as permanently employed by the user company. Check the named local entity against the IEFP register.
Spain	Empresas de trabajo temporal require administrative authorisation from the competent labour authority under Ley 14/1994; public register; financial guarantee required	Ask for the authorisation number and the authority that granted it — Spanish law requires the agency to state both in its own advertising.
Germany	Arbeitnehmerüberlassung requires a permit (Erlaubnis) from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit under §1 AÜG	Without the permit, §§9 and 10 AÜG deem an employment relationship between the worker and the hirer — the client company. The permit must exist before the assignment begins.
Poland	Temporary-work services require entry in the national register of employment agencies (KRAZ), certified by the marszałek województwa; enforced by the Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy. Register and requirements	Foreign providers supplying temporary work in Poland must hold a Polish KRAZ entry. The register is public and free to search.
Brazil	Temporary-work companies must be registered with the labour ministry under Lei 6.019/1974 as amended by Lei 13.429/2017; see the Tribunal Superior do Trabalho summary	TST Súmula 331 treats the hiring of workers through an interposed company as unlawful outside the temporary-work regime, forming the employment bond directly with the taker of the services.
Mexico	Personnel subcontracting is prohibited by the 2021 Ley Federal del Trabajo reform. Specialised services outside the client's preponderant activity are permitted only where the provider holds a current REPSE registration with the STPS	The strictest regime in this set. The contracting company can be treated as jointly liable. The REPSE register is public and searchable by tax ID; registrations expire and must be renewed.
Colombia	Sending workers on assignment is reserved to authorised empresas de servicios temporales under Ley 50 de 1990 and Decreto 4369 de 2006, now consolidated in Decreto 1072 de 2015; authorised by the Ministerio del Trabajo	Only authorised ESTs may perform labour intermediation, and only for temporary needs. Colombian rules on outsourcing and labour intermediation have been actively revised in recent years — confirm the current position with local counsel rather than with a vendor page.
India	Supply of contract labour is licensed under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, with dual obligations: the principal employer registers, the contractor licenses. State rules vary	Applicability to a single remote employee, where the client has no Indian establishment, is genuinely unsettled. This is a counsel question before it is a vendor question.
Philippines	Contractors and subcontractors must be registered with the Department of Labor and Employment under Department Order 174-17; labour-only contracting is absolutely prohibited	Failure to register raises a presumption of labour-only contracting, and a finding of labour-only contracting makes the principal the direct employer of the workers.
Canada (Ontario)	Temporary help agencies must hold a licence under the Employment Standards Act, 2000; in force July 1, 2024. Licence rules and public status lookup	Sub-national: this is Ontario, not Canada-wide. Clients are prohibited from knowingly using an unlicensed agency, and licence status is publicly checkable by name.

Whether a specific EOR arrangement falls inside any of these regimes turns on the facts — who directs the work, how long the assignment runs, whether the worker is integrated into your organisation — and it is contested in several of these countries. Nothing above is legal advice or a finding about any provider. Use it for three things: ask each provider to name the regime it operates under in your target country, ask it to name its local employing entity, and give both answers to local employment counsel before signature.

Deel and Remote compared on the fields that change the decision

Pricing, coverage, entity, discount, deposit, FX and contract-posture fields were checked August 8, 2026 against each provider's current public pricing, product and help-centre documentation. Security certifications and integration listings carry the July 20, 2026 review and are rechecked on the publication day. Fields marked Quote required or Not publicly documented could not be closed from public documentation — treat them as open questions for the quote, not as zeros.

Decision field	Deel	Remote	Evidence status
EOR service fee	$599/employee/month, no annual commitment published	$599/employee/month billed annually; $699 billed monthly	Verified — the $100 gap exists only on month-to-month billing
Pricing currency	Displayed in USD	Displayed in twelve currencies	Verified with limitation — display currency is not necessarily contractual billing currency
Exact-country availability	Country hiring guides; confirm per country in the quote	Country Explorer; confirm per country in the quote	Quote required (both) — coverage pages are vendor marketing, not authority on local law
Stated EOR country reach	Conflicting — Deel's own pages state 130+ and 150+, and they do not agree on which figure is the EOR count (see the country-count note below)	90+ countries for EOR; 80+ in Remote's own comparison table	Verified with limitation — provider-stated, and each figure conflicts with another on the same provider's site
Employing-entity model	States it owns entities and payroll infrastructure across its EOR footprint	States it owns and operates 100% of its EOR entities with no third-party handoffs	Vendor-stated — named entity needs contract confirmation
Local licence or authorisation to employ on assignment	Not published by country	Not published by country	Not publicly documented (both) — see the licensing table above and ask in the quote
PEO / co-employment	US PEO at $125/employee/month	US PEO from $99/employee/month, billed in USD, US bank account required	Verified — separate product, US scope; never mix with EOR pricing
Indemnity and liability	States compliance risk transfers under its EOR service	States unlimited indemnity for EOR customers	Vendor-stated — scope, caps and exclusions are contract questions
IP assignment	States IP passes through to the customer under its contracts	Named IP-protection product covering transfers and moral-rights waivers where permitted	Vendor-stated — confirm treatment for the target country
Advertised onboarding timing	"As little as one day"	Two-day average, footnoted to a stated 2.3-day internal average	Vendor-stated — conditional, not an SLA
Benefits administration	Country-specific; terms not in public pricing	Country-specific; terms not in public pricing	Quote required — ask pass-through vs. markup
Payroll cutoff and funding	EOR invoices issued on the 23rd; amendments due by the 20th	Cutoff is the 16th in many countries, with named country exceptions	Verified with limitation (both) — varies by country; confirm your countries' calendar
Contractor management	$49/contractor/month	$29/contractor/month; $99 Plus tier states indemnity up to $100,000 per contractor	Verified — separate product from EOR
Contractor of Record	$325/month	From $325/month, uncapped indemnity stated	Verified
Adjacent products and services	Global payroll, HRIS and immigration are separate product lines; dedicated implementation manager stated	Global payroll, HRIS and immigration are separate product lines; dedicated implementation specialist stated	Vendor-stated — never mix with EOR pricing; immigration scope and fees are outside this page's evidence
Integrations and API	App store and API; no Deel-side integration fee stated	Published integration list and API	Verified with limitation — confirm plan and data-flow scope
Support channels and escalation	24/7 support statements	In-house support statements	Vendor-stated
Setup fees	Month-to-month claim; EOR setup terms not fully public	No EOR setup or platform fee stated	Deel: Partial · Remote: Verified with limitation
Deposit or reserve on an EOR hire	Deposit charged on every EOR hire; standard 1–1.5× total monthly charges, higher on named contract terms	No upfront deposit; reserves in rare high-risk circumstances, and automatic for extended notice periods and seniority recognition	Verified (both) — from help-centre documentation, not pricing pages; confirm the current formula in the quote
FX method	Described as competitive / minimal-fee; no figure published	Mid-market rate plus 1%, stated on the startups page; the general pricing page describes a Remote FX rate that varies by currency pair without a figure	Deel: Partial · Remote: Verified with limitation — promotional-page figure, not general pricing terms; confirm on a sample invoice
Published discount offers	No EOR discount published; a US PEO promotion credits three months of platform fees, requires a minimum two-year term, and requires full list-price repayment on early termination	15% for 12 months across core services including EOR; eligibility is pre-seed, seed or Series A funding raised from a VC, accelerator, incubator or similar organisation; a further 5% is offered for introducing an investor not already partnered, to a stated 20% ceiling	Verified (both)
What happens when a discount ends	No EOR discount published	The account reverts automatically to full list price at month 13, with no action required	Verified
Minimums	Not fully verified for EOR	No minimums stated; some services billed separately	Deel: Partial · Remote: Verified with limitation
Contract term and cancellation	Month-to-month, no long-term commitment claim; agreement not reviewed	No contract lengths or exclusivity stated; cancellation detail not contract-verified	Partial (both) — the order form controls
Off-cycle and termination fees	Not in public pricing	Off-cycle request deadline published; some countries cannot process off-cycle runs at all	Deel: Quote required · Remote: Verified with limitation — fees still quote-required
Security documentation	SOC 1/2/3, ISO 27001, GDPR statements	ISO 27001, SOC 2, CSA STAR Level 1; trust center	Verified with limitation — certificate scope and validity are procurement checks
DPA and subprocessors	Not reviewed in this evidence set	Trust-center resources available; not reviewed	Blocked for definitive claims — procurement review
Offboarding and employee transfer	Deposit-refund mechanics published; transfer terms not published	Reserve mechanics published; transfer terms not published	Quote required (both) — get written transition terms

Read the matrix for asymmetries, not totals. On public evidence, Deel leads on stated footprint breadth and on billing flexibility at the lower fee; Remote leads on contractor-management price, on upfront cash requirement, on a displayed startup discount, and on a stated unlimited indemnity. The rest of what determines real cost and real risk — contracts, termination fees, benefits markups, transfer terms — is symmetric only in the sense that neither provider publishes it. A provider's claim that it owns an entity should be confirmed against the named employing entity and contract for the target country; both companies' ownership statements are marketing-page claims until your paperwork names the entity.

Owned entity, partner, or undisclosed: what the operating model changes

The operating model determines who your worker's legal employer actually is and who answers when something goes wrong.

Model	Who employs the worker	What it changes for the buyer
Owned / direct entity	The provider's own local entity	One accountable party; escalation and data flows stay inside one company — still verify the named entity
Local partner	A third-party employer contracted by the provider	Adds a party to cost, data flow, and escalation; ask who answers for a payroll error
Mixed	Owned in some countries, partnered in others	The model varies by country — confirm per target country, not per brochure
Undisclosed	Not stated in public documentation	Treat as "Operating model not verified" and require disclosure in the quote

Both Deel and Remote publish owned-entity claims (matrix row above). Under this site's evidence vocabulary, those remain vendor-stated until the named employing entity appears in your quote or contract.

Where each provider's own pages disagree

Four figures in the matrix conflict with figures the same company publishes elsewhere, and you should know which one you are being quoted.

• Deel's country count. Deel's own pages disagree: its EOR product/pricing pages state one figure and its site-wide statistics block another (130+ and 150+, checked Aug 8, 2026); confirm the current count with Deel before relying on it.
• Remote's country count. Its EOR and pricing pages state 90+ countries; its own startup comparison table states 80+.
• Remote's own price display. Its pricing page card shows $699 per employee per month with no annual option displayed; the FAQ on its EOR product page carries both $599 annual and $699 monthly. If you read only the pricing page, you will overstate Remote's fee by $100 a month — which is exactly how the "$100 cheaper" claim about Deel entered this category.
• Remote's FX treatment. Its startups page states mid-market plus 1%. Its general pricing page describes a Remote FX rate that varies over time and by currency pair, with no figure attached. Treat 1% as a figure published on a promotional page rather than a contractual ceiling, and ask to see it on a sample invoice.

Where a provider's own pages disagree, this page discloses the conflict rather than picking the more convenient number, and uses a product-specific figure only where the provider's own pages make clear which one that is.

How this comparison was built

This page compares only Deel and Remote because it owns the direct head-to-head decision; no other providers were evaluated here, and no judgment about them is implied — the broader market belongs to the shortlist page. Every field uses first-party provider documentation opened on the check date, the same fields and source standard for both vendors, and a visible evidence status wherever public documentation could not close the question. Where a commercial term is absent from a pricing page, the provider's own help centre is checked before the field is recorded as unavailable — on this revision that changed the deposit, payroll-cutoff, off-cycle and discount-expiry rows on both sides. Neither provider's comparison page was used as a source for the other: Remote's comparison table currently states a Deel price that does not match Deel's own published figure (checked August 8, 2026), which is the reason for the rule. No weighted score or ranking is used; the page identifies the decisive field for each buyer situation instead. Volatile facts — prices, coverage statements, discounts, deposit and FX language, support and security claims — are rechecked on the day of publication and reviewed monthly to quarterly afterward. Licensing regimes are reviewed at the same cadence and on any known legal change.

EOR Hub is an independent editorial publisher. It is not an employer of record, a PEO, a payroll processor, a law firm, or a tax or immigration adviser, and this page is general information about provider selection rather than advice on your situation. How this page is funded: EOR Hub is supported by advertising and, on some pages, disclosed referral links. No provider has paid for placement, ordering, or inclusion on this page, and compensation never determines what is included or how it is ranked. If a compensated link is added to this page, it will be disclosed here. Neither provider reviewed this page before publication. Corrections are welcome from readers and from either provider named here at hello@eorhub.com; corrected figures carry a new check date.

What does a Deel or Remote employee actually cost in year one?

Figures below use list prices checked August 8, 2026.

The service fee is the smallest number in an employer-of-record decision, and the one buyers argue about most. At list, the arithmetic is simple: Deel's EOR service fee comes to $599 × 12 = $7,188 per employee per year. Remote's comes to the same $7,188 on annual billing, or $8,388 month-to-month. Remote's published 15% startup discount, where a company qualifies, brings its first twelve months to $6,109.80 on the annual basis or $7,129.80 monthly, after which the account reverts to full list price automatically. Those are list-price mechanics, not a total-cost conclusion.

What the service fee excludes

The list fee excludes most of what you will actually pay: gross salary, statutory employer contributions, mandatory additional compensation, benefits and any benefits markup, deposits or reserves, FX costs, setup and other one-time fees, service taxes, and off-cycle, immigration, or termination charges. Compare quotes with the Two-Number Rule — two totals, kept separate, never added:

Comparable year-one nonrefundable provider cost = (monthly service fee × active months) + setup and onboarding fees + nonrefundable add-ons + benefits markups + FX cost + service taxes + off-cycle, immigration, and termination charges.

Total employer cash requirement = gross salary + statutory employer cost + mandatory compensation + selected benefits + provider cost + refundable deposit or reserve.

Refundable deposits and reserves affect cash flow even when they are not expenses. Show them on their own line; a "cheaper" provider that ties up a month and a half of total payroll can be the more expensive one for a cash-constrained company.

Deposits and reserves: the cash line neither pricing page shows

This is the largest published difference between the two providers, and neither pricing page carries it. Both companies document it in their help centres.

Line	Deel	Remote
Charged on an EOR hire?	Yes, on every hire	No upfront deposit; a reserve in stated circumstances
Standard amount	1 to 1.5 times all monthly charges — salary, employer costs, fixed allowances and management fees	Not published as a formula
Country variation	Stated to be higher where termination carries increased financial risk	Reserve decisions consider account exposure
Automatic escalations	Removing probation: 2 months. PTO more than 8 days above the legal minimum: 2 months. Each notice month beyond one: one further month. Transferring an EOR with accrued benefits: 2 months. Variable compensation above $100k: reviewed case by case, with the full amount deposited for Israel, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Combined changes are capped at 2 months except for the incentive and notice cases	Automatic for extended notice periods and for seniority recognition; consistent late payment can also trigger one
Severance accrual	Documented separately for EOR employees — confirm whether it applies in your country and how it is billed	Its pricing page states it does not charge for monthly severance accruals
Refund	After termination or resignation and settlement of the final invoice; FX applied if the refund account is in a different currency from the deposit	Not published
Source and date	Deel help centre, page updated January 6, 2025, checked August 8, 2026	Remote help centre, page updated July 6, 2026, checked August 8, 2026

Two things follow for a buyer. First, the escalation triggers are not exotic — waiving probation, offering generous leave, and giving a longer notice period are ordinary things a company does to win a senior candidate, and on one side of this comparison each of them doubles the cash held. Second, Deel's deposit page carries a January 2025 update date, which is old relative to how fast this category moves, so ask for the current deposit formula in writing rather than relying on the published one.

What the stack actually looks like: one hire in Portugal

Assumptions, stated so you can change them: one employee in Portugal on a permanent contract under the general social-security regime, employed by a for-profit entity, at a base salary of €3,500 a month for a full calendar year. Portuguese pay runs on fourteen payments because the Christmas subsidy (Código do Trabalho, art. 263) and the holiday subsidy (art. 264) are statutory, each worth about a month's pay for a full year of service. Employment lines are in euros and service fees in US dollars, because that is how each is actually billed.

Line	Amount	Basis
Gross pay, 14 payments of €3,500	€49,000	Portugal; salary is a modelling assumption, the 13th and 14th payments are statutory
Employer social security at 23.75%	€11,637.50	Portugal, general regime, for-profit employer, rate as published May 26, 2026; the worker's own 11% is withheld from pay and is not an employer cost
Social security subtotal	€60,637.50	Portugal; before work-accident insurance, benefits, provider fee, FX and deposit
Work-accident insurance	Mandatory; not modelled	Portugal; compulsory for employers under Lei n.º 98/2009, supervised by the ASF. The premium depends on risk class and insurer, so no figure is published here — ask each provider for the quoted rate
EOR service fee — Deel, year one	$7,188	$599 × 12
EOR service fee — Remote, annual billing	$7,188	$599 × 12
EOR service fee — Remote, month-to-month	$8,388	$699 × 12
EOR service fee — Remote with the 15% discount	$6,109.80 annual, $7,129.80 monthly	First 12 months only, and only if eligible; reverts to list automatically
FX on the euro remittance — Remote	about €606	1% over mid-market, Remote-stated on its startups page; applied to the full euro remittance of €60,637.50, not to gross pay alone
FX on the euro remittance — Deel	Not quantified	Deel describes competitive rates without publishing a figure
Refundable deposit — Deel	about €4,330 to €6,500, plus 1 to 1.5 months of the service fee	Portugal; cash-flow line, not an expense. 1–1.5 × monthly charges of €3,500 salary + €831.25 employer social security, plus the same multiple of the monthly fee, which is billed in dollars
Refundable deposit — Remote	None stated upfront	Portugal; cash-flow line; a reserve applies automatically if you extend notice or recognise seniority

On the fee path alone, low, base and high run like this: low is $6,109.80, Remote on annual billing with the startup discount; base is $7,188, either provider at list on annual billing; high is $8,388, Remote month-to-month. That is a spread of $2,278.20, and the single line driving it is the fee path: billing basis first, discount eligibility second.

But the fee path is not the largest number a finance team has to plan for. The line above it — €60,637.50 of social security and gross pay — does not move for either provider, because Portuguese law sets it rather than the vendor. And the cash line beneath it moves more than the fee spread does: Deel's deposit on this hire is roughly €4,330 to €6,500 plus one to one and a half months of fee, against nothing upfront at Remote. On a single Portuguese hire, the deposit difference is larger than the entire year-one service-fee difference the category argues about. Waive probation or extend notice and it doubles.

The euro and dollar columns also cannot simply be added: payroll runs in euros and the fee is billed in dollars, so a conversion sits between them — and that conversion is a real cost line that one provider quantifies and the other does not. At Remote's stated 1% it is worth roughly €606 a year on this salary alone, which is not a rounding error on a decision people make on a $100 monthly difference.

The two numbers, for this hire. Applying the Two-Number Rule to the Portugal example, and keeping the currencies apart:

Number	Low	Base	High
Year-one nonrefundable provider cost (billed in USD)	$6,109.80 — Remote, annual billing, startup discount	$7,188 — either provider, annual billing, list	$8,388 — Remote, month-to-month
Total employer cash requirement (billed in EUR)	€60,637.50 — Remote, no upfront deposit	€60,637.50 + about €4,330 refundable — Deel at the bottom of its deposit range	€60,637.50 + about €6,500 refundable, or more on escalated contract terms — Deel at the top of its range

Both rows exclude items neither provider publishes: benefits and any markup, mandatory work-accident insurance, service taxes on the fee, and off-cycle, immigration or termination charges. Remote's FX at 1% adds roughly €606 to the euro column; Deel's is unquantified. Deel's deposit is refundable and is a cash-flow line rather than an expense, which is exactly why it belongs in the second number and not the first.

This is a modelled example, not a quote, a legal opinion, or a guaranteed payroll result. Beyond the exclusions above, any collective agreement applying to the role, immigration costs, and termination or severance provisioning are each a real line for a real hire. Portuguese employer contributions fall due between the 10th and the 25th of the month after the month they cover according to the government service page cited above; some Portuguese payroll guidance states the 20th, so confirm the operative deadline with your provider and check it against their payroll cutoff and funding dates.

Force comparability with one worksheet

Send the Identical-Scenario Worksheet below to both providers unchanged. A provider that will not answer a line item in writing has answered it.

Input	You hold constant	Require from each provider
Country and worksite	Exact jurisdiction	Available or not; named employing entity; direct, partner, or not disclosed; the licensing regime it operates under locally
Worker and service type	Employee EOR, contractor, Contractor of Record, PEO, or payroll	Exact product and exclusions
Compensation	Salary, frequency, currency, variable pay	Local-currency payroll assumptions and billing currency
Start date, term, headcount	Same dates and count	Prerequisites, cutoff, minimums, discount period and what happens when it ends
Benefits	Same mandatory and optional package	Pass-through vs. markup, admin fees, enrollment timing
Service fee	Same active months	Monthly fee, billing basis, tier or discount, minimum, setup fee
Deposit / reserve	Same salary and contract terms	Amount, formula, which contract terms increase it, refund timing, interest, offset rights
FX	Same invoice and payroll currencies	Rate source, spread, conversion timing, invoice visibility
Additional services	Same immigration, off-cycle, equipment, termination needs	Unit price; optional or mandatory
Contract and exit	Same term and notice	Cancellation, renewal, employee transfer, data return
Support and implementation	Same countries and hours	Named roles, channels, escalation, response targets
Security and data	Same data and integration scope	DPA, subprocessor list, certificate scope and date
Indemnity	Same risk scenarios	Scope, caps, exclusions, and what triggers a claim

Service taxes on the fee and any permanent-establishment question raised by your own activity in the country are tax questions, not procurement ones — put them to a qualified tax adviser before signature. For fee structures, deposits, and the full quote math in depth, see how EOR pricing works.

Choose Deel, choose Remote, or choose neither

Choose Deel when

• The target countries sit inside Deel's stated EOR footprint — Deel's own pages state both 130+ and 150+, so confirm the current count and your exact country in the quote.
• You need month-to-month billing without giving up the lower fee: Deel publishes $599 with no annual commitment, while Remote's $599 requires annual payment.
• You run, or plan to run, a mixed workforce of employees and contractors and want them administered in one stack.
• You value the breadth of the published app ecosystem and API, subject to plan and data-scope confirmation.
• Working capital is not the constraint: Deel's published deposit is 1 to 1.5 times total monthly charges per hire, and you can carry that across your planned headcount.

Not ideal when: cash is tight — the deposit is charged on every hire and doubles on several ordinary contract terms; or your finance team needs a contractual FX spread before engaging sales, which Deel does not publish; or your decision hinges on a startup discount, which Deel's published EOR pricing does not offer.

Confirm in the quote: (1) the current deposit formula per target country, which of the published escalation triggers your contract terms hit, and the refund timeline; (2) FX rate source, spread, and invoice treatment; (3) the named employing entity for each target country, the licensing regime it operates under locally, and whether any third party is involved; (4) EOR setup fees, minimums, and the full termination and off-cycle fee schedule.

Choose Remote when

• You qualify for the published 15% discount — pre-seed, seed, or Series A funding raised from a VC, accelerator, or incubator — which puts the EOR fee below Deel's list for twelve months.
• Upfront cash matters: Remote states no upfront deposit, against a deposit on every hire at Deel.
• You want an FX figure you can hold a provider to: Remote publishes mid-market plus 1% on its startups page, and Deel publishes no figure at all.
• Its claim of 100% owned EOR entities, and its stated unlimited indemnity for EOR customers, match what your compliance team is looking for — both verified against the named entity and the contract.
• You pay many contractors and $29 per contractor per month beats the alternative meaningfully.

Not ideal when: your target country falls outside Remote's stated 90+ EOR footprint, or you need month-to-month billing — on that basis Remote's fee is $100 per employee per month higher, and the annual rate is the only thing that closes the gap.

Confirm in the quote: (1) startup-discount eligibility, covered products, and the month-13 list-price reversion in writing; (2) whether mid-market plus 1% is a ceiling or a current setting, shown on a sample invoice, given that the general pricing terms carry no figure; (3) exactly which contract terms trigger an automatic reserve, how much, and refund timing; (4) the named employing entity, the licensing regime it operates under locally, cancellation terms, and employee-transfer support.

Choose neither when

• You already operate local entities and mainly need payroll run correctly — a payroll product, not an EOR, is the comparison to make; for US headcount, a PEO is a third and legally different option that both providers sell.
• Planned headcount in one country is high and stable enough that your own entity may cost less and give more control: run the EOR vs opening an entity break-even first.
• The relationship is a genuine contractor engagement under the relevant jurisdiction's tests.
• The arrangement may not be lawfully available in the target country on the terms you need — Mexico and Colombia are the clearest cases in the licensing table above, and counsel should answer before procurement does.
• The role's budget covers the salary but not the statutory stack on top of it. Employer contributions, mandatory additional compensation, and benefits are set by the worker's country, not by the vendor, and no provider discount reaches them — reprice the role or change the country before you shortlist anyone.
• Neither provider passes the exact country, worker-type, feature, or contract check — in which case compare other EOR providers rather than forcing a bad fit.

If both providers pass your gates, break ties on three things, in order: the named employing entity and its terms in your target country, the year-one nonrefundable cost plus cash requirement from the worksheet, and the exit terms — cancellation, employee transfer, and data return. Features rarely decide this comparison; contracts do.

Deel or Remote: which fits your situation?

Your situation	Shortlist move	Verify before deciding
Early-stage, one to three hires, cash-sensitive	Quote both; let the billing-basis-adjusted, discounted total plus the deposit decide	Discount eligibility and the month-13 reversion; deposit formula and escalation triggers; named entity; benefits treatment
Mixed workforce of employees and contractors across several countries	Start with Deel; still quote Remote for the target countries	Per-country module and worker coverage; EOR and contractor pricing kept separate; FX method on both; total deposit across planned headcount
Established company already running local entities	Pause the EOR track; compare payroll paths, and PEO for US headcount	What an EOR adds over payroll; transfer and termination terms if consolidating workers
One hire in one specific country	Availability-led: quote whichever providers serve it	Named employing entity; the local licensing regime and counsel's view on whether the arrangement is available on your terms; deposit and FX in writing; termination-fee schedule
Converting contractors to employees in one country	Settle exposure with counsel first; only then quote both — Deel if the contractors already sit in its stack, Remote if the conversion is EOR-only	Whether past exposure is being addressed separately; conversion sequencing and start dates; contractor and EOR fees quoted separately
Acquired team in a new market, employment must transfer	Quote both, but lead with transfer mechanics rather than price	Continuity-of-employment treatment; whether accrued entitlements transfer; the cash consequence of recognising seniority, which raises the deposit on one side and triggers an automatic reserve on the other

The third row is really the entity-versus-EOR decision wearing provider clothing — resolve the service category before requesting any EOR quote, or the quotes will answer a question you should not be asking yet.

Run both vendors on the same card: reuse the procurement checklist below as the per-provider scorecard, item for item, rather than letting each demo set its own agenda. A field one provider answers and the other dodges is a finding, not a gap.

Onboarding, support, and exiting an EOR

Onboarding is a dependency chain

The comparison does not end at signature. Onboarding is a dependency chain, and the provider controls only part of it: the local employment contract and its language requirements, the worker's documents, any registrations, benefits enrollment, the payroll cutoff, and first payroll funding all have to land in sequence. Deel advertises onboarding in as little as one day and Remote advertises a two-day average footnoted to its own internal figure of 2.3 days; both are conditional vendor claims about their side of the chain. Provider-advertised onboarding speed is a conditional claim, not an SLA. Both publish payroll calendars in their help centres — Deel issues EOR invoices on the 23rd with amendments due by the 20th, and Remote's cutoff is the 16th in many countries with named exceptions — so ask which cutoff applies to your countries, who owns each onboarding step, which documents are prerequisites, and when funding must arrive for the first run to succeed.

What to test in the demo

For ongoing operations, test three things in the demo. First, support and escalation: when a country-specific payroll error occurs, who is accountable, through which channel, and how fast — named roles beat channel lists. Second, integrations: both providers publish integration catalogs and APIs, but the fields that sync, the direction of sync, and the plan tier required are what determine whether your HRIS and accounting workflows actually work. Third, change handling: salary adjustments, expenses, time off, and off-cycle payments each have cutoffs and sometimes fees — and on both platforms, some of those changes also move the deposit or reserve.

Exit terms to get in writing

Exit deserves equal scrutiny before you sign, because switching providers or moving workers to your own entity is not an administrative toggle. Moving an employee between employing entities can require local termination and rehire steps, with notice, severance, and continuity-of-employment implications — continuity being the worker's unbroken service record, which in most countries drives notice periods and severance entitlements — take the sequence for your specific country to local employment counsel before you commit to a transfer date. Require a written answer on: cancellation notice and any early-termination charges, employee-transfer support, termination assistance and its fees, deposit or reserve refund timing and what it can be offset against, data return and deletion, and what happens to benefits mid-transition. Deel publishes deposit-refund mechanics; beyond that, neither provider's public documentation resolves these, and the agreement and order form do. Get the transition plan in writing while you still have negotiating leverage — that is, before signature.

What an EOR does not cover: risks that stay with you

An EOR takes on defined employment obligations — it does not take on your whole risk map. An EOR arrangement does not automatically remove permanent-establishment, tax, immigration, works-council, data-protection, IP, or past-classification risk. Your company's activities can still create a taxable presence; workers still need valid work authorization; employee-representation rules still apply where they exist; and your data-processing and IP arrangements still need review. Both providers publish IP and indemnity claims, and a published claim is not a contract term — read the assignment language and the indemnity's caps and exclusions before relying on either. Nor does an EOR arrangement answer the licensing question in the section above: where the model is regulated, the consequence of getting it wrong generally lands on the client, not the provider. Equally: switching the current arrangement does not automatically cure prior contractor misclassification — past exposure is judged on past facts in each jurisdiction. Route individualized questions to qualified legal, tax, or immigration advisers.

Before signature, complete this procurement check for whichever provider leads:

• Named employing entity and operating model for each target country, in the contract, with the local licensing regime identified
• Full agreement and order form: term, cancellation, renewal, indemnity scope, caps, and exclusions
• Line-item pricing: fee, billing basis, setup, minimums, off-cycle, immigration, termination charges
• Deposit or reserve: amount, formula, which contract terms increase it, trigger, refund terms and offset rights
• FX rate source, spread, and invoice treatment
• Benefits treatment: pass-through, markup, and enrollment timing
• Implementation plan with owners, documents, and cutoffs
• Security package: certificate scope and validity dates, DPA, subprocessor list
• Exit terms: transfer support, termination assistance, data return

Frequently asked questions

Is Deel cheaper than Remote?

Only on month-to-month billing, where Deel's $599 per employee per month is $100 lower than Remote's $699. On annual billing both publish $599 and there is no list-price gap at all. Then the cash picture reverses: Deel charges a deposit of 1 to 1.5 times total monthly charges on every EOR hire and Remote requires no upfront deposit, which on a mid-salary hire is worth more than the whole year-one fee difference.

Does Deel require a deposit for EOR employees?

Yes. Deel's help centre states a deposit is charged for every EOR hire, standard 1 to 1.5 times all monthly charges including salary, employer costs, fixed allowances and management fees, higher where termination carries increased financial risk, and rising to two months on several ordinary contract terms such as removing probation or granting leave well above the legal minimum. It is refundable after termination and settlement. Remote states no upfront deposit but applies automatic reserves for extended notice periods and seniority recognition.

Which is better for startups: Deel or Remote?

Remote publishes a 15% discount for twelve months covering the EOR product, open to companies that have raised pre-seed, seed, or Series A funding from a VC, accelerator, or incubator — enough to put it below Deel's list while it lasts, with a further 5% offered for introducing an unpartnered investor. Its no-upfront-deposit posture usually matters more to an early-stage cash plan than the discount does. Deel may fit startups running mixed employee-and-contractor teams. Eligibility, exact-country fit, and the automatic reversion to list price in month 13 decide this, not the label.

Do Deel and Remote employ workers through their own entities?

Both publish direct-ownership claims: Deel states it owns entities across its EOR footprint, and Remote states it owns 100% of its EOR entities. Treat both as vendor statements — confirm the named employing entity, and the licensing regime it operates under, for your target country in the quote and contract.

EOR, PEO, or payroll: which do I need if I already have an entity?

With a local entity in place, an EOR adds a legal employer you may not need, and global or local payroll is usually the relevant comparison. For US headcount there is a third option: a PEO, which is a co-employment arrangement rather than a substitute employer and is legally different from an EOR. Both providers sell one. See EOR vs PEO for how the two models differ.

Can switching to a new EOR fix past contractor misclassification?

No. A new EOR arrangement does not automatically cure earlier misclassification exposure, which is judged on the past facts in each jurisdiction. Escalate specifics to qualified counsel, and see contractor misclassification risk for how the tests work.

How long does onboarding through Deel or Remote take?

Commonly days to a few weeks, and the range is set by the country rather than the platform. The clock runs on the slowest dependency: the local employment contract and worker documents, any required registrations, the payroll cutoff for that country, first payroll funding, and work authorization where it applies. Provider-advertised averages — one day on one side, a footnoted 2.3-day internal average on the other — are conditional claims, not commitments.

How much does an EOR cost per employee?

As of August 8, 2026, the two providers compared here both publish an EOR list fee of $599 per employee per month, with Remote's rate requiring annual payment and its month-to-month rate at $699. List price is not total cost: in the Portugal example above, statutory employer cost is many times the annual service fee, and benefits, deposits, FX, and one-time fees sit on top of both. See how EOR pricing works for fee structures and the full quote math.

Next step: send both providers the same scenario

Define your hiring scenario once — country, worker type, salary, currency, benefits, start date, headcount, term — copy the Identical-Scenario Worksheet above, and send the same inputs to Deel and Remote. Require line-item answers for entity, licensing regime, service fee and billing basis, benefits, deposit or reserve, FX, implementation, support, contract, indemnity, and exit. Three readers need different things back: finance needs the billing basis, the deposit formula and the FX spread before it can model year one; legal needs the named employing entity, the local licensing position, the indemnity's caps and exclusions, and the transfer terms; HR needs the onboarding prerequisites, the payroll cutoff and the benefits enrollment timing. Then compare the two numbers from the Two-Number Rule: year-one nonrefundable cost, and total employer cash requirement. Decide country by country. Until those quotes are on the table, neither provider has earned the decision.

Sources and last verified date

Last verified: August 8, 2026

Next review: November 8, 2026

• Pricing — Deel — EOR list price ($599), contractor management ($49), Contractor of Record ($325), US PEO ($125), one of Deel's two conflicting country-count figures (see the country-count note above), month-to-month claim, FX wording, and the US PEO promotional terms.
• Employer of Record product page — Deel — owned-entity and payroll-infrastructure statements, support and onboarding-timing claims, the other of Deel's two conflicting country-count figures (see the country-count note above), and IP contract language.
• About EOR Deposit Calculations — Deel Help Centre — deposit charged on every EOR hire, the 1–1.5× monthly-charges standard, country and contract-term escalations, and refund mechanics; page updated January 6, 2025.
• About Severance Payment Accrual For EOR Employees — Deel Help Centre — that severance accrual is documented separately from the deposit.
• Frequently Asked Questions About EOR Invoices — Deel Help Centre — EOR invoice issue date and the amendment cutoff.
• Integrations — Deel — app store and API availability and integration-fee statement.
• Security — Deel — published SOC 1/2/3, ISO 27001, and GDPR statements.
• Pricing — Remote — EOR list price ($699 monthly), contractor management ($29 and $99 Plus with stated indemnity), Contractor of Record (from $325), US PEO (from $99), twelve display currencies, 90+ country statement, no-upfront-deposit and reserve posture, the severance-accrual comparison, the unquantified Remote FX rate, and no-setup-fee and no-minimum statements.
• Employer of Record product page — Remote — $599 annual and $699 monthly EOR pricing, 100% owned-entity claim, unlimited indemnity statement, IP protection product, specialist support, and the footnoted onboarding-time claim.
• Remote for Startups — Remote — 15% discount terms, eligibility criteria, covered products, the additional investor-introduction discount, the stated mid-market-plus-1% exchange fee, and the 80+ country figure.
• What is a reserve payment? — Remote Help Centre — reserves limited to EOR and Contractor of Record, the factors considered, and automatic application for extended notice periods and seniority recognition; page updated July 6, 2026.
• How long is the startup discount valid for? — Remote Help Centre — automatic reversion to full list price after the 12-month discount period.
• What is the payroll cutoff? — Remote Help Centre — EOR payroll cutoff dates and country exceptions.
• What is an off cycle payment? — Remote Help Centre — off-cycle request deadlines and countries where off-cycle runs are not possible.
• Integrations — Remote Help Center — named integrations and API availability.
• Security and compliance — Remote — ISO 27001, SOC 2, and CSA STAR Level 1 statements.
• Remote Trust Center — Remote — certificate, audit, and data-processing documentation access for procurement review.
• Contribuições para a Segurança Social — gov.pt, Instituto da Segurança Social — Portuguese employer contribution rate of 23.75% for for-profit employers, the worker's 11%, and the monthly payment window; page updated May 26, 2026.
• Código do Trabalho, art. 263.º — Diário da República — statutory Christmas subsidy of one month's pay; art. 264.º of the same consolidated code governs the holiday subsidy.
• Seguro de acidentes de trabalho — Autoridade de Supervisão de Seguros e Fundos de Pensões (ASF) — compulsory employer work-accident insurance in Portugal under Lei n.º 98/2009.
• Empresas de Trabalho Temporário — IEFP (Portugal) — licensing of temporary-work agencies under Decreto-Lei n.º 260/2009 and Código do Trabalho arts. 172.º–192.º, and the public national register.
• Ley 14/1994 de Empresas de Trabajo Temporal — Boletín Oficial del Estado (Spain) — administrative authorisation, the public register, the financial guarantee, and the duty to state the authorisation number.
• Erlaubnis zur Arbeitnehmerüberlassung — Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Germany) — permit requirement under the AÜG and the consequence of operating without one.
• Agencje zatrudnienia — biznes.gov.pl (Poland) — KRAZ registration for temporary-work services, including for foreign providers.
• Trabalho Temporário — Tribunal Superior do Trabalho (Brazil) — registration of temporary-work agencies under Lei 6.019/1974 and the treatment of hiring through an interposed company.
• Registro de Prestadoras de Servicios Especializados u Obras Especializadas (REPSE) — STPS (Mexico) — mandatory public registration for specialised-services providers following the prohibition of personnel subcontracting.
• Decreto 4369 de 2006 — Función Pública (Colombia) — authorisation of empresas de servicios temporales by the Ministerio del Trabajo and the limits on labour intermediation.
• Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 — Chief Labour Commissioner (India) — principal-employer registration and contractor licensing obligations.
• Department Order 174-17 — Department of Labor and Employment (Philippines) — mandatory contractor registration and the prohibition on labour-only contracting.
• Licensing for temporary help agencies and recruiters — Government of Ontario (Canada) — licence requirement in force July 1, 2024, the client prohibition on using unlicensed agencies, and the public status lookup.