Global payroll companies, and where an EOR fits in

Advertised prices, verified

Choosing between a global payroll company and an EOR

1. Confirm whether you have an entity in the country. If your company already employs people through its own registered entity in a country and the pain point is running payroll correctly there, a global payroll provider is the product you want. If you have no entity in that country at all, a global payroll company cannot solve your problem, because there is no local employer for it to run payroll on behalf of.
2. Compare the two price tiers, not one against the other directly. International payroll companies typically advertise a low per-employee monthly figure because they are only running calculations, filings and payslips for an employer that already exists; EOR fees sit far higher because the vendor is also standing in as the legal employer, which is a different and larger liability to price.
3. Check whether your vendor's platform covers both. Several vendors in this index sell an EOR product and a separate global payroll product side by side, aimed at the same buyer at different stages of growth. A company that starts a country on an EOR and later opens its own entity can often move payroll onto the same vendor's payroll platform without switching providers entirely, which is worth asking about before committing to either product.
4. Verify the country list separately for each product. A global payroll provider's country coverage and the same company's EOR coverage are not always the same list, since running payroll for an existing entity requires different local infrastructure than being the employer of record. Global payroll providers vary widely on this point, so check the specific product's own country guide rather than assuming coverage carries across from one to the other.

What a global payroll company actually does

A global payroll company takes the gross salary you already owe an employee through your own entity and turns it into a compliant net payment: calculating deductions, filing employer contributions, and issuing payslips, in the local currency and on the local payday rhythm, across however many countries you operate in. What it does not do is employ anyone. If you have no entity in a country, a global payroll provider has nothing to run payroll against there, which is the exact gap an EOR is built to fill instead. The distinction matters at renewal time too: buying a global payroll company's product for a country where you actually need an employer is a common and expensive mistake, and the reverse, paying EOR fees where you already have an entity, is the mirror image of the same mistake.

Common questions

Is a global payroll company the same as an EOR?

No. A global payroll company runs pay for employees you already employ through your own entities; an EOR is the legal employer where you have none. The two are priced very differently because they carry different risk, and several international payroll companies in this index sell both products separately rather than bundling them.

Which global payroll provider is cheapest?

The advertised per-employee prices in the table above are for the EOR product, since that is what this index tracks and verifies; global payroll pricing runs separately and lower at most vendors because it excludes the cost of being the legal employer. Check the specific vendor's payroll page rather than assuming its EOR figure applies.

Can one global payroll company handle every country I operate in?

Some vendors advertise very broad coverage, but depth varies by country the same way it does for EOR products. Ask a shortlisted global payroll provider for its own country guide for each market you operate in rather than relying on the total country count on its homepage.

Coverage by country

• Employer of record vendors covering Singapore
• Employer of record vendors covering Mexico
• Employer of record vendors covering Spain
• Employer of record vendors covering Colombia
• Employer of record vendors covering United Kingdom
• Employer of record vendors covering France
• Employer of record vendors covering Hungary
• Employer of record vendors covering New Zealand