# Employer of record cost: pricing models, published rates, and hidden fees > Machine-readable page from EOR Overview (https://eoroverview.com/), an independent research platform for Employer of Record services. > Canonical page: https://eoroverview.com/glossary/employer-of-record-cost/ > Methodology: how providers are researched, scored and compared is documented at https://eoroverview.com/methodology/. > Disclosure: EOR Overview is free to use. We may earn a referral fee from some providers; this never affects a rating or ranking position (https://eoroverview.com/disclosure/). An Employer of Record charges a service fee for taking on the legal employment of a worker abroad. That fee sits on top of the employee's gross salary, statutory employer contributions, and benefits, all of which pass through the EOR rather than count as its revenue. Understanding which part of an invoice is markup and which part is pass-through cost is the first step to comparing quotes correctly. ## Explanation What does an Employer of Record actually charge for? An EOR invoice has two distinct parts. The first is the service fee, the amount the provider keeps for running payroll, filing local taxes, drafting a compliant contract, and carrying the legal employer risk in that country. The second is the employment cost, which the EOR pays out on the employer's behalf: gross salary, statutory employer contributions, and any benefits the employer has selected. The employment cost is not profit for the EOR, it is a pass-through. Confusing the two is a common pricing mistake buyers make. A published entry price is quoting the service fee only. The salary, tax, and benefits that make up the rest of the monthly bill vary by country and by employee, and no directory or vendor can publish a single figure that covers them. How much does published EOR pricing run today? Most EOR providers do not publish a price at all. They collect company and headcount details and return a custom quote, often bundled with the local tax and benefits estimate for the specific country. Of the 147 providers listed on EOR Overview, only 35 publish an EOR entry price; the other 112 quote only. Among the 35 that do publish, entry prices run from $49.99 to $699 per employee per month, with a median of $349 on EOR Overview. That range says more about market positioning than about what any one employer will pay: a low entry price and a high entry price can both be defensible, depending on which countries, contract types, and support levels they include. Separately, 46 providers publish a contractor-management price, running from $9 to $300 per contractor per month, since contractor management is a lighter-weight service than full employment. Treat any published figure as a floor, not a forecast. It tells you what the cheapest plan or lowest-volume tier costs, not what a specific hire in a specific country will cost once salary and statutory contributions are added. For a full walk-through of what the term itself covers, see the Employer of Record glossary entry. To see current published entry prices side by side, the cheapest Employer of Record ranking pulls from the same 35 published prices described above. What are the different EOR pricing models, and what does each one hide? EOR providers price their service in one of a small number of ways: a flat fee per employee per month, a percentage of the employee's gross salary, or a tiered plan that bundles a fee with a fixed set of features. Each model shifts risk and predictability differently, and each has a place where its logic breaks down. A flat per-employee fee is the easiest to budget: the same number applies regardless of the employee's salary level. It suits companies making several hires of similar seniority. Where it breaks down is at the very top of the salary band, where a percentage model might have cost less, and at low salaries, where a flat fee can be a larger share of total cost than the buyer expects. A percentage-of-salary fee scales with pay, which suits companies making one or two senior hires where the provider's effort roughly tracks compensation. It becomes expensive for high earners, and it can also incentivise a provider to say less about efficiency, since its revenue rises with the client's payroll. Tiered plans bundle a base fee with a defined feature set, for example a lower tier with standard contracts and email support, and a higher tier with custom contracts, faster onboarding, or a dedicated account manager. The tier structure hides cost when a company is quoted the lowest tier during sales but has to move to a higher tier once it needs equity support, multi-country consolidation, or faster turnaround. Pricing modelHow it is calculatedWho it suitsWhat to watch Flat fee per employeeFixed monthly amount per head, regardless of salaryMultiple hires of similar seniority, predictable headcount growthCan overcharge on low salaries, undercharge the provider on very senior hires (may trigger a surcharge) Percentage of salaryA percentage of gross salary, billed monthly or annuallyOne or two senior hires where effort tracks compensationCost rises with every raise or bonus, unpredictable at scale Tiered plansBase fee tied to a defined feature bundle, higher tiers add servicesCompanies that know which features they need in advanceEntry tier quoted in sales, real need often requires a costlier tier later What does the total cost of employment through an EOR look like? The EOR service fee is usually the smallest line on the invoice. The larger cost is the employment itself: gross salary, statutory employer contributions (which vary by country and are set by local law, not by the EOR), and any benefits the employer has chosen to offer, such as private health cover or a pension top-up. Some providers also require a security deposit or advance payment to cover the first month or two of payroll before the client has an invoicing history with them. None of these components can be reduced to a single global number, because employer contribution rates, statutory benefits, and minimum wage floors are set country by country. A worked structure, without inventing figures for any one country, looks like this: ComponentPaid to whomPublished or quoted EOR service feeThe EOR providerPublished by 35 providers on EOR Overview, from $49.99 to $699 per employee per month; the rest quote Gross salaryThe employeeQuoted, set by the employer and local market rate, not published as a standard figure Employer statutory contributionsLocal tax or social security authorityQuoted, varies by country, check the local rule Benefits (health, pension, insurance)Insurer or benefits provider, via the EORQuoted, varies by country and plan selected Security deposit or advanceHeld by the EORQuoted, not standard across providers, ask directly When comparing two EOR quotes for the same hire, line up all five components separately rather than comparing the final total. A lower total can hide a higher service fee offset by a lower (and non-compliant) estimate of statutory contributions, which is a compliance risk as much as a pricing one. What hidden or one-off costs should buyers ask about? Beyond the recurring monthly components, a number of one-off or conditional costs show up on EOR contracts that do not always appear in the initial quote. Asking about each of these before signing avoids a surprise invoice later. - Setup or onboarding fee. A one-off charge for drafting the local contract and registering the employee, separate from the recurring monthly fee. - Offboarding fee. Some providers charge separately to process a termination, including calculating any statutory severance. - FX markup. Where the employer pays in one currency and the employee is paid in another, the provider's exchange rate may include a margin above the market rate. - Benefits administration fee. A separate charge for managing a health plan or pension on top of the base service fee. - Security deposit. An upfront sum, sometimes equivalent to one or more months of employment cost, held before the first payroll run. - Minimum contract term. Some plans require a minimum number of months of engagement, with an early-termination charge if the employer exits sooner. None of these are unusual on their own. The issue is when they are absent from the initial quote and appear only in the contract's fine print. Asking for a full fee schedule, not just the headline monthly price, is a reasonable request of any provider. How does EOR cost compare with opening a local entity? An EOR's monthly fee is a running cost that scales with headcount: hire ten people in a country and the fee is charged ten times, though many providers offer volume discounts. Opening a local entity is a fixed, largely one-off cost, paid regardless of whether the company hires one employee or fifty in that country, plus ongoing costs to keep the entity in good standing (local accounting, registered agent, statutory filings). The break-even point depends on headcount and time horizon in that specific country, and it is not the same calculation twice. A company hiring one or two people to test a market usually finds the EOR route cheaper in total, because it avoids entity setup and ongoing compliance costs entirely. A company planning a large, permanent team in one country over several years may find that an entity's fixed costs are lower per head once headcount rises. For a full breakdown of that trade-off, see Employer of Record vs setting up an entity. Global payroll is a related but distinct alternative, used when the company already has an entity in the country and only needs payroll processed through it, without the legal employment that an EOR provides. See global payroll for that comparison. How should buyers compare EOR quotes? Two quotes for the same hire, in the same country, can differ substantially once every line is accounted for. Separating fee from cost and asking each provider the same set of questions keeps the comparison fair, rather than judging providers on the headline number alone. Start by separating the service fee from the estimated employment cost on each quote, then compare the service fees directly against each other. Ask whether the employer contribution estimate is a firm figure or a placeholder, and whether it has been checked against the current local rate, since this is where compliance risk hides. Request the full fee schedule covering setup, offboarding, FX handling, benefits admin, and any minimum term or early-exit charge, because these rarely appear in the first quote unprompted. Confirm whether a security deposit is required, how much, and when it is returned, and check which pricing model applies (flat fee, percentage, or tier) so the quote can be projected forward if the employee's salary rises. Finally, ask what happens to the fee at renewal, since some providers discount the first year and raise the fee afterward, which changes the comparison once a multi-year horizon is considered. The compare tool on EOR Overview lines up published pricing and coverage across providers side by side. The provider directory and the top EOR rankings are useful starting points for narrowing a shortlist before requesting quotes. Frequently asked questions Is EOR pricing the same in every country? No. The service fee may be close to flat across countries for a given provider, but the employment cost, statutory contributions, and benefits all vary by country. Always request a country-specific quote. Why do most providers not publish a price? Because the total cost of employment depends on the country, the employee's salary, and the benefits selected, a single published number would be misleading for most buyers. Providers that do publish a price are usually publishing a starting service fee, not a total. Does a lower service fee always mean a cheaper hire? Not necessarily. A lower service fee paired with a poorly researched employer contribution estimate can create compliance risk and a higher total cost later. Compare the full fee schedule, not the headline number alone. Are contractor-management fees the same as EOR fees? No. Contractor management (paying an independent contractor compliantly) is priced separately and is typically far lower, from $9 to $300 per contractor per month among the 46 providers that publish this on EOR Overview, since it does not involve statutory employer contributions or benefits. Should buyers expect a discount at higher headcount? Many providers offer volume discounts, but these are negotiated case by case and are not part of any published pricing. Ask directly once headcount projections are known.