6 Best International Payroll Services 2023

Papaya Global is the only global payroll provider in this guide that offers a 60-day money-back guarantee if you are unsatisfied with its performance. It posts full pricing details online—though you still need to call for a precise quote. Rippling may show its starting price on its website but doesn’t specify for which of its several solutions. Meanwhile, the other international payroll services on our list may also share their pricing details online but only for some products.

Papaya Global will help you stay compliant with government and local tax laws, file tax forms, and process payments with third-party agencies like the IRS, national insurance, pension scheme, etc. Payroll payouts are made in the local currency and language and, if possible, through local bank transfers or direct deposits. Papaya Global’s acquisition of Azimo, a digital money transfer service, also enables it to offer fast cross-border payments (guaranteed payouts in 72 hours) to more than 150 countries.

Papaya Global handles hiring, onboarding, management support, employment compliance support, benefits management, and HR reporting. Its state-of-the-art employee and document management system securely stores all employee information and forms. And for those that use third-party business software, Papaya Global integrates with popular HRISes (SAP SuccessFactors and Workday), expense management tools (Expensify and SAP Concur), and ERP solutions (NetSuite). However, if you need robust integration options, consider Rippling, as it has a network of 500+ partner systems.

It has extensive human resources and payroll tools, statutory reports, customized reporting, and a general ledger. It also has a Payroll Intelligence Suite with business intelligence reporting, a feature unique to Papaya Global.

Unlike the other international payroll services we reviewed, Papaya Global offers immigration services that include obtaining work permits for expatriates and short-term assignments, residence permits, and spouse and family permits. Remote may also have a strong immigrant program but is targeted at refugees.

It has 24/7 phone and email support, online training documentation, and set-up assistance. Papaya Global also has in-house experts on labor laws, compensation and benefits benchmarks, and compliance to help you when needed.

Rippling syncs hours worked, PTO, benefits deductions, and taxes and withholdings automatically to process payroll in 90 seconds. You can make payroll payments by check or direct deposit where available. It calculates hours worked and deductions and processes employee payments in the appropriate currency via international wire. Rippling also automatically files payroll taxes for your global employees.

It provides HR and IT tools for microbusinesses to enterprises, has benefits support, files US payroll taxes, and helps manage onboarding and HR documents.

Rippling offers HR, payroll, and tax reporting. You can either use its extensive library of pre-built reports or configure your own payroll report. It even has Excel-like formulas that you can add to custom reports, allowing you to generate data showing calculations for tenure, fixed bonus amounts, and more.

Unlike Remote, Deel, and Oyster, Rippling can automatically track your employees’ time in/out, location, and activities in real time. You can also change employees’ pay rates as they move from one job to another.

With Rippling’s device and app management tools, employers can remotely manage and protect international employees’ devices. It can also help you set up and disable all of your employees’ business apps, like Google Workspace, Slack, and Microsoft 365. This is another unique feature for Rippling, which is not present with the other providers in this guide. Further, Rippling integrates with over 500 apps, so it’s extremely versatile. No other software on our list has this breadth of flexibility.

Large companies can deploy in weeks and small companies within an afternoon with Rippling. It has a user-friendly and intuitive interface. If you have questions about its features, you can contact its customer service reps via live chat, although one-on-one HR support is also available (but this is a paid option).

Deel is the only global payroll provider on our list that can pay employees and contractors in many different ways. Apart from bank transfers, your workers can receive salary payouts via Binance and Coinbase (as cryptocurrency), as well as through digital payment processors like Wise and Payoneer.

With Deel, you can provide global contract workers with a contractor card they can use to receive payroll and pay for personal purchases. It has virtual and physical versions—although the physical card doesn’t support ATM withdrawals. Note that the other providers on our list don’t offer a global contractor payroll card.

Aside from 24/7 in-app support and compliance assistance, Deel provides a dedicated representative to help with system setup and serve as your point person whenever you have queries about your account. Note, however, that the dedicated rep is only available to large businesses.

Subscribing to Deel’s higher plans provides you access to contractor misclassification protection, wherein Deel will cover costs of up to $25,000 in case there’s a misclassification issue. The amount covers all legal fees and tax penalties, as well as third-party indemnity costs. Apart from Oyster, none of the global payroll providers in this guide offer similar coverage.

Oyster may have discounted packages for nonprofit organizations and companies hiring refugees, but Remote’s plans are more budget-friendly. In addition to its discounted pricing and special packages for startups and social purpose organizations. Remote offers a free EoR solution for hiring refugees, something you won’t find with the other international payroll services on our list.

• Discounts for startups: Qualifying pre-seed, seed, and Series A businesses can get this and the following perks:
  • 25% off its EOR service for up to 10 employees for 12 months
  • 30% off its contractor management services for an unlimited number of contractors for 12 months
• Discounts for social purpose organizations: Qualifying nonprofits, charities, trusts, social enterprises, and benefits corporations get this. Its other special perks and discounts include:
  • 25% off its EoR service for up to 10 employees for 12 months
  • 30% off its contractor management services for an unlimited number of contractors for 12 months
  • Co-marketing opportunities
• Special plan for hiring refugees: Remote will act as a free EoR for your refugee talent. You can activate this when hiring a refugee who has the legal right to work in any country where Remote has an entity.

Remote’s contractor management solution lets you onboard contractors locally, pay them in their currency with zero exchange fees, manage their employment documents, and get 1099s for US contractors. The contractor platform works seamlessly with the employee payroll platform, so you don’t have to switch between the two.

Remote is not stingy with its information. The website contains a wealth of information about different country regulations and running HR; even if you don’t go with Remote, it’s worth exploring. The websites of other providers on our list may also have similar features, such as Papaya Global’s CountryPedia (which shows per-country payroll and employment details), but Remote’s is the most extensive.

Let Remote act as your employer abroad. It will onboard, pay, and manage contractors and employees. It provides HR support from local experts, as it has legal entities in every country it serves. Aside from offering competitive benefits, it tracks stock option plans and ensures your intellectual property and invention rights are protected. And while Papaya Global, Oyster, and Globalization Partners can help manage refugee hiring, Remote offers this service for free.

You can view and approve payroll for all of your global employees on a single platform. Once payroll is approved, you can send employees’ salary payouts in their local currency with just one click. Further, Remote supports over 100 currencies in 178 nations—and it does not charge interchange fees. It handles your local taxes and ensures you stay compliant with local regulations.

One of Oyster’s standout features is its reasonably-priced plans, with contractor payroll packages and EoR services that are less expensive than most of the providers in this guide. Oyster’s starter monthly pricing for its EoR solution is only $399 per employee—which is lower than Deel ($599 per employee monthly), Papaya Global ($650 per employee monthly), and Remote ($699 per employee monthly).

For hiring and paying contractors, Oyster’s monthly starter pricing is $29 per worker—also lower than Deel and Globalization Partner (both are priced at $49 per contractor monthly). While Papaya Global’s contractor management solution only costs $20 per contractor, per pay cycle, Oyster has a free starter package for businesses that only have up to two global contract workers.

Oyster prides itself on the type of support it provides to customers. It assigns dedicated customer success managers to new clients and offers access to a team of experts to ensure that you remain compliant with country regulations and labor laws. For those planning to recruit several international employees in one go, Oyster will even offer the services of a dedicated hiring success manager to help business owners find and hire candidates that best fit their requirements.

Oyster’s online platform and website is filled with free-to-use tools to help you navigate global hiring and manage a distributed workforce. Aside from an online calculator that shows your total employment cost, it has a “benefits advisor” tool that provides you with a list of statutory and best-in-class benefits plans that local benefits advisors recommend. However, what’s unique about Oyster is its employee misclassification risk analyzer, which is helpful if you are unsure whether to hire a worker as an employee or a contractor.

Globalization Partners provides complete localized HR, PEO, and EoR services and tax and legal support. Also, unlike Rippling’s HR tools, which serve both domestic and international hires, Globalization Partners offers these features solely for employees hired outside of the US. It even automatically generates global employment contracts that comply with local labor laws.

It handles payroll, deductions, and taxes. It pays employees in local currencies and pays your taxes according to each country’s schedule. Once Globalization Partners issues the payroll, it sends you the bill with all employee expenses included.

It provides a wide range of reporting options that cover hiring, payroll, compliance, and more.

It can pay your global employees through traditional direct deposits or manual checks. Globalization Partners also has flexible payment options, allowing you to fund your payroll either through bank transfer, Venmo, and cryptocurrency. None of the international payroll service providers we reviewed offer a cryptocurrency funding option (except Deel).

Globalization Partners has a special contractor solution, G-P Contractor, to help you manage international contract workers. Similar to Deel, Oyster, and Remote, it comes with all the online tools you need to handle the entire contractor lifecycle—from onboarding to pay processing and offboarding.

Setup, hiring, onboarding, security, compliance, tax, training, and legal services are available. It also has customer support available 24/7 for your needs. However, unlike Deel, Papaya Global, and Oyster, it does not have a dedicated support representative.

A global payroll service helps you manage pay processing functions for all of your business locations across the world. A provider who offers global payroll services ensures that you pay international workers (either employees or contractors) correctly and on time, while keeping you compliant with country tax and labor laws. Its services also involve calculating the applicable wages and deductions, remitting payroll tax payments, generating and filing tax forms, and providing pay slips to employees.

In choosing the right payroll solution to handle your international pay processing needs, look at the size of your workforce, the location and number of countries where your business operates, and your budget. You should also consider the features you need (such as online onboarding, time tracking, employee benefits, and locally-compliant work contracts) and whether the provider offers the support services you want (like 24/7 assistance, dedicated support, and access to compliance experts).

Just as with finding and hiring workers in the US, you need to decide what types of employees to get for your international business locations. Besides that, you will also need to consider the local employment laws of countries where you’re planning on hiring.

When it comes to paying international employees and independent contractors, it’s important to understand the method of payment, labor laws and tax regulations, and operational considerations you must comply with. This will prevent you from facing penalties and fines because of worker misclassification (e.g., you hired independent contractors, but if you direct their work, they are considered employees).

If you choose to hire international employees to manage day-to-day operations, you can control their work schedules, oversee how the work is completed, and even implement performance management measures.

On the other hand, when working with foreign independent contractors to complete specific projects, you are not legally allowed to direct how and when contract workers can do the job—they can set deadlines and define the output of the project. Note, however, that the definition of a contractor can vary in different countries. We recommend you consult with hiring and compliance experts to avoid potential worker misclassification issues.

For some of the pros and cons of employees vs contractors, click through the tabs below.