The Remote quick read
- You want to hire an employee in a country where you have no legal entity
- You pay international contractors and want compliant contracts and payments
- You'd rather not set up and maintain foreign subsidiaries
- Your whole team is in the United States
- You want cheap domestic payroll
- You need deep U.S. benefits administration or U.S. HR tooling
| Best fit | Distributed teams hiring across borders |
|---|---|
| Weakest fit | U.S.-only small businesses |
| Starting price | Employer of Record: $0 base + $699 per employee/mo |
| Pricing transparency | Strong — published, plan-based pricing |
| Payroll tax support | Good — federal, state, and local filings included |
| Contractor support | Excellent — global contractor payments and forms |
| W-2 support | Full-service, included in paid plans |
| Multi-state support | Available — handles employees across U.S. states |
| Benefits | Basic — health, 401(k), and workers' comp through partner integrations |
| HR tools | Light — onboarding, PTO, document storage, and basic templates |
| Accounting integrations | QuickBooks Online, Xero, and common partners |
| Setup difficulty | Easy |
| Support quality | Good — phone, chat, and email; priority on higher plans |
| Overall rating | 8.0 / 10 |
A CPA's take on Remote
As a CPA and business owner, I care less about whether payroll software has the longest feature list and more about whether it helps a business owner avoid expensive payroll mistakes. The right payroll provider should make tax payments, filings, employee onboarding, contractor payments, and year-end forms feel routine — because payroll is one area where small mistakes can create real compliance problems.
The legal problem it removes. Hiring an employee abroad normally means an entity, local counsel, local payroll registration, and statutory benefits you don't understand. An employer of record absorbs that, and for one or two hires in a country that's a genuinely good trade.
EOR is expensive per head and it isn't a payroll product. Once you have enough people in one country, the math often favors setting up your own entity. And the real cost surprises in EOR are country-specific statutory contributions, notice periods, and termination obligations — not the platform fee.
A company hiring a small number of employees in each of several countries, without the volume to justify local entities.
Compare against Deel, the other major global employment platform, and against Gusto or OnPay for anything U.S.-only.
A 30-second decision
- You're hiring employees outside your country of incorporation
- You want someone else carrying local employment compliance
- You need compliant international contractor agreements
- Your team is entirely domestic
- You have enough headcount in one country to justify an entity
- You primarily need U.S. payroll and benefits
Who Remote is best for
- Distributed teams hiring across borders
- Startups testing a market before incorporating there
- Companies with international contractors who need compliant paperwork
- U.S.-only small businesses
- Price-sensitive domestic payroll buyers
- Businesses whose core need is U.S. multi-state payroll
Remote pricing
Payroll pricing changes frequently. Always confirm current pricing on the provider’s site before signing up.
Remote publishes its rates. Employer of record is $699 per employee per month, Global Payroll (for countries where you already have an entity) is $29 per employee per month, Contractor Management is $29 per contractor per month or $99 for Contractor Management Plus, Contractor of Record starts at $325 per contractor per month, and the US PEO starts at $99 per employee per month. Remember that EOR fees sit on top of the employee's salary and statutory employer costs in that country. Pricing verified August 2026.
- EOR employment in supported countries
- Local compliant contracts
- Statutory benefits administration
- Local payroll and filings
Fee is on top of salary and statutory employer costs. Pricing verified August 2026.
- In-country payroll processing
- Local filings
- Payslips
Pricing verified August 2026.
- Localized contractor agreements
- International contractor payments
- Invoice and payment tracking
Pricing verified August 2026.
- Classification assessment
- Contractor of Record liability
- Compliant local agreements
Pricing verified August 2026.
- US payroll
- Benefits access
- HR compliance support
Pricing verified August 2026.
- The $699 per employee per month EOR fee is the platform fee only — country-specific statutory employer contributions sit on top, so get a full landed cost per hire.
- being verified: confirm whether a deposit or prefunding requirement applies.
- being verified: confirm notice periods and termination costs by country, which are the real budget risk in EOR arrangements.
See current Remote plans and offers.
Feature scorecard
Payroll features
- Unlimited payroll runs
- Direct deposit
- Multiple pay schedules
- Bonus, off-cycle, and reimbursement runs
- Employee self-service portal
- Federal, state, and local payroll tax calculation
- Automatic deposits and filings
- Quarterly and annual filings
- Tax-notice support
- 1099 contractor payments
- Year-end 1099-NEC filings
- Multi-state payroll supported
- Remote-employee tax setup
- W-2 generation and filing
- 1099 generation and filing
- Employee/contractor year-end form access
HR, benefits, and compliance tools
- Employee onboarding
- PTO tracking
- Document storage
- Basic HR templates
- Health, 401(k), and workers' comp through partner integrations (where available)
- New-hire reporting
- Federal, state, and local payroll tax filings
- W-2 and 1099 year-end filings
- Tax-notice support
Ease of use and setup
- Modern web interface
- Self-serve employee onboarding where available
- Mobile experience for employees
- EIN
- State payroll tax account numbers
- State unemployment account numbers
- Employee information (I-9, W-4)
- Contractor information (W-9)
- Prior payroll history
- Bank account for funding
- Pay schedule
- Benefits information (if any)
- Workers' comp details (if any)
- Accounting software login
- PTO policy
- Existing payroll provider info (if switching)
Integrations
- QuickBooks Online
- Xero
- When I Work
- Homebase
- Deputy
- Available through provider or partner networks
- Common SSO and HRIS connectors where applicable
PayrollSignal take: Integrations matter because payroll is rarely isolated. If your payroll system doesn’t talk cleanly to your accounting software, time tracking, or benefits tools, you may end up spending more time fixing payroll than running it.
Customer support
| Support feature | Available | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phone support | Yes | Standard business hours |
| Chat support | Yes | In-app chat |
| Email support | Yes | Available across plans |
| 24/7 support | No | Standard business hours |
| Dedicated representative | Depends | Typically higher-tier plans only |
| HR advisor access | Add-on | Available as add-on or higher tier |
| Tax-notice support | Yes | Included with full-service payroll |
| Setup support | Yes | Self-serve with optional guided setup |
Payroll support matters more than ordinary software support because payroll problems often have deadlines attached. A login issue is annoying. A missed payroll tax deadline can be expensive.
Remote pros and cons
- Removes the need for a local legal entity to hire abroad
- Handles local employment contracts and statutory requirements
- Supports international contractor payments alongside EOR employment
- Purpose-built for distributed teams rather than retrofitted
- Materially more expensive per employee than domestic payroll
- Not a U.S. small business payroll solution
- Quote-based pricing with country-specific variation
- being verified: current pricing, country coverage, and feature set not independently verified by us
Which businesses should use Remote?
You'd be paying for international infrastructure you don't need.
This is the core use case — hire abroad without entities.
Compliant contracts and cross-border payments in one place.
At sufficient headcount, your own local entity often becomes cheaper.
PayrollSignal Fit Meter
Watch-outs before you buy
- Ask for a fully landed cost per hire, including statutory employer contributions in each country, on top of the $699 per employee monthly platform fee.
- being verified: confirm notice period and severance obligations per country before hiring, not after.
- Reassess annually — once you have several employees in one country, your own entity may cost less.
Best alternatives to Remote
The most direct competitor with broad country coverage.
Price both — coverage, statutory handling, and cost vary by country.
Best for: Global payroll, EOR, and contractor payments
Useful if you also want domestic payroll and device management in one system.
Remote is more focused on the international employment problem specifically.
Best for: Unified HR, IT, and payroll with global options
Far cheaper and simpler for domestic employees.
Remote wins only where you're employing people outside the U.S.
Best for: U.S. small business payroll
Not sure if Remote is right for you?
Payroll companies can look similar on the surface, but the best choice depends on your employees, contractors, states, benefits needs, HR support, accounting software, and growth plans. Take the free PayrollSignal quiz and get a recommendation built for your business.
How we reviewed this provider
We review payroll providers based on small business fit, not just feature count. A provider can have many features and still be the wrong choice for a very small business if it’s too expensive, too complex, or unclear about pricing.
| Category | Weight |
|---|---|
| Payroll functionality | 20% |
| Payroll tax & compliance support | 20% |
| Pricing & transparency | 15% |
| Ease of use | 15% |
| HR, onboarding & benefits | 10% |
| Integrations | 10% |
| Customer support | 5% |
| Scalability | 5% |
Our ratings are intended to help small business owners choose payroll software based on fit. A lower-rated provider may still be the better choice for a specific business if its pricing, integrations, service model, or HR features better match that business’s needs.
Remote FAQs
The bottom line
Remote is the right tool for hiring employees abroad without setting up entities, and the wrong tool for U.S.-only payroll. Compare it directly against Deel for your specific countries, and revisit the entity question as your headcount in any one country grows.
If you already know Remote fits your needs, you can check current pricing below. If you’re still comparing options, take the free PayrollSignal quiz first.