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Global payroll providers run pay, tax filings and social security contributions for employees in several countries, either on your own legal entities or through the provider’s own employment infrastructure. The eight that suit international teams best are Deel, Remote, Rippling and Papaya Global, which pair payroll with built-in employer of record hiring, and CloudPay, Neeyamo, Mercans and IRIS, which process payroll for entities you already own, with published per-employee prices currently running from $29 to $599 a month.
Two models sit inside the category, and the choice starts there. With global payroll on your own entities, the provider calculates and files pay while you stay the legal employer and keep each country’s registrations. With payroll through an employer of record (EOR), a provider that employs your workers in a country where you have no entity, the provider carries the employment and pays them on your behalf.
The comparison rests on four criteria: payroll model, countries covered, published per-employee price and platform depth. Teams paying only US employees face state-level questions instead, where multi-state payroll processing rules apply.
Global payroll providers compared
| Provider | Best for | Payroll model | Starting price (USD per employee a month) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deel | Employees and contractors in one platform | Entity + EOR | $599 (EOR) |
| Remote | Lowest published fee on your own entities | Entity + EOR | $29 |
| Rippling | Teams running HR and IT on one system | Entity + EOR | not published |
| Papaya Global | Payroll plus payments at enterprise scale | Entity + EOR | $29 |
| CloudPay | Midsize teams consolidating entity payrolls | Entity | not published |
| Neeyamo | Full-service payroll in long-tail countries | Entity + EOR | not published |
| Mercans | AI-first processing with EOR add-ons | Entity + EOR | not published |
| IRIS Software Group | Managed payroll with accounting-firm depth | Entity + EOR | not published |
The price column shows each vendor’s lowest published per-employee fee for global payroll as of October 2026, with the model that fee buys in parentheses. Rippling and the four processors publish no per-employee price for global payroll, so they are budgeted by quote. Deel’s $599 is its employer of record rate; it lists no separate per-employee fee for payroll on your own entities.
Platforms with built-in EOR
For teams without an entity in every country, Deel, Remote, Rippling and Papaya Global run payroll on your entities where you have them and employ your workers where you don’t, inside one platform.
Deel
Best for: companies running employees, contractors and payroll on one platform
Deel fits teams that want every worker type in one system: it employs staff through its employer of record services in the 150+ countries its site lists, and pays contractors on the same platform. Where payroll rides its EOR, Deel is the legal employer, a model the best employer of record services comparison covers provider by provider.
For countries where you own the entity, its payroll product runs multi-country payroll for employees and contractors, self-serve or fully managed, per its product page.
Its employer of record plan currently costs $599 per employee a month, contractors $49 and contractor of record $325, on the Deel pricing page; it publishes no separate per-employee price for payroll on your own entities.
Pros
- Employees, contractors and entity payroll in one platform
- Employer of record through its own entities in 150+ countries
- Payroll self-serve or fully managed on entities you own
Cons
- No published per-employee fee for payroll on your own entities
- EOR countries carry the $599 employment cost per employee a month
- Contractor of record costs $325 per contractor a month, well above the $49 contractor plan
Remote
Best for: the lowest published fee on your own entities
Remote publishes the cheapest per-employee payroll fee in this lineup, currently $29 for payroll on entities you own, tied with Papaya Global. Where you don’t own an entity, its employer of record service employs the worker instead.
Its global payroll product pays employees in 100+ countries in local currency, per its product page, with gross-to-net calculated locally and statutory changes tracked in the platform.
Payroll on your own entities currently starts at $29 per employee a month, employer of record at $599 and contractor management at $29, on the Remote pricing page.
Pros
- $29 per employee a month for payroll on your own entities, the lowest published rate here
- Employees paid in 100+ countries in local currency
- Gross-to-net, tax filings and statutory updates handled in the platform
Cons
- On your own entities you keep the local registrations and compliance work
- Entity payroll applies where you already hold an entity, so new countries still need the $599 EOR
Rippling
Best for: teams already running HR and IT on one system
Rippling unifies payroll with HR, IT and device management, so a team already on its system adds countries without adopting new tools. It also sells an employer of record product for countries where you have no entity.
Its global payroll product runs its own payroll engines in its highest-volume countries and handles filing submission in specific markets, per its product page.
On the Rippling pricing page, plans currently start at $8 per employee a month plus a monthly base fee, a US payroll figure; the page publishes no global payroll price, and global payroll is quoted per company.
Pros
- Payroll, HR, IT and devices in one system
- Own payroll engines in its highest-volume countries
- Employer of record available for countries without an entity
Cons
- No published global payroll price, so budgeting needs a quote
- The $8 entry price is US payroll only, not global payroll
- Platform pricing is per module, so costs add up as you switch more on
Papaya Global
Best for: payroll plus payments at enterprise scale
Papaya Global pairs payroll processing with a licensed payments platform, which suits companies paying large volumes across currencies.
Its payroll product runs in 180+ countries, and Payroll Plus currently starts at $29 per employee a month, employer of record at $499, contractor of record at $199 and contractor management at $5, with its OnePay payment rails charging $0 platform fees, on the Papaya Global pricing page.
Pros
- Payroll and payments in one platform, across 180+ countries
- Payroll Plus at $29 matches the lowest published entity rate here
- OnePay charges $0 platform fees on payments
Cons
- Enterprise-oriented service and support model
- EOR at $499 and contractor of record at $199 are separate line items from payroll
Managed payroll for entities
When you own the entities and want the processing off your plate, CloudPay, Neeyamo, Mercans and IRIS run multi country payroll as a managed service: you stay the legal employer and keep the local registrations, and the processor runs the engine.
CloudPay
Best for: midsize teams consolidating payrolls on many entities
CloudPay consolidates the payrolls a company already runs in many countries into one managed service, with in-country payroll experts behind each market. It has no employer of record arm, so countries where you lack an entity need another provider.
CloudPay doesn’t publish standard pricing; its managed payroll is scoped per country and headcount in a sales process.
Pros
- One system of record for payroll data across all your countries
- In-country payroll experts in each market
- Integrations with existing human capital management (HCM) systems
Cons
- No published pricing, so comparing it on cost needs a quote
- Sales-led buying rather than self-serve signup
- No employer of record arm for countries without an entity
Neeyamo
Best for: full-service payroll in long-tail countries
Neeyamo takes over payroll operations end to end, from inputs to payslips, for companies whose countries sit outside the plug-and-play platforms’ core coverage.
Its global payroll solution covers 180+ countries, per its platform page, with country-level compliance built into each local engine.
Neeyamo doesn’t publish standard pricing for payroll; it also sells an employer of record product, Global Work, separately from the platform.
Pros
- Coverage of 180+ countries, including long-tail markets
- Country-level compliance built into its payroll engine
- Employer of record available for countries where you hold no entity
Cons
- No published pricing, so budgets need a quote
- Its EOR is a separate product from the payroll platform
- Demo-led buying rather than self-serve signup
Mercans
Best for: AI-first processing with EOR add-ons
Mercans builds payroll around an AI-driven engine and sells managed payroll and Global Payroll SaaS as separate products.
Its site describes HR and payroll solutions delivered across 160+ countries, on its global payroll page, with full-time teams in every country it serves.
Mercans doesn’t publish standard pricing; payroll, managed services and its employer of record product are quoted separately.
Pros
- Unified platform with cross-country visibility over every payroll
- Full-time teams in every country it serves
- Employer of record available without setting up local entities
Cons
- No published pricing for any product line
- Fewer public reviews and case studies than the larger platforms
IRIS Software Group
Best for: managed global payroll with accounting-firm depth
IRIS Software Group delivers managed global payroll from inside an accounting and payroll software group, which suits companies that want payroll handled alongside filings and books.
Its platform covers 135+ countries, per its global payroll services page, with local tax rules and statutory filings managed in each.
IRIS doesn’t publish standard pricing; quotes are specific to your countries, headcount and compliance needs, and employer of record services sit elsewhere in its group.
Pros
- One platform across 135+ countries
- Local tax rules and statutory filings managed per country
- Employer of record and global contractor services in the same group
Cons
- Quote-only pricing
- Global payroll sits inside a broad HCM and accounting suite, so scoping takes work
Cost comparison
| Provider | Payroll on your entities (USD per employee a month) | EOR payroll (USD per employee a month) |
|---|---|---|
| Deel | not published | $599 |
| Remote | $29 | $599 |
| Rippling | not published | not published |
| Papaya Global | $29 | $499 |
| CloudPay | not published | n/a |
| Neeyamo | not published | not published |
| Mercans | not published | not published |
| IRIS Software Group | not published | not published |
Only two of the eight publish a per-employee fee for payroll on entities you own: Remote and Papaya Global, both currently $29. For a 10-person team across three countries, that is $290 a month in per-employee payroll fees on either one, against $4,990 a month on Papaya’s published EOR rate or $5,990 on Deel’s or Remote’s, where the provider employs all ten.
Per-employee fees are only the visible layer. Employer of record hidden fees, entity setup costs and the employer burden by country change the total under each model, and the EOR cost breakdown covers those line by line.
Legal compliance
Switching to a global payroll provider moves the processing, not the legal exposure; the compliance requirements below stay with you under the entity model, and move to the provider only where it employs your workers.
Registration. Payroll on your own entities means you hold each country’s payroll registrations, tax and social security, and their filing deadlines; an EOR payroll moves those registrations to the provider for the workers it employs.
Permanent establishment. Where your employee works and what they do can create permanent establishment risk for your company even when a provider processes the payroll. It depends on the country, any tax treaty and the employee’s actual activities, so a payroll contract does not settle the question on its own.
US state taxation. In the US, an employee working from another state can create obligations for you there, and several states tax out-of-state employers under the convenience of the employer rule.
Employee or contractor. Paying someone abroad as a contractor when they work like an employee carries misclassification risk in that country, whatever the contract says. The tests that decide it are jurisdiction-specific, and the consequences of getting them wrong range from back taxes to reclassification of the worker.
Scaling framework
The right provider tracks how many entities you own and how many people sit in each country.
- First hires in countries where you have no entity: Deel, Remote or Papaya Global on EOR payroll, currently $599, $599 and $499 per employee a month respectively, while Rippling quotes its EOR.
- One or two owned entities: Remote at $29 per employee a month is the cheapest published rate, with Papaya Global at the same price for payments-heavy teams.
- Many owned entities across regions: CloudPay, Neeyamo, Mercans or IRIS consolidate them into one managed operation, priced by quote.
The crossover to watch is country depth: once headcount in one country is high enough that per-employee EOR fees exceed the cost of registering and running payroll on your own entity, the entity model usually wins on cost.
FAQ
Global payroll services calculate, pay and file payroll for workers in several countries under each country’s own tax, social security and reporting rules, either on the client’s legal entities or through the provider’s own employment infrastructure. The provider supplies the engine and the filings; who employs the workers depends on the model you pick.
An employer of record employs your workers in a country and carries the local employment obligations, while a payroll provider only processes pay and filings. Four of the eight compared here do both, which is where the confusion starts; the split decides who holds the registrations and who faces the local authorities.
There is no single official ranking of payroll companies. The eight compared here are Deel, Remote, Rippling, Papaya Global, CloudPay, Neeyamo, Mercans and IRIS Software Group, and other large payroll processors include ADP and Alight. Which one fits depends on whether you own entities and how many countries you pay into.
Multi country payroll is one payroll operation covering workers in several countries at once, each with its own tax, social security and reporting rules, usually run through a provider that connects every country in one system. It is the same buying category as global payroll, under a name buyers use interchangeably.
Currently from $29 to $599 per employee a month among the providers here that publish prices, depending on whether payroll runs on your own entity or through an employer of record. Five of the eight publish no standard pricing, so budgeting them takes a quote, and the published fees sit before employer contributions and add-ons.
