What an Employer of Record actually costs in 2026, including everything the headline fee leaves out.
15 countries. 17 providers tracked, 12 with public pricing. OECD-sourced employer burden data. We do not sell EOR services and earn no commission on any provider listed.
15 markets, three cost tiers
Click any country for the full statutory breakdown, sample worked example, and links to that country's revenue authority.
Cost to employ via EOR
Headline fee plus statutory burden plus the hidden charges most pricing pages omit. All numbers are first-pass estimates — verify with a written quote.
| Gross salary | 🇺🇸 United States | $80,000 |
| Employer burden | 11.5% statutory | $9,200 |
| EOR fee (12 months) | $549/mo × 12 | $6,588 |
| Setup + deposit | 1.5 month deposit + onboarding | $1,074 |
| FX margin + payroll fees | ~1.25% of payroll | $1,000 |
| Statutory benefits buffer | 8% of burden | $736 |
Total annual cost$98,598 23.2% above headline salary · $8,216/mo all-in | ||
Estimate only. Actual quotes vary by salary, role, location, contract length, and benefits package. Get at least three written quotes before committing. We do not sell EOR services and do not earn commission on any provider listed.
Where every dollar goes
🇺🇸 United States · $80,000 gross salary · $549/mo EOR fee
What employers pay on top of gross salary
Mandatory social contributions, pension, statutory benefits, and payroll taxes — before any EOR markup. Sourced from each country's revenue authority.
When does setting up your own entity pay off?
Cumulative spend over 36 months. 3 employees · $599/mo EOR per employee · $25,000 entity setup · $1,800/mo entity overhead (legal, accounting, payroll).
Three tiers, twelve verified providers
We list only providers that publish per-employee pricing on their public pages. Quote-only enterprise vendors (Deel, Rippling, G-P, Atlas, Safeguard) are listed below the table but their numbers are industry-reported, not vendor-confirmed.
These vendors do not publish pricing publicly. Figures cited from industry coverage and customer disclosures; verify via direct quote.
The legal employer in another country
An Employer of Record (EOR) is a company that legally employs your overseas hire on your behalf. They run local payroll, file taxes, handle statutory benefits and severance, and assume the compliance risk. You direct the work; they hold the paperwork.
Below 5-8 employees per country
For 1-3 hires in a country, EOR is the cheapest legal route. Above 5-8 hires, setting up your own entity typically pays back within 18-30 months. The breakeven varies by country: France and Brazil push toward entity sooner due to statutory complexity; Singapore and UAE stay EOR-favourable longer.
Not a contractor agreement
EOR is for full-time employees. Contractor arrangements are cheaper but carry misclassification risk — most aggressive in the UK (IR35), Spain (Ley Rider), and California (AB5). If your worker behaves like an employee, treat them as one.
The top ten search results are all vendor-authored
Search “EOR cost” and every result for the first three pages is published by a company that sells EOR services. Their calculators default to their own pricing. Their “cost guides” soft-pedal the line items that make their headline fee look favourable. Their methodology pages don't exist.
EORCost.com is independent. We publish our methodology, cite primary government sources, and list every provider whose pricing we can verify on a public page. We do not accept sponsored placements that influence pricing claims or methodology. Provider names appear here for factual comparison under nominative fair use.
Use this as a sanity check before you sign. Then get at least three written quotes. More about us.