Oyster HR review 2026: Employer of Record pricing, global payroll, contractor management, and how it compares to Deel and Remote.
Oyster HR is a global employment platform that functions as an Employer of Record, allowing companies to hire full-time staff and contractors in over 180 countries without setting up their own local legal entities. It handles employment contracts, payroll, statutory tax filings, and benefits administration on the customer's behalf.
Founded in January 2020 by Tony Jamous and Jack Mardack, Oyster is headquartered in San Francisco but operates as a fully distributed company with no central office, reflecting the remote-work thesis the product is built around. It became a certified B Corporation in 2023.
Beyond core EOR employment, Oyster offers global payroll for existing entities, contractor payment and compliance tools including a misclassification risk analyzer, and a US PEO product for domestic co-employment.
The platform includes an HR management layer for time off, expenses, and documentation, plus onboarding and offboarding specialists, visa sponsorship support, and access to project-based HR advisory through its People Partner Services.
Oyster publishes most of its pricing rather than gating it entirely behind sales calls. Employer of Record starts around $699 per employee per month (about $499 with annual billing), global contractor management starts at $29 per contractor per month after a free tier for up to two contractors, global payroll is roughly $50 per user per month, and US PEO is about $114 per employee per month.
These fees exclude gross salaries, mandatory employer costs such as social security and pension contributions, and FX conversion charges. A custom Scale plan is available for companies with high-volume global hiring needs.
Oyster acts as an Employer of Record, letting companies hire, pay, and manage employees and contractors in over 180 countries without opening local legal entities.
Employer of Record pricing starts around $699 per employee per month (about $499 with annual billing). Contractor management starts at $29 per contractor per month, and US PEO is about $114 per employee per month.
Oyster was founded in January 2020 by Tony Jamous and Jack Mardack.
Yes, Oyster operates and markets its product as Oyster HR (oysterhr.com).
Oyster offers a free tier for managing up to two global contractors; Employer of Record and payroll products are paid.
Deel, Remote, Papaya Global, and Rippling are commonly compared alternatives in the global employment and EOR space.
Yes, Oyster is headquartered in San Francisco but operates as a fully distributed, remote-first team.
No, Oyster states that setup, onboarding, HR advisory access, and termination processing are included in its subscription fees rather than billed separately.