Oyster Review: Hire and Pay Global Teams Compliantly

Our Full Review

Oyster is a global employment platform (Employer of Record) founded in 2020. It helps companies hire, pay, and manage employees in countries where they don't have legal entities. Oyster competes directly with Deel, Remote, and Velocity Global.

After extensive evaluation, our verdict: Oyster is an excellent EOR platform with transparent pricing, strong compliance, and superior employee experience. It's not as feature-rich as Deel for contractors, but for full-time global employees, Oyster is a top choice.

Who Should Use Oyster?

• Companies hiring full-time employees globally without setting up entities
• Remote-first organizations with distributed teams
• Startups expanding internationally for the first time
• Teams valuing employee experience and ethical employment practices

Who Should Look Elsewhere?

• Contractor-heavy teams — Deel or Remote handle contractors better
• Companies needing full HRIS — Oyster is focused on global employment, not comprehensive HR
• Very small budgets — EOR services are premium-priced across the board
• Single-country needs — local HRIS/payroll providers are cheaper

What Is Employer of Record (EOR)?

EOR services let you hire employees in countries where you don't have a legal entity. The EOR provider:

• Becomes the legal employer on paper
• Handles payroll, taxes, and benefits compliance
• Provides compliant employment contracts
• Manages local HR and labor law requirements
• You retain day-to-day management of the employee

This lets you hire globally without incorporating in each country (which costs $10K-50K+ per country).

Global Coverage

Oyster supports employment in 180+ countries:

• Tier 1 (most common): US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, etc.
• Tier 2 (growing markets): Poland, Portugal, Mexico, Brazil, India, Philippines, etc.
• Tier 3 (emerging): Most other countries with Oyster presence

Coverage is excellent. Tier 1 countries have fastest setup (7-14 days). Tier 3 can take 3-4 weeks.

Compliance & Legal

Oyster handles complex compliance:

• Local employment contracts (country-specific)
• Statutory benefits (health, pension, mandatory insurance)
• Payroll taxes and filings
• Labor law adherence (termination, PTO, working hours)
• Data privacy (GDPR, local regulations)
• IP assignment agreements

Oyster employs local HR and legal experts in each market. Compliance quality is high—this is core to their service.

Payroll & Benefits

Oyster manages end-to-end payroll:

• Multi-currency payroll: Pay employees in local currency
• Statutory benefits: Mandatory health, pension, etc. included
• Supplemental benefits: Additional health, dental, life insurance (varies by country)
• Equity support: Oyster enables equity grants for EOR employees (rare in the industry)
• Expense reimbursement: Integrated expense management

Payroll runs on time, reliably. Benefits administration is handled—employees don't need to navigate complex local systems.

Employee Experience

Oyster prioritizes employee-facing experience:

• Modern employee portal (web and mobile)
• Self-service for payslips, tax documents, time off
• Country-specific guides and resources
• HR support in local languages
• Equipment provisioning assistance

Employees report Oyster feels like working for a "real" company, not just a contractor arrangement. This matters for retention.

Platform Features

Beyond EOR, Oyster includes:

• Employee database: Central repository for team info
• Time off management: PTO requests, approvals, balances
• Document storage: Contracts, tax forms, certificates
• Onboarding workflows: Welcome tasks, document collection
• Reporting: Headcount, costs, compliance status

It's not a full HRIS (no performance management, recruiting, etc.), but it covers global employment needs well.

Equity for EOR Employees

Unique to Oyster: enabling equity grants for EOR workers.

• Stock options/RSUs for employees hired via Oyster
• Legal structures to make this compliant globally
• Equity tracking in the platform

This is huge for startups wanting to offer equity to global teams. Deel and Remote don't offer this natively.

Contractor Management (Limited)

Oyster does NOT focus on contractors:

• No contractor payment platform
• EOR and direct employees only
• If you need to pay contractors, use Deel, Remote, or Rippling alongside Oyster

This is a clear weakness vs Deel, which handles both employees and contractors seamlessly.

Pricing

Oyster has transparent pricing (unusual in EOR space):

Employer of Record: $499/employee/month

• Full EOR services
• Payroll processing
• Statutory benefits included
• Compliance and legal support
• Employee portal and support

Plus: actual payroll costs (salary, taxes, benefits). The $499 is the platform/service fee.

Global Payroll: Custom pricing

• For companies with own entities
• Payroll processing only (no EOR)

Example total cost:

• UK developer at £50K/year: ~$499/month (platform) + £4,167/month (salary + taxes) = ~$5,650/month total
• 5 global employees: ~$2,495/month in platform fees + actual payroll costs

EOR pricing is competitive with Deel ($599/month) and Remote ($599/month). Oyster is slightly cheaper for EOR.

Comparison: Oyster vs Deel vs Remote

Oyster strengths:

• Transparent pricing
• Equity support for EOR workers
• Superior employee experience
• Strong compliance focus

Deel strengths:

• Contractor payments included
• Larger scale (more country specialists)
• More HRIS features (immigration, equipment, etc.)
• Faster setup in Tier 2/3 countries

Remote strengths:

• Both EOR and contractors
• Global benefits management
• Enterprise features (SSO, advanced security)

Bottom line: Oyster is best for full-time employee focus. Deel is best for mixed employee/contractor teams. Remote is best for enterprise needs.

Support & Service

Oyster's support is highly rated:

• Dedicated customer success manager
• Local HR/legal experts per country
• Email and chat support
• Response times: <24 hours typically
• Onboarding assistance included

Customers report Oyster support is responsive and knowledgeable—better than typical HR software support.

The Bottom Line

Oyster is an excellent global employment platform for companies hiring full-time distributed employees. The transparent pricing, compliance expertise, and employee experience are standout features.

It's not a full HRIS, and it doesn't handle contractors. If you need those, combine Oyster with other tools or choose Deel/Remote instead.

For remote-first companies hiring FTEs globally and valuing ethical employment practices, Oyster is a top choice. The equity support is unique and valuable for startups.

If you're choosing between Oyster, Deel, and Remote, your decision comes down to:

• Oyster: Best employee experience, equity support, transparent pricing
• Deel: Most comprehensive (employees + contractors), fastest in all countries
• Remote: Best for enterprise with complex global structures

All three are solid. Pick based on your priorities.