Payroll · head to head
Openwage vs RemoFirst
Openwage
Payroll
UK earned wage access charging a transparent 1 percent transfer fee, free for employers
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
RemoFirst
Payroll
Low-cost employer of record and contractor payments across a very wide country list built largely on partner entities
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Openwage it is UK-only, tied to UK payroll cycles and regulation, so it is not usable for international workforces.; RemoFirst coverage in most countries runs through partner entities rather than entities RemoFirst owns, which lengthens the liability chain and means a disputed termination is handled by a company you have no direct contract with.
- They diverge on capability: Openwage covers On-demand pay, RemoFirst covers Employer of record.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Openwage and RemoFirst actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Payroll).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Openwage
- On-demand pay
- Transparent per-transfer fee
- Payroll and T&A integration
- No credit impact
- Automatic payday reconciliation
- Employer-free deployment
Only in RemoFirst
- Employer of record
- Contractor management
- Global benefits
- Visa and work permit support
- Equipment provisioning
- Multi-currency payments
- Expense management
- Time off tracking
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Openwage
- A UK employer with shift or hourly staff wanting an on-demand pay benefit at no cost to the businessnot RemoFirst
- An employee wanting to know the exact cost of an advance before requesting one, rather than an opaque feenot RemoFirst
- A company already running standard UK payroll and time and attendance systems wanting straightforward integrationnot RemoFirst
- An HR team comparing earned wage access providers on published unit economics rather than sales quotesnot RemoFirst
RemoFirst
- A startup hiring two or three people each in several countries where opening entities makes no sensenot Openwage
- A company paying an established vendor a high per-contractor fee for administration it could buy far cheapernot Openwage
- An employer that needs a country outside the coverage of the major EOR providersnot Openwage
- A team that wants equipment procured and shipped to remote hires without setting up local logisticsnot Openwage
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Openwage
- It is UK-only, tied to UK payroll cycles and regulation, so it is not usable for international workforces.
- Even a published, low fee still means employees effectively pay to access their own earned money, and frequent use compounds that cost over a year.
- The 50% cap on gross (not net) earned pay can overstate what an employee can actually draw once tax and deductions are accounted for, creating confusion at the point of request.
- As with all earned wage access, dependency on the product is a symptom of insufficient pay cadence or amount that the advance itself does not fix, and can mask a deeper compensation problem an employer should address directly.
- Accuracy is entirely dependent on the employer's payroll and time and attendance data being current, so errors upstream produce incorrect available-balance figures for employees.
RemoFirst
- Coverage in most countries runs through partner entities rather than entities RemoFirst owns, which lengthens the liability chain and means a disputed termination is handled by a company you have no direct contract with.
- Statutory deposits, typically one or more months of salary and employer contributions held in advance, are quoted separately from the per employee fee and materially change the cash cost of the first year.
- Currency conversion on payroll runs carries a spread that is not in the headline price, and on a large multi-country payroll that spread can exceed the platform fee itself.
- Benefits quality varies sharply by country because it is sourced through local partners, so two employees on the same contract in different countries can receive very different cover.
- The company is young and holds client payroll funds in transit, which is a counterparty risk that larger competitors with longer trading histories and audited entity networks present less of.
Pricing, plan by plan
Openwage
On request- Openwage$undefined/month
- Free for employers to offer
- 1% fee per transfer, minimum £1, paid by the employee
- No interest and no credit check
RemoFirst
On request- Employer of Record$undefined/year
- Priced per employee per month
- Statutory deposit held separately from the platform fee
- Currency conversion spread applied on each payroll run
- Contractor Management$undefined/year
- Priced per contractor per month
- Compliant contract templates by country
- Multi-currency payments
Which should you pick?
Choose Openwage if
- You need on-demand pay.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want transparent per-transfer fee.
Questions people ask
- Is Openwage or RemoFirst better?
- Neither clearly leads. Openwage starts at On request and RemoFirst at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Openwage or RemoFirst?
- Openwage starts at On request and RemoFirst at On request.
- Does Openwage or RemoFirst run on more platforms?
- Openwage runs on Web, iOS, Android. RemoFirst runs on Web.
- What is Openwage best used for?
- Openwage is most often used for a uk employer with shift or hourly staff wanting an on-demand pay benefit at no cost to the business, an employee wanting to know the exact cost of an advance before requesting one, rather than an opaque fee, a company already running standard uk payroll and time and attendance systems wanting straightforward integration, an hr team comparing earned wage access providers on published unit economics rather than sales quotes. Of those, a uk employer with shift or hourly staff wanting an on-demand pay benefit at no cost to the business and an employee wanting to know the exact cost of an advance before requesting one, rather than an opaque fee are not what RemoFirst is typically brought in for.
- What can Openwage do that RemoFirst cannot?
- Openwage covers On-demand pay, Transparent per-transfer fee, Payroll and T&A integration, No credit impact. RemoFirst covers Employer of record, Contractor management, Global benefits, Visa and work permit support.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Openwage: Who pays the fee?
The employee, at 1% of the amount transferred with a minimum of £1; the employer benefit itself is free.
RemoFirst: Does RemoFirst own entities in every country it lists?
No. It owns entities in a minority of its coverage and uses in-country partners elsewhere. Ask per country, because the answer determines who the legal employer is.
Openwage: Is it a loan?
No, Openwage states it is not a loan or credit product; there is no interest and no credit score impact.
RemoFirst: What does the headline per employee price exclude?
Statutory deposits, currency conversion spread on payroll runs, and country-specific charges such as mandatory insurance or entity fees.
Openwage: How much can an employee access?
Up to 50% of gross wages already earned in the current pay period.
RemoFirst: Is it cheaper than Deel or Remote?
On the headline rate, substantially. Once deposits and FX are included the gap narrows, but it usually remains cheaper.
RemoFirst: Can it convert a contractor into an employee?
Yes, in countries it supports for EOR. This is a common reason buyers start with the contractor product and move up.
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