Oystervs
Gusto
Gusto: The people platform for small businesses
Oyster
Hire globally, compliantly
As of 30 August 2026, Oyster starts at $29/month. Oyster is a global employment platform that enables companies to hire, pay, and provide benefits to employees in 180+ countries without setting up local entitie. Softwr lists it under Payroll. Oyster is made by Oyster HR Inc, launched in 2020, available on Web, iOS, Android.
Overview
What Oyster does
Oyster is a global employment platform that enables companies to hire, pay, and provide benefits to employees in 180+ countries without setting up local entities or dealing with complex compliance issues.
What people use it for
- Hiring employees abroad without setting up a local legal entity
- Onboarding and paying international contractors
- Getting country specific employment compliance advice for distributed teams
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Oyster.
- Employer of Record is $699 per employee per month, with the discount tied to annual billing
- A refundable deposit is required before an EOR engagement starts
- Contractor management is free for 30 days then $29 per contractor per month
- HR advisory through People Partner Services is billed at $300 per hour on top of the subscription
- A currency conversion fee applies when you pay Oyster in a currency other than the contract currency
- Payments are accepted only by direct debit or wire in USD, EUR, GBP or CAD
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Oyster
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- OystervsPaycom
Paycom: HR and payroll technology led by employees
- OystervsADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now: All-in-one HR, payroll, talent, and benefits
- OystervsZenefits
Zenefits: All-in-one HR platform for growing companies
Pricing
What Oyster costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Global Contractors
$29 /mo
- Instant contracts in 180+ countries
- Contractor payments in 120+ currencies
- Identity verification
- Invoice and expense management
- Misclassification analyzer
Employer of Record (EOR)
$699 /mo
- Compliant employment in 120+ countries
- Multi-country payroll in 120+ currencies
- Automated expenses, time-off, and reports
- Onboarding and offboarding specialists
- End-to-end support by local experts
Capabilities
Features
Global Employment
Payroll
Benefits
Compliance
Contractor Management
Time Off
Expenses
BambooHR
Integration with BambooHR
Greenhouse
Integration with Greenhouse
Lever
Integration with Lever
QuickBooks
Integration with QuickBooks
NetSuite
Integration with NetSuite
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
How much does Oyster charge for Employer of Record services?
Oyster charges $699 per employee per month for EOR services, with annual discounts available. Setup, onboarding, and offboarding are included with no additional charges.
SourceHow much does Oyster charge for Global Contractors?
Oyster's Global Contractors tier costs $29 per contractor per month after a free 30-day trial. The plan covers instant contracts in 180+ countries, payments in 120+ currencies, and contractor management tools.
SourceWhat discounts does Oyster offer?
Oyster offers discounts for nonprofits and B-corps through its 'Oyster for Impact' program, startup savings of up to $1,200 on EOR subscriptions, and discounted or waived pricing for refugee support programs.
SourceWhat payment methods does Oyster accept?
Oyster accepts payment by direct debit, wire transfer, and auto-withdrawal. The platform supports multiple currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, and CAD, with fees applied only when paying in a currency different from the contract currency.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Oyster
- Company
- Oyster HR Inc
- Based in
- Charlotte, North Carolina
Keep looking
Where to go from Oyster
- Oyster alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Oyster pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Oyster badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Payroll softwareThe full category
- Best Payroll softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Payroll software for
Compare Oyster with
- Zenefits
- Gusto
- ADP Workforce Now
- Paycom
- Velocity Global
- Remote
- Omnipresent
- Papaya Global
- RemoFirst
- Paychex Flex
- Namely
- Justworks
- Nmbrs
- OnPay
- Paylocity
- Omnipresent
- Papaya Global
- Paychex Flex
Other Payroll software
All-in-one HR, payroll, talent, and benefits
From $23/employee per month11 researched notesEmployer of record with a service-led model and a mix of owned and partner entities across 160 countries
Pricing on request12 researched notesLow-cost employer of record and contractor payments across a very wide country list built largely on partner entities
Pricing on request12 researched notesProfessional employer organisation with published per-employee pricing and a separate payroll-only tier
From $8/mo12 researched notesDutch and Swedish payroll and HR sold largely through accountants, owned by Visma since 2017
Pricing on request12 researched notesSingle-plan United States payroll with unlimited pay runs and support for awkward tax situations other providers avoid
Pricing on request12 researched notesEmployer of record with a service-led model and a mix of owned and partner entities across 160 countries
Pricing on request12 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Oyster, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Oyster
Oyster alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Oyster pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Oyster
Put it head to head with anything we hold
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