We now live in a world where you can battle dragons alongside fellow gamers in Berlin or Bangalore; where a K-pop band can drop a new single in Seoul and, within minutes, teenagers in São Paulo and Stockholm are making TikToks about it.
In short, in 2025 the world is more digitally connected than ever.
But yet, many businesses are still limiting their search for new talent to their local area, insisting that staff commute daily back-and-forth to a central office.
Of course, this approach is necessary for many companies, but others might be needlessly narrowing the talent pool by overlooking the opportunity to hire globally.
With remote work now an established norm, and technology allowing colleagues to collaborate seamlessly across borders and time zones, why are many businesses still hiring like it’s 1999?
With international hiring, your talent pool is as big as you make it, while a location-agnostic approach to recruitment can also be more cost-effective — enabling your business to hire in countries with comparatively lower costs of living, for example.
Let’s not forget, however, that hiring someone from another country comes with a few extra operational and compliance-related hoops to jump through — from paying your employees in their local currencies to ensuring they have all the necessary documentation.
This is where an Employer of Record (EOR) platform comes in, helping you to hire legally and cost-effectively in any location, without the complexity involved in relocating employees or setting up new legal entities.
Looking to hire global talent without the legal headaches? Here are the best EOR platforms available in 2025.
1. Remote
One of the most trusted names in the EOR space — and for good reason — Remote allows companies to hire, onboard, pay, and manage international employees in over 100 countries, avoiding the complex process of setting up overseas legal entities.
Unlike other providers like Deel (which we’ll cover shortly), Remote owns its full local infrastructure, which means tighter compliance since you’re never relying on third-party intermediaries — check out this Deel vs Remote comparison for more information.
Better still, Remote’s benefits offerings are world-class, including access to health insurance, pensions, and stock options for employees around the globe.
With transparent pricing, an intuitive dashboard, and responsive customer support, Remote is a standout choice for both startups and large enterprises. Plus, their focus fair pricing based on local living costs makes Remote a favorite of mission-driven companies, too.
2. Deel
If you’re looking for speed and automation, Deel might be the EOR platform for you. Deel covers 100+ countries and supports hiring both full-time employees and contractors.
Their technology is intuitive, offering self-service onboarding, localized contracts, tax compliance tools, and even crypto payment options, while Deel is especially strong when it comes to contractor management, helping companies issue compliant invoices and pay freelancers in minutes.
They’ve also introduced features like background checks and equipment provisioning. One thing to keep in mind: some of the Deel reviews we’ve seen indicate that customer support be slow to respond at times — but overall, it’s is a solid choice if you want to scale global teams quickly and efficiently.
3. Remote People
Remote People enables organisations to recruit, onboard, pay, and manage talent in more than 150 jurisdictions—without the capital expense or regulatory burden of establishing local entities.
Unlike many EOR competitors, Remote People combines in-house recruitment with its own country-by-country legal infrastructure, ensuring a single chain of accountability for candidate sourcing, contract generation, payroll, and compliance.
Transparent, flat-rate pricing—starting at US $199 per employee per month—paired with a streamlined platform and responsive support makes Remote People an efficient solution for both high-growth startups and multinational enterprises seeking a unified recruitment-plus-EOR partner.
4. Oyster
Oyster’s platform is designed to make global hiring not just compliant, but human. They help you offer great localized benefits to your hires, from health insurance to wellness stipends, ensuring that every team member feels cared for.
One of Oyster’s standout features is their global employment cost calculator, which helps you budget smarter when hiring internationally. Their approach is ideal for mission-driven or people-first companies that want more than just a basic employment service.
Pricing can sometimes be higher compared to more stripped-back options, but the quality of experience and peace of mind often make it worth it.
5. Papaya Global
Papaya Global combines EOR with global payroll management, workforce analytics, and contractor management — all in a single dashboard.
Their platform is built for scale, meaning it can support both small startups and large multinational corporations with thousands of employees.
Papaya’s standout feature is their robust data and insights reporting, offering visibility into workforce costs, taxes, and trends across multiple countries. They are very strong on data protection, GDPR compliance, and financial transparency.
It is worth noting that businesses just beginning their global hiring journey might find the range of features a little intimidating; but still, for large or rapidly-growing companies, Papaya offers a comprehensive global employment solution.
6. Rippling
Rippling isn’t really an EOR platform but an all-in-one solution encompassing HR, IT, and finance management capabilities — which can be both a blessing and a curse.
One the one hand, imagine hiring a new employee overseas and, within a few clicks, getting them a laptop, enrolling them in health insurance, setting up payroll, and even creating a company email address. Rippling does all that, allowing you to start small and add services as you grow.
However, Rippling tends to be best suited to companies looking for an end-to-end solution (since its EOR tool is just one among a suite of features), so if you’re looking for a straightforward EOR functionality without all the HR and IT extras, you might end up paying for features you don’t use.
7. Horizons
Horizons specializes in helping companies expand into Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and other emerging markets — regions where employment laws tend to be trickier to navigate.
In addition to offering standard EOR services, Horizons provides recruitment assistance, helping companies actually find and vet talent overseas, while their country-specific HR expertise ensures that you stay compliant with local labor laws and cultural norms.
For companies expanding into non-traditional or high-growth markets, Horizons offers serious strategic value. That said, if your primary markets are the U.S. and Europe, you might find broader global platforms offer a bit more coverage.
8. Atlas
Atlas (formerly Elements Global Services) prides itself on being a “Direct EOR”, meaning it doesn’t subcontract to third parties in the countries where it operates — which results in tighter compliance controls and a more predictable hiring experience.
Their platform is clean, easy to navigate, and packed with helpful features like workforce cost calculators, HR document libraries, and country-specific compliance alerts. Atlas also provides strategic HR support for issues like cultural onboarding and retention planning.
One downside: in some countries, their benefits offerings are still evolving, so it’s good to double-check what’s included for each location. Overall, Atlas is a strong choice for companies seeking greater control and transparency.
9. Safeguard Global
Safeguard Global offers a highly flexible range of solutions for global employment needs, whether you need to hire a single international employee or build a large cross-border team.
They stand out for their innovative “Work in Any Way” model, which supports freelancers, contractors, and full-time employees alike. This makes them a strong partner for businesses with varied international workforces.
Their compliance support is excellent, particularly in challenging or volatile markets.
However, because of the flexibility they offer, onboarding timelines can sometimes be slightly slower compared to more streamlined platforms like Remote or Deel. But for companies that value flexibility over sheer speed, Safeguard Global is a great partner.
10. Globalization Partners
Globalization Partners (GP) has built a reputation for simplicity and reliability. Their platform is easy to use and allows you to onboard employees in over 180 countries without setting up a local entity.
Their onboarding process is among the fastest in the industry, with many hires completed in a matter of days. Dedicated account managers help walk you through compliance, tax, and benefits questions, making the process smooth even for companies new to international hiring.
GP’s services are premium-priced, which might make smaller startups hesitate, but for companies that prioritize speed, reliability, and white-glove support, they are hard to beat.
In today’s world, talent has no borders — and neither should your hiring strategy. With the right EOR platform, you can avoid the complexities of traditional expansion. Whether you’re scaling your first international team or refining a mature global workforce, the EOR providers above can help you move faster and stay compliant, unlocking opportunities you might never have found within a 50-mile hiring radius.
