Oyster | Global HR Software | Hire in 180+ countries

By Parsa Saleem
Updated on March 14, 2025

Platform Deals

Inside This Article:

Oyster Employer of Record Plan

Oyster is a global workforce management platform that simplifies hiring, payroll, and benefits for remote teams in over 130 countries.

Oyster is a global HR platform that enables businesses to hire, manage, and pay employees in any country, all while ensuring compliance with local labor laws and regulations. By leveraging technology, Oyster simplifies the complexities of international employment, allowing companies to access a global talent pool without the need to establish local entities. Whether a company is hiring a remote team or expanding into new markets, Oyster offers a seamless solution for onboarding, payroll, benefits, and legal compliance. With a focus on flexibility and scalability, Oyster empowers businesses to grow globally while providing a positive experience for employees worldwide.

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Oyster | Global HR Software | Hire in 180+ countries

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How Oyster Can Help Your Business

Oyster can help your business by streamlining the complexities of global hiring and employment. Whether you’re expanding into new markets or building a remote team, Oyster provides a comprehensive solution that simplifies payroll, benefits, and compliance with local labor laws in over 180 countries. With Oyster, businesses can focus on what matters most growing their teams and operations while the platform takes care of the administrative challenges of international employment. From hiring and onboarding to ensuring timely, compliant payments, Oyster ensures a smooth, efficient process, giving you the flexibility to access top global talent without the overhead of managing foreign entities.

Oyster Features

Oyster offers a wide range of features designed to simplify global employment and make managing a distributed workforce easier. Key features include:

Global Payroll Management: Oyster ensures that employees are paid accurately and on time, regardless of their location. The platform handles local tax regulations and compliance, so businesses can focus on growth rather than payroll complexities.
Compliance and Legal Support: Oyster helps businesses stay compliant with local labor laws in over 180 countries. The platform provides guidance on hiring, contracts, benefits, and other legal requirements, ensuring that your business operates within the boundaries of international regulations.
Employee Benefits and Perks: Oyster offers a wide range of customizable benefits, from health insurance to retirement plans, ensuring employees have access to competitive perks that align with their local needs and expectations.
Seamless Onboarding: The platform streamlines the hiring process with easy-to-use tools for contract management, document submission, and integration with HR systems, enabling businesses to quickly onboard new team members no matter where they are located.
Remote Work Tools: Designed to support remote teams, Oyster provides tools that help companies manage their global workforce efficiently, offering features like time tracking, performance reviews, and team collaboration.
Talent Acquisition Support: Oyster helps businesses source and recruit top talent from around the world, offering job posting support, candidate vetting, and seamless contract generation to help expand your team without geographic limitations.
International Expansion Made Easy: With Oyster, expanding your business to new regions is simple. The platform allows you to hire in new countries without needing to set up local subsidiaries, removing the administrative burden and reducing time-to-market.

These features make Oyster a powerful partner for businesses looking to grow internationally and manage a diverse, distributed workforce.

How to Use Oyster

Using Oyster is straightforward and designed to make global hiring and employee management seamless for businesses of all sizes. Here’s how to get started:

Sign Up and Create an Account: Start by signing up on the Oyster platform and creating a business account. You’ll be asked to provide basic company information, such as your business name, location, and the countries you’re interested in hiring employees from.
Add Your Team Members: Once your account is set up, you can invite team members to the platform, such as HR managers or department heads, who will help you manage your global workforce.
Post Jobs and Source Candidates: Oyster allows you to post job listings and search through a global pool of candidates. You can work with Oyster’s talent acquisition team or use their tools to streamline recruitment. The platform helps with everything from posting jobs to candidate screening.
Hire and Onboard Employees: After selecting the ideal candidate, you can use Oyster’s automated onboarding tools to generate contracts, request necessary documents, and guide employees through the process. Oyster ensures that all paperwork and agreements are compliant with local labor laws.
Manage Payroll and Benefits: Once your employee is onboarded, Oyster takes care of payroll processing, including tax calculations, withholdings, and timely payments in local currencies. Additionally, you can set up employee benefits such as healthcare, retirement plans, and paid time off that align with local regulations.
Monitor Employee Performance and Well-being: Use Oyster’s platform to track employee performance, manage time off, and access a variety of tools for managing remote teams. You can schedule regular check-ins and performance reviews to ensure your employees are supported and engaged.
Stay Compliant and Manage Legal Requirements: Oyster will guide you through the complex legal landscape of international hiring. The platform provides updates on changes in labor laws and ensures that your company stays compliant with local regulations for every country in which you operate.
Scale and Expand: As your business grows, you can easily expand into new markets. Oyster allows you to onboard new employees in additional countries without needing to set up local offices, giving you the flexibility to scale your team globally.

By leveraging Oyster, businesses can effortlessly manage a global, remote workforce with confidence, knowing that compliance, payroll, benefits, and employee management are all handled in one easy-to-use platform.

Oyster Pricing

Oyster offers a variety of flexible pricing plans designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes, from startups to global enterprises.

Contractor Plan

Cost: Free for 30 days, then USD 29 per contractor/month
Ideal For: Businesses hiring and managing contractors globally

The Contractor Plan is perfect for businesses that need to hire, onboard, and manage contractors without the complexities of global compliance. It includes features like generating compliant contracts in 180+ countries, paying invoices in 140+ currencies, and managing expenses and time off. Try it free for 30 days to experience how Oyster can streamline your contractor management process.

Global Payroll Plan

Cost: Starting at USD 25 per employee/month
Ideal For: Businesses paying direct employees across multiple countries

The Global Payroll Plan is ideal for businesses looking to run payroll accurately and compliantly for their direct employees. It offers features such as multi-country payroll management, accurate and timely payments, payroll reports, and integration with your HRIS. This plan ensures your employees are paid in compliance with local tax and labor regulations, providing peace of mind for global teams.

Employer of Record (EOR) Plan

Cost: USD 699 per employee/month
Ideal For: Businesses hiring full-time employees in 130+ countries

The EOR Plan is designed for businesses that want to hire full-time employees internationally without setting up local entities. With this plan, you can onboard talent in as fast as 48 hours, run payroll in 140+ currencies, and access legal protections such as confidentiality and IP assignment agreements. It’s ideal for companies looking to hire full-time staff across borders with minimal hassle.

Scale Plan

Cost: Custom pricing (for 5+ full-time employees)
Ideal For: Larger businesses looking for a scalable solution

The Scale Plan is best suited for businesses with 5+ full-time employees who need a more flexible and cost-effective solution for global hiring. It includes all the features of the Employer of Record plan but with added benefits like reduced annual rates, the ability to reuse seats at no extra cost, and expedited bulk onboarding. You’ll also receive dedicated support managers to assist with scaling your global workforce.

Oyster’s pricing plans are designed to grow with your business, ensuring that you have the tools and support necessary to manage and expand your global workforce efficiently and compliantly at every stage. From contractors to full-time employees, Oyster empowers businesses to hire and pay globally without the administrative burden.

Oyster Contractor Plan

Key Features of Oyster Contractor Plan

Free Trial for 30 Days: Get started with Oyster’s Contractor Plan for free, allowing you to explore its features and experience the benefits before committing to a subscription.
Compliant Contracts: Generate compliant contracts for contractors in 180+ countries, ensuring your business meets local labor regulations with ease.
Fast Onboarding: Onboard contractors in minutes, streamlining the hiring process and enabling you to start working with your global team quickly.
Global Payment Support: Pay contractors in 140+ currencies, making it simple to manage international payments and avoid complications in currency conversion.
Expense Management: Track and manage contractor expenses, ensuring all costs are properly accounted for and reimbursed in compliance with company policies.
Time Off Management: Keep track of contractor time off requests, providing a streamlined process to approve and manage paid time off and other leave types.
Invoicing and Payments: Pay contractor invoices seamlessly, ensuring timely and accurate payments without worrying about compliance in different countries.
No Hidden Fees: Transparent pricing of USD 29 per contractor/month after the free trial, with no unexpected costs or hidden charges.
Flexible Scalability: Easily add new contractors to your team as your business grows, ensuring that your workforce management remains simple and efficient.

The Contractor Plan from Oyster provides a comprehensive, cost-effective solution for businesses looking to hire and manage contractors globally, with the tools and features necessary to ensure compliance and smooth operational management.

Oyster Global Payroll Plan

Key Features of Oyster Global Payroll Plan

Multi-Country Payroll: Run payroll for employees in multiple countries from a single platform, simplifying the management of a global workforce and ensuring consistency across regions.
Accurate and Compliant Payments: Ensure that employees are paid accurately and compliantly, with payroll managed in accordance with local tax regulations, labor laws, and statutory requirements in each country.
Currency Support: Pay employees in 140+ currencies, enabling businesses to efficiently manage payroll across diverse global locations with ease and without currency conversion headaches.
Payroll Reports: Generate detailed payroll reports for your records and compliance purposes, allowing for streamlined auditing, tracking, and employee record keeping.
Integration with HRIS: Integrate payroll workflows with your existing HR Information Systems (HRIS), helping to maintain a unified data flow between HR and payroll processes.
Dedicated Payroll Support: Access personalized support from Oyster’s payroll specialists who can assist with any issues, questions, or compliance-related concerns to ensure smooth operations.
Automated Tax Calculations: Oyster automatically calculates and withholds taxes according to local regulations, ensuring that your company stays compliant with tax laws in every country where you employ staff.
Employee Payslips: Automatically generate and distribute payslips to employees, ensuring transparency and providing them with a clear breakdown of their earnings, deductions, and benefits.
Streamlined Time-Off Management: Manage employee time off (vacations, sick days, etc.) within the platform, automatically factoring time-off accruals into payroll calculations.
Scalability: The plan is flexible and can scale as your business grows, making it easy to add new employees and manage payroll for a larger global team.

The Global Payroll Plan from Oyster offers a robust solution for managing payroll across a diverse, global workforce, ensuring compliance, accuracy, and efficiency in one streamlined platform.

Oyster Employer of Record Plan

Key Features of Oyster Employer of Record (EOR) Plan

Global Full-Time Hiring: Hire full-time employees compliantly in 130+ countries without the need to establish local entities, making it easy to expand your global workforce.
Quick Onboarding: Onboard full-time talent in as little as 48 hours, streamlining the process and enabling you to integrate new employees quickly into your team.
Compliant Payroll Management: Run payroll for your global employees in 140+ currencies, ensuring accurate, timely payments while adhering to local tax and employment regulations.
Employment Intelligence and Support: Access expert insights and guidance on local labor laws, benefits, and employment practices, reducing the complexity of international hiring and ensuring compliance.
Confidentiality and IP Assignment Agreements: Protect your business with confidentiality agreements and IP assignment contracts, ensuring that your intellectual property and sensitive information are safeguarded across borders.
Employee Benefits Administration: Provide competitive, region-specific benefits to employees, including health insurance, retirement plans, and other local benefits, ensuring that your staff is well-supported.
Legal Compliance: Oyster handles all legal responsibilities of employment in the countries where your employees are based, ensuring that you meet local labor law requirements and avoid compliance risks.
Employee Contract Management: Generate legally compliant contracts and agreements tailored to each country’s specific labor laws, reducing legal complexity and risk.
Dedicated Support: Access dedicated account managers and support specialists who assist you with everything from employee onboarding to managing legal and compliance matters.
Risk Reduction: Minimize risks related to international employment, including tax compliance, worker classification, and other legal liabilities, by relying on Oyster’s expertise.

The Employer of Record Plan by Oyster simplifies the process of hiring and managing full-time employees globally, providing a comprehensive, compliant, and efficient solution for companies looking to scale internationally while minimizing risk and administrative complexity.

Oyster Scale Plan

Key Features of Oyster Scale Plan

Custom Pricing: Tailored for businesses with 5+ full-time employees, the Scale Plan offers custom pricing based on your specific needs, ensuring flexibility and cost-effectiveness as your workforce grows.
All Features of Employer of Record Plan: Enjoy all the benefits of the Employer of Record (EOR) plan, including global full-time hiring, compliant payroll management, employee benefits, legal compliance, and more.
Reduced Annual Rates: Benefit from discounted pricing with annual plans, making it more affordable to manage a large, growing global workforce.
Reuse Seats at No Extra Cost: Take advantage of the ability to reuse employee seats without incurring additional fees, optimizing your resources as your team expands or changes.
Speedy Bulk Onboarding: Onboard multiple employees quickly and efficiently, reducing the time and administrative burden when scaling your global team.
Dedicated Support Managers: Access dedicated account managers who provide personalized support to help you navigate global HR challenges, scale efficiently, and ensure compliance across countries.
Scalable Workforce Management: As your business expands, Oyster’s platform scales with you, allowing you to manage a growing global workforce with ease while ensuring compliance and operational efficiency.
Compliant Hiring and Payroll in 130+ Countries: Continue to hire full-time employees globally and run payroll in 140+ currencies, ensuring that your team is paid accurately and in compliance with local laws.
Employment Intelligence and Insights: Leverage expert knowledge on local employment laws, labor regulations, and benefits, empowering you to make informed decisions as you scale your business internationally.
Flexibility for Global Expansion: Scale your business across borders with the flexibility to quickly add new employees in different countries without the need for setting up local entities.

The Scale Plan is perfect for businesses that are rapidly growing and need a more comprehensive and efficient solution for managing a global workforce. With custom pricing, reduced rates, and dedicated support, it provides the tools and resources necessary to scale your team internationally while ensuring compliance and minimizing risk.

Oyster Employer of Record

Oyster’s Employer of Record (EOR) service enables businesses to hire and manage full-time employees in over 130 countries without the need to establish local entities. By acting as the legal employer, Oyster ensures full compliance with local labor laws, taxes, and regulations, allowing businesses to focus on growth rather than navigating complex employment requirements. The EOR service includes everything from quick and seamless onboarding of new hires to managing global payroll in 140+ currencies. Additionally, Oyster handles employee benefits, contracts, confidentiality agreements, and intellectual property protection, providing a comprehensive solution to minimize legal risks. With EOR, businesses can quickly scale their teams internationally, offering competitive benefits and ensuring a smooth, compliant process across borders.

Oyster Global Contractors

Oyster’s Global Contractors service allows businesses to easily hire, manage, and pay contractors from around the world, without the administrative burden of setting up local entities. Through Oyster, companies can generate compliant contracts in over 180 countries, ensuring that all legal requirements are met in each jurisdiction. The platform facilitates fast onboarding of contractors, allowing businesses to quickly integrate talent into their teams. With support for payments in 140+ currencies, Oyster simplifies the financial aspect, making it easy to pay contractors on time and in their local currency. Additionally, Oyster helps manage contractor expenses, time off, and other key administrative tasks, providing a seamless experience for both businesses and contractors. This service is ideal for companies looking to expand their global reach and leverage flexible talent, all while ensuring compliance and efficiency.

Oyster Global payroll

Oyster’s Global Payroll service simplifies the process of paying employees in multiple countries, providing businesses with a centralized platform to manage payroll across diverse global teams. With the ability to process payroll in 140+ currencies, Oyster ensures that employees are paid accurately and on time, in compliance with local tax laws and labor regulations. The platform offers seamless integration with existing HRIS systems, making payroll management more efficient and less prone to errors. Oyster also generates detailed payroll reports and payslips, giving businesses full transparency and control over their global payroll operations. With dedicated support from payroll specialists, Oyster helps businesses navigate complex compliance requirements, ensuring smooth and reliable payroll processing no matter where employees are located.

Oyster Talent mobility

Oyster’s Talent Mobility service helps businesses manage the relocation, transfer, and mobility of employees across borders with ease and compliance. Whether you’re expanding into new markets or moving employees between different regions, Oyster simplifies the complexities of international talent mobility by ensuring that all legal, tax, and regulatory requirements are met. The platform provides support for visa and work permit management, relocation logistics, and compliance with local labor laws, allowing businesses to seamlessly transition talent to new locations. With Oyster, companies can optimize their talent strategy by offering employees flexible mobility options while reducing the administrative burden of cross-border moves. This service enables businesses to leverage global talent, support employee growth, and scale their teams efficiently across multiple countries.

Oyster Alternatives

While Oyster is a popular choice for global hiring, payroll, and compliance, there are several alternatives in the market that offer similar services to help businesses manage international workforces. Here are some notable Oyster alternatives:

1. Deel

Deel is a prominent alternative to Oyster, offering global payroll, compliance, and contract management services. Deel allows businesses to hire employees and contractors in over 150 countries and provides an easy-to-use platform for managing payroll, benefits, and taxes. Deel also offers a wide range of customizable contracts and ensures compliance with local labor laws. With strong customer support and robust integrations with other HR tools, Deel is a solid choice for businesses looking to scale globally.

2. Papaya Global

Papaya Global provides a comprehensive global payroll and workforce management platform that simplifies cross-border hiring, payroll, and compliance. Like Oyster, Papaya Global enables companies to hire employees and contractors internationally, process payroll, and ensure compliance with local labor laws. Papaya Global’s platform also includes features for managing benefits, time-off, and tax compliance, making it a versatile solution for businesses with a global presence.

3. Remote

Remote offers a similar service to Oyster by providing Employer of Record (EOR) and Global Payroll services, enabling companies to hire, onboard, and pay employees and contractors in more than 50 countries. Remote focuses on simplifying global compliance, offering fully compliant contracts, and handling payroll in multiple currencies. It also provides employee benefits like health insurance and stock options, making it an attractive choice for businesses looking to hire global talent with minimal risk and hassle.

4. Globalization Partners

Globalization Partners is a global EOR provider, offering companies the ability to hire employees and contractors worldwide without setting up a local entity. With a focus on compliance, payroll, benefits, and taxes, Globalization Partners helps businesses navigate the complexities of international employment. The platform is known for its robust legal and compliance framework and its ability to scale businesses globally while reducing operational overhead.

5. Team Global

Team Global focuses on simplifying global workforce management by providing EOR and payroll solutions for businesses with international teams. Team Global’s platform is designed to streamline hiring, onboarding, payroll processing, and compliance, while also offering employee benefits and tax assistance. It provides businesses with a hassle-free way to manage remote teams across borders, ensuring full legal compliance and offering global flexibility.

6. BambooHR (with Global Payroll Add-ons)

BambooHR is a popular HR software that offers core HR management features, and when combined with add-ons for global payroll, it becomes a viable alternative to Oyster for managing international teams. BambooHR offers an intuitive user interface, employee data management, performance tracking, and time-off management, while global payroll add-ons allow businesses to expand their reach and manage payroll across multiple countries. While BambooHR is primarily focused on HR management, its integrations with payroll providers make it a suitable choice for businesses looking for a comprehensive solution.

Oyster’s alternatives, like Deel, Papaya Global, Remote, Globalization Partners, Team Global, and BambooHR, all provide similar services for global payroll, EOR, and compliance, but each has unique features, pricing models, and country coverage. When choosing between Oyster and its alternatives, businesses should consider factors such as the number of countries they operate in, their specific needs around compliance, benefits management, and overall ease of use.

Oyster is it Worth it?

Oyster can be a highly valuable tool for businesses looking to hire, pay, and manage a global workforce, especially for companies that need to scale internationally without the complexities of establishing local entities. With its comprehensive suite of services including global payroll, contractor management, and compliance across 130+ countries Oyster simplifies the often cumbersome process of navigating local tax laws, labor regulations, and employee benefits. The platform’s user-friendly interface, quick onboarding capabilities, and flexible pricing plans make it accessible for both small startups and large enterprises. However, the pricing may be considered premium for smaller businesses or those with minimal international operations. Ultimately, whether Oyster is worth it depends on your business’s size, global reach, and specific workforce needs. If you’re planning to expand internationally and require seamless, compliant solutions for managing remote teams, Oyster can be a valuable investment to ensure smooth and efficient operations.

Disclosure: We are an independent entity from Oyster. We are not an agent or employee of Oyster Forms and have no authority to make a binding contract or represent Oyster Forms. We receive referral payments from Oyster Forms. The opinions expressed here are our own and shall NOT be interpreted or considered as representations, guarantees, or statements by Oyster Forms.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Does Oyster Cost?

Oyster offers several pricing plans depending on your business needs:

Contractor Plan: Free for the first 30 days, then USD 29 per contractor/month.
Global Payroll Plan: Starting at USD 25 per employee/month.
Employer of Record Plan: USD 699 per employee/month.
Scale Plan: Custom pricing for businesses with 5+ full-time employees.

Is Oyster Pricing Considered Affordable?

Oyster’s pricing is on the higher side, particularly for the Employer of Record plan. However, for businesses expanding globally, the comprehensive features and compliance support may make it a worthwhile investment.

Are There Any Hidden Oyster Pricing Fees?

No, Oyster’s pricing is transparent, with clear monthly fees for each plan. There are no hidden fees, but additional services or custom plans may vary in cost.

Can I Get a Oyster Pricing Discount?

Oyster offers custom pricing for larger businesses or those on the Scale plan, which may include discounts for annual plans or bulk onboarding. It’s best to contact Oyster directly for specific discount inquiries.

Does Oyster Offer a Money-Back Guarantee?

Oyster does not offer a money-back guarantee. However, it provides a 30-day free trial for the Contractor plan, allowing businesses to try out the service before committing.

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Oyster | Global HR Software | Hire in 180+ countries

Inside This Article:

Oyster is a global workforce management platform that simplifies hiring, payroll, and benefits for remote teams in over 130 countries.

How Oyster Can Help Your Business

Oyster Features

How to Use Oyster

Oyster Pricing

Contractor Plan

Global Payroll Plan

Employer of Record (EOR) Plan

Scale Plan

Oyster Contractor Plan

Key Features of Oyster Contractor Plan

Oyster Global Payroll Plan

Key Features of Oyster Global Payroll Plan

Oyster Employer of Record Plan

Key Features of Oyster Employer of Record (EOR) Plan

Oyster Scale Plan

Key Features of Oyster Scale Plan

Oyster Employer of Record

Oyster Global Contractors

Oyster Global payroll

Oyster Talent mobility

Oyster Alternatives

1. Deel

2. Papaya Global

3. Remote

4. Globalization Partners

5. Team Global

6. BambooHR (with Global Payroll Add-ons)

Oyster is it Worth it?

Frequently Asked Questions

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