Deel vs Globalization Partners: Honest Employer of Record Service Comparison (2025)

General overview

Choosing the right global Employer of Record (EOR) service for your global expansion is crucial for managing compliance, onboarding, and payroll efficiently. The right option will make your expansion plans smoother and more cost-effective. In 2025, Deel and Globalization Partners (G-P) are leading options, each with unique strengths.

Both platforms promise to simplify global hiring and compliance without setting up legal entities or subsidiaries in each country. However, they differ in approach, tech capabilities, and global infrastructure. To help you make an informed decision, let’s see how these two solutions stack up across key features like compliance, cost, onboarding, and scalability.

Globalization Partners is an enterprise-focused EOR serving 180+ countries using a network of in-country partners. G-P’s platform supports quick employee onboarding, backed by in-country experts. However, its premium pricing and slower onboarding process may not suit smaller businesses or startups.

Deel is known for being the complete global hiring, payroll, and compliance solution. It offers EOR services and acts as the legal employer in over 150 countries using its own entities. Deel is backed by in-house infrastructure, AI-powered tools, and a dedicated team of compliance, payroll, and HR experts. It’s ideal for small, medium, and large enterprises seeking a single, unified solution to global hiring and team management.

Here’s how these two Employers of Record services compare.

Key features

Globalization partners

• EOR coverage in 180+ countries through an aggregator model (in-country partners)
• Global payroll processing through third-party local payroll vendors
• Automated compliance management features, including an AI assistant
• Self-guided onboarding with basic automation
• Contractor management and employee immigration services
• Traditional multichannel support, including live chat, phone, and email
• 13 native integrations plus custom integrations through Deel API

Deel

• EOR coverage in 150+ countries with direct ownership of local entities
• Global payroll processing using in-house payroll infrastructure
• Fully integrated global benefits management with reporting features
• Compliance Hub, in-house local legal experts, and an AI assistant for continuous compliance monitoring and compliance management
• Native integrations with tools like Slack, Workday, and QuickBooks
• A full suite of workforce management services, including Contractor of Record solutions, visa and immigration support, equity management, performance tracking through Deel Engage, and equipment provisioning through Deel IT
• Free global hiring toolkit to help with decision-making
• Fully rebrandable infrastructure and advanced customization through white-label and white-glove services
• 24/7 support integrated into everyday tools like Slack, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams

See more: Owned Entity vs. In-Country Partner: The Best Choice for Global Hiring

Pros and cons

Globalization Partners

Pros:

• Extensive network of in-country EOR and payroll providers
• Strong compliance with local regulations and access to local legal experts
• Personalized onboarding process
• Proven success with large enterprises
• Provides basic contractor management services

Cons:

• Lack of transparency in pricing
• Onboarding process can be slower due to manual oversight
• Reliance on third-party vendors can cause service inconsistencies and slower responses
• Limited integrations compared to newer EOR platforms like Deel

Deel

Pros:

• Transparent, scalable pricing at $599/employee/month
• Full control over payroll and EOR operations through owned entities and local payroll engines
• Proactive, AI-powered compliance management with in-house local legal experts
• Automated and personalized onboarding in minutes
• One platform to manage global teams end-to-end, including contractors, EOR employees, and direct hires
• Delivers a superior user experience with an intuitive interface, responsive support, and a 90% customer satisfaction rating
• Flexible payroll that supports real-time adjustments, off-cycle payments, and employee-friendly payment options

Cons:

• The platform’s depth can be intimidating for new users, but dedicated support helps you get up to speed fast
• Pricing may stretch lean budgets, but automation and built-in HR and compliance reduce long-term costs

See also: Employer of Record vs. Owning an Entity: 7 Signs You Should Make a Switch

Costs

Globalization partners

G-P is known for its premium pricing. While it has comprehensive EOR services, it relies on third-party EOR partners to offer them. This increases its cost, creating a barrier for smaller businesses or startups.

The cost of G-P’s EOR services is not transparent, as custom quotes are required. Price depends on factors such as employee salary, country of employment, and specific services required.

Deel

Deel’s pricing is transparent and scalable with flexible options suited for both SMBs and large enterprises. For EOR services, the price begins at $599 per employee per month. The exact EOR cost can vary based on customization needs, the number of employees, and the countries involved.

Deel also provides a comprehensive suite of services. However, it relies on its own infrastructure to cut out middlemen, making its pricing competitive, especially for smaller businesses.

Plus, Deel’s full set of features eliminates the need to invest in additional systems for payroll, benefits administration, compliance, equity management, performance management, global HRIS, and more.

Summary:

Deel wins with its transparent pricing. While G-P does not publicly disclose its EOR costs, Deel offers flat-rate pricing that enables predictable budgeting, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. This makes Deel a cost-effective solution for organizations seeking scalability and control.

See more: How EORs Protect Companies From Permanent Establishment Risk

Global coverage

Globalization partners

Globalization Partners has coverage in 180+ countries. However, it relies on in-country partners to deliver its services.

This allows for broad reach, but it also means service quality can vary depending on the local partner. It creates potential for fragmented communication and less visibility into employment processes.

Deel

Deel also offers extensive global coverage with wholly-owned entities in over 150 countries and in-house infrastructure. Its local expertise is delivered by its in-house legal and HR teams, not third-party intermediaries.

This direct model gives Deel full control over compliance, payroll, and employment processes.

The consistency and reliability that come from having no middlemen nurture a stronger employer-employee relationship, which helps with engagement and retention.

Summary:
While G-P offers broader coverage, it operates through in-country partners. Deel stands out for its direct control in its global coverage, operating through wholly-owned entities rather than relying on third-party partners. This provides a more consistent and reliable experience. It gives employers clearer oversight as they scale internationally.

See also: Employer of Record vs Owned Entity: Cost Savings for Small Businesses

Compliance & legal reliability

Globalization partners

G-P offers compliance management with in-country legal experts. The platform localizes contracts, continuously reviews HR documentation to ensure compliance with local employment laws, and keeps payroll aligned with statutory requirements.

G-P has an AI assistant, G-P Gia, that addresses compliance questions. However, it’s a separately priced product, which increases the overall cost of using the platform.

G-P Gia is also more focused on analyzing the compliance of contracts and other HR documents rather than providing 360-degree compliance insights.

Deel

Deel excels with comprehensive compliance tools, including in-house legal experts in every country it operates. The platform localizes employment agreements, payroll, offboarding, benefits, tax filings, and leave policies.

Deel’s legal experts continuously review and update agreements and employment policies to ensure alignment with current laws. Its Compliance Hub builds on this foundation with real-time regulatory monitoring beyond what most providers have. This includes:

• Monthly Workforce insights: Provides real-time alerts on regulatory risks, including changes in labor laws, potential worker misclassification, and upcoming visa expirations across all relevant jurisdictions
• Compliance Monitor: Tracks and summarizes key changes in employment laws, tax policies, and labor regulations that could impact your global workforce
• AI-based Worker Classifier: Assesses whether a worker should be classified as an employee or independent contractor, using local legal standards to support compliant hiring decisions

This is in addition to Deel AI, an AI assistant that answers compliance-related questions and provides suggestions relevant to your workforce. Deel AI is accessible on Slack and isn’t limited to compliance. It can provide insights into employee data, answer product-related questions, and more.

The Compliance Hub and Deel AI are free to use for Deel customers. They eliminate the need for external legal support.

Summary:

Deel outperforms G-P with its proactive and fully integrated approach to tackling compliance challenges. It combines compliance automation, in-house legal expertise, real-time monitoring tools, and AI-powered compliance support.

See more: 4 Common Global Compliance Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

Onboarding speed

Globalization partners

G-P offers a streamlined onboarding experience using self-guided workflows and AI tools to speed up the initial setup on the platform. However, it’s generally less automated, and completing this step can still take several days depending on the employee’s role.

When it comes to onboarding employees into your organization—setting them up with tools, equipment, and internal processes—G-P offers minimal support.

While G-P allows you to create basic onboarding workflows, the level of customization is limited. G-P doesn’t support features like equipment or app provisioning, integrated learning tools, or assigning onboarding tasks directly in tools like Slack. You’d have to rely on separate systems or manual coordination.

Deel

Deel offers a highly automated, country-specific onboarding process that lets businesses onboard employees on its platform in minutes. This speed is especially valuable for fast-growing startups.

Employees use a self-serve platform to upload documents, e-sign agreements, and enroll in benefits. If any compliance documents are missing, Deel prompts them to submit what’s needed.

Once the employee is set up, you can create comprehensive, automated onboarding workflows through Deel. The platform provides equipment and app provisioning, along with tailored onboarding courses. These can be combined into workflows customized by department and role.

You can even assign onboarding tasks directly in Slack using Deel’s onboarding Plugin, keeping your new hires in the tools they already use while speeding up the process.

Summary:

Deel offers faster onboarding than G-P, with more features to fully integrate employees into the company. It offers advanced customization, integrations, and employee-friendly tools like Slack-based task assignments.

See more: Sample Onboarding Plan for New Employees: Your Ultimate Resource

Benefits & payroll management

Globalization partners

Globalization Partners relies on a network of local payroll vendors instead of managing payroll in-house. This limits your control over payroll processing, making last-minute adjustments and off-cycle payments slower and less flexible.

Although Globalization Partners offers benefits administration with advanced reporting, its payroll and benefits systems are not fully integrated due to its use of an aggregator model. This can lead to manual processes and delays.

Deel

Deel runs payroll in-house using its own global payroll engines, giving the platform direct control over calculations, processing, and payouts. This ensures faster, more accurate, and more flexible payroll delivery.

For example, the payroll cut-off date is set on the 20th of each month, leaving room for last-minute adjustments. Deel also supports off-cycle payments and includes a payroll variance tool that helps track and explain changes over time.

Employees benefit from flexible payment options in their local currencies, including on-demand pay. Through a self-serve platform, they can view payslips, update personal details, and manage payment preferences without HR intervention.

Deel also simplifies the administration of employee benefits through its team of in-house local payroll experts. They ensure that benefit packages are both competitive and compliant with local laws. The platform also offers customizable reports to help you analyze benefit costs across multiple countries.

To support better planning, tools like the Global Benefits Tool enable you to forecast these costs in advance. Plus, Deel partners with top local providers to deliver enterprise-grade benefits at competitive rates.

Summary:

Deel’s in-house payroll infrastructure provides a clear advantage over G-P in speed, accuracy, and flexibility. Combined with advanced benefits administration, Deel simplifies payroll compliance while enhancing the employee experience through flexible payment options and self-service tools.

Customer support

Both Deel and Globalization Partners offer multilingual, multichannel support to ensure a smooth experience for their clients. But Deel goes beyond traditional support methods by offering assistance through platforms like WhatsApp, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and WeChat.

This ensures that communication remains integrated into the tools you and your team are already using.

With G-P, the average response time for live chat is 2 minutes according to its Service Level Objectives. Customer reviews on Trustpilot and G2 show dissatisfaction with the level of customer service provided.

Deel’s quality and speed of customer service is high. The average live chat response time is a minute, and 91% of customers have their issues resolved in the first interaction.

Summary:

Deel stands out with faster response times, broader support channels, and higher first-contact resolution rates. Unlike G-P’s more traditional channels, Deel integrates support into everyday tools, which helps employers and their teams get timely help without disrupting workflows.

User experience

Globalization partners

Because G-P works with a network of local vendors, the user experience can vary across countries depending on each partner’s systems, processes, and response times. Without a fully unified platform, employers may face fragmented workflows, more manual steps, and slower task completion.

Deel

Deel offers a unified system with end-to-end solutions for hiring, paying, and managing global teams. The user interface is modern, intuitive, and easy to navigate.

Smart prompts, in-app guidance, and real-time progress tracking help users complete tasks faster, such as onboarding and payroll approvals.

Summary:

Deel stands out with its advanced functionality and user-friendly interface. This helps employers focus on strategic activities rather than navigating complex HR systems. In contrast, Globalization Partners’ reliance on local vendor networks can lead to inconsistent user experiences.

Integrations

Globalization partners

G-P offers a few native integrations with HRIS platforms like Workday and SAP SuccessFactors, but most tools require API-based setup using G-P API.

However, the API is not publicly documented. Access to its documentation requires direct engagement with G-P's support or sales teams.

It’s also relatively limited in how it works. For example, it lacks built-in mechanisms for real-time, two-way data synchronization, which may lead to slower updates and more manual processes. This can make it harder to streamline workflows and keep systems in sync in real-time.

Deel

Deel offers seamless integrations with modern accounting tools like QuickBooks and Xero, time-tracking tools like Hubstaff, and collaboration tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams. This allows for smooth data flow across systems.

It also integrates with HRIS systems like Workday and SAP SuccessFactors. However, because Deel functions as a global HRIS itself, many organizations choose to adopt its native platform rather than maintain or integrate legacy systems.

To make automation even easier, Deel’s no-code Workflow Builder lets you connect processes across tools. For instance, you can update payroll automatically when time-off is approved or trigger equipment provisioning as soon as you onboard a new hire.

For businesses that need more control, Deel provides a well-documented public API, Deel API. It has an accessible sandbox for faster testing and deployment of custom integrations and automated workflows.

Deel API supports real-time data flows and two-way sync, helping teams maintain consistency across systems without manual intervention.

Summary:

Deel outshines G-P with its extensive native integrations and flexible API options that give businesses more control over how their systems connect and share data. It makes it easy to consolidate HR processes and optimize global workforce management. Globalization Partners offers fewer native integrations and a limited, less accessible API.

See more: 20 Best Payroll Integrations for Accounting, HR, and More

Scalability

Globalization partners

In addition to EOR services, G-P offers some support for contractor management and immigration. However, its platform lacks the breadth and adaptability needed to support global scale.

A core limitation is its reliance on third-party partners to deliver key services. This lack of control over its infrastructure creates inconsistencies in services across regions, complicating the management of a rapidly growing international workforce.

It also limits G-P’s ability to roll out regular platform updates, launch new features, or quickly adopt emerging technologies. As a result, you may need to supplement G-P’s offering with additional vendors or internal systems to keep pace with your evolving workforce needs.

Deel

Deel’s wholly-owned model enables it to combine simplicity with scalable growth. It’s easy for small teams to get started, yet powerful enough to support complex global operations. Through a single platform, you can manage the entire workforce, including EOR employees, contractors, and direct hires, with built-in support across the full employee lifecycle.

You can begin with fundamental services— EOR and Contractor of Record services—and layer on more advanced capabilities as your needs expand. For instance, you can establish your own legal entities through Deel’s Entity Setup and convert contractors into full-time employees through Deel.

The platform simplifies your growing global HR operations through automated background checks, workforce planning, workflow automation, employee engagement tools, and its global device management solution—Deel IT.

White label services allow you to deliver a fully branded employee experience, while Deel handles the legal, payroll, and compliance requirements in the background.

In addition, Deel quickly adapts its platform by rolling out new features and updating its HR tools to keep pace with evolving workforce trends and technology. As a scaling business, it means you can tap into the latest HR tech without needing to rebuild your whole system.

Summary:

Deel offers a more flexible and comprehensive foundation for scaling a global team, compared to G-P. Its infrastructure supports contractors, direct employees, and EOR employees on one platform, with tools that adapt as business needs change. Globalization Partners only provides core EOR services and limited contractor support.

See also: IT Asset Tracking: A Complete Guide to Smarter Device Management

Review ratings from review sites

G-P:

• 2.2/5 on Trustpilot
• 4.4/5 on G2 (2025)

Deel:

• 4.8/5 on Trustpilot
• 4.8/5 on G2 (2025)

Bottom line

When it comes to choosing an Employer of Record service in 2025, Deel stands out as the more accessible, cost-effective, and user-friendly option for SMBs and startups, while still offering the scalability needed for larger enterprises. With its global reach, transparent pricing, and excellent customer support, Deel offers a modern and efficient solution for managing a global workforce.

Globalization Partners is a strong contender with its extensive compliance knowledge and support for large enterprises. But it may not be the best fit for businesses looking for an intuitive, affordable, and scalable EOR solution.

Manage your global workforce with Deel

If you are an employer seeking a user-friendly solution for hiring globally, that is also cost-efficient and scalable with comprehensive compliance management, Deel is the superior choice.

It’s trusted by over 20,000 organizations and has been named the top Employer of Record by G2, with the highest user satisfaction score and largest market presence in the category.

The best part? Deel grows with you. As your operations expand, you can onboard contractors and manage and pay everyone—EOR hires, direct employees, and contractors—on a single platform.

Our dedicated customer success managers and HR experts will guide you through every step of workforce management, from compliance to benefits and payroll, ensuring a smooth experience for you and your team.

Book a demo to see how effortless global workforce management can be.