Deel vs Oyster HR: Honest Employer of Record Service Comparison (2025)

General overview

Deel and Oyster HR are two prominent players in the Employer of Record (EOR) service space. They provide global hiring and compliance solutions for organizations seeking to expand internationally without setting up local legal entities or subsidiaries in each location.

Oyster HR is a fairly new entrant. Its EOR services cover 120+ countries (self-reported, marketing claims 180+ countries) but rely heavily on in-country partners. Oyster HR focuses on simplicity but falls short in scalability and advanced integrations.

Deel is known for being the complete global hiring, payroll, and compliance solution, offering EOR services in 150+ countries. It’s backed by in-house infrastructure, AI-powered tools, and a dedicated team of compliance, payroll, and HR experts. Deel is ideal for small, medium, and large enterprises seeking a unified solution to global expansion and team management.

This comparison reviews Deel and Oyster HR in critical areas: compliance, onboarding, benefits and payroll, support, integrations, and scalability. By the end, you’ll understand which solution is better suited to your company’s needs.

Let’s dive deeper into how these two Employer of Record services stack up across key criteria.

Key features

Oyster HR

• Global coverage in 120+ countries
• Employment liability insurance in all operating regions
• API access and integrations with common HR tools
• Contractor management, visa support, and equity management services
• Onboarding automation and “Oyster Academy” for training
• Global employment tools to help with international hiring

Deel

• Global coverage in 150+ countries using owned legal entities and in-house payroll engines
• Flexible global payroll and benefits administration
• 24/7 multi-channel support, including a virtual AI assistant for HR compliance insights
• Always-on compliance management, with a Compliance Hub to track regulatory changes
• 120+ native Integrations with collaboration, ATS, and HRIS systems, plus accessible API for customized integrations
• Automated IT operations for equipment lifecycle management through Deel IT
• Contractor management and Contractor of Record services, including contractor payments
• Visa and immigration support across 70+ countries
• A suite of employee development and performance management tools through Deel Engage
• Global hiring toolkit to support international hiring
• Scalable infrastructure to support both SMBs and large enterprises
• Automated onboarding plus Deel Academy to master Deel products
• Advanced analytics across payroll and talent operations

See also: What’s the Fastest Way to Enter Markets and Hire Globally?

Pros and cons

Oyster HR

Pros:

• Transparent pricing with no hidden fees
• A user-friendly platform with essential features for small international teams
• Provides employment liability insurance in all countries of operation
• Focus on socially conscious branding, ideal for mission-driven companies
• Automated compliance management

Cons:

• Relies heavily on in-country partners for EOR and payroll services
• More expensive than most providers while providing fewer capabilities
• Limited integration options compared to other providers
• Limited customer support channels

Deel

Pros:

• Extensive global coverage with owned entities and in-house payroll engines
• Accommodates both SMBs and large enterprises
• Flexible and automated payroll processing
• Built-in compliance and real-time alerts for regulatory changes
• User-friendly platform with exceptional customer support
• Extensive integrations and an advanced API to streamline and automate global workforce operations
• Strong reputation and high ratings (4.8 on Trustpilot)
• Flat, transparent pricing model with no hidden fees
• A single platform for global hiring, payroll, and workforce management

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 more: What Are the Pros and Cons of Hiring With an Employer of Record (EOR)?

Cost

Oyster HR

Oyster HR charges $699 per month, per employee, for EOR services. Despite this higher price, it is not as feature-rich or flexible as Deel’s enterprise-grade solutions.

Outside of EOR, Oyster HR only includes basic contractor management, visa support, a recruitment platform, and equity management.

Deel

Deel's pricing is $599 per month, per employee. The exact cost depends on specific company needs, the number of employees, and the countries involved.

SMBs and startups may find Deel’s pricing higher, but it delivers reliability and global scalability in return. It reflects the wide range of services offered, including:

• Globally distributed in-house payroll engines
• Free built-in global HRIS
• A full suite of additional HR tools and services for compensation management, talent sourcing, workforce planning, and more
• Contractor management and contractor of record services
• Equity management services
• Local payroll, HR, and legal expertise
• Automated tax filings and compliance support

Centralizing these functions with Deel helps you control spending by removing the need to invest in multiple vendors.

Summary:

Deel charges a lower price than Oyster HR. It also has a broader set of tools for hiring international talent and managing global teams, making it cost-effective.

See more: 5 Benefits of EOR for Employee Experience

Compliance & legal

Oyster HR

Oyster HR automates compliance management and provides in-house legal experts. It offers localized contracts, hiring, and payroll, as well as compliance with data security laws.

One unique feature is its employment liability insurance, which helps cover legal costs after a dispute arises. However, this reactive safeguard doesn’t replace the need for proactive compliance tools.

Deel

Deel’s always-on compliance management facilitates global hiring with fewer compliance risks. It combines in-house legal experts with AI-driven compliance monitoring to help businesses stay compliant with local labor laws.

Deel’s Compliance Hub gives you real-time updates on regulatory changes in the countries you operate, along with an AI-based worker classifier to prevent misclassification risks. You also get instant, personalized compliance support through Deel’s AI assistant.

The Deel platform has enterprise-grade data security, which keeps your data safe while complying with both international and local data security laws.

Summary:

Deel reduces your legal risk by ensuring continuous compliance with local laws. It also provides real-time regulatory insights and access to local legal experts to manage cross-border compliance for both full-time employees and contractors.

Oyster HR’s compliance management offering is more limited, especially in countries with complex or frequently changing labor laws.

See also: Mastering Global Employment Laws with Deel: Startups Guide

Onboarding speed

Oyster HR

Oyster HR has an automated, self-serve onboarding process, with an average completion time of 48 hours. HR teams can manage the process from a single dashboard.

Employers and new hires can reach out to Oyster HR’s support team for help.

The platform features an AI chatbot, Pearl, that guides users through onboarding steps. However, Pearl functions more as a task-based assistant rather than a source of legal or compliance expertise in onboarding processes.

Oyster HR doesn’t include a built-in HRIS. Creating onboarding workflows for your company requires integrations with third-party tools, which can lead to a more fragmented experience for new hires and scatter data in different systems.

Deel

Deel makes it easy to set up your EOR employees on the platform in minutes. It auto-generates contracts localized to each country, which employees can e-sign on Deel. They can also self-upload the required documents, avoiding manual back-and-forth.

Deel’s guided onboarding flows ensure employees submit everything they need. The system flags any missing documents and uses timely follow-ups to keep the process on track.

Onboarding support is available from the dashboard, including access to Deel’s AI assistant. The assistant provides personalized insights on local regulations and other competitive hiring factors in each employee’s country.

With Deel’s Workflow Builder, you can create onboarding workflows for your company based on each hire’s role or department. You can track progress and send automated reminders to keep everything on schedule.

You can also move the onboarding workflows to Slack using Deel’s onboarding plugin. This allows you to manage onboarding within your team’s existing communication channels.

Summary:

Fast, accurate onboarding with clear guidance is critical when hiring internationally to avoid delays and compliance risks. Deel excels in all three, with the added advantage of built-in tools that let you create and automate onboarding programs tailored to each role.

While Oyster HR’s onboarding averages 48 hours, Deel completes the process in minutes. Plus, Oyster HR requires third-party integrations to build customized onboarding workflows for your company.

See more: Elevate Employee Onboarding & Offboarding Efficiency with Deel

Benefits & payroll

Oyster HR

Oyster HR’s global payroll services and benefits administration relies heavily on in-country partners. It ensures compliance with tax filings and other local payroll requirements.

However, Oyster HR is limited in both functionality and flexibility. For instance:

• It lacks a payroll variance feature
• Payroll cutoff date is the 15th of every month
• It only processes payments through traditional banking systems
• There’s no on-demand pay for employees

With Oyster HR, you can create compliant, competitive benefits packages through guidance from in-house experts and partnerships with global providers. But because the service relies on third-party HRIS and payroll partners, benefits administration is less streamlined.

For example, if an employee gets married and needs to add their spouse to their health insurance plan, delays can occur when syncing the updated benefits data with payroll deductions. This can lead to a temporary lapse in dependent coverage.

Oyster HR provides tools to benchmark salaries and design competitive packages. This includes:

• Benefits Advisor
• Salary Insights Tools
• Employment Cost Calculator

Deel

Deel uses its in-house payroll engines and Benefits Admin feature for payroll and benefits management. The platform automates payroll processes, including tax calculations and compliance with local regulations. This makes payroll fast and accurate.

Deel offers great payroll flexibility, including:

• Off-cycle payments
• On-demand pay for employees
• Support for all currencies, including digital currencies
• Over 15 payment methods, such as bank transfers, Revolut, Coinbase, PayPal, and Payoneer
• A payroll cutoff date on the 20th of each month, allowing for last-minute adjustments

Advanced payroll analytics and a payroll variance feature help you track and understand changes in employee pay.

Deel partners with top global benefits providers, helping you provide localized, enterprise-level benefits like health insurance while staying within budget. Its benefits administration integrates seamlessly with its HRIS and payroll systems for a cohesive experience for both HR teams and employees.

Deel also provides a global hiring toolkit with free research tools to help you create competitive compensation packages:

• Global Benefits Tool: View statutory, common, and competitive benefits by country
• Global Salary Insights: Access real-time average compensation data for various roles worldwide
• Employee Cost Calculator: Compare total hiring costs across different countries
• Global Hiring Insights: Get personalized recommendations on the best countries to hire based on your budget

Summary:

Both Deel and Oyster HR provide automated, compliant payroll and benefits services. However, Deel’s in-house infrastructure offers greater flexibility and a more integrated benefits process.

Deel also provides a broader set of tools to research global salary and benefits standards, helping you make smarter compensation decisions.

See also: How to Create a Compensation Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide

Support & user experience

Oyster HR

Oyster HR’s platform is clean and user-friendly, making it simple to manage a global workforce. However, its support system is mainly ticket-based. It doesn’t offer real-time help through phone or live chat.

According to its SLA, Oyster HR guarantees a response within 24 hours and resolution within 72 hours.

Deel

Deel’s customer support is available 24/7. It offers multi-channel assistance via email, phone, video calls, call back requests, and even WhatsApp and WeChat. You can also get support directly through Slack and Microsoft Teams, making it easy for teams to get help without switching tools.

Responses on live chat take about one minute, and it takes six minutes to resolve most EOR issues. Plus, Deel’s team resolves 91% of issues on the first contact.

The platform itself is intuitive and easy to navigate. It simplifies complex HR tasks, so teams can get up to speed with minimal training.

Summary:

Both platforms are easy to use. But Deel goes further by offering real-time, multi-channel support and integration with tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams. Oyster HR’s ticket-based system works for basic requests but may fall short on complex or urgent issues, where speed and flexibility are critical.

See more: How to Test New Markets and Accelerate Global Expansion with an Employer of Record

Integrations

Oyster HR

Oyster HR has made strides in offering integrations, though it lags behind in the number and capabilities of its connections. The platform offers 15 integrations, including common HR tools like BambooHR. But it lacks native integrations with accounting tools.

An API is available for custom connections. However, it offers fewer customization options, which limits the depth of workflows you can create.

Developers can only access Oyster HR’s sandbox by emailing a request, which slows down testing and implementation.

Deel

Deel offers over 120 native integrations, including accounting tools like Sage and Xero, ATS platforms like Lever, and HRIS systems like SAP SuccessFactors.

You can also build custom integrations using Deel API and create tailored workflows for HR processes, such as triggering onboarding tasks in third-party project management tools.

Deel makes it easy for developers to test and launch integrations. You can create a sandbox account directly through the Developer Center with no need to contact support. This speeds up implementation, simplifies testing, and offers more flexibility.

While Deel integrates easily with legacy systems, you may not need them at all. Deel has a built-in global HRIS. The platform also provides performance management, learning & development, career tracking, equity management, and more, reducing your reliance on third party systems.

Summary:

Oyster’s built-in integrations are limited, and its API allows only minimal customization. But Deel supports deeper integrations across a wider range of systems and gives developers more freedom to build advanced workflows. This enables greater automation and better alignment across your HR tools.

See more: More Than a Service: EOR as a Strategic Partner in Business Growth

Scalability

Oyster HR

Oyster HR covers 120+ countries but relies on a network of in-country partners. This model can lead to inconsistent service and slower execution.

Because it depends on external partners, Oyster HR has less control over its infrastructure. Updates, process changes, or compliance adaptations can take longer to implement. These inefficiencies become more noticeable as your global footprint expands or your operations become more complex.

Oyster HR can work well for small teams with lighter operations. But fast-growing businesses may run into limitations when trying to scale consistently across multiple markets.

Deel

Deel supports growth at any stage, with coverage in 150+ countries and a full suite of tools to manage the entire employee lifecycle. It supports complex global operations but stays simple enough for smaller businesses to start and grow without HR disruptions.

Deel primarily uses a wholly-owned entity model for EOR services. It owns and operates the legal entities, payroll systems, and compliance infrastructure in the countries it serves

This direct control gives Deel more predictability, speed, and flexibility. It can quickly roll out updates, launch new features, and respond to country-specific compliance changes without depending on external partners.

As a result, you can confidently expand into new markets without worrying about fragmented systems, outdated processes, or delays in support and compliance.

Summary:

Unlike Oyster HR’s aggregator model, which gives it less control over its EOR operations, Deel offers greater scalability through its owned infrastructure and end-to-end control. It is a better fit for early-stage startups with global ambitions, mid-sized companies expanding into new regions, and large enterprises managing complex international operations.

See also: Strategic Workforce Planning: The Complete Guide for Future-Proofing Your Talent Strategy

Review ratings from review sites

Oyster HR:

• Trustpilot: 4.5/5
• G2: 4.4/5

Deel:

• Trustpilot: 4.8/5
• G2: 4.8/5

Bottom-line

Deel is the superior Employer of Record service when considering global coverage, compliance reliability, integrations, and scalability. It offers a comprehensive suite of services that support businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises. Deel’s robust infrastructure, global payroll engines, and 24/7 customer support make it the go-to choice for companies looking to expand internationally while maintaining compliance and operational efficiency.

Oyster HR, while an excellent choice for startups and SMBs, shines in simplicity but lacks the advanced features and scalability that Deel provides.

Businesses looking for an all-in-one solution with extensive global support and advanced integrations should lean towards Deel.

See more: Employer of Record Switch: 7 Tips for a Successful Transition

Use Deel for simpler, compliant global hiring of employees and contractors

When your business depends on international talent, you need a global EOR solution that prioritizes flexibility, compliance, automation, employee experience, and scalability. That’s Deel. It’s trusted by over 20,000 organizations and recognized by G2 as the best EOR for its high user satisfaction and broad market presence.

Deel extends that value by letting you hire, pay, and manage contractors alongside your EOR and direct employees with the same level of efficiency.

You can relocate your workforce, support their growth, offer equity, and equip them from Deel’s all-in-one Global People Platform—and that’s not everything.

Request a 30-minute demo to discover all Deel can do.