If you are searching for "Remote.com alternatives", you are probably at one of two stages of hiring internationally. Either you have found someone great in another country and need a legal way to pay them, or you are trying to work out how global hiring works end to end. The tools for those two jobs are different, and mixing them up is the most common mistake we see from companies hiring abroad for the first time.
This guide covers both: the main alternatives to Remote.com for employing people abroad, and where to find the candidates before you need any of them.
What Remote.com Actually Does
Remote.com is an Employer of Record (EOR). It legally employs your hire in their country on your behalf, runs local payroll, handles tax, benefits and employment contracts, and keeps you compliant with local labour law. It also offers contractor management and payments for people you engage as independent contractors.
What it is not is a place to find candidates. An EOR starts once you already know who you want to hire.
The Main Remote.com Alternatives
1. Deel
The most widely used alternative. Deel covers EOR, contractor payments, and global payroll for entities you already own, in a very large number of countries. It is a strong fit if you expect to have a mix of employees and contractors across many countries and want one dashboard for all of them.
2. Oyster
EOR and contractor payments with a focus on smaller, distributed companies. Oyster puts a lot of emphasis on employee experience and has a reputation for clear onboarding guidance in less common hiring countries.
3. Rippling
Best if you already run US payroll and HR on Rippling. Its global EOR and contractor features plug into the same system, so international hires sit alongside domestic ones.
4. Multiplier
EOR, contractor management and global payroll, with competitive pricing and strong coverage across Asia. Popular with companies hiring in India and Southeast Asia.
5. Papaya Global and Velocity Global
Both lean toward larger companies that need global payroll across their own entities plus EOR in countries where they do not have one.
How to Choose Between Them
- Country coverage. Check that the provider has its own entity in your hire's country, not a third-party partner. Own entities usually mean faster onboarding and fewer surprises.
- Total cost per hire. EOR pricing is typically a flat monthly fee per employee, commonly in the range of several hundred dollars a month, on top of salary and local employer costs. Contractor management is far cheaper, usually tens of dollars per contractor per month. Get quotes, because list prices and negotiated prices differ.
- Contractor vs employee. If the person works full time, only for you, on your schedule, many countries will treat them as an employee regardless of the contract. An EOR protects you from misclassification risk.
- Benefits. Compare the health and pension options in your hire's country. These vary a lot between providers.
- Speed. Ask how long onboarding takes in the specific country. It ranges from a couple of days to several weeks.
The Step Before an EOR: Finding the Candidates
None of the platforms above will find you a candidate. For that you need somewhere that international job seekers actually look, and where your listing is clearly open to applicants outside your own country.
That second point matters more than most employers expect. A job that just says "remote" gets ignored by international candidates who have been burned by hidden US-only or EU-only restrictions. A job that clearly says "open worldwide" or names the countries you can hire in gets far more qualified applicants.
JobsHives is a job board built for exactly this. Every job on the platform is open to applicants across borders, and our candidate pool is already global: over 2,500 registered job seekers, with the largest groups in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Ghana and Kenya. Employers get:
- Your first 3 job posts free, then credit packs from $49 for 25 posts.
- Easy Apply, so candidates apply on JobsHives and you manage everything in one inbox.
- Candidate search across profiles that are visible to recruiters, filtered by role, skills and location.
- A branded company page listing all your open roles.
A Simple Global Hiring Stack
- Source on a global job board like JobsHives, plus your own network.
- Interview over video, with a short paid test task for the shortlist.
- Decide contractor or employee based on how the role will actually work.
- Onboard through an EOR (Remote, Deel, Oyster and others) for employees, or a contractor platform for contractors.
The Bottom Line
Remote.com and its alternatives solve the paperwork. They are worth comparing on country coverage, cost and speed once you have someone to hire. To get to that point, start where international candidates are already looking. Post your first 3 remote jobs free on JobsHives and reach job seekers worldwide.