Enter your business details to see what each option would cost you. Prices are live from our database and shown in Australian dollars.
A remote team changes what you need from HR software. Instead of one office under one set of rules, you are managing records, onboarding, leave and pay for people who may sit in several countries, each with its own employment and tax law. The tools that win here do two things: give you a single HRIS for everyone, and let you employ or pay people abroad compliantly without opening a local entity. Below are our ranked picks, then a live comparison table and calculator to cost each at your headcount.
How we chose
For a distributed Australian team we weighted country coverage and how the platform actually operates in each country, whether it handles employees, contractors or both, multi-currency payments, and how well it still serves any Australian staff you employ alongside your overseas people. Cost transparency in Australian dollars mattered too, though the genuinely global platforms price Employer of Record and contractor hiring per engagement rather than as a flat HR plan. Pricing is live from our database.
What remote teams should prioritise
Decide first whether your overseas people are employees or contractors, because it changes the tool and the cost. Contractors need compliant local contracts and reliable multi-currency payment, which Deel and Payoneer Workforce both do well. Employees abroad need an Employer of Record to carry local employment, tax and benefits, which is where Deel's reach across 150+ countries stands out. Then think about your Australian staff separately: the global platforms are light on Modern Award interpretation, so if you employ award-covered people locally, budget for a local tool like Employment Hero alongside.
Most distributed Australian businesses end up running two things: a local HR and payroll tool for their Australian employees, and a global platform for overseas hires. That is not a failure of either, it is the honest shape of the market. Deel HR (Core HR), a flat low per-employee fee, can be the single record of everyone, with its EOR and contractor hiring layered on for the overseas people, while Employment Hero handles the award interpretation and local compliance for the Australian team. Payoneer Workforce fits when the hard part is simply paying a spread of overseas contractors in their own currencies.
There is also a choice between a broad platform and a focused one. Deel gives you an HRIS, EOR, contractors and payments together, which suits a team that wants one system for everyone. Multiplier is an EOR specialist: if the hard part is simply employing a handful of people in specific countries compliantly, a focused EOR can be cheaper, and Multiplier is often positioned as the value option against the larger platforms. It comes with the same trade-off as any focused EOR: no standalone HR plan, and no Modern Award interpretation for your own Australian staff.
The verdict
Deel is the best overall for an Australian remote team: a low-cost HRIS (Core HR), the widest Employer of Record and contractor reach, and multi-currency pay in one place. Choose Multiplier when a lower-cost, EOR-only platform covers your need, Payoneer Workforce when fast multi-currency contractor payment is the core need, and keep Employment Hero for the Australian staff whose Modern Award interpretation the global tools cannot match. Rippling is worth a quote if the laptops and software accounts are the part that keeps going wrong, since it is the only one here that manages them from the same record. Use the calculator above to cost each at your team size.
Paying overseas contractors?
If your remote team is mostly contractors rather than employees, the per-contractor cost is the number that matters. Our guide to the best payroll software for contractors ranks the platforms on real per-contractor pricing and classification risk.