Enter your business details to see what each option would cost you. Prices are live from our database and shown in Australian dollars.
Paying contractors sounds simple until you are doing it across several people, or several countries, and juggling contracts, tax details, currencies and the question of whether each person is really a contractor at all. A dedicated contractor platform takes that off your plate: compliant contracts, tax-form collection and reliable payment in local currency, priced per contractor per month. Below are our ranked picks, then a live comparison table and calculator.
How we chose
For paying contractors we weighted per-contractor cost first, then country coverage and how reliably the platform pays in local currency, then the quality of its contracts and compliance tooling, and finally how well it helps you document classification. Pricing is live from our database in Australian dollars, and contractor fees are charged per contractor per month.
What matters when you pay contractors
Two things decide this: cost per contractor, and how much compliance you need. If you have a handful of local freelancers, the per-contractor price matters most, so compare the contractor payments rows: Yes ($68/contractor) for Deel, Yes ($40/contractor) for Remote and Yes (from $26/contractor) for Payoneer Workforce Management. If you are engaging people across borders, country coverage and localised, compliant contracts matter more, which is Deel's strength: its global payroll row reads Yes (150+ countries). Above all, get classification right: the platform documents the relationship, but whether someone is genuinely a contractor is your call, and your risk.
Classification is the real risk
The compliance question that catches businesses out is not payment, it is classification. In Australia a genuine contractor works under an ABN and operates their own business; if you direct their work like an employee, the relationship may really be employment, and the sham-contracting provisions carry penalties. Some contractors are also owed superannuation. These platforms help by issuing proper contracts and keeping clean records, which is exactly what you want if a classification is ever questioned, but they do not remove your responsibility to classify correctly in the first place.
The verdict
Deel is the best overall for paying contractors, with broad country coverage and strong compliance tooling. Remote is the compliance and IP pick, and says it owns the entities it employs people through, which appeals when IP control matters. Payoneer Workforce Management is the specialist for fast multi-currency payments. The calculator above prices payroll for employees at your headcount; contractor fees are charged per contractor, as each platform's contractor payments row shows.
Employing people overseas instead?
If you need to employ full-time staff abroad rather than engage contractors, an Employer of Record is the tool, not a contractor platform. See our guide to the best HR software for remote teams, where the same platforms are ranked on global employment.
What Payoneer Workforce Management and Remote each state for payroll, Employer of Record and contractor payments, and what each leaves to a quote, is set out in our Payoneer Workforce Management pricing guide and Remote pricing guide.