Enter your business details to see what each option would cost you. Prices are live from our database and shown in Australian dollars.
Hiring beyond Australia changes the question you are asking of a payroll platform. Instead of award interpretation and Single Touch Payroll for a local team, you need to employ or pay people in countries where you have no legal entity, stay compliant with their local law, and pay them in their own currency. This guide ranks the platforms built for that, from the perspective of an Australian business, with a live cost calculator so you can compare in Australian dollars.
How we chose
We weighted four things: country coverage and how the platform operates in those countries, whether it handles employees, contractors or both, cost transparency in Australian dollars, and how well it still serves any Australian staff you employ alongside your global team. We rank from live data and keep the pricing in the comparison table and calculator above, rather than quoting figures here that date.
EOR, global payroll and contractors, explained
Most businesses hiring abroad use one of three models. An Employer of Record legally employs a full-time worker for you in a country where you have no entity, handling their local payroll, tax and benefits. Contractor management pays overseas freelancers compliantly, with the right contracts and tax forms, and is usually the cheaper option where the relationship genuinely is contracting. Global payroll runs pay for employees you already employ through your own overseas entities. A PEO, or professional employer organisation, is a related co-employment model used mainly in the United States and is rarely the relevant choice for an Australian business. Deel and Remote lead on Employer of Record and contractors, Rippling folds global payroll into a wider platform, and the right model depends on whether your people are employees or contractors and whether you have local entities.
If your whole team is in Australia, none of this applies and a global platform will cost you more for less local depth. A local specialist will handle Modern Award interpretation, superannuation and STP better and more cheaply. See our guide to the best payroll software for small business for that case. The global platforms here earn their place the moment you employ or pay someone outside Australia, and many growing businesses end up running a local tool for their Australian staff and one of these for their international hires.
The verdict
For most Australian businesses hiring abroad, Deel is the best starting point: the widest country coverage, both employees and contractors, and a free HRIS to begin with. Choose Remote if compliance and IP control through owned entities matter most, or if contractor cost is your main concern. Choose Rippling if you want HR, IT and payroll in one system and are comfortable getting a quote. Keep Employment Hero in mind for the Australian half of a split team. Set your headcount in the calculator above to see each platform's estimated monthly cost before you decide.