Who finds the person, who employs them, and what each model costs, with EOR list prices checked October 29, 2026.
An employer of record (EOR) like Deel, Remote, or Oyster legally employs a worker you already found, for $599 to $699 a month plus salary and employer costs. A staffing firm finds and vets the person too. GrowthPair finds, vets, and runs payroll for about $4,000 a month, all-in.
Both models put a global marketer on your team without you opening a foreign entity. The split is who does the hiring work before day one.
| Employer of record (Deel, Remote, Oyster) | Managed staffing (GrowthPair) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who finds the candidate | You | We do |
| Who screens, tests, and interviews | You | We do, then you interview the finalists |
| Who directs the daily work | You | You |
| Who runs payroll | The EOR | We do |
| How you pay | A platform fee per employee, plus the salary and local employer costs | One flat monthly rate |
| List price | $599 to $699 a month in fees, before salary | About $4,000 a month, all-in |
| If the hire doesn’t work out | You start a new search | We replace them for as long as you’re a client |
Deel says it plainly in its own EOR guide: “Most EORs don’t handle recruitment.” You source, interview, and pick the person. The EOR makes the employment legal and pays them.
We checked each vendor’s own pricing page on October 29, 2026. All three list a per-employee monthly fee for EOR.
| Vendor | EOR list price | Billing terms on the page | Deposit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deel | From $599 per employee a month | Month-to-month, no long-term commitment | Not mentioned on the pricing page |
| Remote | From $599 per employee a month | For annual contracts. No monthly-billing price listed. | No standard deposit. A refundable reserve may be required. |
| Oyster | $699 per employee a month | Priced per employee a month. Annual seat-based billing at a reduced fee, amount not published. | A refundable deposit is required, amount not published. |
That fee covers the employer side: local contracts, payroll, tax filings, benefits administration, and compliance. It doesn’t cover the person. You also fund the salary and the employer contributions the worker’s country requires. Oyster’s own pricing guide calls those contributions “a pass-through cost” that varies by country and pay level.
Deel also sells a separate “Find talent” product from $14 per worker a month, with job posting, AI screening, interview scheduling, and access to a talent marketplace. That’s a hiring tool. You still run the search and make the call.
A staffing firm does the part an EOR leaves to you: finding the person and checking they can do the job. For a marketing seat, that’s most of the work.
At GrowthPair, every candidate goes through five steps: a resume screen, a phone interview, a proctored skills assessment, a live interview with a marketer, and your interview. About 1.5% of applicants are accepted, and every candidate passes a C1 English test.
“Staffing agency” covers a lot of models, so check which one you’re buying. Many charge a one-time placement fee and you become the employer. Dover puts contingency recruiter fees at 15% to 25% of first-year base salary. Others, like us, keep the payroll side and bill one monthly rate.
Here’s the same full-time seat priced three ways. The U.S. figure uses the Bureau of Labor Statistics median for market research analysts and marketing specialists, $78,760 in May 2025. Benefits were 30.0% of total compensation for private-industry workers in June 2026, so we divide by 0.70 and then by 12: $78,760 ÷ 0.70 ÷ 12 is about $9,400 a month.
| Option | Monthly cost | What you still do |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. hire, in-house | About $9,400 with benefits, plus 15% to 25% of salary if a recruiter fills it | Payroll, benefits, and HR, plus the search if you skip the recruiter |
| Global hire through an EOR | $599 to $699 in fees, plus salary and local employer costs | Sourcing, testing, interviewing, and any re-hire |
| Global hire through GrowthPair | About $4,000, all-in | Your final interview, then managing the work |
The break-even is simple. For an EOR hire to cost less than $4,000 a month, the salary plus local employer costs has to stay under about $3,300 to $3,400 after the fee. Whether that holds depends on the salary and the country. The other question is whether the hours you spend finding and vetting them are worth the difference.
When an EOR is the better call: if you already know the person you want to hire, use an EOR. A former contractor, a referral you trust, or someone who worked with you before doesn’t need a search. Paying a staffing firm to find them makes no sense, and $599 a month plus their pay will usually beat our rate. The same goes if you have a recruiter in-house and a process for testing marketers.
Managed staffing earns its rate when the search is the hard part.
If you later want to hire your marketer directly, the buyout is six months of the rate. From there, you can employ them through an EOR or your own entity.
For the wider choice, including agencies and freelancers, see in-house vs agency vs freelancer vs staffing. To price a whole team, see what a marketing team costs. Comparing other firms that place Latin American talent? See Hire in South vs GrowthPair.
We’re for U.S. teams that need a full-time marketer and don’t have one in mind. We find, vet, and pair you with a marketer from Latin America or the Philippines who works only for you, in your time zone, in about 3 weeks. One rate covers the marketer, payroll, benefits, and HR. See the full terms on our pricing page.
An EOR becomes the legal employer of a worker you already found and runs their payroll, taxes, and benefits. A staffing agency finds and vets the worker for you. Some staffing firms also keep the payroll side, so you get both.
Deel and Remote list EOR from $599 per employee a month, and Oyster lists $699, checked October 29, 2026. Remote’s $599 is for annual contracts. You pay the salary and local employer contributions on top.
Usually not. Deel’s EOR guide says most EORs don’t handle recruitment, so you source, interview, and select the person. Deel sells a separate hiring tool from $14 per worker a month.
No. We’re a managed staffing service: we find and vet the marketer, then carry payroll, benefits, and HR for one monthly rate of about $4,000. You direct the work.
When you already have the person. If you’ve found a marketer you trust, an EOR fee of $599 to $699 a month plus their pay will usually cost less than our rate.
Yes. The buyout is six months of the GrowthPair rate. After that, you can employ them through any EOR or your own entity.
