Oyster EOR review: $699 a month, a published deposit and no lock-in

Oyster at a glance

EOR price

$699per employee per month, flat

Deposit

1 monthof total service cost, refundable

Minimum term

None30 days' notice

Our score

64/100EOR category

How we arrive at the score: scoring method. Where Oyster lands against other providers: best employer of record services.

Oyster pricing by product

The EOR price is one figure for every country Oyster serves, which makes budgeting simpler than with vendors that adjust by country. Oyster says it "does not add extra charges for essentials like setup and onboarding", and termination processing is included. Oyster mentions annual discounts but does not publish the rate, so ask for it if you can commit to a year.

Global Payroll is for companies with their own entity. One entity with 10 employees costs $580 a month ($290 + 10 x $29), or $600 with payment processing (plus 10 x $2), plus $500 once. Compare that with an EOR in our EOR vs global payroll breakdown and see more vendors under global payroll services.

What Oyster costs for a real team

Against Pebl’s $399, Oyster costs $300 more per employee per month (Payoneer WFM from $199 and Rivermate from $319 list lower still). On 25 employees that is $7,500 a month, or $90,000 a year ($300 x 25 x 12). That gap is what you pay for Oyster's flat pricing and published terms, so decide whether those matter to you. Our EOR price comparison shows every provider's fee side by side.

Here is one hire in Canada using the 2026 federal rates from our Canada employer cost page:

Deposit, FX and other contract terms

Deposit

Oyster requires "a refundable deposit equal to one month of the total cost of services", and its customer terms say it is "in no case less than" one month of fees. Oyster can ask for supplementary deposits for expected Transition Costs, such as severance, on 5 days' notice. The refund comes as a credit note about 60 days after the team member's end date, if all invoices are paid, and Oyster says it can take more than a month longer. Oyster and Playroll are the only EORs in our research that state a deposit size.

Currency conversion

Oyster invoices at the mid-market rate on the invoice date and "charges a fee for currency conversions" only if you pay in a currency other than your contract currency. The fee rate sits behind a login, so ask for it. One Trustpilot reviewer (Feb 6, 2026) said Oyster's conversion rates trail Deel's.

Term and termination

Either side may end the agreement "at any time, for any reason or no reason at all, on 30 days written notice" (terms version 2025-02-27). Fees run until the service agreement actually ends, and Transition Costs, including severance, are billed to you. There is no minimum term.

Late payment

Invoices are due 5 days from issue. Oyster's customer terms, as read twice by an automated reader on October 16, 2026, charge interest of 1.5% of the overdue amount per day (or the legal maximum) once an invoice is more than 3 days late. We could not confirm that figure by hand. It would be very high, so check the clause in your own agreement.

Owned entities and partners

Oyster says you can hire talent "in 180+ countries through our owned entities" and its partner firms (Direct+ page). It publishes no count of owned entities, so you cannot tell from its site which countries run on an Oyster entity. Reviews show why it matters: a Jul 28, 2025 reviewer said final pay and accrued leave were not fully paid, with blame passed between Oyster and its local partner. Ask which model covers your country before you sign. Our EOR explainer covers the trade-offs.

Country count

Oyster's EOR page says 120+ countries, while its meta description and Direct+ page say 180+. The larger figure likely includes contractor payments and partner coverage. If you are buying EOR, the 120+ figure is the safer one to work from.

Support

Oyster promises human-led support with country-specific onboarding managers. It makes no 24/7 claim. A Trustpilot reviewer on Jul 29, 2026 reported there was no phone contact. People Partner Services, a paid HR advisory add-on, costs $300 an hour.

What Oyster customers complain about

Oyster holds 4.4 out of 5 from 1,610 reviews on G2 and 3.8 from 271 reviews on Trustpilot (both seen Oct 16, 2026; 72% five-star, 9% one-star on Trustpilot). That one-star share is higher than Deel's or Remote's 5%. The themes:

• Late or held wages. "They hold wages, even though the company has paid them" (Jul 29, 2026). A SWIFT payment about 20 days late (Apr 2, 2026). "The only response I keep getting is 'In the coming days'" (Oct 15, 2025).
• Slow communication. Reviews from Dec 10, 2025 and Jan 22, 2026.
• Termination, final pay and partner disputes. Unpaid final pay and leave (Jul 28, 2025), late pay in Mexico and contracts said to conflict with Mexican law (Oct 22, 2025), and almost a month to get benefits documents in Belgium (Feb 11, 2026).
• Contract terms. A Mar 17, 2026 reviewer said "contractual obligations were not respected".

All reviews are on Oyster's Trustpilot page.

Oyster vs Deel, and cheaper alternatives

Against Deel, Oyster costs $100 more per employee per month ($699 vs $599) and $20 less per contractor ($29 vs $49). Deel does not publish its deposit; Oyster does. The full comparison is in Deel vs Oyster.

If you are a US company watching the budget, these list for less than Oyster:

• Pebl: $399 per employee per month, with a 12-month term per worker on its Employee Term model.
• Multiplier: $459 billed annually or $499 monthly; claims owned entities in 160+ countries.
• Remote: from $599, owned entities only, but a 12-month auto-renewing default.
• Papaya Global: from $650, partner model, several unpriced fees.

For contractors only, Oyster's $29 tier is among the cheapest. See contractor management platforms.

How Oyster scores

Oyster scores 64/100, which places it 2nd of the 13 EOR providers we score. The top score is Multiplier at 79. Every point below comes from a published fact or documented complaints; the rules are in how we score providers.

Our verdict