Our recommendation: start with RemotePeople for EOR hires
We would begin with RemotePeople when the purchase is EOR employment for a small team: a country quote, a deposit that comes back quickly, a named account manager and, if the role is still open, help finding the person.
With the same $499 starting fee, the deciding points sit elsewhere. EOR Select can bring RemotePeople’s fee down to USD 199 where the country and salary qualify. RemotePeople’s deposit refund is faster, and it sells recruitment alongside EOR, so one provider can run the search and the employment.
Papaya is the stronger fit for a different job. Our Papaya Global review found its value in connecting EOR employees, payroll for your own entities and payments in one finance process. If you only need an EOR for a few hires, much of that scope may add little.
RemotePeople vs Papaya Global at a glance
Our provider ratings reflect our recommendation order for providers overall.
Question
RemotePeople
Papaya Global
Our rating
Question
Advertised EOR entry fee
RemotePeople
Global from USD 499; Select from USD 199 for selected countries and qualifying salary ranges; per employee/month, with the rate set in your quote.
Papaya Global
From $499 per employee/month; the billing commitment and currency for your hiring country are set in the quote.
Question
Deposit and refund
RemotePeople
One month of the employee’s gross salary, due before the contract goes out; unused balance refunded within 5 days of the final payment.
Papaya Global
1–2 months’ gross salary; held in a segregated account and returned within 30 days of employment ending.
Question
Where the wider scope pays off
RemotePeople
Recruitment and EOR from one provider when you still need to find the candidate.
Papaya Global
Payroll for your own entities, payments and accounting entries handled alongside EOR employees.
Question
What must be confirmed
RemotePeople / Papaya Global
Check before signing: confirm country price, Select eligibility, billing currency and commitment, named employer, deposit amount and release, recruitment or payroll scope and support hours in writing.
Papaya prices payroll for your own entities separately, with Payroll Plus from $29 per employee/month, and sells contractor services as their own products. RemotePeople also sells payroll for your own entities separately, from $25 per employee/month. Leave those lines out of the EOR comparison unless you are buying them.
Compare RemotePeople’s Global and Select plans with Papaya’s EOR starting fee for the same hire. Confirm the billing currency in both quotes, and ask for salary, employer contributions and benefits as separate lines.
If you need EOR for a few hires
Ask RemotePeople whether your hire qualifies for EOR Select at USD 199. If it does not, EOR Global from USD 499 starts at the same level as Papaya’s $499, and the country quotes decide the gap. Papaya publishes no standard EOR commitment, so ask which billing commitment applies in your hiring country.
RemotePeople’s deposit starts from one month of the employee’s gross salary and is due before the employee receives the contract. The unused balance comes back within 5 days of the final payment, once payroll and termination invoices are settled. Papaya holds EOR deposits in segregated accounts and returns them within 30 days of employment ending. It sets the amount, deductions and release conditions in the country proposal.
Both providers assign a dedicated account manager. RemotePeople backs its account managers with HR and legal specialists and publishes human response targets, such as one business day for a first payroll response. Its AI assistant runs 24/7, and human support works business days. Papaya’s account managers are supported by regional experts, but it publishes no response-time commitment, and its pages differ on whether human support runs 24/6 or 24/7. Ask which hours apply to your plan.
If the quote confirms the plan and fee for your country, RemotePeople has the stronger case for a small EOR team.
If you still need to find the employee
RemotePeople’s recruitment team can source candidates and move the person you choose into EOR employment. Recruit + EOR costs 2% of annual salary each month for 12 months, 24% in total, on top of EOR fees and employment costs. Global Recruitment bought alone is 20% of annual salary, payable on the hire’s first day.
Papaya’s platform brings together EOR employment, global payroll and workforce payments. If you also need candidates, ask what sourcing Papaya can arrange, or price an outside recruiter, and add that cost before comparing totals.
A combined proposal suits a company with a hiring manager but no international recruiter, because the search and the handover into employment stay with one team. Ask RemotePeople for the salary base behind the fee, the replacement terms and the treatment of an early departure. Keep recruitment and EOR as separate lines in the comparison.
When Papaya Global could justify the wider purchase
Papaya makes sense when finance has to reconcile EOR employees and staff on your own entities in one process. It runs payroll for your own entities, delivers payments, and maps payroll items to your chart of accounts through a journal-entry workflow.
Its connector catalog lists Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM, BambooHR and NetSuite, plus a connector for local payroll providers you want to keep. Papaya advertises EOR in 180+ countries, against RemotePeople’s 150+, and employs through its own entities in more than 80 of them, with specialist partners elsewhere. Kong used Papaya as an EOR in new markets before setting up its own local entities.
Papaya also offers a managed termination process with capped legal-defense costs. Its enhanced protection covers 22 countries and has conditions, so ask whether your hire qualifies.
Papaya gives four to eight weeks as an indicative platform implementation range for most markets. The wider purchase is easiest to justify when it replaces payroll vendors or reconciliation work your team can name.
Two situations where RemotePeople deserves priority
Hypothetical example: a software company hiring two customer success staff in one country. It has the candidates and no plan to change payroll for its home team. Check EOR Select eligibility with RemotePeople, then ask Papaya for an EOR-only quote with the same salaries and benefits. If both meet the employment needs, RemotePeople’s faster deposit refund and published support targets make it the simpler purchase.
Hypothetical example: an agency opening its first overseas role without a recruiter. Start with RemotePeople’s Recruit + EOR proposal and ask for a named recruiter, a shortlist date and the fee schedule in writing. Compare it with Papaya’s EOR quote plus the cost of an outside search.
Reverse the order if you already run payroll on your own entities in several countries and want new EOR hires in the same finance process. Start with Papaya there, and give RemotePeople the same worker list.
If neither fits, use the EOR comparison directory to choose another pair, such as RemotePeople vs Deel.
Basis for the recommendation
Our comparison draws on our hands-on tests of both providers, set out in our RemotePeople review and Papaya Global review. We checked the linked official pages on 8 November 2026. Our preference for RemotePeople applies to the small-team and recruitment situations above and rests on its published pricing, deposit terms and service scope. The examples are hypothetical. A country quote for your hire sets the final fee, deposit and contract terms.