Remote Team Tools

EOR vs PEO in 2026: Which One You Need to Hire Abroad

EOR or PEO? One hires for you where you have no entity, the other shares employer duties where you do. Here's the difference, costs and when to pick each.

By Engineer Foodie Desk Oct 22, 2026 ✓ Sources checked Oct 22, 2026

7 min read

Definitions and PEO prices checked Oct 22, 2026 on the IRS CPEO page, Deel’s EOR glossary, Deel’s PEO page and Remote’s pricing page. EOR list prices checked Oct 15–21, 2026 on each provider’s pricing page. All linked under Sources. No affiliate links on this page (how we work). This is pricing information, not legal or tax advice.

The one-line answer: an EOR becomes the legal employer of your hire in a country where you have no company. A PEO shares employer duties for staff your company already employs, and the PEO products from Deel and Remote are US-only. So if you’re hiring someone in Lisbon and your company lives in Delaware, a PEO can’t help you there. That’s an EOR job.

The price gap is big, and it’s not a like-for-like comparison. EOR list prices start at $599 to $699 per employee a month. US PEO list prices start at $99 to $125. You’re not paying more for the same thing; you’re paying for someone else to be the employer.

We haven’t hired through any of these providers. Everything below comes from their own pages and the IRS.

TL;DR: EOR, PEO or contractor?

No legal entity in the hire’s country: EOR. The provider employs and pays your hire for you. Deel and Remote start at $599 a month per employee, Oyster at $699.
You have US employees and want payroll, benefits and HR handled: PEO. Remote’s US PEO starts from $99 per employee a month; Deel’s starts at $125.
A one-off project or a freelancer: a contractor, from $29 a month per contractor on Remote or Oyster, $49 on Deel. Our guide on how to pay international contractors covers the details.
Ready to pick a provider: our best employer of record roundup compares nine on price.

EOR vs PEO at a glance

Point	EOR	PEO
Legal employer	The EOR	Shared (co-employment)
Your entity	Not needed there	You’re the client business
Where	Many countries	US (Deel, Remote)
List price	$599–$699/mo	$99–$125/mo
Best for	Hiring abroad	Running US staff

Per employee, per month, USD. EOR: Deel and Remote $599, Oyster $699. PEO: Remote from $99, Deel from $125. Sources and dates below.

Who is the legal employer?

This is the whole difference, so here it is in the providers’ and regulators’ own words.

EOR. Deel’s glossary: “An Employer of Record (EOR) is an organization that employs and pays your workers compliantly on your behalf.” (Deel, Oct 22, 2026). The EOR is the employer on paper in that country. You direct the work; it holds the contract, runs local payroll and deals with local rules.

It’s the Vandelay Industries setup, except legal. George Costanza invented an importer/exporter to look employed. An EOR is a real company that actually employs your hire, so you don’t have to invent a local one.

PEO. The US IRS: “Professional employer organizations (PEOs) handle various payroll administration and tax reporting responsibilities for their business clients and are typically paid a fee based on payroll costs.” (IRS, Oct 22, 2026). Note “business clients”: the PEO works for a company that already employs people. Deel describes its PEO as a “co-employment partner for US employees in all 50 states” (Deel PEO, Oct 22, 2026).

Co-employment is The Parent Trap of HR: one employee, two parents, each with their own jobs. The PEO handles payroll admin and tax reporting; you’re still very much in the picture.

CPEO. In the US there’s also a “certified professional employer organization”, which the IRS defines as a PEO it “has certified as meeting the applicable requirements”. The program is “voluntary”, set up under the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014, and requires “at least one physical business location within the United States”. If you’re comparing US PEOs, asking whether one is IRS-certified is a fair question.

What each costs

EOR list prices

Provider	EOR from	Deposit
Deel	$599/mo	1–1.5 months
Remote	$599/mo	No standard deposit
Oyster	$699/mo	About 1 month

Per employee per month, USD, before salary, employer taxes and benefits.

Deel: $599 per employee a month (Deel pricing, Oct 15, 2026, seen again Oct 21). Deel charges a deposit for each EOR hire: “The standard deposit is between 1 - 1.5 all monthly charges, including employee salary, employer costs, fixed allowances, and management fees.” It can be higher in some countries and is refunded after the employment ends and invoices are settled (Deel help, Oct 21, 2026). Deel says EOR covers “130+ countries”. More in Deel pricing.
Remote: from $599 per employee a month (Remote pricing, Oct 15, 2026). Its FAQ says: “We don’t charge a standard deposit or deposit fee”, though it may ask for a refundable reserve in some cases (Oct 19, 2026). Pre-seed to Series A startups get 15% off EOR for the first 12 months. More in Remote.com pricing.
Oyster: $699 per employee a month, with “Annual discounts available” but no published annual price (Oyster pricing, Oct 19, 2026, seen again Oct 21). It normally takes a refundable deposit of about one month of “Total Cost of Services” (Oyster help, Oct 19, 2026).

That deposit line is where the real first-month bill lives. On a Deel EOR hire, the deposit is pegged to the whole monthly cost including salary, not just the $599 fee. Budget for it before the offer letter goes out. For the two head-to-heads, see Deel vs Remote and Deel vs Oyster.

PEO list prices

Remote: “Remote’s Professional Employer Organization (PEO) pricing starts from $99 per employee per month.” (Remote pricing, Oct 22, 2026)
Deel: “Starting at $125 per employee per month” for US PEO (Deel PEO, Oct 22, 2026). Deel’s main pricing page showed $110 and $120 PEO tiers on Oct 15, so confirm the number on your order form.
Oyster: not published. Its pricing page lists no PEO product (Oct 22, 2026).

Deel is running a PEO promo: Order Forms signed between July 15 and December 31, 2026 with a “minimum two (2) year” term get “three (3) months of complimentary Platform Fees”, credited “at the end of the initial Term”. Leave early and you owe “the full list price fees for the entire Order Form”. Three free months, paid for with a two-year handcuff. Read that clause twice.

Deel’s PEO page also claims PEOs often charge “usually around $1,000 per employee annually, or a percentage of your overall payroll, usually 2-11%”. That’s Deel’s own marketing, not an independent figure, so treat it as a sales pitch rather than a benchmark.

Why the price gap isn’t a scandal

$599 against $99 looks like daylight robbery until you look at what each is doing. An EOR is the employer in a country where you have nothing: contracts, local payroll, local filings, termination rules. A PEO is helping a company that already exists run its US staff. Different job, different risk, different price.

Contractors: the third option

Sometimes neither is right. If the person is genuinely freelance, a contractor platform is far cheaper:

Remote: Contractor Management from $29 a month per contractor, Plus at $99, Contractor of Record $325 (Remote pricing, Oct 15, 2026).
Deel: contractors $49, Contractor of Record $325 (Deel pricing, Oct 15, 2026).
Oyster: contractors free for 30 days, then $29 a month (Oyster pricing, Oct 19, 2026).

The trap is calling someone a contractor when they work like an employee. That’s a legal question in each country, so get local advice before you save $570 a month. The full rundown is in how to pay international contractors.

Here’s what I’d do

If the hire is outside the country where your company exists, start with an EOR and get written quotes from two or three providers for that exact country, with the deposit and FX spelled out. If your team is in the US and you’re drowning in payroll, benefits and state filings, price a PEO, starting with Remote’s $99 list price and Deel’s $125, and ask whether the PEO is IRS-certified. If it’s a three-month project, use a contractor and stop there. And whatever you sign, read the term: Deel’s EOR is month-to-month, Oyster’s customer terms allow 30 days’ notice, and Deel’s PEO promo locks you in for two years. Switching later is a Freaky Friday moment for your employee, who wakes up with a new employer name on their payslip, so pick deliberately the first time.

FAQ

Is Deel an EOR or a PEO? Both: Deel sells EOR from $599 per employee a month and a US PEO starting at $125 per employee a month.

Do I need an entity for a PEO? In practice yes: the IRS describes PEOs serving “business clients”, while an EOR employs staff for you where you have no entity.

Is an EOR more expensive than a PEO? On list price yes, $599–$699 against $99–$125 per employee a month, because the EOR is the legal employer.

Can I switch from EOR to PEO later? Usually, but check notice terms first, since Oyster’s customer terms require 30 days’ notice and Deel’s PEO promo needs a two-year term.

Does Oyster offer a PEO? Oyster’s pricing page listed no PEO product on Oct 22, 2026.

Sources

IRS, Certified Professional Employer Organization: https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/certified-professional-employer-organization (verified 2026-10-22)
Deel, Employer of Record glossary: https://www.deel.com/glossary/employer-of-record/ (verified 2026-10-22)
Deel PEO: https://www.deel.com/solutions/payroll/peo/ (verified 2026-10-22)
Remote pricing (PEO): https://remote.com/pricing (verified 2026-10-22; EOR and contractor prices verified 2026-10-15; deposit FAQ 2026-10-19)
Deel pricing: https://www.deel.com/pricing/ (verified 2026-10-15, seen again 2026-10-21)
Deel EOR deposit: https://help.letsdeel.com/hc/en-gb/articles/15574494993297-About-EOR-Deposit-Calculations (verified 2026-10-21)
Oyster pricing: https://www.oysterhr.com/pricing (verified 2026-10-19, seen again 2026-10-21; no PEO product 2026-10-22)
Oyster deposit: https://support.oysterhr.com/hc/en-us/articles/34221683638289-Why-is-a-deposit-required (verified 2026-10-19)
Oyster customer terms: https://legal.oysterhr.com/legal/customer-terms-and-conditions (verified 2026-10-21)