Deel vs Remote: Honest Employer of Record Service Comparison (2025)

General overview

When expanding a global workforce, choosing the right Employer of Record (EOR) service can significantly impact compliance, onboarding, and payroll management.

In 2025, two leading players in this space are Deel and Remote. Both platforms promise to simplify global hiring and compliance for companies without the need to set up local entities, but they have distinct strengths that cater to different business needs.

Remote aims to simplify global hiring and payroll for businesses with global teams, but its offering is much simpler. It offers EOR services in over 100 countries using owned entities as well as some tools for managing international compliance.

Deel is known for being the complete global hiring, payroll, and compliance solution. It offers EOR services in over 150 countries through its own entities. It’s backed by in-house infrastructure, AI-powered tools, and a dedicated team of compliance, payroll, and HR experts. It’s ideal for small, medium, and large enterprises seeking a single, unified solution to global expansion and team management.

Let’s dive deeper into how these two Employers of Record stack up across key criteria.

Key features

Remote:

• Localized payroll using external in-country partners (ICPs)
• 24/5 customer support through dashboard and email
• Pre-built integrations with key platforms, plus support for custom integrations using Remote API and Zapier
• Built-in compliance tools and local legal experts, including Remote Watchtower for regulatory updates
• Supports contractor management, equity management, and employee relocation services
• Data-protection infrastructure

Deel:

• In-house, AI-powered global payroll infrastructure
• Built-in compliance tools and compliance experts in every region, including a Compliance Hub and AI Assistant
• 24/7 multi-channel customer support in over 50 languages, including Slack, WhatsApp, WeChat, and more
• HR, payroll, visa and immigration support, equity management, performance management, IT solutions, Contractor of Record services, expense management, and powerful analytics in one platform
• Integrated AI-powered global HR tools like salary insights and hiring guides
• Workflow builder for automating HR processes across multiple third-party platforms
• 120+ pre-built integrations, Deel API, and Zapier support for easier app connectivity
• Enterprise-grade data security, with SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, and GDPR certifications, plus strong encryption and regular audits
• White label and white glove services for unique needs, such as large enterprises with complex global operations, staffing firms, and global HR consultancies

See also: What Are the Pros and Cons of Hiring With an Employer of Record (EOR)?

Pros and cons

Remote

Pros:

• Transparent pricing at $699 per month, per employee, with no hidden fees
• Relatively fast employee onboarding (3 days on average)
• Strong focus on IP protection and data security (ISO 27001 certified)
• Features a Remote Watchtower tool that provides compliance alerts

Cons:

• Limited benefits coverage in certain countries
• Lacks an on-demand pay option for employees
• Costs relatively higher, but offers fewer features
• Support can be slow during peak times, with minimal channels available

Deel

Pros:

• Global coverage backed by owned entities and payroll infrastructure
• Fast employee onboarding (minutes)
• Always-available support across global communication channels
• Always-on compliance monitoring, which uses AI paired with human oversight of 200+ in-house legal experts
• Consolidates global workforce management for direct hires, EOR employees, and contractors under one roof
• Enterprise-grade data security and protection
• Transparent pricing with no long-term commitments while offering strong value for money

Cons:

• The platform’s depth can be intimidating for new users, but dedicated support helps you get up to speed fast
• Pricing may stretch lean budgets, but automation and built-in HR and compliance reduce long-term costs

Cost

Remote:

Remote charges a flat monthly fee of $699 per employee for EOR services. If you make annual payments, the price drops to $599 per month.

This pricing includes global payroll, compliance, and benefits. While it offers extra services like employee relocation support and the ability to run performance reviews, these functions are basic.

Deel:

Deel operates with tiered pricing depending on employee location, typically ranging from $599 per employee per month for full EOR services. This cost includes payroll, benefits, compliance, onboarding, global reporting and analytics, and more. HR and legal support are built in.

You can scale services up or down depending on your needs, with optional add-ons like equipment provisioning, visa sponsorship, and background checks. Deel’s all-in-one model replaces the need for multiple tools and vendors, simplifying your global HR stack.

Summary:
Deel platform offers a more flexible and cost-effective pricing model. At $599 per month, it provides full access to its global platform and support services. In contrast, Remote charges $699 per month unless you commit to annual billing. For companies seeking both value and flexibility, Deel presents the more affordable choice.

See also: EOR vs. Entity Costs: What’s More Affordable?

Compliance & legal reliability

Remote:

Remote provides local compliance support through its owned legal entities in each country and legal experts. Its Remote Watchtower tool offers proactive alerts on labor law changes and integrates necessary updates into HR operations.

The platform provides IP protection, including SOC 1,2,3, GDPR, and ISO 27001 certifications for data security.

Deel:

Deel also provides compliance monitoring through the Compliance Hub, but with deeper capabilities that help you stay informed about regulatory changes and manage risk proactively.

For example, it features AI-powered tools like a Worker Classifier, which prevents misclassification risks. An AI Assistant is also available that answers compliance-related questions in real time, tailored to your workforce data.

Deel’s AI-powered platform localizes contracts, payroll, onboarding, benefits, tax documentation, and every step of the employee lifecycle to meet local legal requirements. It’s backed by an in-house team of 200+ legal experts across all operating countries to ensure every decision is reviewed and compliant.

Deel also maintains enterprise-grade data security through SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, and GDPR certifications. Its infrastructure includes strong encryption, role-based access controls, and regular audits to safeguard sensitive employee and company data.

Summary:
Both solutions offer solid and proactive compliance support, but Deel offers a more powerful and integrated approach. Its AI-powered Compliance Hub monitors 150 countries in real time, flags risks like visa expirations or misclassification, and connects those insights directly to your workforce data.

Paired with a globally distributed in-house legal team, Deel helps employers respond to regulatory changes faster, with less manual effort and greater accuracy.

See also: Compliance Challenges When Managing a Global Contingent Workforce

Onboarding speed

Remote:

Remote’s onboarding is automated and localized. The platform onboards employees, on average, in three days once the employee completes self-enrollment.

However, if employees are slow to act or documents require revision, onboarding can take longer. This is consistent with Remote’s own guidance, which notes that onboarding speed depends on timely action from the employee.

Deel:

Deel’s employee onboarding process is highly efficient and, on average, takes minutes. To support this speed, Deel provides an automated and localized onboarding process. Once an employee is hired, Deel automatically sends them an invitation to begin the onboarding process.

Their employment agreement, documentation requests, and benefits enrollment are tailored to the country selected, ensuring compliance with local laws. The platform prompts employees to upload any missing documents, preventing delays caused by errors or employee inaction.

Additionally, Deel lets you create customized onboarding workflows for your organization, based on your unique internal processes. With Deel’s Slack plugin, you can even onboard employees directly from Slack and auto-assign tasks based on each employee’s role, department, and location.

Summary:
Compared to Remote, Deel has a more efficient onboarding process. Its more guided and automated flow helps employees complete onboarding faster and with fewer errors. This makes Deel ideal for lean teams and growing businesses that need to move fast without building large internal operations.

See also: Elevate Employee Onboarding & Offboarding Efficiency with Deel

Benefits & payroll management

Remote:

Remote supports global payroll and localized benefits across 100 countries, ensuring compliance with local tax and employment laws. However, it cannot publish funds directly to employees in many countries. Instead, it relies on external in-country partners (ICPs) for salary distribution.

This setup reduces visibility and may delay payments. It also limits flexibility. For instance, the platform only supports off-cycle payments for employees rather than on-demand pay.

Its benefits offering covers the basics, but employers have fewer options, and the administration tools are limited, particularly in areas like reporting.

Deel:

Deel’s Employer of Record streamlines payroll and benefits management across 150+ countries through its unified global platform.

Payroll runs on Deel’s in-house infrastructure, ensuring local compliance, accurate calculations, and direct fund distribution to employees without relying on third-party intermediaries.

You can fund your payroll through a single bulk payment, while Deel manages salary distribution in local currencies, generates payslips, and handles country-specific tax documentation.

Deel also offers on-demand pay, improving worker satisfaction and retention.

Its localized employee benefits administration includes health, retirement, and other perks tailored to each country’s legal and cultural norms. By partnering with top-tier local providers, Deel gives businesses of all sizes access to enterprise-level benefits at discounted rates. It also supports end-to-end benefits enrollment, deduction management, and reporting

Summary:
Deel offers a more integrated, flexible, and automated payroll solution. Its in-house payroll engines and direct fund distribution provide better speed, accuracy, and control compared to Remote’s third-party-reliant approach.

Deel’s discounted premium benefits and advanced administration tools also help employers offer competitive, well-managed packages that boost employee satisfaction.

See also: In-Kind Benefits Packages for Global Team Success

Support & user experience

Remote:

Remote provides customer support through 24/5 live chat and email. It also provides an AI assistant, but its capabilities are more limited. The AI assistant is only accessible through the Remote dashboard and does not integrate with Slack or other external platforms.

While Remote’s interface is clean and user-friendly, users have reported longer response times during peak hours or for more complex issues.

Deel:

Deel provides 24/7 multi-channel support in over 50 languages, ensuring employers and employees can get help quickly and in their language. Support options include:

• In-app and web live chat
• Email
• WhatsApp
• Phone, including callback requests
• Video calls
• Slack
• WeChat
• Microsoft Teams

Deel also assigns a dedicated Customer Success Manager, offers onboarding support, and provides access to a global HR experience team. An AI assistant is available in-app and integrated into Slack to help answer common questions in real time.

The platform is widely recognized for its exceptional customer experience, with average first-response times around one minute and 91% of issues resolved during the first interaction.

Summary:
Deel exceeds Remote with its more efficient support that includes a broader range of channels, faster response times, and round-the-clock availability.

Integrations

Remote:

Remote integrates natively with major HR and accounting platforms, including Workday, BambooHR, and Greenhouse. It also supports custom integration through Zapier and Remote API.

While it covers key systems, Remote’s native integration network is relatively small. Additionally, its workflow feature focuses on simpler in-app actions and notifications across systems.

For example, when an employee signs a contract, the workflow can trigger a confirmation email to their inbox, and mark the onboarding task as complete in Remote’s dashboard. It has limited support for complex, cross-platform automation.

Deel:

Deel comes fully equipped with built-in HRIS, payroll, and legal systems. However, if you prefer to keep using your existing tools, Deel offers a wide range of pre-built integrations with popular platforms like Xero, Slack, Greenhouse, QuickBooks, Hubstaff, and BambooHR.

You can also build custom integrations using Deel’s API or Zapier.

Deel provides a no-code Workflow Builder that supports extensive customization with your systems. You can automate actions across connected tools like payroll, HRIS, and benefits platforms.

For example, after a contract is approved in Deel, the workflow can automatically create a payroll entry in Xero, update employee records in BambooHR, send a Slack notification to IT to provision equipment, and generate onboarding tasks in Jira.

This streamlines processes across multiple systems without manual input.

Summary:
Deel wins on integrations thanks to its broader ecosystem and the added efficiency of its no-code automation capabilities. It lets you create complex workflows across your systems without relying on manual processes or custom development.

Remote, in contrast, supports only simple integrations and basic automation.

See also: 20 Best Payroll Integrations for Accounting, HR, and More

Scalability

Remote:

Remote is scalable, but its offerings are generally better suited for small to mid-sized businesses. It supports EOR hiring in over 100 countries through its own legal entities and offers contractor management, global payroll, and localized benefits.

However, Remote relies more on third-party integrations and external payroll partners for payroll operations. This can introduce more coordination steps, which may affect speed and control as companies scale across multiple regions.

Deel:

Deel’s owned entities in 150+ countries and in-house payroll infrastructure gives it the flexibility to support businesses at any stage. This ranges from startups making their first international hire to enterprises managing complex global operations.

As your workforce scales across borders, Deel’s platform adapts with you through its full suite of services to support end-to-end workforce management. You only use what you need, based on your current team size and priorities.

This keeps your operations lean, with Deel prepared to deliver additional tools and capabilities as your needs evolve.

Additionally, Deel’s capabilities are continually improving. Its wholly-owned model allows it to quickly roll out new features and enhance automation with the speed necessary to support fast-moving, globally scaling businesses.

Summary:
Deel is the more scalable option compared to Remote. While both platforms support international expansion, Deel is better equipped for rapid, enterprise-level growth thanks to its wholly-owned entities, in-house infrastructure, and broader global coverage.

See also: A Guide on How 
to Scale Global HR

Review ratings from review sites

Remote:

• Trustpilot: 4.7/5
• G2: 4.6/5

Deel:

• Trustpilot: 4.8/5
• G2: 4.8/5

Bottom-line

When comparing Deel and Remote in 2025, Deel clearly stands out as the superior Employer of Record service. While Remote offers solid coverage and tools for international hiring, Deel offers a more comprehensive set of features that support businesses across the globe.

From its in-depth compliance capabilities to its global payroll and benefits infrastructure, Deel provides everything a business needs to extend its global reach and manage employees in any country with ease.

Expand your operations to 150+ countries with Deel

G2 has recognized Deel as the leading Employer of Record, citing the highest user satisfaction score and the strongest market presence. Today, over 20,000 companies worldwide trust the platform.

Deel is more than an EOR service. It’s an all-in-one Global People Platform for hiring, paying, and managing contractors and full-time employees in multiple countries. You can run global payroll using Deel’s in-house engines, offer localized benefits, and automate HR workflows across borders.

For companies that prioritize comprehensive, scalable global HR solutions and superior customer support, Deel is the clear choice.

See Deel in action by booking a 30-minute demo.