Oyster vs RemoFirst vs 4dev.com

Pick Oyster if you want a certified B Corp with a stated onboarding time of 48 hours and a dedicated contact: EOR costs $699 per employee monthly and covers 120+ countries, while Global Contractors costs $29 per contractor. Pick RemoFirst if the entry price and the country count matter most: EOR from $199 a month in a claimed 185+ countries, and a free contractor tier. For a contractor group, 4dev.com is the third pick: per payout it keeps 3% or less, and it signs as the contracting party for each contractor.

The first question is how the person you are adding is engaged. Anyone hired where you have no entity must be placed with an Employer of Record; every vendor on this page sells that service.

A contractor is a different case. Oyster's Global Contractors follows the contractor management model: you sign with the worker and you make the call on independence. RemoFirst sells its contractor tier under the Contractor of Record name, but publishes no separate plan or price for it. With the Contractor of Record service on 4dev.com, a vendor sits in the contract chain between your company and the contractor.

The first difference is price shape. Oyster publishes one EOR figure, $699, and a fixed per-head contractor fee. RemoFirst publishes a starting figure of $199 and a free contractor tier. Neither pricing page closes every gap: Oyster does not state its deposit or annual-discount amounts, and RemoFirst notes that the EOR fee can change with local rules. Reviewers on Trustpilot describe a quote that came out well above the advertised start, so ask for a country-specific figure before you compare.

Coverage claims differ in kind. Oyster states EOR in 120+ countries and contractor contracts in 180+. RemoFirst claims EOR in 185+ countries and contractor payments in 150+. On the country lists behind our tables, Oyster documents 156 countries and RemoFirst 124, so the vendor with the larger headline has the shorter list. Neither publishes how many entities it owns; RemoFirst says it hires through its own entities or exclusive partners. For each country, ask which company would be your hire's legal employer.

The service model is the second divide. Oyster pairs onboarding specialists and a paid HR advisory add-on at $300 an hour with a response time of 24 hours, through tickets and email. RemoFirst advertises 24/7 chat and a dedicated account manager, though its own EOR FAQ says 24/5. Reviewers of both praise quick onboarding and a clear portal; they criticise support that goes quiet or is hard to reach once the first weeks pass.

Security and extras are not the same either. RemoFirst names GDPR alongside ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certification; visa help and a $55 health add-on come on top. Oyster cites SOC 2 and GDPR practices and its B Corp status, and sells benefits, visa sponsorship and salary data as add-ons without prices.

Don't line $199 up against $699 as the cost of one hire. RemoFirst's figure is a starting point that its FAQ says varies by country, and it excludes the $55 health add-on. Oyster's $699 carries no setup fee, yet a refundable deposit applies and its amount is not published; HR advice costs extra. For contractors, Oyster's $29 buys payment and paperwork after a 30-day free trial; RemoFirst's $25 Premium tier adds payments to a free tier that has none.

Under contractor management you hold the agreement and you decide whether the worker is independent. Oyster's Global Contractors fits that description, and it adds a free misclassification analyzer and, on its pricing page, an Oyster Shell add-on with aggregate protection up to $500,000. Read the terms for what that covers.

RemoFirst is less clear-cut. Its contractor page uses the Contractor of Record name and says the chosen provider manages the legal engagement, but the page does not say that RemoFirst itself signs with the contractor, and no COR plan is priced. Ask for the contract. A Contractor of Record generally reduces the risk of reclassification but does not remove it, whoever sells it.

4dev.com suits this pair when the people on the invoice are contractors. It signs with every one of them, as the contracting party, and that reduces the risk of reclassification but does not remove it. Nothing recurs monthly and the contractor's share is 0%; the single rate that applies is "Service fee: 3% or less per payout".

Ten contractors at $3,000 a month means $30,000 in payouts. At most that is $900 on 4dev.com, against $290 on Oyster's Global Contractors and $250 on RemoFirst's Premium tier, so the flat tiers cost less per head. They are contractor management, though, so classification stays with you. 3% matches Oyster's $29 at about $967 per contractor a month and RemoFirst's $25 at about $833. Below those rates, 4dev.com is the cheaper of the three.

Contractors register and pass automatic verification, then work under IP-assignment contracts, plus invoices and closing documents you can download in a click. There is also an API with a Sandbox. Delivery takes 1–3 days according to 4dev.com, the range RemoFirst quotes too, and contractors in 150+ countries are paid by card, USDT or bank transfer (IBAN/SWIFT). Trustpilot shows 4.1 from 56 reviews.

For employees, the question is where they live and how you want to pay. Oyster's EOR covers 120+ countries; its standalone payroll started in about 20 markets in 2024, and no current count is published. RemoFirst lists global payroll as its own product but publishes no market count either, and says onboarding takes 1–3 days in most locations once contracts are approved. Both onboarding times are vendor claims, not SLAs.

RemoFirst adds visa support in 110+ countries on the EOR page, though a pricing-page section says 85+. Oyster sells visa sponsorship as an add-on with no listed price. Whichever you pick, confirm the hire's country on the vendor's own list before signing. For longer lists, see global payroll software and EOR providers.

Support. Oyster cites a reply within 24 hours via tickets, email and a help center. RemoFirst advertises in-platform chat, a dedicated account manager and 24/7 help, while its EOR FAQ says 24/5. For contractor work on 4dev.com, you reach staff via email or help.4dev.com in office hours.

Onboarding. Oyster claims as fast as 48 hours for an EOR hire and minutes for contractors, with an in-app ID check. RemoFirst says 1–3 days for employees and about 10 minutes for contractors. On 4dev.com, a contractor can accept an invitation or sign up alone, and full access opens after KYC. Treat each as a claim, not a guarantee.

Benefits and integrations. Oyster offers benefits packages and names connectors such as Xero, Slack, Personio, Ashby and QuickBooks. RemoFirst offers RemoHealth from $55 per person a month and does not publish an integration count.

Capterra gives Oyster 4.6 from 91 reviews; on G2 it has 4.4 (1,624) and on Trustpilot 3.8 (272). RemoFirst scores 4.5 on G2 (367), 4.0 on Trustpilot (101) and 3.4 on Capterra from only 5 reviews. About half of Oyster's reviewers are employed through it and a fifth are buyers; they like the portal, quick onboarding and helpful staff, and dislike email-only support, late pay and deposits. RemoFirst's reviewers split evenly between employees and clients; they praise support at first and fair pricing, and complain of payments stuck in progress, quiet support after onboarding and offboarding bills.

A switch between these two is a close-out followed by a new start. Before you go, export signed contracts, invoices, payout history per worker and that year's tax paperwork. Contractors will onboard and pass identity checks again.

EOR employees cannot simply be carried across: the first employer ends the contract and the second one's entity hires the person afresh. Check notice periods, accrued leave, benefit continuity, any deposit still held and whether probation restarts. Reviewers of RemoFirst report invoices for severance and legal fees at offboarding, so get the exit costs in writing. Oyster's deposit is refundable, but the timing is not published. RemoFirst says it has no minimum contract terms, and Oyster charges no offboarding fee; check the signed terms.