1. Executive summary
Choosing an Employer of Record is a finance decision as much as an HR workflow: total cost, cash locked in deposit, and who actually employs the person. RemoFirst fits when the constraint is the published seat, or the roster is mostly contractors, and a local partner can employ the person. It is less ideal when the hire must sit on an owned entity, or when equity, equipment, visas, and identity have to be in the base fee.
Published pricing is $199 per employee per month and $25 per contractor per month, with about 1 month of payroll held as a deposit. Customers report an FX markup of 1% ~ 2% when the invoice is funded in a different currency than the salary. That seat is competitive on fee only, against a lower-feature partner-network screen. It is not the same product as Deel or Remote at $599, or Multiplier at $459. On platform fee alone the gap versus $599 is $400 a month per employee — $4,800 a year, or $96,000 a year at 20 employees. That is not cash saved until the deposit, FX, partner costs, and add-ons are priced. RemoFirst claims 0 owned entities and 185 supported countries. The listed 0 is not a country map, and it is not a regional specialty. Ask who employs the person in each hire country — RemoFirst or a partner.
Before signing
- Who legally employs the person in each hire country, which partner stands behind that employment, and who you escalate to if payroll or a termination stalls.
- How the deposit is calculated: salary only, or salary plus employer costs; whether it is refundable and when; whether it increases when pay increases.
- Which add-ons the hire needs — equity, equipment, RemoHealth, visas — and the all-in fee once those are included. Whether any partner expenses sit on the invoice outside the $199.
- If the hire creates proprietary work: IP assignment is listed, and no dollar indemnification amount is published. What cap is in this contract.
- A sample FX markup quote on the currency pairs you will fund, whether that markup is a spread or inside partner payroll, and a cap in the contract if that cost is material.
2. Total cost of ownership
The platform fee is a flat amount per person, so a local salary increase does not raise it. Compare the $199 seat when the roster is employees. Compare the $25 contractor line when most of the roster stays contractors. Add-ons and the deposit are separate. On one or two hires, one month of payroll deposit can exceed a year of that seat gap.
| Financial metric | RemoFirst structure | What it means for finance |
|---|---|---|
| Base EOR cost | $199 per employee / month (fixed flat rate) | A local raise does not lift this fee. Salary, benefits, and statutory costs still sit on top. |
| Contractor cost | $25 per contractor / month | The line that matters if most people stay contractors. $25 sits below the contractor seats in this set. Converting that person to employment later can stay on RemoFirst. Confirm who employs them at conversion — the contractor line does not answer that. |
| FX markup | 1% ~ 2% | Not a published rate card. Ask whether it is a spread, a fee, or inside the partner invoice, and for a cap if the spread matters. |
| Deposit terms | About 1 month (amount at vendor discretion) | Working-capital lockup. The lower seat is not zero cash. Confirm whether the month is salary only or salary plus employer costs, whether it is refundable and when, and whether it rises when pay rises. On a small team that deposit can erase the annual fee gap versus Remote or Deel. |
3. Treasury and FX
- Ask for a sample funding quote on the corridors you will fund, and whether the markup is its own line or inside the partner invoice.
- Remote lists no deposit at $599. Use RemoFirst when the seat or the contractor line is the constraint. Do not use it to avoid locking up cash. Setup and termination charges are not in this set — confirm those separately.
- Amendment fee is published as none. Benefits pass-through and country payroll still need a line in the cost model.
4. Compliance and delivery
- This set lists partner-network delivery and 0 owned entities. Do not treat that as the employment answer for a given country. Confirm, for each hire, whether RemoFirst’s own entity employs the person or a partner does, who you escalate to, and the response time — an exact SLA is not published.
- Local contract templates and KYC checks are included. IP assignment is listed. No dollar indemnification amount is published in this set — that is not the same as IP failing to assign. If the hire creates proprietary work, have legal confirm the cap in the contract, as a fee multiple or a dollar amount.
- Equity, equipment, RemoHealth, and visas are add-ons, not base-seat inclusions. A relocation-heavy plan is only cheaper after those visas are priced. Ask whether any partner expenses sit on the invoice outside the $199.
- Connectors listed in this set are ADP, BambooHR, Workday, and GoCardless. Confirm whether each is a native two-way sync or a file or mapping layer. SSO is not listed. If identity or a deep HR stack is the brief, it is less ideal.
- IP indemnification is listed.
5. RemoFirst versus the alternatives
- Choose RemoFirst if the goal is the lowest published seat or a contractor-heavy roster, owned-entity employment is not required, and about one month of deposit is acceptable. Price equity, equipment, visas, and RemoHealth outside the $199.
- Choose Remote if keeping cash free and owned-entity delivery matter more than the lower seat. Remote lists no deposit at $599.
- Choose Multiplier if employees and contractors should sit on owned-entity delivery. The contractor line there is higher; the employment model is the difference.
- Choose Deel if owned-entity coverage or a deeper integration stack is required. Deel lists $599 and about one month of deposit.
Strategic recommendation
Use RemoFirst when the hire plan is light on platform fee — lowest published seat, or a roster that is mostly contractors — and you can accept the employing entity once it is named. It is less ideal when the person must sit on an owned entity, when core IP needs a published indemnification amount, or when equity, equipment, visas, or identity have to be in the base seat. The fee gap versus Deel and Remote is real on the seat and is not savings until the deposit, FX, and add-ons are written down.