Remote scores 7.5 out of 10 in our testing. It is the strongest option for UK businesses that need to hire employees or contractors in multiple countries without setting up local entities. The Employer of Record service covers 90+ countries with full compliance handling, and the platform now includes a free core HR module that makes it viable even for domestic-only teams.
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Founded in 2019 by Job van der Voort and Marcelo Lebre, Remote has grown rapidly in the global employment space. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam and operates fully remotely with over 1,800 employees. Remote competes directly with Deel (see our head-to-head comparison), Rippling, and Oyster in the Employer of Record market, but differentiates itself by owning its own legal entities in every country it operates in rather than relying on third-party partners.
- Global employment from £45 per employee monthly - premium pricing for comprehensive international hiring and contractor management platform
- Unbeatable for multi-country workforce management - handles complex global employment law across 80+ countries with local expertise
- Limited UK-specific HR features compared to natives - lacks detailed British employment law tools and HMRC integration capabilities
- Scores 7.5/10 in independent testing - strong overall performance but 20% pricier than Deel for similar global functionality
What Is Remote?
Remote is a global HR platform that lets UK businesses hire, pay, and manage employees and contractors in 90+ countries without setting up foreign entities.
Remote offers five core products: Employer of Record (EOR), Global Payroll, Contractor Management, HR Management, and Equity Administration. The platform handles everything from drafting locally compliant employment contracts to running payroll, filing taxes, and administering benefits in each country.
What sets Remote apart from competitors like Deel and Oyster is its entity ownership model. Remote owns and operates its own legal entities in every country it covers, rather than subcontracting to local partners. This gives it more control over compliance, payroll accuracy, and employee experience. The trade-off is slower country expansion — Remote covers 90+ countries compared to Deel’s 150+ — but the countries it does cover are fully managed in-house.
Remote also offers Remote Talent, a recruitment platform with access to over 800 million candidate profiles, and Remote Equity for managing stock options across 85+ countries. These are add-on products priced separately from the core HR and EOR services.
Remote Pricing UK 2026
Remote’s EOR costs $599 per employee per month on annual billing. The core HR module is free, and contractor management starts at $29 per month.
Remote prices all products in USD, though it supports GBP payments. There are no setup fees, platform fees, or onboarding charges for the HR Management, EOR, and Contractor Management products. Here is the full breakdown as of March 2026:
| Product | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| HR Management | Free + $12/employee/month | Core HR for direct employees |
| Employer of Record | $599/employee/month (annual) or $699 (monthly) | Hiring employees in countries without your own entity |
| Global Payroll | $29/employee/month + implementation fee | Running payroll in countries where you have entities |
| Contractor Management | $29/contractor/month | Paying and managing international contractors |
| Contractor Plus | $99/contractor/month | Contractor management with $100,000 indemnity protection |
| Contractor of Record | From $325/contractor/month | Full contractor compliance with uncapped indemnity |
| Remote Talent | From $199/month | AI-powered global recruitment |
| Equity | From $39/month | Stock option administration across 85+ countries |
The EOR pricing is competitive. Deel charges $599 per employee per month on annual billing (the same rate), while Oyster charges $599 and Papaya Global charges $650. Remote’s 14% discount for annual billing brings the monthly-billed rate of $699 down to $599, which is standard for the market.
The free HR Management tier is a relatively new addition and a genuine differentiator. It includes onboarding workflows, document management, time tracking, PTO management, and expense management. The $12 per employee premium tier adds advanced reporting and custom workflows. By comparison, Deel charges $5 per user per month for its core HRIS, and Rippling starts at $7 per user per month.
The main hidden cost to watch for is the Global Payroll product. Remote charges a one-time implementation fee (amount varies by country) plus a recurring payroll delivery fee that reflects local infrastructure costs. These fees are not published on the pricing page and must be quoted directly.
Remote Key Features
Remote’s standout features are its owned-entity EOR model covering 90+ countries, free HR management platform, and built-in contractor indemnity protection up to $100,000.
Employer of Record
The EOR service is Remote’s flagship product. It handles employment contracts, payroll, tax filings, benefits administration, and statutory compliance in 90+ countries. Each new hire gets a dedicated onboarding specialist who manages the entire setup process, including right-to-work checks (which add approximately 3 days in the UK).
For UK employees hired through Remote’s EOR, the platform handles HMRC registration, PAYE via Real Time Information (RTI), National Insurance contributions, and pension auto-enrolment. Payroll runs monthly, with employees paid on or before the last working day of each calendar month. The payroll cut-off date is the 10th of each month.
Contractor Management
Remote supports contractor payments in 100+ currencies across 200+ countries. The platform generates locally compliant contracts, handles invoicing, and provides IP protection clauses. The Plus tier ($99/contractor/month) adds misclassification indemnity protection up to $100,000, which is particularly valuable given the UK’s IR35 rules around off-payroll working.
The Contractor of Record product (from $325/month) goes further — Remote assumes the contractor relationship entirely and provides uncapped indemnity protection. This is useful for businesses that want to engage contractors in high-risk jurisdictions without any compliance exposure.
HR Management
The free HR Management module covers core HR functions: employee directory, onboarding and offboarding workflows, document management with e-signatures, time tracking, PTO management with approval flows, and expense management. There is also a mobile app for employee self-service.
This is a competitive move against Employment Hero and Breathe HR, which charge for similar functionality. However, Remote’s HR module is relatively basic compared to dedicated HRIS platforms — it lacks performance management, learning management, and advanced analytics that you would get from HiBob or Rippling.
Integrations
Remote integrates with major HR, accounting, and recruitment tools including BambooHR, HiBob, Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, QuickBooks, Xero, and Netsuite. It also has Slack and Microsoft Teams plugins that let employees request time off, submit expenses, and complete approvals without leaving their communication tool. An open API is available for custom integrations.
Remote Pros and Cons
Remote excels at compliant global hiring through its owned-entity model but its HR management module lacks the depth of dedicated UK-focused HRIS platforms.
What Do Customers Say About Remote?
Remote holds a 4.7 out of 5 Trustpilot rating from 2,914 reviews, with customers praising responsive support and smooth onboarding but some citing payment delays.
Remote’s Trustpilot profile shows 84% five-star reviews, which is strong for the EOR sector. The most consistent praise focuses on three areas: the speed and quality of customer support, the smoothness of the onboarding process for new hires, and the clarity of the platform’s dashboard for managing employees across multiple countries.
The negative reviews (5% one-star) cluster around two themes. First, some users report delays in salary payments, particularly during the first month of onboarding when payroll cycles are being established. Second, a smaller number of reviews mention difficulties with compliance handling in specific countries where local regulations changed faster than Remote’s documentation. A notable Hacker News thread from June 2024 highlighted similar concerns from business owners, though Remote has since updated its compliance processes.
On G2, Remote scores well for ease of use and quality of support, with users noting that the self-service platform reduces the need for back-and-forth with the support team. Glassdoor reviews of Remote as an employer show a 3.4/5 rating, which is average for a fast-growing startup but not directly relevant to its performance as a product.
Remote vs Deel: Which Is Better?
Remote is better for compliance-critical global hiring through its owned entities, while Deel offers wider country coverage at 150+ countries and a cheaper core HRIS at $5 per user per month.
This is the most common comparison in the EOR market, and the answer depends on what matters most to your business. Remote owns its entities in every country, giving it tighter compliance control. Deel uses a mix of owned entities and local partners, which lets it cover more countries (150+ vs 90+) but introduces a layer of third-party risk.
On pricing, both charge $599 per employee per month for EOR on annual billing. Deel’s core HRIS is cheaper at $5 per user per month compared to Remote’s free tier (which is more limited) plus $12 per month for the premium tier. However, Deel’s add-on modules (Engage at $20/worker/month, IT from $10/person/month) can quickly push the total cost higher.
For UK businesses primarily hiring domestically with occasional international hires, Deel’s wider feature set (performance management, IT device management) may be more practical. For businesses making compliance-critical hires in regulated markets, Remote’s owned-entity model provides stronger guarantees.
Who Is Remote Best For?
Remote is best for UK businesses hiring employees or contractors across multiple countries who prioritise compliance certainty and transparent pricing over feature breadth.
Best for:
- UK businesses expanding internationally — the EOR handles HMRC, PAYE, pension auto-enrolment, and local compliance in 90+ countries
- Companies hiring international contractors — the IR35-conscious contractor management with indemnity protection is a genuine risk reducer
- Startups with distributed teams — no minimum employee requirements, no setup fees, and a free HR module keep early-stage costs low
- Businesses prioritising compliance over features — the owned-entity model gives more control than partner-based alternatives
Not suitable for:
- UK-only businesses needing a full HRIS — Remote’s HR module lacks performance management, learning, and analytics. Consider Breathe HR or Employment Hero instead.
- Businesses needing coverage in niche markets — Remote’s 90-country footprint may not include every country you need. Deel covers 150+ countries.
- Companies that need integrated IT device management — Remote does not offer device management. Rippling is the strongest option here.
Best Remote Alternatives
The top Remote alternatives for UK businesses are Deel for wider global coverage, Rippling for unified HR and IT, and Employment Hero for affordable UK-focused HR.
If Remote does not quite fit your requirements, these are the strongest alternatives available in the UK market:
Deel — covers 150+ countries with a $5/user/month core HRIS. Better for businesses that need wide country coverage and integrated performance management (Deel Engage). EOR pricing matches Remote at $599/month per employee.
Rippling — starts at $7 per user per month and unifies HR, IT, and Finance on a single platform. The standout feature is device management (shipping, setup, and security for employee laptops). Best for tech companies with both domestic and international teams.
Employment Hero — an Australian-founded platform with strong UK presence, offering HR software, payroll, and benefits from $4 per employee per month. Better for UK-only SMEs that need affordable core HR without the global complexity.
Oyster — another owned-entity EOR provider covering 180+ countries. Pricing starts at $599 per employee per month. Oyster’s strength is its benefits marketplace, which lets employers offer competitive local benefits packages in each country.
Use our free Employee Cost Calculator to get a personalised cost estimate based on your specific requirements.
Our Verdict on Remote
Remote is a strong choice for UK businesses hiring internationally, scoring 7.5 out of 10 for its compliance-first approach, transparent pricing, and free HR module.
Strong EOR platform with owned entities in every country. Free HR module is a genuine differentiator. Best for compliance-critical global hiring, but limited as a standalone HRIS.
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Remote has carved out a clear position in the global employment market: it is the compliance-first EOR provider. The owned-entity model, transparent pricing, and absence of setup fees make it a strong choice for UK businesses expanding internationally. The free HR management module is a welcome addition that makes the platform viable even for teams not yet ready for EOR services.
The limitations are real but predictable. Remote’s HR module cannot compete with dedicated HRIS platforms on feature depth. Its 90-country EOR coverage trails Deel’s 150+. And the USD-only pricing introduces currency risk for UK businesses, though this is standard across the EOR market.
If your primary need is hiring employees in other countries with full legal compliance, Remote is one of the two best options available alongside Deel. If your primary need is a domestic UK HRIS with occasional international hiring, you are better served by Employment Hero or Breathe HR with an EOR bolt-on when needed.
