Rippling vs Deel vs Gusto: Global EOR Fees, Contractor Payout Speed, and the FX Spread
Last updated October 22, 2026 · 7 min read
Most companies end up here the same way. A US startup finds a great engineer in Kraków or a designer in São Paulo, pays them as a contractor for six months, and then someone in finance asks whether that arrangement would survive a misclassification audit. Now there is a shortlist, and it almost always reads Rippling, Deel, Gusto.
These three are less alike than the shortlist suggests. Deel was built for this exact problem. Rippling added global hiring to a platform whose center of gravity is the US employee record. Gusto pays contractors abroad well enough, but it no longer runs employer of record hiring for new customers at all. Our Gusto vs Rippling vs Justworks comparison covers the domestic side of this decision; this page is only about people who live somewhere else.
The Short Version
Pick Deel if hiring abroad is a real part of your plan. Pick Rippling if you already run US payroll and devices on it and the international hires are a handful. Use Gusto for international contractors only, and if one of them needs to become a full-time employee, expect to sign a separate contract with Remote.
EOR Fees: What the Monthly Number Covers
An employer of record is a local entity that legally employs your hire in their country and runs local payroll, while you direct the work. Every vendor charges a monthly fee per employee for this, and the fee is the smallest part of the bill. Employer social contributions in most of Europe and Latin America add a large percentage on top of gross salary, and those pass through at cost no matter which vendor you choose.
| Feature | Rippling | Deel | Gusto |
|---|---|---|---|
| EOR model | Add-on module to the Rippling platform | Core product, own entities in many countries | Referral to Remote for new customers since May 1, 2026 |
| EOR list price | Not published, quoted per deal | From $599 per employee per month | Set by Remote, billed by Remote |
| Contractor pricing | Quoted, often bundled | $49 per contractor per month | Contractor payments inside Gusto plans |
| Payout currencies | 50+ local currencies, per Rippling | Contract currency, plus many withdrawal options | Local currency in supported countries |
| FX disclosure | Not published in a form we could find | Estimate shown to contractor before each withdrawal | Per-payment fee published in the help center |
| Best fit | Existing Rippling customers adding a few hires | Companies building a team across several countries | US companies with a few overseas contractors |
Deel’s $599 is the public starting point, and companies with more than a handful of EOR employees routinely negotiate under it on annual terms. Rippling won’t give you a number until a sales call, which makes it hard to compare and easy to discount, since the EOR line tends to get bundled into a larger platform renewal. Ask for the per-employee EOR rate as its own line, in writing. Otherwise you will never know what you are paying for it.
Contractor Payout Speed Is Mostly About Funding
Every vendor advertises fast payouts. In practice the clock starts when your money arrives, and an ACH debit from a US bank account takes a few business days to clear before any of the three can send anything. A contractor who invoices on the 28th and gets paid on the 6th usually lost those days to funding, with the vendor’s own transfer taking much less time.
Deel handles this best. You can prefund a balance, so payouts leave on schedule regardless of when your ACH lands, and contractors hold their money in a Deel balance and choose when and how to withdraw it. Rippling’s global contractor page promises payment in days rather than weeks; the funding step still applies. Gusto follows its contractor payment schedule with published processing deadlines; miss the cutoff and the payment moves to the next cycle.
If contractors complain about late money, check how you fund payments before blaming the platform.
Where the FX Markup Hides
The spread rarely shows up on a pricing page. Converting USD into zloty or reais at a rate a little worse than the mid-market rate is invisible on any single payment. Industry analyses put typical platform spreads somewhere between 2% and 4%. On a contractor paid $60,000 a year, 2% is $1,200, which is more than two years of Deel’s $49 contractor fee.
Gusto is the most explicit of the three. Its help center lists a flat $5 for paying a non-US contractor into a US bank account, and for international transfers a $15 minimum on payments under $1,000 and 1% to 1.5% above that, with Gusto covering intermediary bank fees so the contractor receives the full amount sent. You can do that arithmetic before you hire anyone.
Deel puts the decision on the contractor. Withdrawals in the contract currency to a local bank avoid conversion; withdrawing in a different currency triggers an exchange rate and fee that Deel shows as an estimate before the contractor confirms. Withdrawal methods carry their own charges too, with PayPal costing more than a local bank transfer. The contractor can see all of it. You usually can’t.
Rippling was the hardest to pin down. Its global contractor page talks about local currencies and speed, and some third-party reviews cite a currency markup in Rippling’s terms, but we couldn’t confirm a figure on any public Rippling page. Ask your account executive for the spread over mid-market on a sample payment, and get the answer in the order form.
Write the Contract in Their Currency
Our opinion, and the one decision on this page that saves money with every vendor: contract a long-term contractor in the currency they pay rent in. A developer in Poland on a USD contract absorbs the conversion every month and watches their real income move with the exchange rate; within a year they will ask for a raise that is really an FX correction. Contract them in PLN and the conversion lands on your side, where you can see it and push a vendor to lower it.
Who Should Choose Which
Choose Deel if you expect five or more people outside the US within a year, or hires in more than two countries. Deel was built for global hiring and publishes its EOR price. The tradeoff is one more system next to your US payroll.
Choose Rippling if Rippling already runs your US payroll and laptops, and you want an engineer in Toronto onboarded through the same workflow as one in Denver. One system of record is worth paying for. Just negotiate the EOR line separately, and get the FX terms written down.
Choose Gusto if your international footprint is a few contractors and will stay that way. The fees are published and easy to model. Once someone needs to become an employee abroad, you are a Remote customer as well, so price that in early.
The Verdict
For a company that is serious about hiring outside the US, Deel is the default and the one we would start a pilot with. Rippling earns the job only when it already runs your US workforce and the overseas headcount is small. Gusto is a fine way to pay a few contractors abroad, and since May 2026 its EOR hiring for new customers belongs to Remote. Whatever you pick, compare vendors on the FX spread across a year of payments. For a contractor, that spread can quietly cost more than the platform fee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Gusto still hire full-time employees outside the US?
Not directly for new customers. Gusto's help center says that as of May 1, 2026, it refers new customers to Remote for employer of record services, while companies that joined before that date keep the integrated Gusto and Remote setup. Gusto still pays international contractors itself.
Who pays the FX markup on a contractor payment, the company or the contractor?
It depends on which currency the contract is written in. If you contract in USD and the contractor withdraws in their local currency, the conversion happens on their side and comes out of their pay. If you contract in their local currency, you fund the conversion and see it on your invoice. Either way somebody pays it, so decide on purpose.
Is $599 a month per EOR employee negotiable?
Usually, once you have several hires. Deel publishes its EOR starting price and discounts with volume and annual billing. Rippling quotes EOR per deal. Ask every vendor for the rate at your expected twelve-month headcount, not today's.
Related Comparisons
- Gusto vs Rippling vs Justworks: payroll software, platform, or PEO for your US team
- Ramp vs Brex vs Expensify: corporate cards and reimbursements once the team is spread out
- QuickBooks vs Xero vs FreshBooks: the ledger your international payroll entries land in
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