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Date:
June 16, 2026
Last updated:
June 16, 2026
Introduction
Handling local employment in Australia means working through a stack of statutory rules. Every Australian hire falls under one of 121 Modern Awards that set minimum pay, penalty rates, and leave entitlements.
Employers also have to pay a 12 per cent superannuation guarantee on top of salary, with ATO (Australian taxation office) penalties for late contributions.
Managing all of this internally requires significant operational and compliance overhead for any foreign company without a local team.
Employer of record services in Australia let you hire local employees without an entity, with the EOR acting as legal employer and supporting Fair Work compliance, payroll, super, and PAYG (Pay As You Go) withholding, while you direct the work.
This guide compares the ten most relevant EOR services in Australia by pricing, payroll support, and best-fit use cases, so you can shortlist the right provider for your hiring plans.
Top 10 EOR services in Australia
Here is a quick overview of the top 10 EOR services in Australia, covering each platform's core strength, best-fit use case, and starting EOR price.
Tool
Core Strength
Best For
Starting Price
Skuad
EOR and contractor management across 160+ countries with payroll in 70+ currencies
Companies hiring 1 to 50 employees in Australia who want lower per-seat pricing
Starts at $199/employee/month
Atlas HXM
Direct EOR through owned legal entities in 160+ countries with full HXM platform
Mid-to-large enterprises consolidating from a reseller-EOR model to direct entity ownership
Starts at $599/employee/month
Globalization Partners
EOR across 180+ countries with Australia hiring support, AI-powered compliance guidance, payroll support, and enterprise integrations
Mid-market and enterprise teams hiring in Australia as part of a broader multi-country expansion
Custom pricing
Deel
Owned-entity EOR in 150+ countries with all-in-one HRIS, equity, and 40+ integrations
Fast-scaling teams wanting one platform for EOR, contractors, payroll, equity, and HRIS
Starts at $599/employee/month
Safeguard Global
17+ years of in-country EOR and payroll expertise across 187 countries
Mid-to-large enterprises with 50+ international hires needing deep in-country expertise
Custom
Oyster HR
B Corp-certified EOR in 180+ countries with payroll in 140+ currencies
Mid-market and remote-first companies prioritising compliance and B Corp values
Starts at $699/employee/month
Remote
100% owned-entity EOR with Compliance Watchtower and unlimited IP indemnity
Compliance-first teams hiring in Australia who want owned-entity coverage, not partner network
Starts at $699/employee/month
Rippling
Unified HR, IT, finance, and EOR platform with native Australian payroll
Tech-forward Australian teams consolidating EOR into one HR, IT plus finance system
Custom
Papaya Global
Payroll-first Workforce OS with EOR, payments, and analytics across 160+ countries
Enterprise finance teams managing global payroll across 10+ countries, plus Australia
Starts at $599/employee/month
Multiplier
Flat-fee global EOR with Asia-Pacific strength, ESOP support, and 24 to 72-hour onboarding
Asia-Pacific-headquartered companies hiring across Australia, Singapore, India, and Southeast Asia
Starts at $400/employee/month
Pricing alone won't decide which EOR fits your hiring plan. Each platform varies in compliance depth for Modern Awards, superannuation handling, contract speed, and ideal-buyer fit, and those differences matter more than a $100 per-seat gap. Let's look at the 10 platforms one by one, starting with Skuad.
One platform to grow your global team
Hire and pay talent globally, the hassle-free way with Skuad.
Best EOR services in Australia: Detailed breakdown
This detailed breakdown covers what each platform does, its key capabilities, the EOR pricing, and the buyer profile it fits.
1. Skuad
Skuad is a global employment platform built for foreign companies hiring across multiple markets without setting up local entities. The platform also offers benefits administration, background checks, and global recruitment as add-on services.
Global employer of record: Acts as the legal employer for hires in 160+ countries through owned entities, supporting contracts, payroll, taxes, and statutory compliance for each market.
Multi-currency payroll: Supports payroll processing in 70+ currencies for employees and contractors, with statutory deductions, tax withholding, and net pay flowing through a single bulk transfer each cycle.
Contractor and employee in one platform: Supports AOR (Agent of Record) contractors and EOR employees on the same platform.
Visa and immigration support: Facilitates work visa and permit assistance across the country network, with documentation managed in-platform alongside HR onboarding workflows.
Case study: How OpenSolar scaled its international team with Skuad
OpenSolar, the Sydney-headquartered solar design and sales platform, was scaling its global team and needed a way to hire skilled professionals across multiple countries without setting up local entities.
The company turned to Skuad for support with onboarding, payroll, and compliance for its international workforce.
With Skuad, OpenSolar onboarded 40 team members across the Philippines, Italy, and Portugal, with employment practices aligned to each country's labour laws and payments processed accurately and on time in local currencies.
Pricing: Skuad EOR starts at $199 per employee per month. Agent of Record for contractors starts at $99 per contractor per month, and the Contractor Management System starts at $19 per contractor per month.
Best for: Companies hiring remote employees in Australia who want lower per-seat pricing, in-platform compliance support across the Fair Work Act and superannuation, and visa coverage for incoming hires.
2. Atlas HXM
Atlas HXM is an enterprise Human Experience Management (HXM) platform that targets enterprise buyers consolidating away from reseller-EOR setups. It bundles expense management and employee onboarding workflows alongside the core service.
Direct entity model: Owns all its legal entities and acts as the direct employer of record, handling employment, payroll, and compliance in-house rather than through a local partner network.
Global payroll: Processes payroll in local currencies across 160+ countries, with tax handling and statutory contributions managed through the HXM platform and regional finance teams running reconciliation each cycle.
HXM platform reporting: Centralises headcount, compliance status, and HR metrics across countries in role-based dashboards for HR, finance, and legal stakeholders.
Atlas HXM Learning: Includes an online training resource for worksite employees, supporting onboarding, compliance training, and professional development without a separate LMS (Learning Management System) subscription.
Pricing: Starts at $599 per employee per month.
Best for: Mid-to-large enterprises consolidating from a reseller-EOR model who want direct in-country entity ownership across Australia and other APAC (Asia-Pacific) markets, plus deep HR reporting infrastructure.
3. Globalization Partners
Globalization Partners, also known as G-P, is a global Employer of Record platform that helps companies hire, onboard, manage, and pay employees across 180+ countries, including Australia, without setting up local entities. For Australia, G-P can support compliant hiring, employment contracts, payroll, benefits, tax obligations, and local employment administration.
Australia EOR support: G-P helps companies hire employees in Australia without opening a local entity, while supporting employment contracts, payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliant employment administration.
Global entity infrastructure: G-P’s EOR model allows companies to hire talent through its global entity infrastructure, helping teams expand without going through local entity setup.
Payroll and benefits administration: Helps companies manage payroll, benefits, tax handling, and employment-related administration for Australian hires.
G-P Gia AI compliance guidance: G-P Gia gives HR teams AI-powered, expert-vetted guidance for employment questions, compliance workflows, and HR document support.
Enterprise integrations: G-P connects with HCM and payroll systems, making it useful for larger teams that need Australian employee data to flow into existing HR and finance systems.
Pricing: Custom pricing.
Best for: Mid-market and enterprise teams hiring in Australia as part of a broader multi-country expansion.
4. Deel
Deel is a global hiring platform with its own entities across 150+ countries, offering same-day onboarding in many markets across its EOR coverage.
Owned-entity EOR: Acts as the legal employer through its own entities across 150+ countries, handling contracts, payroll, tax withholding, statutory benefits, and offboarding directly rather than through partner intermediaries.
All-in-one global HRIS: Combines EOR, contractor management, global payroll, payroll-only, US PEO (Professional Employer Organization), equity, and an HRIS in a single dashboard with consistent data and workflows across all worker types.
Visa and immigration: Supports inbound visa sponsorship across 38+ markets with case-by-case pricing, handled by an in-house immigration team.
Native integrations: Connects with Xero, NetSuite, QuickBooks, BambooHR, Workday, and 35+ others so payroll data flows into existing finance and HR systems without manual exports.
Pricing: Starts at $599 per employee per month for the standard plan and $899 per employee per month for the enterprise plan.
Best for: Fast-scaling teams hiring across many countries who want one platform for EOR, contractors, payroll, equity, and an HRIS, with deep integrations and one of the most mature global entity networks in the category.
5. Safeguard Global
Safeguard Global is a workforce-enablement platform that covers contractor management, recruitment, HR and benefits services, and global expansion support alongside its core EOR offering.
In-country experts: Routes classification, employment rules, and award calculations through local HR and compliance specialists, market by market, rather than a single overseas support queue.
Long-tenure compliance depth: Brings deep in-country experience to complex scenarios like long service leave, redundancy calculations, and termination disputes.
Intelligent Workforce planning: Compares cost and hiring scenarios across markets using real-time labour data, helping finance teams model headcount decisions before signing.
Workforce analytics: Surfaces labour costs, payroll tax, turnover, and other workforce data by country, currency, and contract type in real-time dashboards for finance and HR leadership.
Enterprise data security: Maintains SOC 1, GDPR, and similar certifications, with a dedicated security team safeguarding employee and payroll data across global jurisdictions.
Pricing: Custom.
Best for: Mid-to-large enterprises with 50+ international hires, particularly across life sciences, financial services, or technology, who need deep in-country expertise across both Australia and complex global markets.
6. Oyster HR
Oyster HR is a remote-first global employment platform headquartered in San Francisco. It offers API access via Oyster Embedded for software vendors looking to build hiring infrastructure into their own products.
Global EOR coverage: Employs workers on behalf of client companies across 180+ countries through owned and partner entities, handling contracts, payroll, statutory benefits, and offboarding.
B Corp certification: Holds B Corp status as the only EOR with this verification, covering governance, labour practices, and environmental standards for mission-driven procurement teams.
Salary benchmarking: Includes salary insights covering 130+ countries, helping HR price competitive offers using market data without a separate compensation tool.
Oyster Shell misclassification: Flags contractors at risk of being reclassified as employees under local law, helping teams stay clear of stricter contractor classification rules across markets.
Contractor and employee in one place: Manages EOR employees and global contractors side by side, with payments in 140+ currencies and consolidated invoicing across worker types and countries.
Pricing: Starts at $699 per employee per month.
Best for: Mid-market and remote-first companies hiring in Australia who prioritise compliance-first infrastructure, B Corp values, and a unified contractor-plus-employee dashboard across many markets.
7. Remote
Remote is a global employment platform that operates from a fully distributed, remote-first team built around owned-entity compliance.
100% owned entities: Operates every entity it employs directly, with no third-party handoffs in employment, payroll, or compliance across all 80+ EOR countries.
Compliance Watchtower: Monitors legal changes across 90+ countries through an in-house legal team, surfacing them as in-platform alerts for HR and legal teams.
Unlimited IP indemnity: Offers unlimited indemnity on EOR contracts with automatic IP (Intellectual Property) and moral rights transfers in every jurisdiction, reducing legal exposure for client companies on creative work.
Built-in benefits library: Pre-loads country-specific statutory and supplemental benefits packages for new hires, covering health coverage, retirement savings, parental leave, and supplemental add-ons.
Pricing: Starts at $699 per employee per month.
Best for: Compliance-first teams hiring full-time employees in Australia who want owned-entity coverage rather than partner-network execution, plus strong IP protection and built-in equity support.
8. Rippling
Rippling is a workforce management platform that unifies HR, IT, and finance on a single source of truth for employee data. It allows businesses to manage HR, payroll, onboarding, IT device provisioning, and finance operations, so a new hire triggering a contract also triggers laptop shipment and SaaS access automatically.
Native Australia payroll: Runs native payroll directly in Australia (alongside the US, UK, Canada, and India) rather than through a partner EOR network, with payroll, tax, and reporting handled in-platform.
EOR plus native HRIS: Places EOR employees in the same HRIS as direct hires and contractors, with shared records for onboarding, time off, devices, and benefits across worker types.
Workflow Studio automation: Chains HR, IT, and finance actions together in no-code workflows so a single hire event can trigger payroll setup, app provisioning, device shipping, and benefits enrolment simultaneously.
600+ integrations: Connects with most accounting, HRIS, ATS (Applicant Tracking System), and IT platforms, so payroll, time, and headcount data syncs with existing tools without custom engineering.
with existing tools without custom engineering.
Pricing: Custom.
Best for: Tech-forward companies in Australia who want EOR consolidated into one HR, IT plus finance system, with native Australian payroll, deep automation, and a large integration ecosystem.
9. Papaya Global
Papaya Global is a global payroll provider with an embedded payments platform designed for enterprise workforce needs. It covers global payroll, EOR, contractor management, cross-border payments, and benefits and immigration services across 160+ countries
Payroll-first architecture: Leads with multi-country payroll orchestration, with EOR as one of several engagement types in the same platform, suiting finance teams managing payroll and EOR side by side.
Workforce analytics: Shows total workforce cost by country, department, and cost centre in real-time dashboards, with FX (Foreign Exchange) impact analysis and scenario modelling for finance forecasting.
AI-powered automation: Flags anomalies in tax and statutory calculations before payroll runs using machine-driven validation, reducing reconciliation errors across pay cycles.
Workforce Payments: Pays employees and contractors in local currencies through cross-border payments infrastructure, with predictable FX spreads and consolidated invoicing across all worker types and countries.
ERP integrations: Connects with Workday, SAP, NetSuite, and similar enterprise HCM and ERP systems so payroll and headcount data flow into the existing finance infrastructure.
Pricing: Starts at $599 per employee per month, with a higher-tier Full-Service plan around $650 per employee per month.
Best for: Enterprise finance and HR teams managing global payroll across 10+ countries who want consolidated workforce cost analytics alongside EOR coverage for Australian hires.
10. Multiplier
Multiplier is a global employment platform around a platform-first EOR model. It helps HR leaders hire internationally without setting up local entities, bringing global payroll, compliance, onboarding, contractor management, and EOR services into one platform.
The platform supports both full-time employees and contractors across 150+ countries, with employee onboarding typically completed in 24 to 72 hours.
APAC focus: Maintains compliance and support coverage across Asia-Pacific markets, with in-region specialists handling local employment rules.
Fast onboarding: Generates and signs compliant employment contracts within 24 to 72 hours of acceptance, with payroll registration and fund selection handled in parallel.
Visa and immigration: Covers work visas, permanent residency support, and other work authorisations across 140+ countries through standalone immigration services, with local specialists handling eligibility.
Pricing: Starts at $400 per employee per month.
Best for: APAC-headquartered or APAC-heavy companies hiring across Australia, Singapore, India, and Southeast Asia who want flat pricing, fast contract generation, and integrated ESOP (Employee Stock Option Plan) and visa support.
Each of the ten platforms above was selected against a fixed set of criteria. Let's look at the criteria we used to evaluate them.
How we evaluated the top EOR services in Australia
We picked these EOR platforms using the following five criteria. Each one tests whether an EOR can actually hire and pay Australian employees compliantly.
Modern Award and NES depth: We looked at whether each platform automatically classifies hires against the right Modern Award and applies penalty rates, casual loading, and NES (National Employment Standards) entitlements. Misclassification here drives the bulk of Australian back-pay claims.
Superannuation and STP (Single Touch Payroll) execution: We also assessed whether the platform handles superannuation guarantee at 12 per cent OTE (Ordinary Time Earnings), quarterly fund payments, and STP filings without manual reconciliation. Both are statutory in Australia, and the ATO (Australian Taxation Office) penalises late or missed contributions hard.
In-country entity model: Checked whether the EOR owns its Australian entity or routes through a partner. Owned entities give cleaner Fair Work compliance accountability, faster onboarding, and a single chain of liability if a hire ever disputes a contract or termination.
Skills in Demand visa support: Evaluated whether the platform sponsors the Skills in Demand visa (which replaced the subclass 482 in December 2024) and can manage the broader immigration paperwork for inbound Australian hires without a third-party law firm.
Pricing transparency: Looked at whether the EOR publishes a starting figure on its own pricing page, separates platform fee from statutory pass-throughs, and avoids the deposit and FX add-ons that distort total cost when budgeting Australian hires.
The criteria above tell you which platforms can compliantly hire and pay an Australian employee. The next step is matching them to your specific hiring scenario, whether that's a single Sydney engineer, a 20-person APAC build-out, or a regulated finance team across awards. Let's look at which platform fits each one.
How to Pick the Best EOR Services in Australia in 2026?
Picking the right EOR comes down to matching your specific hiring scenario to a tool that handles it well, not just signing whichever vendor your procurement team has heard of.
The matrix below maps nine common Australian hiring scenarios to the platform that fits each one best, based on what each tool actually does for Australian payroll, Modern Award handling, and total cost at your headcount.
Hiring Scenario
What Matters Most
Best Pick
Hiring Australian employees as a first APAC presence
Lowest per-seat pricing, fast onboarding, in-platform compliance support
Skuad
Hiring contractors and full-time employees in Australia from the same platform
Combined AOR and EOR workflow, contractor misclassification protection
Skuad
Scaling an APAC-heavy team across Australia, Singapore, and India
APAC compliance depth, flat regional pricing, fast onboarding
Multiplier
Hiring senior Australian engineers needing equity, IP protection, and owned-entity compliance
Owned Australian entity, equity admin, unlimited IP indemnity
Remote or Oyster HR
Consolidating onto one HR, IT plus finance platform with native Australian payroll
Unified HRIS, automation, large integration ecosystem
Rippling
Running global payroll for 100+ employees across many countries, plus Australia
Mid-market or enterprise team hiring in Australia as part of a wider multi-country rollout
Australia EOR support, payroll and benefits administration, compliance guidance, and enterprise HR integrations
G-P
Fast-scaling team wanting one platform for EOR, contractors, payroll, equity, and HRIS
All-in-one stack, owned by an Australian entity, 40+ integrations
Deel
Enterprise consolidating from a reseller-EOR model with complex Modern Award and redundancy needs
Direct entity ownership, long-tenure in-country expertise
Atlas HXM or Safeguard Global
Start hiring in Australia with the right EOR
You now have a clear view of how the Australian EOR market operates, along with:
Which platforms fit which sector
Hiring profile
What each one charges, and
Where the compliance depth sits across Modern Awards, superannuation, and Fair Work obligations.
The next step is mapping your specific hiring plan to a shortlist of one or two platforms and pressure-testing them on the awards, headcount, and visa requirements that actually apply to your roles. The goal is to find the vendor that handles your compliance load without surprises in month three.
Skuad helps foreign companies hire and pay employees across borders without setting up local entities, with EOR coverage in 160+ countries, including Australia, contractor management on the same platform, and in-platform compliance support across the markets it covers.
If you're hiring your first employee or expanding across Australia and want to keep operational overhead low, Skuad is a strong fit for your hiring scenario.
1. What is the difference between an EOR and a PEO in Australia?
An EOR becomes the sole legal employer of your Australian hire and takes full responsibility for contracts, payroll, super, and Fair Work compliance. A PEO is a co-employment model more common in the US, where the client company still needs its own legal entity.
2. Do I need an EOR to hire in Australia?
You don't strictly need one if you already have an Australian Pty Ltd entity, an ABN (Australian Business Number), and the internal capacity to handle PAYG withholding, super contributions, STP filings, and Modern Award compliance. For most foreign companies without an Australian entity, an EOR is the only practical legal path to hire full-time Australian employees.
3. How long does it take to onboard an employee through an EOR in Australia?
Most EORs onboard Australian hires within 3 to 10 business days, assuming the candidate has their TFN (Tax File Number) and super fund details ready.
4. Is an EOR legal in Australia?
EOR services are legal in Australia, with the EOR acting as the formal employer for tax, super, and Fair Work purposes while the client company directs the employee's day-to-day work. The arrangement is recognised under the Fair Work Act 2009 and the ATO's employment rules, provided the EOR is properly registered as an Australian employer and complies with NES and applicable Modern Awards.
5. What is the difference between an EOR and setting up a Pty Ltd entity in Australia?
Setting up an Australian Pty Ltd entity typically takes 3 to 6 months, requires local director appointments, ASIC registration, an ABN, ATO registrations, and ongoing accounting and statutory reporting. An EOR sidesteps all of that, with hiring possible in 1 to 2 weeks at a per-employee monthly fee.
6. How much does an EOR cost in Australia in total?
The platform fee is typically $199 to $699 per employee per month, depending on the vendor. On top of that, you pay the employee's salary plus statutory employer costs in Australia, which run roughly 15 to 20 per cent above gross salary once you include the 12 per cent superannuation guarantee, payroll tax (state-dependent), and workers' compensation insurance.
About the author
Andrea Gomes is an acclaimed writer and expert in the Employer of Record (EOR) space, with over a decade of HR experience. Her work demystifies complex EOR concepts, guiding businesses on global workforce management and compliance.
Linh Pham is the Lead for Global HR Operations at Payoneer Workforce Management (Formerly Skuad), based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. With over 10 years of HR experience in the Asia-Pacific region, she specialises in international talent acquisition, employee relations, and employment compliance. Linh leads the HR Operations team across 50+ countries, ensuring efficient onboarding, payroll management, and adherence to local laws for distributed teams.
Employ contractors and employees in 160+ countries