Multiplier vs OysterMultiplier vs Oyster: the fee gap and the deposits

Pricing, side by side

Multiplier prints two Employer of Record plans and two billing rhythms: Core at $499 per person per month billed monthly or $459 billed annually, Growth at $559 or $519, with no minimum headcount. Next to both prices sit “compliance mandated add-ons” and an “implementation fee as applicable”, and its FAQ now puts a number on the countries priced off the list: “a small number of locations (~11% of countries we support) have adjusted pricing”. Contractors are $40, a contractor of record $399 to $400 on annual billing, and payroll from $20.

Oyster prints one Employer of Record price, $699 per employee per month, with no minimum number of team members, and says setup, onboarding, access to HR experts and the processing of terminations are included in that fee. It charges a conversion fee only when you pay it in a currency other than the contract currency, and accepts USD, EUR, GBP or CAD.

Three of the five pages ranking for this comparison give Multiplier’s Employer of Record as “from $400”. That figure is Multiplier’s contractor of record, a different product. On the same hire it understates Multiplier’s employer fee by $59 to $99 a month, and widens the apparent gap with Oyster from the real $200-$240 to $299.

The deposits, as the contracts write them

Neither pricing page prints a deposit amount, and both contracts require one before the employee starts.

Multiplier’s EOR terms, in force since 1 June 2026, make the contract conditional on an interest-free, refundable security deposit for each employee. Multiplier calculates it from the employment costs, its own fees, the notice period, any extra leave you grant and your credit standing, may revise it, and refunds it within 60 days of the employee’s last working day, or holds it while a claim by the employee is open. A single-hire account that does not onboard within three months sees the deposit retained for up to twelve months, usable as credit on other Multiplier services.

Oyster’s terms set a floor instead of a formula: an initial deposit per service agreement “in no case less than an amount equal to one month of the Fees owed”, and the fees they list are not only the $699 subscription: they include a Service Fee set by the team member’s monthly cost, and Administrative Costs that cover the contributions paid on it. Read that way, the floor for the engineer priced here is one month of the full cost, about $3,293. Oyster can call a supplementary deposit on five days’ notice when costs rise, and returns the balance within 60 days once nothing is owed. Its FAQ includes processing a termination in the fee; its terms still invoice you the transition costs of a departure.

Annual billing: a printed rate against a seat plan

Multiplier’s annual price is on the page, 7-8% under its monthly rate. Oyster’s is not: its annual plan sells seats paid upfront for the year, non-refundable, reusable for backfills, with the renewal increase capped at 5%. The Multiplier discount is visible before a call; the Oyster one is negotiated, but it comes with a written limit on next year’s price that Multiplier’s page does not give.

Who each one fits

Multiplier fits a buyer who will commit to a year and wants the lower printed rate, and whose country is on the standard list. Oyster fits a buyer who prefers one flat fee with onboarding and terminations inside it, and who can fund a deposit that, read literally, is one month of the employee’s full cost at signature. Send both the same scenario and ask for the deposit amount, the add-on list and the annual price in writing.