Our verdict:
Papaya Global is a leading Employer of Record (EOR) and HR platform. It provides a complete payroll, HR and compliance solutions to companies hiring global teams. Papaya Global prides itself on a state-of-the-art employment platform, top business analytics functionality and payroll processing, that few other EOR and payroll companies can compete with.
Pros
- Hire and pay in 160+ countries
- Owned payments infrastructure — faster payments without hidden fees
Cons
- EOR solution more expensive than some competitors
- EOR aggregator — does not own EOR subsidiaries
120+
$770 per employee
ACH and SWIFT/Wire Transfer
Are you looking to hire and manage payroll anywhere in the world? Read our review of Papaya Global to find out the pros and cons of choosing this Employer of Record and payroll provider, and see what makes it unique from its competitors.
Overview
Papaya Global is one of the world’s leading Employer of Record (EOR) companies. An EOR Unicorn (worth USD $3.7 billion on its last published valuation), founded in 2016, Papaya Global is a ‘total workforce solution’: It provides comprehensive payroll, HR and compliance solutions for companies hiring anywhere in the world.
Papaya is a tech-first HR service provider, with a state-of-the-art hiring platform, business intelligence functionality, and payments processing, that few providers can match.
Papaya Global rises above its key competitors with:
- End-to-end workforce management. Alongside its EOR solution, Papaya Global allows companies to integrate EOR seamlessly with its payroll and contractor solutions to be a ‘one stop payroll shop’
- Partner flexibility. Papaya clients can onboard their existing local partners into the payments ecosystem, instead of being forced into a one-size-fits-all solution
- Unrivaled integrations, including BambooHR, SAP, Expensify and Namely
- A comprehensive platform, with full payment and payroll flexibility, full HRIS data integration and advance business intelligence (BI) functionality
- Transparent and flexible pricing options to suit businesses of all sizes and needs. Depending on the service option chosen, prices vary from $20 to $770 per person per month.
Key Features
1. Employer of Record
Papaya Global handles employment in any country around the world through its global Employer of Record (EOR) solution (also known as a Global Professional Employer Organization solution). This means fast and compliant employee hiring in more than 160 countries — without the hassle and expense of setting up a local entity.
The Papaya Global EOR solution is relatively unique, as Papaya does not own entities which operate as EORs in individual countries. Instead, Papaya collaborates with in-country partners (ICPs) who act as the legal employer of employees in each country. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘aggregator’ EOR model, as opposed to the ‘wholly owned infrastructure’ model.
2. Payroll
Papaya is one of the few global EORs that offers a comprehensive global payroll solution. This means companies can run all the payroll for their local employees through the same platform that they use for paying overseas employees through an EOR arrangement (read more about outsourcing payroll here).
Unlike nearly every other EOR company on the market, Papaya owns its own payments platform, which means there is no need for third-party payment providers. This gives immediate oversight of payment progress, removes the risk of hidden fees, and alerts both employer and employee to any payment issues immediately.
3. HR
Papaya Global is a market-leading Human Resource Information System (HRIS): Integrations with key HR platforms (like BambooHR and Workday) allow companies to easily consolidate data from different platforms. Auto-generated Business Intelligence (BI) reports provide ongoing insights based on HR data from the platform.
4. Compliance
Legal experts at Papaya work with ICPs to ensure labor contracts are fully compliant with local laws and regulations, and that employees receive all their mandatory benefits. In addition, Papaya can provide advice on any individual compliance matters as they arise, including expert health and safety advice.
Local ICPs are thoroughly vetted to ensure they meet the highest compliance standard for EOR solutions.
It is also worth noting that the Papaya platform meet high standards of IT compliance with a full Audit trail and approval chain (meeting SOC requirements), all SSO Login, and two-factor authentication (2FA).
5. Platform
The Papaya platform gives businesses complete oversight of their workforce, including an overview of employee onboarding status, pending payments, invoicing and more.
Numerous integrations mean that the Papaya platform consolidates HR data, allowing for a range of HR analytics and insights that few other platforms are capable of.
In addition, Papaya provides a:
- Personal Portal, giving employees access to their PTO, payslips, and a range of key documents
- Payroll Intelligence Suite, giving businesses access to Papaya’s real-time BI reporting function. It converts data to any financial system or ERP (‘Enterprise Resource Planning’) platform, and integrates with most payroll systems. Specific capabilities include:
- an overview of employer costs and total payroll, EOR, and contractor costs
- spending comparison over time and across locations
- a breakdown of payroll expenses and changes.
Pricing
Papaya Global states its pricing on its website as follows:
- Payroll — $20 per employee per month
- Contractor — $25 per contractor per month
- EOR — $770 per employee per month
- Payroll intelligence suite — from $250 per month.
Papaya Global notes on its website that it does provide volume discounts.
User Reviews
We looked at user reviews and scores on Capterra, Trustpilot and G2. The average scores (as of the time of writing) were:
- Capterra = 4.2/5 (12 reviews)
- Trustpilot = 3.3/5 (3 reviews)
- G2 = 4.3/5 (5 reviews).
It should be observed that the reviews were largely positive, with the small number of reviews meaning that lower ratings significantly brought down the average.
Pros and Cons
Choosing the right EOR provider is a balancing act — each provider has its advantages and disadvantages and it is up to you to choose the EOR company that best suits your needs.
Pros
Benefits of Papaya Global include:
- Global coverage — hire, process and pay employees in 160+ countries
- It’s not just an EOR — it is a total workforce management solution. The one platform can handle payroll for all regular employees of a company, payroll for all foreign employees through an EOR, and payments to all contractors nationally or internationally. No other provider offers such a comprehensive payroll and HR package
- Powerful integrations — key integrations include BambooHR (for general HR and People management), Expensify (to track and manage expenses), Workday Certified (for Human Capital Management), SAP Success Factors (for enterprise-level data) and Netsuite (for unified business management). This reduces data error, as there is no need to manage multiple distinct HR and payroll ecosystems
- Owned payments infrastructure — most competitors rely on third party payment platforms to actually pay employees. Papaya Payments is Papaya’s own proprietary payments platform, licensed in multiple countries. This means that when using the platform, client companies have full payments visibility, and there are no hidden fees. When third parties are used, there is no telling when the employee actually receives payment. It also means that any payment issues can be immediately fixed
- Dedicated employee portal — most other providers only have a company platform. Papaya makes it easy for regular employees to access key information
- Pricing transparency — Papaya is one of the few EOR companies that is completely transparent about its pricing on its website:
Cons
Some perceived disadvantages of choosing Papaya Global include:
- No owned EOR entities — Papaya does not own its own entities for global EOR services, and instead relies on EOR partners overseas. This means companies with teams in multiple locations have to work with multiple providers, rather than the one provider internationally. However, this may not be a bad thing overall.
- 1. Owning an entity does not mean a better service. Most EORs that own their own entities have limited actual experience in that country. By contrast, all Papaya’s vetted partners have extensive experience in each location.
- 2. Papaya’s model offers flexibility. Papaya offers the flexibility for client companies to onboard their existing EOR into the Papaya ecosystem. No ‘owned entity’ EORs allow that.
- Price for EOR — at $770 per employee per month, Papaya Global’s EOR service is more expensive than some other providers. It is worth noting, however, that it’s payroll and contractor services are very affordable ($20 and $25 per month, per employee or contractor, respectively), meaning that the overall HR and payroll cost for a company is often cheaper with Papaya than it is with other providers.
Unique selling point (USP)
Papaya Global has the most comprehensive product offering of any global EOR or payroll company, combining payroll, EOR, contractor and business intelligence solutions, and speeds up payment with its own proprietary payments infrastructure.
RemotePad Score for Papaya Global
4.5/5 Our expert score for Papaya Global
Our team came to this score by considering the following components in the following weightings:
| Employer of Record features | 25% |
| Payroll features | 10% |
| HR features | 10% |
| Compliance features | 8% |
| Platform features | 10% |
| Pricing | 18% |
| User reviews | 13% |
For each component, Papaya Global received the following score:
| Employer of Record features | 21/25 |
| Payroll features | 10/10 |
| HR features | 10/10 |
| Compliance features | 8/10 |
| Platform features | 10/10 |
| Pricing | 18/20 |
| User reviews | 13/15 |
Top competitors (alternatives)
Top provider for:
Direct EOR solutions
Monthly fee
$599+per employee
Top provider for:
Compliance
Monthly fee
$770+per employee
Papaya Global — Our Take
Papaya Global is one of the world’s leading global EOR and payroll companies. It can be distinguished from its competitors through its world-class software platform, full service offering (payroll, EOR, contractor and HR analytics) and its superb payments capabilities.
While some smaller businesses may find other international EOR solutions more cost-effective, it is important to consider the total payroll and payments cost for your company before making your final decision.
FAQ
Papaya Global allows companies to hire, pay and process payment for its entire international workforce — in 160+ countries. As a total workforce solution it combines the service offerings of a payroll company, a global EOR, a payments provider and an HRIS.
Through several funding rounds (A-D), Papaya Global has been funded to the amount of $444.5 million.
Papaya Global is privately owned and was co-founded by Eynat Guez, Ruben Drong, and Ofer Herman in 2016. It is headquartered in New York, New York, but has regional offices all over the world.
