Employment Hero vs Oyster

Employment Hero

• Australian businesses that need award interpretation and STP reporting
• Employers in New Zealand, the UK, Singapore or Malaysia wanting payroll and HR together
• Teams of 10 or more that want rostering feeding straight into pay

Oyster

• Startups making their first hires in other countries
• Teams paying contractors in many countries and currencies
• Nonprofits and B Corps eligible for its impact discounts

Employment Hero

• Runs payroll in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, Malaysia and Canada, each on its own site; there is no US edition.
• Prices here are the Australian site's, in Australian dollars; the UK site lists HR Essentials at £6 and HR Engage at £9 a user from 1 November 2026.
• Every plan has a 10-user minimum, billed on the higher of the agreed number of users or the active users.
• Managed Payroll costs A$20 per employee a month (A$400 minimum), and rostering with time and attendance A$4 per employee a month.

Oyster

• HR advice from People Partner Services is billed at $300 an hour, and benefits, visas and Oyster Shell cover cost extra.
• Each EOR hire needs a refundable deposit, and a conversion fee applies if you pay in a currency other than the contract's.
• Covers 120+ countries for EOR and 180+ for contractors; the pricing page does not list them. Billing is in USD, EUR, GBP or CAD.
• It runs in a web browser; the pages read mention no mobile app.

Employment Hero

AI Payroll Agent

Hero AI prepares pay runs and flags anomalies for a person to approve, using the timesheet, leave and employee data already in the platform.

Australian payroll compliance

Handles Single Touch Payroll Phase 2, SuperStream, award interpretation and penalty rates, and pays super every pay run through HeroClear.

Payroll in other countries

Regional editions file UK RTI submissions with HMRC, New Zealand payday filing with Inland Revenue, Singapore CPF reports and Malaysian EPF and PCB.

Rostering and time and attendance

An add-on builds rosters, records hours with time clocks and geofencing, allows shift swaps and feeds approved hours into pay.

HR and recruitment

HR plans cover leave, records, onboarding and performance reviews, and job posts reach Employment Hero's own pool of more than 2.3 million candidates.

Employment Hero Work app

Employees view payslips and timesheets, apply for leave and check upcoming shifts from the iPhone and Android app.

Oyster

Employer of record

Hire full-time staff in 120+ countries without a local entity; Oyster employs them and handles onboarding, offboarding and local compliance.

Multi-country payroll

Pays team members in 120+ currencies, with expenses, time off and reports handled in the same platform.

Global contractors

Generate contracts in 180+ countries, verify identity, approve invoices and expenses, and check the risk of misclassifying a worker.

Reusable annual seats

Annual EOR seats cost less than monthly billing and can be reused for a new hire or a backfill when someone leaves.

Add-on services

Benefits packages, visa sponsorship, salary bands for 130+ countries and Oyster Shell misclassification cover of up to $500,000.

Integrations and API

Approve time off and expenses in Slack, sync data from ATS and HRIS tools such as Ashby and Workable, link 5,000+ apps through Zapier, or use the API.

Employment Hero

• PayrollA$10

  per user / month, minimum 10 users

  Unlimited pay runs, tax calculations, award interpretation, payroll reports and employee self-service. Australian site price.

• HR EssentialsA$10

  per user / month, minimum 10 users

  HR only, without payroll: leave, employee records, documents, onboarding and offboarding, and policy tools.

• HR EngageA$14

  per user / month, minimum 10 users

  HR Essentials plus recruitment, expenses, performance reviews, learning management and the recruitment agent. No payroll.

• Employment UnlimitedCustom

  Payroll with HR Elite, the Employee Assistance Program, HR advisory, a learning bundle, team chat and priority support. Sold through sales.

Oyster

• Global Contractors$29

  per contractor / month, after 30 days free

  Contracts in 180+ countries, payments in 120+ currencies, ID checks, invoice and expense handling and a misclassification analyzer.

• Employer of Record$699

  per employee / month, billed monthly

  Employment in 120+ countries with multi-currency payroll, expenses, time off, onboarding specialists and local experts. Annual seats cost less.

Employment Hero

No public discounts listed.

Oyster

• Startups

  Startup discount of up to $1,200 per hire

  Companies that raised pre-seed, seed or Series A, or are bootstrapped with under 50 employees, save up to $1,200 per team member on EOR fees in their first 12 months.

• Nonprofit

  Oyster for Impact discounts

  Certified nonprofits and B Corporations anywhere can enroll in Oyster for Impact for discounts on Oyster's global employment products.

• Annual discount

  Lower EOR fee with annual seats

  Oyster sells Employer of Record seats billed annually at a reduced fee; the pricing page does not give the figure.

• Other savings

  Oyster for Refugees

  Companies hiring refugee talent through Oyster can do so at no cost or at a discount, according to its pricing page.