Global Hiring Cost Calculator (US Employee vs International Contractor vs EOR)
Enter the US W-2 salary you would pay, what an international contractor would invoice, and the local gross salary an employer-of-record (EOR) hire would earn, and this calculator puts a fully loaded annual number on all three options — employer FICA with the Social Security wage-base cap applied, benefits, statutory employer costs abroad, and platform fees included. The verdict is the savings each global option delivers (or doesn't) against the US benchmark.
US W-2 hire
International contractor
EOR employee
Cheapest option
International contractor
a US hire costs 2.62× the cheapest option
US W-2
$143,180
per year
Contractor
$54,588
per year
EOR
$79,188
per year
Annual total by option (US · Contractor · EOR)
International contractor vs US
saves $88,592.00(61.87% less than US)
EOR employee vs US
saves $63,992.00(44.69% less than US)
Per-month equivalents
| Option | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| US W-2 (incl. $9,180.00 FICA) | $11,931.67 | $143,180.00 |
| International contractor | $4,549.00 | $54,588.00 |
| EOR employee | $6,599.00 | $79,188.00 |
Compare scenarios
Run the same calculation with two or three input sets side by side. Differences are highlighted; every number comes from the same tested formula as the calculator above.
| Input | Scenario A | Scenario B |
|---|---|---|
| Us Salary | ||
| Us Benefits Annual | ||
| Us Other Employer Taxes | ||
| Intl Contractor Monthly | ||
| Contractor Platform Fee Mo | ||
| Eor Gross Salary Annual | ||
| Eor Employer Burden Pct | ||
| Eor Fee Mo |
How it works
The US W-2 total is salary plus employer FICA plus benefits plus other employer taxes (FUTA/SUTA entered as a flat amount). Employer FICA is not a flat 7.65% at every salary: the 6.2% Social Security portion applies only up to the annual wage base ($184,500 for 2026), while the 1.45% Medicare portion is uncapped. The calculator applies the cap exactly — min(salary, wage base) × 6.2% + salary × 1.45% — so a $250,000 salary carries less FICA than the naive flat rate would suggest.
The international contractor total is twelve times the monthly invoice plus twelve times the contractor-management platform fee. The contractor handles their own taxes and benefits in their country, which is why this branch is usually the cheapest — and also why worker classification matters: if you control how, when, and where the person works, the IRS control tests may say they are not a contractor at all. The EOR total is the local gross salary grossed up by the statutory employer burden percentage (social contributions, mandatory benefits, severance accruals — it varies widely by country, so the 20% default is a placeholder you should adjust), plus twelve times the EOR platform fee.
Savings for each global option are the US total minus that option's total, shown in dollars and as a percentage of the US cost; a negative number means the option costs more than hiring in the US. The cost multiple is the US total divided by the cheapest option — a quick 'a US hire costs 2.6× an offshore contractor' headline. Platform-fee defaults are vendor list prices read on the date in this tool's constants file and flagged for verification; every fee and burden input is editable so you can model your own quotes.
Frequently asked questions
Contractor or EOR — what's the real difference?+
A contractor invoices you and handles their own taxes, benefits, and filings in their own country; you pay the invoice plus, typically, a platform fee for contracts and payments. An employer of record (EOR) legally employs the person in-country on your behalf: it runs local payroll, withholds local taxes, and provides statutory benefits, which is why its cost is the gross salary plus an employer-burden percentage plus a much higher platform fee. The line between the two is not free to draw: if you control how, when, and where the person works, contractor status may be misclassification — the IRS publishes the control tests (behavioral, financial, and relationship) it applies, and other countries apply their own versions. This calculator prices the options; it is not legal advice on which one you may lawfully use.
Why is the EOR option so much more expensive than the contractor option?+
Two reasons, both structural. First, statutory employer costs abroad — social contributions, mandatory benefits, 13th-month pay where required, severance accruals — are charged on top of the gross salary and commonly add tens of percent; the burden input models this. Second, the EOR platform fee per employee is roughly an order of magnitude higher than a contractor-management fee, because the EOR is carrying legal employment, payroll, and compliance in the destination country. What that premium buys is compliance and employee-grade retention — a real employment contract, benefits, and protections — not just labor. If the person is genuinely independent, the contractor branch is cheaper; if they work like an employee, the EOR branch is what compliant employment actually costs.
Are the platform fees in the defaults current?+
They are list prices read from the vendor's public pricing page on the date recorded in this tool's constants file, and they are flagged 'verify' precisely because pricing drifts. Enterprise pricing is negotiated and can differ substantially from list, minimums and add-ons vary, and some platforms price EOR by country. Treat the defaults as an order of magnitude that makes the comparison honest out of the box, then overwrite both fee inputs with the quotes you actually receive. The same goes for the employer-burden percentage: it varies country by country, so check the destination country's statutory rates — or simply use the all-in monthly figure from the EOR quote itself, which already includes them.