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Papaya Global Review: Features, Pricing & EOR Alternatives

Papaya Global Review

Our verdict

Our verdict

Papaya Global is a leading Employer of Record (EOR) and HR platform. It provides 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 with which few other EOR and payroll companies can compete.

  • Hire and pay in 160+ countries
  • Owned payments infrastructure — faster payments without hidden fees

bad handCons

  • EOR solution more expensive than some competitors
  • EOR aggregator — does not own EOR subsidiaries
Papaya Global Logo Visit Papaya Global
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Score 9.2 out of 10

How is this calculated?

We calculate the Overall Rating by combining the ratings of several testing categories.

Learn more by reading our testing and review methodology.

Currencies

120+

Monthly fees

$650 per employee

Payment options

ACH and SWIFT/Wire Transfer

Papaya Global enables hiring and payroll management around the world. Read our review of this popular Global EOR to discover the pros and cons of choosing Papaya Global and see what makes it unique. 

What is Papaya Global 

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 payment processing that few providers can match. 

Papaya Global stands out by providing: 

  • 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, allowing flexibility and time-saving throughout the organization. 
  • Payroll OS comprehensive platform, that integrates full payment and payroll flexibility, HRIS data, and advanced business intelligence (BI) functionality, as well as app integrations. 
  • A variety of integrations, including BambooHR, SAP, Expensify, and Namely. 
  • 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 can compliantly hire employees in over 160 countries through its global Employer of Record (EOR) solution (also known as a Global Professional Employer Organization solution). This allows clients to hire globally without establishing local entities. 

Papaya collaborates with in-country partners (ICPs) who act as the legal employers 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 they use to pay EOR employees (read more about outsourcing payroll here).

Uniquely, Papaya owns its payment 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 immediately alerts both employer and employee to any payment issue.

3. HR

Papaya Global is a market-leading Human Resource Information System (HRIS). Papaya Global Integrations with key HR platforms (like BambooHR and Workday) allow companies to consolidate data from different platforms easily. 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 fully comply with local laws and regulations and that employees receive all their mandatory benefits.  In addition, Papaya can advise 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 standards for EOR solutions.

It is also worth noting that the Papaya platform meets high standards of IT compliance with a complete 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 can.

In addition, Papaya provides:

  • Personal Portal, giving employees access to their PTO, payslips, and a range of critical documents
  • Payroll Intelligence Suite gives 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.

Plans & Pricing

All of Papaya Global’s services are transparently priced online. Papaya Global notes on its website that it does provide volume discounts. Published pricing starts at:

EOR$650 / employee / month
Contractors$2 / contractor / month
Full Service Payroll$12 / employee / month
Payments-as-a-service$3 / employee / month
Global Expertise Services$190 / employee / month
Payroll Platform License$3 / employee / month
Data and Insights Platform License$150 / location / month

Papaya Reviews

We looked at Papaya global reviews and scores on Capterra, Trustpilot, and G2. The average scores (as of the time of writing) were:

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. 

Papaya Global Pros and Cons

ProsCons
Global coverage — hire, process and pay employees in 160+ countriesNo 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.
Total workforce management solution. 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.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 its payroll and contractor services are very affordable ($20 and $25 per month, per employee or contractor, respectively).
Key integrations, including; 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).

 

Owned payments infrastructure —  Papaya Payments is Papaya’s own proprietary payments platform, licensed in multiple countries. This means that when using the platform, client companies have full payment visibility, and there are no hidden fees.

 

A dedicated employee portal makes it easy for regular employees to access key information.

 

Pricing transparency — Updated pricing for all services is publicly available on the website. 

Unique selling point

Papaya Global has the most comprehensive product offering of any global EOR or payroll company, combining payroll, EOR, contractor, and business intelligence solutions and speeding up payment with its own proprietary payments infrastructure. 

RemotePad Score for Papaya Global

winner

9.2/10 Our expert score for Papaya Global

Our team came to this score by considering the following components in the following weightings:

Employer of Record features25%
Payroll features10%
HR features10%
Compliance features8%
Platform features10%
Pricing18%
User reviews13%

For each component, Papaya Global received the following score:

Employer of Record features21/25
Payroll features10/10
HR features10/10
Compliance features8/10
Platform features10/10
Pricing18/20
User reviews13/15

Papaya Global Alternatives & Competitors

Horizons vs Papaya Global

Top provider for:
Global EOR

Horizons Review

Monthly fee per employee
From $299

Remote vs Papaya Global

Top provider for:
Direct EOR solutions

Remote Review

Monthly fee per employee
From $599

Top provider for:
Compliance

Deel Review

Monthly fee per employee
From $599

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 payment capabilities. 

While some smaller businesses may find other international EOR solutions more cost-effective, it is crucial to consider your company’s total payroll and payment costs 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.  

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. 

Through several funding rounds (A-D), Papaya Global has been funded to the amount of $444.5 million. 

Papaya Global has a $3.7 billion USD valuation as of May 2023.

The CEO of Papaya Global is Eynat Guez.

Eynat Guez is one of the prominent figures in the global payroll and payment industry, co-founding Papaya Global, a payroll, and payment management platform that aims to simplify and automate the payroll process for companies globally. Under her leadership, Papaya Global has been recognized as an innovative solution in the global payroll space.

Early Life and Education

Details about Eynat Guez's early life and education are somewhat limited in the public domain. She is known to be an Israeli entrepreneur, but precise details about her educational background are not widely publicized as of 2021.

Career

Before establishing Papaya Global in 2016, Eynat Guez had already accumulated considerable experience in the business and payroll industry. She was a part of the founding team of Relocation Source, a company specializing in relocation services, and she also served as the CEO of Expert Source, fulfilling global relocation needs for multi-national companies.

Her career has largely been built around finding solutions to the challenges businesses face in managing a global workforce, drawing from her expertise in payroll and payment processing, and relocation services.

As the CEO of Papaya Global, Eynat has led the company to significant growth, overseeing its expansion and securing substantial investment to fuel its operations. Under her leadership, Papaya Global has developed a robust platform that leverages automation and cloud technology to simplify payroll processing for companies with a global presence.

Achievements

Eynat Guez has received recognition for her entrepreneurial spirit and her role in driving innovation in the payroll industry. Under her leadership, Papaya Global has received several awards, including being named a "Cool Vendor" by Gartner in 2018.

She has built a reputation as a thought leader in her industry, often sharing insights on global payroll and workforce management at various industry events and forums.

Eynat Guez Papaya Global CEO
Eynat Guez Papaya Global CEO
Article By
Managing Editor
Milly is an international lawyer and tech entrepreneur who has advised companies on expanding globally for over 5 years. She is an advocate of remote hiring and regularly consults on future of work matters. Milly founded RemotePad to help employers learn more about building and growing international teams.

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