- Safeguard Global pricing is not fully transparent online, but third-party sources indicate EOR fees often sit in the mid-to-high range compared with budget providers, excluding salaries and statutory costs.
- Your actual spend still depends on country, salary, and benefits, with employer taxes, social charges, 13th‑month pay, and FX margins often adding 20–40% or more above base pay.
- Gloroots offers clearer line‑item visibility into service fees versus statutory on‑costs, helping finance teams plan and forecast true global employment costs with fewer surprises.
Safeguard Global advertises its Employer of Record service starting at $499 per employee per month. That number reflects the platform fee only, not the full cost of employment.
Real cost depends on the country of hire, employee salary, employment type, and applicable statutory obligations.
Here's what this analysis covers:
- How Safeguard Global structures EOR and contractor pricing across 170+ countries
- What actually increases your total monthly workforce cost beyond the advertised fee
- When companies begin evaluating alternatives like Gloroots for more predictable pricing
This breakdown is written from Gloroots' perspective to help HR and finance leaders make informed decisions.
What Is Safeguard Global and Who Is It Built For?
Safeguard Global is a global hiring platform that provides Employer of Record, contractor management, global payroll, and HR services across 187 countries. It operates using a hybrid model combining its own entities with third-party partners.
Its typical customer is an organization expanding internationally without a local legal entity, including both growing startups and established enterprises managing multi-region teams.
Key use cases include:
- Hire employees legally in new countries without establishing foreign subsidiaries
- Manage global contractors with compliant agreements and cross-border payments
- Run multi-country payroll through a single centralized dashboard
- Administer statutory benefits based on local country regulations
- Handle onboarding, employment documentation, and compliance filings efficiently
How Safeguard Global's Employer of Record Pricing Actually Works
Pricing differs meaningfully between full-time employees hired under an EOR arrangement and independent contractors managed through the contractor platform. Each model carries different compliance coverage and employer liability scope.
Advertised fees represent service charges only. They do not include gross salary, employer taxes, social contributions, or statutory benefits.
Companies frequently underestimate total employment costs when budgeting for multi-country hiring expansion.
Safeguard Global Pricing Plans Explained (2026)
Employer of Record (Full-Time Employees)
Who This Is For:
- Companies hiring employees in countries where they do not have an existing legal entity
- Teams that require compliance coverage, payroll processing, and locally compliant employment contracts
EOR service starts at $499 per employee per month. The actual fee varies by country, team size, and services required.
What's Included:
- Drafting locally compliant employment agreements per jurisdiction
- Processing payroll and handling all statutory tax filings
- Administering mandatory local benefits required by law
- Managing leave entitlements, public holidays, and employment documentation
- Supporting legally compliant termination processes aligned with local labor laws
- Providing local HR support throughout the employment lifecycle
Where It Starts Breaking Down:
- Costs increase significantly when hiring across multiple high-tax countries with heavy employer contribution requirements
- FX margins and benefit markups through third-party partners reduce long-term budget predictability
Contractor Management
Who This Is For:
- Companies hiring freelancers or short-term international contributors without full employment obligations
- Teams testing new markets before committing to full-time employee headcount
Contractor management is priced at $10 per contractor per month for teams of 1 to 10, and $5 per contractor per month for 11 or more. Employer liability coverage is limited compared to the EOR model.
What's Included:
- Compliant contractor agreements built to local standards
- Cross-border payment processing in any supported currency
- Basic documentation management for contractor records
- Optional guidance on contractor misclassification risk
- Fast contractor onboarding, reportedly completed in 60 seconds
Where It Breaks Down:
- Converting a contractor to a full-time employee introduces new onboarding steps and full EOR compliance costs
- Misclassification risk remains with the hiring company in jurisdictions with strict worker classification rules
What Actually Drives Your Total Global Employment Cost
1. Country of Employment
Employer taxes, social security contributions, and labor law obligations vary significantly across countries. A hire in Germany carries different statutory costs than the same role in the Philippines, directly affecting total monthly employment expense.
2. Employee Salary Level
Higher salaries increase mandatory employer contributions and benefit obligations proportionally. The platform fee stays fixed, but the statutory cost layer scales with compensation.
3. Mandatory Benefits & Insurance
Certain countries require employer-funded health insurance, pension contributions, or 13th-month salary payments. These obligations add directly to the employer's monthly cost beyond the EOR platform fee.
4. FX & Cross-Border Payment Margins
Currency fluctuations and conversion markups applied during cross-border payroll can alter total monthly costs in ways that are difficult to forecast.
5. Contractor vs Employee Classification
Classifying a worker as a contractor may reduce upfront cost, but it increases long-term compliance exposure if local authorities reclassify the relationship as employment.
Real-World Pricing Examples
Example 1 – Hiring 1 Employee in the UK
A startup bringing on its first international hire in the UK faces costs that extend well beyond the EOR platform fee. Employer taxes and mandatory contributions add a significant layer to the monthly total.
- Gross salary: Determined by role and market rate; not included in platform fee
- Employer taxes: Vary based on UK statutory requirements and salary level
- EOR platform fee: Starting at $499/month; exact amount requires a custom quote
- Total monthly employment cost: Gross salary + employer taxes + platform fee combined
The difference between the advertised $499 service fee and actual employment cost can be substantial, depending on salary and statutory obligations.
Example 2 – Hiring 5 Employees Across 3 Countries
A company scaling its team across Europe and Asia faces cost structures that differ by country, salary, and statutory requirements across each jurisdiction.
Cost growth across multiple countries is non-linear. Statutory obligations, FX exposure, and benefit requirements in each market compound the total spend beyond what a flat per-employee rate suggests.
Example 3 – Contractor to Employee Conversion
A company converting a long-term international contractor to a full-time employee faces a shift in both compliance scope and monthly cost. The transition introduces new obligations that did not exist under the contractor arrangement.
- Previous contractor cost: $10/month (or $5/month if part of a larger group) plus contractor compensation
- Conversion fee: No public data available on conversion-specific charges
- New EOR monthly fee: Starting at $499/month; custom quote required
- Revised total employment cost: EOR fee + gross salary + employer taxes + statutory benefits
Workforce classification decisions made early in a hiring cycle have a direct and lasting impact on long-term workforce spend.
Where Safeguard Global Pricing Gets Expensive as You Scale
Pricing friction typically surfaces when companies begin expanding across multiple countries at the same time. The hybrid model, which relies on third-party partners in some markets, can introduce additional cost layers that are difficult to forecast.
- Multi-country statutory variations make accurate cost forecasting significantly more complex
- FX margins applied through partner payroll processors reduce month-to-month payroll predictability
- Mandatory benefit requirements differ significantly across regions, adding uneven cost layers
As teams scale globally, the gap between projected and actual workforce costs widens, creating pressure to find pricing models built for transparency at scale.
How Gloroots Approaches Pricing Differently
Gloroots is built around transparent, compliance-first pricing designed for companies that need predictable cost structures when scaling across multiple countries. Rather than relying on opaque custom quotes, the model is structured to separate statutory and service costs clearly.
- Clear breakdown of statutory obligations and service fees across supported countries
- Transparent separation between contractor management and EOR pricing
- Dedicated compliance support built into the service across all supported markets
Companies typically make the transition when unpredictable pricing from their current provider begins to create forecasting challenges during hiring scale-up.
Frequently Asked Questions About Safeguard Global Pricing
What is Safeguard Global's starting price for Employer of Record services?
Safeguard Global's EOR service starts at $499 per employee per month. This figure covers the platform service fee only. It does not include gross salary, employer taxes, mandatory benefit contributions, or currency conversion margins. Total employment cost varies significantly by country and salary level, and a custom quote is required to determine the full expense for any specific hire.
How does Safeguard Global charge for contractor management?
Contractor management is priced at $10 per contractor per month for teams managing between 1 and 10 contractors. For teams with 11 or more contractors, the fee drops to $5 per contractor per month. This tier includes compliant agreements and cross-border payments. Note that one third-party source lists a $29 starting price, but the official pricing is $10 and $5, respectively.
Why does the total cost of hiring internationally exceed the advertised EOR fee?
The advertised fee covers the platform service only. Actual employment cost includes gross salary, employer-side tax obligations, statutory benefit contributions such as pension or health insurance, and FX conversion margins on cross-border payroll. In high-tax countries, the statutory layer alone can add a substantial amount above the platform fee, making total cost planning without a custom quote unreliable.
When should a company consider converting a contractor to a full-time employee?
Contractor-to-employee conversion becomes relevant when a worker has been engaged long-term in a jurisdiction with strict classification rules, or when the relationship structurally resembles employment. Conversion introduces new onboarding requirements and full EOR compliance costs. Companies should evaluate misclassification exposure against the cost of conversion before the risk materializes as a regulatory issue.
What are the main limitations of Safeguard Global's hybrid EOR model?
Safeguard Global operates through a mix of its own legal entities and third-party partners across its 170 to 187-country network. In markets served by partners rather than direct entities, this introduces potential compliance delays, partner markups on services, and reduced pricing transparency. For companies prioritizing cost predictability and direct compliance ownership, the hybrid structure can create forecasting challenges at scale.
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