The best Employer of Record providers in New Zealand, ranked
Ten providers that can legally employ staff in New Zealand on your behalf, scored on the things that actually go wrong here: Holidays Act calculations, KiwiSaver, ACC levies, payday filing to IRD, and whether anyone answers the phone in New Zealand hours.
| # | Provider | Score | Published EOR price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RemotePeople | 9.2 | From US$199 pp/m | Lowest published rate, plus recruitment and incorporation |
| 2 | Deel | 8.7 | US$599 pp/m | Scale, tooling and the largest owned-entity network |
| 3 | Safeguard Global | 8.0 | Quote only | Enterprise programmes across many countries at once |
| 4 | Pebl formerly Velocity Global | 7.9 | US$399 pp/m | Mid-market buyers wanting a published mid-range rate |
| 5 | Globalization Partners (G-P) | 7.5 | From US$599 pp/m | Very broad country coverage |
| 6 | ANZPEO formerly NZPEO | 7.3 | Quote only | Visa sponsorship — holds NZ Accredited Employer status |
| 7 | Employment Hero | 7.1 | Quote only | Holidays Act accuracy and NZ-hours support |
| 8 | EPG Group | 6.8 | From A$300 pp/m | Payroll-first delivery for AU/NZ-only footprints |
| 9 | Rippling | 6.2 | Quote only | Consolidating HR, IT and payroll on one platform |
| 10 | Atlas | 5.6 | From US$599 pp/m | Buyers who want one vendor with no partner layer |
Prices are the providers' own published headline rates as at September 2026 and exclude statutory employer costs. No provider publishes an NZD rate, so every buyer carries FX exposure on the platform fee. “NZ legal presence” is from the Companies Register: a New Zealand–incorporated company, or an overseas company registered to carry on business here. Registration confirms the entity exists; it does not confirm which entity signs your employment agreements. Ask.
RemotePeople publishes the lowest headline EOR rate of any provider here, backed by an owned New Zealand entity rather than a partner arrangement. It also offers recruitment and entity incorporation alongside EOR, so companies can move between hiring models as their New Zealand presence grows. Onboarding is published as a day-by-day sequence rather than a vague promise, and the service covers 150+ countries beyond New Zealand.
- Lowest published rate of the ten, from US$199 per employee per month
- Owns a live New Zealand entity rather than relying on a partner
- Published NZ onboarding timeline of 1–2 weeks, or 3–6 weeks where an Accredited Employer Work Visa is required
- Dedicated account management rather than a ticket queue
- 150+ countries, so the same contract covers hires well beyond New Zealand
- Also offers recruitment and entity incorporation services alongside EOR
- Lacks the integrations of some bigger providers like Deel
- NZ entity
- NZBN 9429051023157, registered January 2023
- Pricing
- Overall pricing from US$199 per employee per month; NZ-specific pricing not published
- Onboarding
- 1–2 weeks published
- Reviews
- G2 around 4.7
The largest provider in the category by revenue and by owned-entity count, with a New Zealand company registered since 2021 under the on-hire labour classification you would expect an EOR to use. Deel acquired Omnipresent in late 2025 and bought Safeguard Global’s enterprise payroll division in March 2025, which means several competitors now run partly on Deel infrastructure. The tooling is the best-resourced here.
- NZ-incorporated since 2021, classified on the register as employment services (on-hired staff)
- Over 250 owned legal entities worldwide
- Published flat rate of US$599 per employee per month
- Largest independent review base of the ten — G2 4.8 from over 6,000 reviews
- No evidence found of a New Zealand or Australian support office, phone number or support hours
- NZ entity
- NZ company 8183052, registered May 2021
- Pricing
- US$599 per employee per month
- Onboarding
- Claims as little as 1–2 days
- Reviews
- G2 4.8 (6,088); Trustpilot 4.5 (9,256)
A long-established global payroll business with a New Zealand company registered since 2020 under the on-hire classification. It sold its enterprise payroll division to Deel in March 2025 and continues on Deel technology under agreement, so ask directly whose payroll engine runs your New Zealand pay cycle. Its own affiliate register lists a separate Australian vehicle for NZ employment, which is worth a question in any RFP.
- NZ-incorporated since 2020, classified as employment services (on-hired staff)
- Claims 187 countries with around 130 owned entities
- Realistic published onboarding for NZ of one to two weeks, rather than the “minutes” claims elsewhere
- Genuine enterprise track record on multi-country programmes
- No published pricing at all — the pricing page redirects to a calculator
- No evidence found of a dedicated New Zealand support office; support is Zendesk ticketing with no published hours
- NZ entity
- NZ company 7927756, registered April 2020
- Pricing
- Quote only
- Onboarding
- One to two weeks for NZ
- Reviews
- G2 4.3 (131); Trustpilot 4.2 (30)
Velocity Global rebranded to Pebl during 2026. Despite the name it is a US company, with a Delaware holding structure — but it owns a genuine New Zealand entity dating to February 2020, the second-oldest here. Its published US$399 rate sits usefully between RemotePeople’s entry price and the US$599 that Deel, G-P and Atlas all cluster on.
- NZ-incorporated since February 2020, second-longest NZ tenure of the ten
- Published headline rate of US$399 per employee per month
- 185+ countries claimed
- Strong G2 standing carried over from the Velocity Global product
- Support is platform, help centre and an AI assistant — no named account manager, and no evidence found of published NZ support hours
- NZ entity
- NZ company 7875381, registered February 2020
- Pricing
- US$399 per employee per month
- Onboarding
- No verified NZ timeline
- Reviews
- G2 4.7 badge, count not published
One of the oldest names in the category with very broad coverage. The only New Zealand Companies Register entry we found for G-P is an Australian Pty Ltd registered here as an overseas company — a common and entirely lawful structure. Its NZ registered office is care of a named individual at a private address rather than a professional firm, which is worth asking about.
- 180+ countries, among the broadest coverage available
- Published floor rate of US$599 per employee per month with volume discounts
- Registered in New Zealand since 2018, the longest presence of the ten
- The only NZ Companies Register entry found is an Australian company registered as an overseas company; we could not confirm whether a separate NZ-incorporated entity also exists
- Around 100 owned entities against 180+ countries covered, so much of the network is partner-delivered; NZ is not confirmed either way
- No evidence found of a New Zealand or Australian office, phone number or support hours; the 24/7 claim attaches to an AI agent
- NZ registration
- Appears to be an overseas entity (Australia); overseas company number not confirmed, NZ registration October 2018
- Pricing
- From US$599 per employee per month
- Onboarding
- Claims under one day, varying by country
- Reviews
- G2 4.4 (1,065); Trustpilot 4.3 (145)
The Australian and New Zealand arms merged under one ANZPEO brand in July 2026, and newzealandpeo.co.nz now redirects there. It is the smallest provider here by headcount and covers only two countries — but it is the one with a genuine differentiator: it holds New Zealand Accredited Employer status and can sponsor Accredited Employer Work Visas directly, which almost no EOR can. If your hire needs a visa, this shortens the list considerably.
- Holds NZ Accredited Employer status and can sponsor AEWV, Specific Purpose and Straight to Residence visas
- Genuine dedicated account management, confirmed by independent review
- Wellington office on Lambton Quay, so real NZ-timezone coverage
- Covers two countries only — useless if you are hiring beyond AU and NZ
- No published pricing; circulating figures are third-party estimates
- Around eight named staff; no published onboarding timeline or SLA
- No G2, Trustpilot or Google review presence at all
- Australian-headquartered despite the former NZPEO name; the “20 years’ experience” often quoted is the founder’s, not the company’s — it dates to 2018
- NZ registration
- Appears to be an overseas entity (Australia); overseas company number not confirmed, NZ registration March 2023
- Pricing
- Quote only
- Countries
- Australia and New Zealand
- Reviews
- None found on any public platform
Ranked seventh overall, but it wins an important criterion outright. Employment Hero is the only provider here with a real in-product Holidays Act calculator — the “greater of” test between ordinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings, a 52-week earnings import, rate-fixing at leave start, and the parental-leave carve-out. It is also the only one publishing New Zealand business hours and a +64 phone number. What pulls it down is commercial opacity around its fee model.
- Best Holidays Act tooling of any provider here, by a wide margin — and the only one that shows the actual calculation in-product
- IRD-approved, with automatic payday filing inside two working days
- The only provider publishing NZ support hours (8.30am–5.30pm Wellington) and an NZ phone number
- NZ corporate footprint dates to 2020 via its KeyPay entity
- Register classification is an on-hire code, not a software code — it really is an EOR, not just payroll software
- Two contradictory public fee models at once: 5% of payroll on one page, US$400–600 per employee per month on another
- AI-first support, with phone access gated to the top tier and an explicitly unmonitored support inbox
- Lowest Trustpilot score of the ten at 3.9, including a specific New Zealand complaint about onboarding in August 2026
- No published NZ onboarding SLA
- NZ entity
- NZ company 8661609, registered April 2023
- Pricing
- Quote only; two conflicting published models
- Support
- NZ hours published, +64 numbers
- Reviews
- G2 4.4 (4,017); Trustpilot 3.9 (574)
An Australian payroll-outsourcing business founded in 2008, with the longest-standing New Zealand entity of the ten — registered in 2017 and classified on the register literally as a payroll processing service. That heritage matters for a business built around getting payroll calculations right. It serves named enterprise clients and bundles its Xemplo workforce platform at no extra cost, though its pricing model is not fully consistent across sources.
- Longest NZ entity tenure of the ten, registered June 2017
- Register classification is payroll processing — a payroll-first business, not a platform bolt-on
- Published rate from A$300 per worker per month, the only provider quoting in Australian dollars
- Xemplo workforce platform included at no extra cost
- Named enterprise clients including Sydney Water, Grant Thornton and Ferrero
- Conflicting fee models: A$300 per worker on its own site versus a reported 9% of total employment cost, which would be unpredictable for senior hires
- No evidence found of an NZD pricing page or a NZ phone number
- No customer reviews on any public platform; the Glassdoor score is from employees, not clients
- Around nine countries with owned entities, so limited beyond AU/NZ and Asia
- NZ entity
- NZ company 6314058, registered June 2017
- Pricing
- From A$300 per worker per month
- Onboarding
- No published NZ timeline
- Reviews
- None found from customers
One of the most highly reviewed HR platforms in the category, now extending into New Zealand EOR alongside its core HR, IT and payroll suite. Rippling’s own domestic payroll engine currently covers seven countries and New Zealand is not yet one of them, so New Zealand delivery likely runs closer to its EOR partner model rather than the fully in-house build available elsewhere — worth confirming directly. For companies already standardised on Rippling globally, adding New Zealand to the same platform can be a strong consolidation move.
- NZ-incorporated since December 2023, plus a second payments entity
- Published support metrics: 33-second median live chat, 95.3% CSAT
- Strongest platform if you are consolidating HR, IT and payroll in one system
- One of the highest-reviewed platforms in the category — G2 4.8 from over 13,000 reviews
- New Zealand is not yet one of Rippling’s seven domestic payroll countries, so confirm how NZ payroll is delivered
- Published onboarding speed reflects contract turnaround rather than time to first payroll; NZ-specific timeline is not published
- NZ entity
- NZ company 8990633, registered December 2023
- Pricing
- Quote only
- EOR countries
- 80
- Reviews
- G2 4.8 (13,402), whole platform; Trustpilot 4.5 (2,424)
Atlas markets itself on having direct legal entities everywhere and no partner layer, which is a genuinely attractive proposition. The only New Zealand Companies Register entry we found for Atlas is its US parent registered here as an overseas company — worth confirming directly against its “direct legal entity” claim. Its published company data has not moved since 2023, it has raised nothing since September 2022, and its public review footprint is two reviews.
- Strongest stated support model of the ten: a dedicated HR Employee Relationship Consultant for every worksite employee
- Published rate from US$599 per employee per month, with a US$399 NGO rate
- Claims 160+ countries with owned entities throughout
- The only NZ Companies Register entry found is Atlas Technology Solutions Inc, a US company registered as an overseas company; we could not confirm whether a separate NZ-incorporated entity also exists
- No evidence found of an Australasian office — nearest APAC offices appear to be Manila, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo, so “local time zone” may mean UTC+8/+9
- A separate, unpublished Local Employer Services rate plus FX markup sits on top of the headline price
- No funding since September 2022; site data frozen at 2023; Trustpilot 2.9 from two reviews, both one star
- NZ registration
- Appears to be an overseas entity (US); overseas company number not confirmed, NZ registration October 2023
- Pricing
- From US$599 plus an unpublished statutory-cost rate
- Onboarding
- NZ page says as little as two weeks
- Reviews
- G2 4.2 (94); Trustpilot 2.9 (2)
How we scored these providers
Each provider was assessed on eight criteria, weighted towards the things that cost New Zealand employers money when they go wrong.
- New Zealand legal presence. Verified on the Companies Register: an NZ-incorporated company, or an overseas company registered to carry on business here.
- Holidays Act 2003 competence. Whether the provider’s platform actually handles the “greater of” test between ordinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings — where most NZ payroll errors concentrate.
- KiwiSaver, ACC and payday filing. Whether the provider’s service actually administers each of these on the employer’s behalf.
- Cost transparency. A published per-employee rate scores higher than quote-only. No provider publishes in NZD.
- Onboarding speed. Published timelines, discounted where the claim measures contract generation rather than time to first payroll.
- Support model. Named contact versus ticket queue, and whether evidence of New Zealand–hours support could be found.
- Scale and coverage. Countries served, and how much of that network is owned rather than partner-delivered.
- Independent evidence. Public review scores, weighted down because none is EOR-specific or NZ-specific.
What we could not verify, for any provider. Which legal entity actually signs your New Zealand employment agreements, and whether NZ delivery is in-house or via a partner. Company registration proves an entity exists; it does not prove it employs. Ask every shortlisted provider both questions in writing, and ask for a live demonstration of a Holidays Act annual-leave calculation on real numbers. Figures here are the providers’ own published claims as at September 2026 except where marked as register-verified.