Editorial policy
How we research, rate, and compare global hiring solutions.
Robbin Schuchmann
Co-founder, Employ Borderless
Why we built Employ Borderless
When I started helping companies hire internationally, I spent weeks comparing EOR and payroll providers. Pricing was buried in sales calls, reviews were scattered across five platforms, and most "comparison" sites were just paid placements with no real analysis.
Employ Borderless exists because I wanted a single place that does the hard work of testing, comparing, and rating these providers honestly. Every review, comparison, and ranking on this site is backed by a process I would trust if I were the one signing a contract.
How we research providers
We don't rely on a single data source. Our scores come from five distinct research steps, each designed to catch things the others miss.
1. Hands-on testing
We sign up, request demos, and test each platform ourselves. We walk through the onboarding flow, explore the dashboard, run payroll simulations where possible, and evaluate the actual user experience - not just marketing materials.
2. Third-party review analysis
We pull ratings from G2, Trustpilot, Capterra, and Glassdoor and calculate a weighted average based on review count. A provider with 500 G2 reviews carries more weight than one with 12. We update these numbers regularly and link to the source platforms.
3. Forum and community research
Review platforms only tell part of the story. We monitor Reddit, LinkedIn groups, and industry forums for unfiltered opinions about billing issues, support responsiveness, and contract flexibility that people don't always post on official review sites.
4. Direct provider conversations
We talk directly with providers to verify pricing, clarify feature details, and understand their product roadmap. This also helps us negotiate exclusive discounts for our readers that aren't available elsewhere.
5. Client feedback
We gather feedback from clients who have been onboarded with these providers through our matching service. They tell us what the day-to-day experience is actually like - the good, the bad, and the things no sales call would mention.
Our rating system
Every provider gets scored on a 0-10 scale across 10 categories. The overall rating is an average of these category scores, weighted equally. We chose equal weighting because what matters most varies by company - a startup hiring its first contractor cares about different things than an enterprise managing 200 employees across 15 countries.
Each category score is based on our hands-on testing, provider documentation, and real user feedback. We include a short explanation for every score so you can see exactly why a provider got the number it did.
The 10 categories we score
How we handle third-party ratings
Alongside our own scores, we show ratings from G2, Trustpilot, Capterra, and Glassdoor. We calculate a weighted average across these platforms, where providers with more reviews on a given platform carry more weight in the average. A 4.5 rating backed by 2,000 reviews tells you more than a 4.8 from 30 reviews.
We pull these ratings directly from each platform and update them regularly. You'll always see the source platform linked so you can verify the numbers yourself.
Affiliate relationships and how we make money
Some of the providers we review have affiliate partnerships with us. When you sign up through one of our links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. In many cases, we've also negotiated exclusive discounts that aren't available if you go directly to the provider.
Here's what these partnerships don't do:
- -They don't affect our ratings. A provider's score is based on our research, not their commission rate.
- -They don't influence our rankings. The top pick in a listicle is the one we genuinely think is best for that category.
- -They don't determine which providers we review. We cover providers our readers ask about, whether or not they have a partner program.
We clearly mark affiliate links on every review, comparison, and listicle page. If you ever feel a recommendation doesn't match the evidence, reach out - we take that seriously.
How we keep content current
Providers change their pricing, launch new features, and enter new markets regularly. A review that was accurate six months ago might not be today. Here's how we stay on top of it:
- -We maintain direct relationships with providers and get notified about major updates.
- -Third-party ratings are refreshed regularly from source platforms.
- -Every review and comparison shows a "last updated" date so you know how fresh the information is.
- -When we get feedback from readers or clients that something has changed, we verify and update.
Editorial independence
Our scores, ratings, and review content are based entirely on research and testing. Commercial relationships don't influence what we write about a provider. Providers can suggest corrections to factual errors (wrong pricing, outdated feature info), and we'll verify and fix those. But they don't get approval over what we publish.
When we recommend a provider as "best" for a specific use case, we explain exactly why. When a provider falls short, we say that too. If you're reading a review and something feels off, you can always get in touch - we respond to every message.
Who writes this content
Employ Borderless is founded and edited by Robbin Schuchmann. Before starting this site, I spent years working in international business expansion, helping companies set up teams across borders. I've personally gone through the process of evaluating, selecting, and working with multiple EOR and payroll providers.
That background shapes everything we publish. We write for people who are actually making these decisions, not for search engines or providers.