South Africa comparison / Review-format preview

Teamed vs Deel: the real-world monthly EOR fee

Review-format preview · Sources checked 25 September 2026 · Scenario, not a provider quote

Teamed · estimated real-world monthly fee

$599USD per employee, per month · published management fee + advertised $0 FX markup + advertised $0 routine setup and exit fees

With $5,000 gross salary and $1,000 assumed employer costs and benefits, the illustrative monthly employment bill is $6,599. The real-world monthly fee is the provider-cost layer; the employment bill also includes pay and employer costs. Confirm all terms in a dated South Africa quote. Teamed pricing source

Teamed makes a compelling shortlist for buyers who want specialist employment support, clear currency terms and a route from contractor to EOR to their own entity. A headline monthly management fee does not show the cost of currency conversion or occasional charges. For every provider here, estimated real-world monthly fee = management fee + FX cost + an allowance for other fees. The final term is a planning reserve until a contract and invoice establish the actual charges.

Same hire, two fee layers

One hypothetical South African hire, in USD. $6,000 monthly payroll and employer costs are held constant. Deel's 2% FX and 1% other-fee figures are editorial planning assumptions, not its published rates or observed charges.
Fee layer	Teamed	Deel scenario
Monthly management fee	$599	$599
FX cost on $6,000 converted	$0 advertised	$120 at assumed 2%
Other-fee reserve	$0 routine fees advertised	$60 at assumed 1%
Estimated real-world monthly fee	$599	$779
Illustrative monthly employment bill, including $6,000 pay and employer costs	$6,599	$6,779

Both providers publish a $599 EOR management fee. Teamed advertises zero FX markup and no routine setup or exit fee. Deel confirms that FX charges apply when an invoice is funded in another currency, but does not publish one universal EOR FX percentage; it says the applied rate appears on the payment statement. Deel also publishes payment-method fees and says its quoted EOR pricing has no hidden fees. The $60 reserve is our budgeting assumption for charges that may arise over an engagement, not a claim that Deel bills that amount. Teamed pricing · Deel pricing · Deel FX and payment-fee policy

Teamed's monthly bill, line by line

One hypothetical South African hire, modelled in USD. Employer costs and benefits are an assumption, not a South African statutory calculation.
Component	Monthly amount	Basis
Gross salary	$5,000	Scenario input
Employer costs and benefits	$1,000	Scenario assumption; replace with a country quote
Teamed EOR management fee	$599	Published USD fee per employee per month
Teamed FX markup	$0	Provider’s advertised zero-markup policy; confirm currency pair and agreement
Illustrative monthly employment bill	$6,599	Salary + assumed employment costs + published fee

Upfront funding is separate: Teamed says a refundable deposit equal to one month of salary applies. It also says offboarding within the employee’s first three months may carry a charge. Confirm deposit timing, refund conditions, and the early-exit clause in the proposed agreement. Terms and deposit source

Who Teamed is good for

Teams that want a person accountable for employment questions. Teamed describes a named specialist and a 24/5 service desk. Its own support sample reports a 1.2-hour median first reply among tickets answered within 24 hours; this is a partial, self-reported sample. Service record
Buyers comparing currency costs as well as management fees. Teamed advertises zero FX markup and itemised invoices, which makes the rate and amount converted easier to question. Pricing policy
Companies keeping an existing HR system. Teamed documents a live Personio integration for mapped employee, leave-policy and time-off data. It also lists Workday and many other supported platforms, with account-specific setup to confirm. Personio detail · Workday scope

Who should compare another option

Buyers choosing solely by the lowest advertised management fee.
Teams unable to prefund the refundable salary deposit.
Employers needing a self-serve public developer API or a guaranteed, ready-made connection for every system: Teamed says new platform connections are configured by its team. Integration limits
Very short engagements, until the possible first-three-month offboarding charge is clear.

Deel charges FX when currencies differ

Yes: Deel says FX fees apply when the payment currency differs from the invoice currency. Its EOR payroll invoice is in the employee's local currency, while the separate service-fee invoice starts in USD. Deel uses a banking-partner forward rate and shows the applied rate on the payment statement. Paying an invoice in its own currency avoids Deel's conversion on that invoice. What is missing from its public guide is a fixed percentage spread for a particular South Africa quote. Deel FX policy · Deel EOR invoice format

Our publisher's industry-expert estimate is that EOR FX costs commonly fall around 1.5–3% of converted payroll. This is an editorial planning range, not a measured Deel rate. We use 2% in the central example and 1% of payroll as a separate reserve for possible payment, onboarding, offboarding or termination-related provider fees over the engagement. Those charges vary by contract and event; the reserve is not a recurring Deel fee and does not cover statutory severance or other employment liabilities. Deel's own pricing page says its EOR quote has no hidden fees. Ask Deel for the actual rate against a time-matched reference and an itemised fee schedule before replacing either allowance with a fact. Deel pricing claims

Editorial scenario on $6,000 converted payroll, with the same $599 management fee and a $60 monthly other-fee reserve. None of these percentages is a published Deel rate.
FX planning rate	FX cost / month	Estimated real-world monthly fee	Employment bill including payroll
1.5%	$90	$749	$6,749
2%	$120	$779	$6,779
3%	$180	$839	$6,839

At the 2% central assumption, FX adds $120 per employee monthly; the 1% other-fee reserve adds $60. Across ten identical hires, those two modeled additions total $21,600 a year. Actual conversion depends on currency pair, payment method, timing and how much of the invoice is converted. EOR Truth’s independent FX methodology · Salary-based sensitivity table

Before choosing

Request both providers’ dated South Africa quotes for the same salary, benefits, start date, invoice currency and funding currency. Ask for the employer-cost breakdown, FX reference and fixing time, all payment charges, the legal employer, deposit and refund terms, and the first and final month’s invoice. Keep any unknown rate marked unknown.

Atlas lineage: approved Teamed South Africa profile teamed-ZA-profile-v1, approved assessment score-teamed-ZA-editorial-seven-v2-r1. The $1,000 employer-cost input, 1.5–3% industry FX range, 2% central FX assumption and 1% other-fee reserve are editorial inputs, not Atlas facts or provider quotes. Published independently by EOR Benchmark. Teamed is a reviewed provider, not the publisher or sponsor.