How to Pay International Contractors Without Losing 5% to Fees

You run a US business. You pay a developer in Buenos Aires, a designer in Kraków, a VA in Manila. The same $3,000 invoice can cost you $3,016 or $3,160 depending on how you send it. Per contractor, per year, the gap between the cheapest and most expensive route is over $1,500.

Here is the comparison, then the math. Prices as of July 2026 — check each provider before you commit.

The three numbers that matter

Every route has three costs. Only two show up on a receipt.

1. Per-transfer fee. The visible one. $0 to $50.
2. Platform fee. $0 to $49 per contractor per month, whether or not you pay them that month (Deel and Remote bill on active contractors).
3. FX margin. The spread between the mid-market exchange rate — the one you see on Google — and the rate you actually get. Banks and PayPal build 2–4% into the rate and call the transfer "cheap" or "free." On $3,000, a 3% margin is $90. It never appears as a line item.

The FX margin is where most of the money leaks. Judge every route by the total that arrives, not the fee that is disclosed.

Route by route

Wise Business converts at the mid-market rate and charges a visible fee, from 0.33% depending on the currency pair. No monthly fee; a $31 one-time setup fee for the account (as of July 2026). You batch-pay invoices from a USD balance. USD to Argentine pesos works but is capped around the equivalent of $18,000 per month per recipient.

Payoneer flips who pays. Sending costs you little or nothing; the contractor pays about 1% to receive via bank debit and holds real USD in their Payoneer account. Converting to local currency costs them up to 2% — but only when they choose to convert. More on why that matters below.

Deel charges $49 per contractor per month (as of July 2026) and handles localized contracts, invoicing, tax-form collection, and payments in 120+ currencies. Contractors pick their payout method and pay any withdrawal fees on their side.

Remote is the same category at $29 per contractor per month for the basic tier, $99 for the plus tier with stronger compliance cover. Payments are included; conversion happens at payout on the contractor's side.

PayPal charges around 2% (capped at $20) for business payouts, then adds 3–4% above the wholesale exchange rate on conversion. The contractor sees a full payment arrive and quietly loses $90–120 of it in the rate.

A bank wire costs $35–50 to send from most major US banks, often $10–25 more in intermediary and receiving fees, plus a 2–4% exchange-rate markup. It is the most expensive route on this list and the one that feels most official.

The worked example: $3,000 a month, one contractor

Twelve payments a year. $36,000 total. Approximate all-in cost per route, as of July 2026:

For pure payments at this scale, Wise Business usually wins, and it is not close. Deel and Remote are not really payment products — you are paying $348–588 a year per contractor for contracts, invoicing, and compliance, with money movement bundled in. If you need those things, the fee is fine. If you only need to move money, it is overhead.

The USD wrinkle

The table assumes your contractor wants local currency. Often they don't.

Your developer in Argentina has lived through high inflation and currency controls. Ask them, and there is a good chance they want to invoice in USD and keep USD. Payoneer does exactly that: you pay from a US bank, they receive dollars, and they decide when — or whether — to convert. Your cost drops to roughly zero; their cost is about 1% ($30 per $3,000 invoice, $360 a year).

That changes the negotiation, not just the route. Some contractors happily eat the 1% for the privilege of holding dollars. Others bake it into their rate. Either way, agree on who pays it before the first invoice, not after.

Compliance, briefly

Payment rails are the easy part. Three things to get right:

• A written agreement. Scope, rate, IP assignment, termination. IP assignment especially — without it, you may not own the code you paid for.
• Form W-8BEN. Collect it (W-8BEN-E for companies) from each foreign contractor and keep it on file. For a non-US person working outside the US, you generally do not file a 1099-NEC — the W-8BEN documents why.
• Classification. If you set their hours, provide their tools, and they work only for you, some countries will treat them as an employee no matter what the contract says. Back taxes and penalties follow. This is what Deel and Remote actually sell: their contractor-of-record tier ($325 per contractor per month, as of July 2026) puts the classification risk on them, and a full employer of record ($599 per month) hires the person properly. Expensive against a $190 Wise bill; cheap against a misclassification claim.

Rule of thumb: independent contractor with multiple clients, plain transfers are fine. Full-time-equivalent working only for you, price in an EOR. This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm your situation with a professional.

The short version

• Judge routes by what arrives, not the disclosed fee. The FX margin hides.
• Pure payments: Wise Business, ~$190 a year on a $3,000/month contractor.
• Contractor wants USD: Payoneer, ~$0 to you, ~1% to them.
• Need contracts and compliance handled: Remote ($29/mo) or Deel ($49/mo) per contractor.
• Contractor looks like an employee: budget ~$325–599/mo for a contractor-of-record or EOR instead.
• Avoid PayPal and bank wires for recurring invoices. Ten times the cost, same money moved.