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Trusted by 600+ teams getting their headspace back

Kleos vs competitors

They all move money to the same people. What differs is whether the fee grows with your rates, whether your contractors lose a cut on the way in, and what happens the day a contractor becomes an employee. Here is all of it, criterion by criterion.
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The seven things worth comparing

Most platforms move the same money to the same people. What differs is the fee model, the rate you get, and what happens when a contractor becomes an employee.
Company fee
Contractor fees
Payout coverage
Exchange rate
Balance top-up
Engagement models
Communication
Typical alternative
Company fee
A percentage of every payout, or a monthly charge per active contractor
Contractor fees
Withdrawal fees deducted on the contractor's side
Payout coverage
100 to 150 countries
Exchange rate
Usually no conversion rate published at all. A platform or partner-bank rate you see after the money has moved
Balance top-up
One to two days before you can pay anyone
Engagement models
Contractors only, or employment on a separate contract
Communication
Tickets and in-platform chat
Kleos
Company fee
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Flat $50 per contractor, with discounts at volume
Contractor fees
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Zero. Every withdrawal method is free
Payout coverage
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200+ countries, including complex jurisdictions
Exchange rate
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Up to 3.5%, written into your contract at signing. A ceiling you can budget against, not a rate we change later
Balance top-up
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Credited in two to three hours on instant rails
Engagement models
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Contractors and employment, side by side, one invoice
Communication
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Real humans 24/7, plus a dedicated Slack, Teams or Telegram channel
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Employed in days, not months. No entity, no setup fee
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Compliant contracts and tax docs. ISO 27001 and GDPR
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A named expert who knows your setup. No ticket queues
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We stay where other providers are closing their entities
Per contractor — zero contractor fees
$50
Teams getting their headspace back
600+
From signup to first contractor onboarded
60 seconds
ISO/IEC 27001 & GDPR compliant
Countries covered
200+
Contractor fee
Zero
From signup to first payment
1 day
Paid worldwide
$100M+

Compare us against the platform you use today

What usually prompts the switch

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A fee that grows every time you raise a contractor's rate
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An exchange rate you only see after the money has moved
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A country your provider will not pay into
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A contractor who has quietly become a full-time employee
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Percentage fees eating up to 10–12% of payroll as salaries grow past $3–5k

Read the detailed comparisons

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Today, 2pm
Kleos vs Deel: $325 per contractor of record, against our flat $50
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Today, 2:15pm
Kleos vs Mellow: 3.5% to 5.5% of every payout, against our flat $50
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Tomorrow, 10am
Kleos vs 4Dev: 3% of every payout, against our flat $50
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Tomorrow, 11am
Kleos vs Garna: no published price at all, against our flat $50
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Tomorrow, 2pm
Not on this list? Send us your current invoice and we will do the maths

Comparing providers, answered

Is Kleos always cheaper?
No, and we would rather say so here than after you have migrated. A flat fee per contractor beats a percentage once the payout is large enough, and beats a per-seat monthly charge when contractors invoice irregularly. If you pay a small number of people small amounts every month, a percentage model can work out cheaper. Send us your actual numbers and we will tell you which way it falls.
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Where do these comparison figures come from?
Published pricing and terms as of September 2026, gathered by our team. Providers change their pricing, and the plan you are on may differ from the public one, so treat this as a starting point for your own check rather than the final word. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
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What does migrating actually involve?
A day in most cases. You send the contractor list and we do the bulk import rather than making your team re-key it. Contracts are regenerated on our paper with IP assignment and classification checks included. We usually run the first Kleos payout alongside your current provider's final cycle so nobody is caught between the two. Before any of that you can send three test payouts, by card, SWIFT and crypto, to three different jurisdictions, free of charge.
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We use a provider that is not on this list. Can you still compare?
Yes. Send us a recent invoice with the commercial details you are comfortable sharing, plus your contractor count and the countries involved, and we will put the two models side by side on the same seven criteria. It takes about a day and you keep the comparison whether or not you move.
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