Rise
Compliantly hire, onboard, and pay employees, contractors, and freelancers in 190+ countries, in local currency or crypto.
About Rise
Rise (Rise Works Inc.) is a global payroll and compliance platform that lets companies hire, onboard, and pay contractors and full-time employees in 190+ countries without setting up local entities. It offers Employer of Record, Agent of Record, global contractor pay, and US direct payroll, with payouts in 90+ local currencies, stablecoins like USDC and USDT, or 100+ cryptocurrencies. Rise is a FinCEN-registered Money Service Business and is aimed at remote-first startups and Web3 companies.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Pays workers in fiat, stablecoins, or 100+ cryptocurrencies from one platform, with split paychecks between them
- Covers contractors, international employees (EOR), and US W-2 payroll in one product
- Transparent published pricing, with contractor pay starting at $49 per contractor per month
- Agent of Record option shifts contractor misclassification risk to Rise
- FinCEN-registered Money Service Business with SOC 2 certification and GDPR compliance
- Fast payouts, including daily pay and settlement outside bank hours
Cons
- Employer of Record at $399 per employee per month adds up quickly for larger international teams
- Users report verification delays and slow support responses on Trustpilot despite the 24/7 support claim
- Fewer prebuilt HRIS and accounting integrations than larger rivals such as Deel
- Reporting and spend analytics are limited compared with enterprise payroll suites
- Crypto-first positioning is less suited to traditional enterprises that only need fiat payroll
Key Features
Employer of Record (EOR)
Hire full-time employees abroad without a local entity; Rise handles local employment law, tax, payroll, and benefits administration.
Agent of Record (AOR)
Rise acts as the legal contracting entity for your contractors to reduce worker misclassification risk.
Global Contractor Pay
Onboard and pay international contractors with compliant contracts, compliance checks, and annual tax reporting (W-8BEN, 1099).
Direct US Payroll
Run unlimited US payrolls across all 50 states with federal, state, and local payroll taxes paid and W-2s and 1099s filed.
Hybrid Fiat and Crypto Payroll
Pay workers in 90+ local currencies, stablecoins such as USDC and USDT, or 100+ cryptocurrencies, including on layer-2 networks like Arbitrum.
Split Pay
Let each worker split a paycheck between local currency, stablecoins, and crypto.
Daily Pay
Automatically send wages at the end of each workday without manual requests, fees, or loans.
Rise Earn
Generate yield on idle payroll funds held in the platform, for the company and its workers.
RiseID and KYC/AML
Built-in identity verification and KYC/AML checks for onboarded workers.
24/7 Human Support
Round-the-clock support from people, not bots, in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and other languages.
Pricing
- Fiat and crypto payments
- Automated, flexible global payments
- Compliance checks
- Annual tax reporting
- Compliant global contracts
- Discounts for startups and non-profits
- Same-day paychecks in all 50 US states
- Federal, state, and local US payroll taxes paid
- IRS form filing
- Compliant new hire onboarding
- Unlimited payrolls per month
- Year-end W-2s and 1099s
- Payroll transfer and account setup
- Rise as the legal contracting entity
- Reduced misclassification risk
- Local labor law compliance
- Crypto or fiat payouts in 90+ currencies
- Coverage in 190+ countries
- Hire employees without local entities
- Local employment and tax law compliance
- Payroll for employees and contractors
- Onboarding in days
- Benefits, insurance, and HR support worldwide
Best For
Web3 and crypto companies paying contributors
Pay a distributed team in USDC, USDT, or other tokens while still issuing compliant contracts and tax forms.
Startups hiring international contractors
Onboard contractors in 190+ countries with compliant contracts and pay them in their local currency.
Hiring full-time employees abroad
Use Rise's Employer of Record service to employ people in new countries without opening a local entity.
Reducing contractor misclassification risk
Use Agent of Record so Rise becomes the contracting entity for long-term contractors.
US payroll for domestic teams
Run multi-state US payroll with taxes, filings, and W-2s handled alongside your global workforce.
Similar Tools
Proton Mail
Secure, privacy-first email built in Switzerland
Airia
Enterprise AI orchestration, security, and governance platform
DataSnipper
AI Agents for faster Audit and Finance workflows
Somewhere
Hire top 1% global talent and save 80% on payroll with managed recruitment
MultiplyMii
Strategic offshore staffing with transparent all-in monthly pricing from the Philippines
SAP Concur
Enterprise-grade travel and expense management with deep ERP integration and global compliance