Tool · Crossover Calculator
See your crossover point.
Pick a country, your headcount there today, and where it is heading over the next 12 months. Add your EOR fee per employee. The calculator projects 36 months of EOR cost against the cost of running your own legal entity, marks the month the entity becomes cheaper, and returns a verdict you can take into a budget meeting.
When does it stop making sense to use an EOR and start making sense to set up your own entity?
When your headcount in a single country reaches the point where running your own legal entity costs less than staying on an Employer of Record. Teamed's model recommends considering an entity from roughly 6 to 15 employees in one country, depending on how complex that market is to set up in. The calculator projects 36 months of both paths and shows the exact month, and the headcount, where entity becomes the cheaper option for your situation.
What is Crossover point?
The point at which the cumulative cost of running your own legal entity falls below the cumulative cost of staying on an Employer of Record. The Crossover Calculator projects 36 months of both paths and reports the crossover as a month within that window. It depends on your EOR fee per employee, the one-time entity setup cost, the ongoing per-employee cost of the entity, and how fast your headcount grows. Salary does not enter the comparison: both paths are driven by headcount and per-employee rates, so the salary you pay is identical on each side.
Your situation
Pick a country and your headcount. The crossover model updates live below as you change anything.
Pick a country above to see your crossover model.
Calculator assumptions
- Projection window
- 36 months. The calculator accumulates EOR cost and entity cost month by month over three years, and reports the month the two cumulative totals cross.Source: Teamed Crossover methodology· verified 2026-05-20
- EOR fee
- You supply it. Each country is pre-filled with its market-average EOR rate in local currency; replace it with your actual contracted rate for an exact result.Source: Teamed jurisdiction operations· verified 2026-05-20
- Entity setup cost
- Modelled as a one-time cost in month 1, with a low and high range per country. When the low and high cases disagree on whether you save, the result is flagged as directional only.Source: World Bank Doing Business + Teamed jurisdiction operations· verified 2026-05-20
- Entity threshold
- Teamed recommends considering an entity from roughly 6, 12, or 15 employees in a single country, set by how complex that market is to establish in. Per-country specifics can adjust the number.Source: Teamed GEMO Framework v2.0· verified 2026-05-20
- Countries modelled
- 35 jurisdictionsSource: Teamed jurisdiction operations· verified 2026-05-20
Verify before you cite
- Calculator scope
- Cost crossover and transition readiness only. It does NOT model FX exposure, hiring speed, compliance risk, or works council triggers. See the section below on what it deliberately leaves out.Source: Calculator design notes
- EOR fee is user-supplied
- The calculator does not assume a fixed fee. It pre-fills each country with its market-average EOR rate and you replace it with your own. The result is only as accurate as the fee you enter.Source: Crossover Calculator inputs
- Salary is not an input
- There is no salary field. Both the EOR path and the entity path are modelled from headcount and per-employee rates, so salary is identical on both sides and does not change the crossover.Source: See "How is this calculated?" below
- Per-country numbers
- Setup and ongoing entity costs are per-country estimates carrying a stated confidence level (advisor-verified, baseline, or regional tier average). They are illustrative, not contractual quotes.Source: Teamed jurisdiction operations
How is this calculated?
The calculator runs a 36-month projection. Each month it builds two running totals: what you would spend staying on an EOR, and what you would spend running your own legal entity.
EOR cost each month is your headcount that month multiplied by your EOR fee per employee. Headcount climbs in a straight line from your current number to your planned number over the first 12 months, then holds steady.
Entity costis a one-time setup cost in month 1, plus, every month, your headcount multiplied by the country’s ongoing per-employee cost of running the entity. The setup cost is modelled as a per-country range, so the calculator runs a low, mid, and high case.
The crossover month is the first month in which the cumulative entity total falls below the cumulative EOR total. Your three-year saving is total EOR cost minus total entity cost across the full 36 months. If the low and high setup cases disagree on whether you save at all, the calculator marks the result as directional only.
The verdictcompares your current headcount to the country’s entity threshold, the headcount at which Teamed recommends considering an entity. At or above the threshold, the calculator says act. From 80 percent of it up to the threshold, plan. From 50 to 80 percent, worth a conversation. Below 50 percent, EOR still fits and you plan for later.
Transition readiness is scored separately, across five criteria: employee concentration, long-term commitment, economic viability, control requirements, and operational readiness. Each is rated green, amber, or red. Note there is no salary input: both paths are driven by headcount and per-employee rates, so the salary you pay each employee is the same on both sides and never affects the crossover.
What this calculator deliberately does NOT model.
- · FX exposure. Undisclosed FX markup from your current EOR is the most common hidden cost. Run the Unbundling Calculator to see the effect on a real invoice.
- · Hiring speed. EOR puts an offer on the desk in 1–4 weeks; entity formation takes 8–16 weeks plus banking. If you are racing a competing offer, EOR wins on tempo regardless of cost.
- · Compliance and works council triggers. Germany hits headcount-based works council obligations at 5 / 20 / 50; France at 11 / 50; the Netherlands at 50. These do not change the cost crossover but they change the operational complexity.
- · Severance regimes. France, Brazil, and Germany carry statutory severance that is higher under direct employment than under EOR. Model that into your risk reserve.
Frequently asked questions
At what headcount should we open our own entity instead of staying on EOR?
Country-dependent, and typically 6 to 15 employees in a single country. Teamed's model sets the threshold by how complex the market is to establish in: straightforward markets around 6, moderate around 12, complex around 15, with per-country adjustments. Run the calculator above with your real numbers; it shows your exact threshold and the month your own entity becomes cheaper. Some Teamed customers stay on EOR well past the threshold for distributed teams of one or two people per country, because entity overhead does not amortise across so few employees.What does the crossover actually depend on?
Four things: your EOR fee per employee, the country's one-time entity setup cost, the ongoing per-employee cost of running that entity, and how fast your headcount grows. The wider the gap between your EOR fee and the entity's per-employee cost, and the lower the setup cost, the sooner entity wins. Salary is not one of the four. Both paths are modelled from headcount and per-employee rates, so the salary you pay sits identically on each side and cancels out of the comparison.What costs am I missing if I only compare headline EOR fees?
Three lines most providers do not publish upfront. First, FX markup on cross-border salary conversion: typically 1.5–3% undisclosed, which on a $190K salary is $2,850–$5,700 a year per employee. Run the Unbundling Calculator at /tools/unbundling-calculator to surface the markup on your current invoice. Second, setup and exit fees, sometimes labelled "onboarding" or "data-portability". Third, out-of-scope charges for visa support, mid-cycle contract amendments, or work-pattern changes. Teamed itemises all three: Zero FX absorbed entirely on the EOR fee, and $0 setup and exit guaranteed in the MSA.How accurate is the crossover for my specific situation?
The defaults are per-country setup and ongoing-cost estimates, each carrying a stated confidence level: advisor-verified, baseline, or regional tier average. The crossover for your business will move with the EOR fee you actually pay and the entity quote you actually receive, so enter both for a real result. It will also move with factors the calculator does not model: hiring speed, works-council triggers at certain headcounts in Germany, France, and the Netherlands, and severance-regime differences. Bring your real numbers and your headcount projection to a 30-minute working session and we will model the crossover line by line.