Insights

EOR Cost Breakdown in Vietnam: Teams of 1, 5, 10 and 25 Hires

By Nguyễn Quốc Trung — Deputy General Director · Updated 2026-09-13

Through an Employer of Record in Vietnam in 2026, a single mid-level hire costs about VND 56,808,000 (USD 2,164) a month, a team of five about VND 221,518,800 (USD 8,439), a team of ten about VND 396,262,800 (USD 15,096) and a team of twenty-five about VND 953,094,600 (USD 36,308) — each an all-in monthly invoice of gross salary, roughly 23.5% employer contributions, the service fee and 8% VAT on the whole. Including one 13th-month salary, the same teams cost about VND 727 million (USD 27,697), VND 2.83 billion (USD 107,799), VND 5.06 billion (USD 192,817) and VND 12.17 billion (USD 463,809) a year. The counter-intuitive part is the fee: the blended service fee rises from 8.0% of gross for the single hire to about 10.9% for the team of twenty-five — not because a larger team is charged more per head, but because a bigger team here is more junior-heavy, and the fee floor is a larger share of a small salary.

This EOR cost breakdown prices four illustrative teams line by line and shows how the blended rate, the annual total and the fee you would weigh against your own entity change with the shape of the team. It works at team level; for the cost of one hire by seniority see our total annual cost of a hire by role, and for how the 8% fee, its floor and cap, and VAT are built line by line see our EOR pricing breakdown for Vietnam. For what the wider market charges, see our Vietnam EOR price range by pricing model.

The four teams are built from five illustrative gross salaries used in the by-role guide, each an illustrative round figure rather than a quote for any individual:

• A factory technician on VND 15,000,000 a month.
• An accountant or office executive on VND 25,000,000 a month.
• A software engineer on VND 40,000,000 a month.
• A team lead or sales manager on VND 60,000,000 a month.
• A manager or director on VND 90,000,000 a month.

The team compositions widen towards the base as they grow, the shape of a typical operations or production team:

• Team of 1: one software engineer.
• Team of 5: two technicians, one accountant, one engineer, one lead.
• Team of 10: four technicians, three accountants, two engineers, one lead.
• Team of 25: twelve technicians, seven accountants, four engineers, one lead, one manager.

Prices are set in Vietnamese dong; the US dollar figures use an indicative rate of USD 1 = VND 26,250 and are rounded to whole dollars, with dong the authoritative currency. All figures apply to pay periods from 1 July 2026, when the contribution caps changed, and are current as of 13 September 2026.

Key facts: EOR cost breakdown for a team in Vietnam (2026)

• A team of five costs about VND 221,518,800 (USD 8,439) a month all-in and about VND 2.83 billion (USD 107,799) a year including a 13th-month salary, on the illustrative composition above.
• A team of ten costs about VND 396,262,800 (USD 15,096) a month and VND 5.06 billion (USD 192,817) a year; a team of twenty-five about VND 953,094,600 (USD 36,308) a month and VND 12.17 billion (USD 463,809) a year.
• The all-in monthly invoice runs about 42% to 44% above the team's gross payroll — gross salary plus roughly 23.5% employer contributions, the service fee, and 8% VAT on all three.
• Employer statutory contributions are identical whoever employs the team, because they are fixed by law: 23.5% of the contribution base for a Vietnamese national and 22.5% for a foreign national, under the Law on Social Insurance 2024 (No. 41/2024/QH15), the Law on Employment 2025 (No. 74/2025/QH15) and the Trade Union Law 2024 (No. 50/2024/QH15).
• Two contribution caps apply per person, not per team: the social, health, occupational-accident and union base is capped at VND 50,600,000 a month under Decree 161/2026/ND-CP, and the unemployment-insurance base separately at VND 106,200,000 under Decree 293/2025/ND-CP.
• Nhan Kiet's service fee is 8% of monthly gross per person, floored at VND 2,600,000 (about USD 99) and capped at VND 5,200,000 (about USD 199), with no deposit and no onboarding, offboarding, conversion or FX fee.
• The blended service fee is not a single number: it is 8.0% of gross for the single mid-level hire but about 10.2%, 10.7% and 10.9% for the teams of five, ten and twenty-five, because the fee floor applies to each junior head.
• The service fee is the smallest of the four invoice lines, about 6% to 8% of the invoice (5.6% for the single hire), while statutory contributions are about 15% to 16.5% and run to around two to three times the fee.
• A 13th-month salary carries no employer statutory contributions, only its own gross plus a small incremental service fee and 8% VAT, under Decree 158/2025/ND-CP.
• VAT of 8% applies to the whole EOR invoice until 31 December 2026, reverting to 10% from 2027 unless extended, under Resolution 204/2025/QH15 and Decree 174/2025/ND-CP.

How much does an EOR cost for a team in Vietnam?

An EOR team in Vietnam costs the sum of each person's all-in monthly invoice, which for the four illustrative teams is about VND 56,808,000 (USD 2,164) a month for one mid-level hire, VND 221,518,800 (USD 8,439) for five, VND 396,262,800 (USD 15,096) for ten and VND 953,094,600 (USD 36,308) for twenty-five. There is no separate team or platform charge on top: the invoice is simply every individual invoice added together, each made of gross salary, employer contributions, the 8% service fee within its floor and cap, and 8% VAT on all three.

Because the statutory contributions are set by law and the fee is a published percentage, a team's cost is arithmetic once you fix the salaries. The table below gives the monthly total for each illustrative team; the annual totals, the blended rates and the entity comparison follow in the sections below.

What is the line-by-line EOR cost breakdown for a team?

The EOR cost breakdown for a team is built by pricing each person on four lines and then adding the people together: gross salary, which is pass-through and never marked up; employer statutory contributions at 23.5% of the contribution base for a Vietnamese national or 22.5% for a foreign national; the service fee at 8% of that person's gross, subject to a VND 2,600,000 floor and a VND 5,200,000 cap; and 8% VAT charged on the sum of those three lines. Nothing is charged at team level, so the team invoice is the total of the individual invoices.

Take the team of five as a worked example. The two technicians on VND 15,000,000 and the accountant on VND 25,000,000 each pay the VND 2,600,000 fee floor because 8% of their gross is below it; the engineer on VND 40,000,000 pays a straight 8%, VND 3,200,000; and the lead on VND 60,000,000 pays 8%, VND 4,800,000. That is VND 15,800,000 of fee on VND 155,000,000 of gross. Contributions add VND 34,310,000, and 8% VAT on the VND 205,110,000 subtotal adds VND 16,408,800, for a monthly invoice of VND 221,518,800. The per-person engine behind each line is set out in our EOR pricing breakdown for Vietnam.

What does a team of 1 cost through an EOR in Vietnam?

A team of one — a single software engineer on an illustrative gross of VND 40,000,000 a month — costs about VND 56,808,000 (USD 2,164) a month and about VND 727,056,000 (USD 27,697) a year all-in through an EOR, including a 13th-month salary. The monthly invoice is VND 40,000,000 of gross, VND 9,400,000 of contributions at the full 23.5%, a VND 3,200,000 service fee at 8%, and VND 4,208,000 of VAT.

This is the cleanest case: the salary is above the VND 32,500,000 point where 8% of gross overtakes the fee floor, so the fee is a straight 8%, and it is below the VND 50,600,000 cap, so contributions run at the full rate. The all-in load is 42.0% over gross. A single hire on any salary is priced exactly as its row in the by-role cost guide.

What does a team of 5 cost?

A team of five — two technicians, one accountant, one engineer and one lead — costs about VND 221,518,800 (USD 8,439) a month all-in and about VND 2,829,729,600 (USD 107,799) a year including a 13th-month salary. Gross payroll is VND 155,000,000 a month; contributions add VND 34,310,000, the service fee VND 15,800,000 and VAT VND 16,408,800.

The blended service fee here is 10.2% of gross, not 8%, because three of the five heads sit below the VND 32,500,000 salary at which 8% overtakes the VND 2,600,000 fee floor. The all-in monthly load is 42.9% over gross. This mixed team already shows the pattern that a single mid-level hire hides: the floor lifts the blended rate the moment junior salaries enter the payroll.

What does a team of 10 cost?

A team of ten — four technicians, three accountants, two engineers and one lead — costs about VND 396,262,800 (USD 15,096) a month all-in and about VND 5,061,441,600 (USD 192,817) a year including a 13th-month salary. Gross payroll is VND 275,000,000 a month; contributions add VND 62,510,000, the service fee VND 29,400,000 and VAT VND 29,352,800.

Seven of the ten heads are below the fee-floor salary, so the blended service fee climbs to 10.7% of gross and the all-in load to 44.1% over gross — the heaviest proportional load of the four teams. The reason is composition, not headcount: the team of ten combines a high blended fee with the highest blended contribution rate of any team here that carries junior heads, because it has no manager whose capped contributions would pull that rate down.

What does a team of 25 cost?

A team of twenty-five — twelve technicians, seven accountants, four engineers, one lead and one manager — costs about VND 953,094,600 (USD 36,308) a month all-in and about VND 12,174,991,200 (USD 463,809) a year including a 13th-month salary. Gross payroll is VND 665,000,000 a month; contributions add VND 145,295,000, the service fee VND 72,200,000 and VAT VND 70,599,600.

Nineteen of the twenty-five heads pay the fee floor, so the blended service fee is 10.9% of gross, the highest of the four. The all-in load, at 43.3% over gross, is slightly below the team of ten's, because the lead and the manager add two senior salaries that carry a lighter proportional fee and capped contributions, pulling the blend down a little. The average cost per head is about VND 38,123,784 (USD 1,452) a month on an average gross of VND 26,600,000.

Why does the blended fee rate change with the size of the team?

The blended fee rate changes with the team not because a bigger team is charged a higher percentage, but because the VND 2,600,000 floor and VND 5,200,000 cap apply to each person, so the blended rate depends entirely on how many heads fall below the floor salary or above the cap salary. Eight per cent of gross equals the floor at a gross of VND 32,500,000 and equals the cap at a gross of VND 65,000,000; below the first figure a head pays the floor, above the second it pays the cap, and in between it pays a straight 8%.

In these four teams the mix shifts towards junior salaries as headcount grows, so more heads sit below the floor salary and the blended rate rises from 8.0% to about 10.9%. A senior-heavy team of the same size would move the other way, towards and past the 8% line, as more heads reached the cap. The table below shows the blended rates and the number of floor-bound heads for each team.

Why does a junior-heavy team pay a higher blended fee than a senior-heavy one?

A junior-heavy team pays a higher blended fee because the VND 2,600,000 floor is a much larger share of a small salary than of a large one. On the illustrative salaries the fee is 17.3% of a VND 15,000,000 technician's gross and 10.4% of a VND 25,000,000 accountant's gross, both floor-bound, but only 8.0% of a VND 40,000,000 engineer's and 5.8% of a VND 90,000,000 manager's gross, where the cap applies. Weighted across the team, more small salaries pull the blended rate up.

This is the mirror image of the seniority effect on the individual invoice, where senior hires cost proportionally less per unit of salary. At team level it means the blended fee is a reading of team shape: two teams of the same headcount and the same total payroll can carry different fee percentages if one is built from many junior salaries and the other from a few senior ones. The mechanism behind both the floor and the caps is explained in our article on why senior hires cost less per dollar.

What is the blended all-in uplift over gross for each team size?

The blended all-in uplift over gross — the whole invoice divided by gross payroll, minus one — is 42.0% for the single hire, 42.9% for the team of five, 44.1% for the team of ten and 43.3% for the team of twenty-five. In other words, every one of these teams costs a little over 40% more than its bare payroll once contributions, the service fee and VAT are added, and the exact figure tracks the team's shape rather than its size.

The uplift is highest for the team of ten because it combines a high blended fee with the highest blended contribution rate of the teams that carry junior heads: it has no manager whose capped contributions would dilute the load, so its floor-bound heads and near-full-rate contributions both weigh in. It eases for the team of twenty-five, which is actually more junior on average but whose manager's capped contributions pull the blended contribution rate — and so the uplift — back down. VAT is a constant 7.4% of every invoice, because 8% VAT on a subtotal is always eight parts in one hundred and eight; the movement in the uplift comes from the fee and contribution lines, not the tax.

Does an EOR give volume discounts as headcount grows?

Nhan Kiet does not apply a separate volume discount tier, but the published model already produces a low effective fee per head: because the cap holds every senior head at VND 5,200,000 (about USD 199) and the percentage keeps junior heads modest, the average service fee across these teams is about VND 2,888,000 to VND 3,200,000 (USD 110 to USD 122) a head a month. A flat per-employee fee, by contrast, gives no volume discount at all — it is the same figure at one head or one hundred.

This matters most for Vietnam's typical lower-salary hires. Global platforms publish flat per-employee service fees that run from about USD 99 a month, such as Native Teams, to USD 699, such as Remote, checked 13 September 2026 — none of them a Vietnam-specific figure, and each quoted before country-specific costs. A flat USD 699 service fee is more than the entire gross salary of the illustrative VND 15,000,000 technician, which is about USD 571, whereas a percentage with a floor charges that head VND 2,600,000, about USD 99. The full market comparison, model by model, is in our Vietnam EOR price range by pricing model.

How does the service-fee floor affect small or junior-heavy teams?

The service-fee floor of VND 2,600,000 sets the minimum fee for any head whose gross is below VND 32,500,000, which is where 8% of gross would equal the floor. For a small or junior-heavy team this is the single biggest driver of the blended rate: nineteen of the twenty-five heads in the largest team, seven of ten in the middle team and three of five in the smallest team pay the floor rather than 8%.

The floor is a per-person minimum, not a team minimum, so it does not create a fixed team charge that a bigger team can spread — each junior head simply carries its own VND 2,600,000. A team built entirely of VND 15,000,000 technicians would therefore carry a blended fee of 17.3% of gross, the floor's full weight, while a team built of VND 40,000,000 engineers would carry a flat 8%. Most real teams sit between the two, which is why these illustrative blends land between 10% and 11%.

How do the statutory caps affect senior-heavy teams?

The statutory caps limit how fast the largest line on the invoice, employer contributions, can grow with salary, and they bite only on senior heads. The social, health, occupational-accident and union base is capped at VND 50,600,000 a month and the unemployment-insurance base at VND 106,200,000, so a head earning above those figures pays contributions on the capped base, not on full gross; the service fee caps in parallel at VND 5,200,000 for gross above VND 65,000,000.

In these mostly-junior teams the caps still bite, but only on the senior heads. The team lead on VND 60,000,000, who appears in the teams of five, ten and twenty-five, is already above the VND 50,600,000 social, health, occupational-accident and union base, so the lead's contributions are capped at VND 11,985,000 — an effective 20.0% of gross rather than 23.5%. The manager on VND 90,000,000, in the team of twenty-five, is above every cap: contributions of VND 12,285,000, an effective 13.7% of gross, and a capped fee. Below those salaries every head pays the full 23.5%, which is why the blended contribution rate stays close to it — about 22% across the teams — and would fall further only as more senior salaries were added. A senior-heavy team is where the caps do their work; the arithmetic is set out in our article on why senior hires cost less per dollar.

What does a team cost per year, including 13th-month salary?

Including one 13th-month salary, the four teams cost about VND 727,056,000 (USD 27,697) a year for one hire, VND 2,829,729,600 (USD 107,799) for five, VND 5,061,441,600 (USD 192,817) for ten and VND 12,174,991,200 (USD 463,809) for twenty-five. Each annual figure is twelve monthly invoices plus one 13th-month payment, which most employers in Vietnam pay and which carries no employer statutory contributions.

The 13th-month month is cheaper than an ordinary month because it adds only the extra gross, a small incremental service fee where the doubled pay pushes a head towards its cap, and 8% VAT — no contributions. For the team of ten the 13th-month adds VND 306,288,000 to the year; for the team of twenty-five, VND 737,856,000. The table gives the split.

The mechanics of the 13th-month payment, and which bonuses stay outside the contribution base, are in our guide to the 13th-month salary and Tết bonus.

How much of a team's invoice is the provider's fee versus statutory cost?

The provider's service fee is the smallest of the four invoice lines, at about 6% to 8% of the total invoice (5.6% for the single hire), while statutory employer contributions are about 15% to 16% for the teams and 16.5% for the single hire — around two to three times the fee — gross salary is about 70%, and VAT is a constant 7.4%. In the team of twenty-five, for example, the VND 953,094,600 monthly invoice is VND 665,000,000 of gross, VND 145,295,000 of contributions, VND 72,200,000 of fee and VND 70,599,600 of VAT.

The point for a team budget is that most of what you pay above gross is not the provider's charge but the statutory layer that is identical whoever employs the team, plus VAT that applies to any labour sub-leasing invoice. A negotiation that focuses only on the service fee is arguing over the smallest line. The table shows the split as a share of the invoice.

At what team size does your own entity become cheaper than an EOR?

There is no universal team size at which your own entity becomes cheaper, because it depends on your entity's fixed annual overhead, not on a headcount rule. The only part of the comparison that scales with the team is the EOR service fee, since the statutory contributions are identical either way and the gross salary is the same; so the honest test is the EOR's annual service fee against what an entity of the same size would spend on registration, a registered office, bookkeeping, tax filings, payroll administration and compliance staff.

For these teams the annual service fee alone — the number to weigh against your entity's fixed running cost — is about VND 38,400,000 (USD 1,463) for one hire, VND 189,600,000 (USD 7,223) for five, VND 352,800,000 (USD 13,440) for ten and VND 866,400,000 (USD 33,006) for twenty-five. The break-even point depends on your own overheads, so we do not quote one. An EOR also starts a team in five to seven working days, where an entity takes months.

How do you compare a team's EOR cost against setting up an entity?

Compare the two on the same basis, weighing only the EOR's annual service fee — the per-team figures in the section above — against your entity's fixed annual running costs, because the gross salaries and the statutory contributions are the same whichever route you take. That turns the decision into a fixed cost against a per-head cost, plus the things that are not money: an entity gives you a permanent legal presence and full control, while an EOR gives speed and no standing overhead.

The full method, including what belongs in an entity's fixed running cost, is set out in the entity section of our EOR pricing breakdown for Vietnam; our due-diligence checklist for choosing an EOR covers what to verify in a provider, and our payroll outsourcing service is the option for teams that already have an entity but want the payroll run for them.

Which team costs are not on the monthly invoice?

Several team costs never appear on the monthly invoice and have to be budgeted separately: the 13th-month salary, which lands in one month rather than spread across twelve; any untaken annual leave paid out when someone leaves; severance for foreign nationals; and one-off items such as recruitment, equipment and, for foreign hires, work permits. The recurring monthly invoice is the run rate; these are what turn a run rate into a first-year total.

The 13th-month is the largest of the off-invoice items and is covered in our guide to the 13th-month salary and Tết bonus; for the full cash-versus-budget-line split at individual level, see our total annual cost of a hire by role. It is customary market practice rather than a legal requirement, but candidates expect it and it should be in any team budget.

How does adding a foreign national change a team's cost?

Adding a foreign national changes a team's cost in two offsetting ways: the monthly invoice is slightly lower than for a Vietnamese hire on the same salary, because foreign nationals pay employer contributions at 22.5% rather than 23.5% and carry no unemployment insurance, but a severance accrual of half a month's salary per year of service and a one-off work permit sit outside the invoice and make the foreign hire more expensive overall. Vietnamese employees do not attract that severance accrual, because their unemployment insurance offsets it.

So one foreign national on a team costs a little less each month but more across a full engagement once the exit cost is counted. The rules on foreign-worker insurance, severance and work permits are in our guide to work permits and social insurance for foreign staff, and the single-hire figures, invoice by invoice, are in our total annual cost of a hire by role.

How do you budget for a team that will grow during the year?

Budget a growing team between the annual invoice for its starting size and the annual invoice for its ending size, pro-rated by the month each hire joins, rather than applying the full-year figure to a headcount you will not reach until December. Because the EOR fee scales per head and each new hire can start within five to seven working days, adding people raises the invoice smoothly, month by month, with no step-change in fixed cost of the kind an entity would face.

A team that starts the year at five and ends at twenty-five, for example, sits somewhere between the VND 2.83 billion (USD 107,799) annual invoice of a team of five and the VND 12.17 billion (USD 463,809) of a team of twenty-five, weighted by when each hire arrives. The practical method is to add each planned hire's monthly invoice from its expected start month and sum across the year, then add one 13th-month payment per head and the off-invoice items. Model each hire at its real salary, because a team average understates the fee on junior heads and overstates it on senior ones.

How do you work out your own team's EOR cost?

To work out your own team's EOR cost, price each person on the four lines exactly as set out in our EOR pricing breakdown for Vietnam — gross, employer contributions within the VND 50,600,000 and VND 106,200,000 caps, the 8% service fee within its VND 2,600,000 floor and VND 5,200,000 cap, and 8% VAT on the three together — then sum across the team, multiply by twelve and add one 13th-month salary per head. The one team-level rule is never to price the team off an average salary, because the floor and caps make an average misleading: model each distinct salary and add the results.

You do not have to do the arithmetic by hand. Our free Vietnam salary calculator applies both contribution caps and returns the employer cost at any salary; run it once per distinct salary in your team and add the results.

A checklist for budgeting a team through an EOR in Vietnam

• Price each person separately at a real salary, then add them up; never price the team off an average, because the floor and caps distort an average.
• Use the four lines per head: gross, contributions at 23.5% or 22.5% within the caps, the 8% fee within its floor and cap, and 8% VAT on all three.
• Expect a blended service fee between 8% and 11% of gross, higher for junior-heavy teams because the VND 2,600,000 floor weighs more on small salaries.
• Apply both contribution caps per person: VND 50,600,000 for social, health, occupational-accident and union, and VND 106,200,000 for unemployment insurance.
• Add one 13th-month salary per head to reach an annual figure, with no contributions on it.
• Charge 8% VAT on the whole invoice, and plan for 10% from 2027 unless the reduced rate is extended.
• Add the off-invoice block: recruitment, equipment, untaken-leave payouts on exit, and for foreign nationals a work permit and a half-month-per-year severance accrual.
• For the entity comparison, weigh only the annual service fee against your entity's fixed overhead, since contributions are identical either way.
• For a team that grows during the year, budget each hire's monthly invoice from its start month rather than applying a full-year figure to a year-end headcount.

Sources and legal basis

• Law on Social Insurance 2024, No. 41/2024/QH15, in force from 1 July 2025: contribution base and the twenty-times-reference-level cap (Article 31).
• Decree 158/2025/ND-CP: what is inside and outside the contribution base, including bonuses (Article 7).
• Decree 161/2026/ND-CP: reference level VND 2,530,000 and the resulting contribution cap of VND 50,600,000 a month from 1 July 2026.
• Decree 293/2025/ND-CP: regional minimum wages from 1 January 2026 (Region I VND 5,310,000), which set the separate VND 106,200,000 unemployment-insurance cap.
• Law on Employment 2025, No. 74/2025/QH15: unemployment insurance, its separate cap, and its application to Vietnamese citizens only.
• Trade Union Law 2024, No. 50/2024/QH15: the 2% trade-union levy.
• Resolution 204/2025/QH15 and Decree 174/2025/ND-CP: 8% VAT until 31 December 2026.
• Labour Code 2019, No. 45/2019/QH14, and Decree 145/2020/ND-CP: bonuses (Article 104), severance (Articles 46 and 47; Decree 145 Article 8) and labour sub-leasing.
• Decree 219/2025/ND-CP: work permits for foreign nationals.
• Salary bands are illustrative round figures used in our by-role cost guide; the underlying ranges come from named, dated sources cited there, including the ITviec Vietnam IT Salary and Recruitment Market Report 2025–2026, the Talentnet Vietnam factory-worker analysis and the Navigos Group 2026 Salary and Labor Market Report.
• Competitor service fees are the flat per-employee rates published on each provider's own pricing page and read on 13 September 2026: Native Teams from USD 99 and Remote at USD 699; neither is a Vietnam-specific figure.

Nhan Kiet has run payroll and employment in Vietnam since April 2009, manages more than 40,000 workers for over 500 client companies across 34 provinces, and holds labour sub-leasing licence No. 15/2019/SHCM. It publishes its EOR price — 8% of gross with a VND 2,600,000 floor and VND 5,200,000 cap, no deposit and no onboarding, offboarding, conversion or FX fee — rather than quoting on request, and staff can start within 5 to 7 working days. You can model a team of any shape with our free Vietnam salary calculator, read the full fee mechanics in our EOR pricing breakdown for Vietnam, see the cost of a single hire in our total annual cost of a hire by role, and learn what to check in a provider from our due-diligence checklist for choosing an EOR.

The figures and rules in this article reflect Vietnamese law in force as of September 2026 and are general information, not legal or tax advice for a specific case. Team compositions and salary figures are illustrative round numbers, not quotes; contribution rates, caps, tax rules and competitor prices change, and the law can be amended, so confirm the treatment for your own situation before relying on it.

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