For a café or retailer already using Square, payroll starts with the shift: hours worked, tips earned and the amount each person should receive. Square Payroll connects those inputs to the pay run by importing timecards and tips from Square POS.
Hiring your first employee abroad creates a different question: who will legally employ that person? Borderless AI's EOR service addresses that need where you do not have your own local entity. That overseas hire may justify adding an employment service while keeping the US payroll workflow your store already uses.
What changes between the two?
Square's strength is the path from hours to payroll
Square's full-service plan includes timecard imports, direct-tip importing, overtime calculations and multiple pay rates. That combination matters when the same person works different roles, or when tips are part of every payroll run. It gives a Square business a concrete reason to keep payroll close to its existing staff tools.
Domestic growth does not automatically mean moving off Square. It supports payroll tax calculations and filings across 50 states and DC, including adding work locations for remote employees. Its help page also identifies limits: it does not support paying one employee working in multiple tax jurisdictions, or handling multiple EINs within one payroll account.
Those are useful checks for a store group adding locations. Ask whether employees move between jurisdictions and whether each location belongs to the same employer. An international hiring service would not, by itself, solve those US payroll requirements.
Does Square Payroll work in Canada or the UK?
Square Payroll is a US service. Its current terms restrict use to the United States and require a linked, verified, ACH-enabled US business bank account. Do not treat access to other Square products as access to Canadian or UK payroll.
For an employee abroad, establish the employment arrangement before choosing how to process pay. Borderless AI's employer of record service covers employment agreements, onboarding, payroll, taxes and benefits while the customer directs day-to-day work. Confirm availability for the particular country and role before making an offer.
If your company already has the appropriate local employer infrastructure, the discussion may instead be about global payroll. EOR supplies an employer; payroll processes pay for an employment arrangement. Borderless offers both service scopes, so the right conversation starts with the worker's situation.
Can Square pay international contractors?
Square's contractor service supports 1099 payments, imports contractor hours and prepares and files Form 1099-NEC. That is useful for a business paying US contractors alongside its local operations.
It is not an international contractor payment service. Square's staff response explicitly says international contractor payments are unsupported. A lower-priced contractor plan also does not answer an employee's need for a legal employer. Decide the working relationship first, then compare the appropriate service.
How does pricing compare?
Square's published payroll pricing is $35 per month plus $6 per person paid for full-service payroll. Contractor-only payroll costs $6 per person paid per month without that base fee. Ten people paid on the full-service plan therefore produce a $95 monthly subscription before applicable extras. Prices checked October 19, 2026.
The plans include unlimited monthly pay runs. Health insurance and retirement benefits are add-ons, and mailed tax forms carry an additional fee. Include those items when estimating your actual bill.
For Borderless, request service pricing for the country and employment arrangement. Keep the service fee separate from salary, employer contributions and benefits when comparing the total budget. A payroll subscription and an EOR arrangement purchase different responsibilities, so their headline prices cannot settle the decision.
Should you replace Square or add Borderless?
If US payroll is working, an overseas hire does not require moving every cashier or server to a different system. Keeping Square for that team and evaluating Borderless for the overseas employee can preserve a useful local workflow.
Before adding a second service, agree who approves each pay cycle, handles employee changes and brings both sets of employment costs into accounting. For a US-only team seeking different payroll features, start with a broader payroll software comparison. For a hire who needs a local legal employer abroad, assess EOR availability and terms for that specific role.