For companies · 7 min read
What it really costs to hire a German, Swedish, Danish or Dutch speaker in 2026
Full employment cost at home vs a native speaker on a B2B contract abroad, with four sourced examples. The saving ranged from 41% to 58% a month.
By the RemoteAbroad team ·
In short: employing a native German, Swedish, Danish or Dutch speaker at home costs gross salary plus employer contributions. The same native speaker living in Malta, Lisbon or Thailand on a B2B contract cost 41–58% less per month in our four examples. Below are the numbers, what they include, and where the comparison has limits.
The four examples
Two of these are placements we made (proven cases). Two are researched market examples using typical pay abroad. All figures are per month.
| Role | At home (employed) | Abroad (B2B invoice) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| German account manager · proven case | Munich: €5,450 | Malta: €2,300 | −58% |
| Swedish junior sales rep · proven case | Stockholm: €4,500 | Thailand: €2,000 | −56% |
| Danish customer support · market example | Copenhagen: €4,340 | Malta: €2,330 | −46% |
| Dutch brand manager · market example | Amsterdam: €4,970 | Lisbon: €2,920 | −41% |
“At home” means gross salary plus employer contributions. “Abroad” means the monthly B2B invoice. Sources: taxmaro.com, indkomsten.dk, boundlesshq.com, jobhound.mt, nationaleberoepengids.nl, deel.com, thedigitalbloom.com and wise.com.
Why employing at home costs more than the salary
The number on the contract is never the number on your books. Every country adds employer costs on top of gross pay:
- Sweden: the standard employer social contribution (arbetsgivaravgift) is 31.42% of gross salary. A Stockholm salary of about €3,400 a month becomes about €4,500 once contributions are added.
- Germany: employers pay roughly half of pension, health, unemployment and long-term care insurance, plus accident insurance. Together that comes to roughly a fifth on top of gross salary.
- The Netherlands: on top of employer premiums, Dutch employees are entitled to a holiday allowance (vakantiegeld) of at least 8% of their salary.
- Denmark: employer social charges are low, but salaries are among the highest in Europe, so the total is still high.
- Norway (not in the table): employers pay national insurance contributions (arbeidsgiveravgift) of 14.1% in the standard zone, plus holiday pay (feriepenger) of at least 10.2%.
Our comparison stops there. Benefits, equipment, office space, recruiting time and management overhead are left out on both sides, so the real gap for an office-based hire is often wider.
Why the same person costs less abroad
Three things drive the difference:
- No home-country employer contributions. On a B2B contract the person invoices you and handles their own tax and social security where they live.
- Local living costs. Someone living in Malta, Lisbon or Chiang Mai doesn’t need a Munich or Stockholm salary to live well, and the pay reflects that.
- Motivation, not a discount. These are people who chose to live abroad. The job pays for the life they want, so they want to keep it. That isn’t a number in the table, but it shows up in retention.
What the comparison doesn’t show
We’d rather you trust the numbers than be surprised later, so here are the limits:
- Your role will differ. Seniority, industry and negotiation all move salaries. Treat the table as a direction, not a quote. Our savings calculator lets you start from your own number.
- An Employer of Record adds a fee. If you’d rather employ the person than contract them, an Employer of Record (EOR) handles local employment for a monthly fee. That reduces the saving. We explain the trade-off in B2B contractor or Employer of Record?.
- Contractor rules apply. A B2B contract has to match how the work really happens. If the role looks like employment in your country, take advice or use an EOR.
- Working hours. Hires in Thailand or Bali are five to seven hours ahead of Central Europe. Many roles work fine with a partial overlap, but you agree it per job.
What about the recruitment fee?
Hiring at home through an agency usually adds 15–30% of first-year salary, which is 2–3 months’ salary or more (sources: hiring-hub.com, tb-group.se, recruitmentcenter.nl). RemoteAbroad charges about 4–8% of a first-year salary at home, split into four payments of 25% over the first three months. If the hire leaves, the payments stop. More in recruitment agency fees in Europe, explained.
A quick worked example
Say you need one German-speaking account manager for a year.
- Employed in Munich: €5,450 × 12 = €65,400 a year, plus an agency fee if you use one.
- B2B from Malta: €2,300 × 12 = €27,600 a year, plus our fee of at most €2,300, about 4% of the Munich salary.
That’s a difference of €37,800 a year for one person in this proven case. With an EOR the difference is smaller but usually still significant.
When hiring at home is the better choice
Hiring locally still makes sense when a role needs to be in the office, when local licensing requires it, or when very close collaboration in your time zone is essential. For customer-facing roles that are done on calls and in tools, like sales, account management, customer success, support and marketing, location matters much less than language.
Next steps
- Try the savings calculator with your own numbers.
- See how pricing works.
- Or grab a 20-minute call and tell us about the role.
Quick answers
in short.
How much cheaper is a native speaker who lives abroad?
In our four examples the monthly cost was 41% to 58% lower: for example €2,300 a month for a German account manager in Malta on a B2B contract, against €5,450 a month to employ the same role in Munich.
What is included in the cost of an employee at home?
Gross salary plus the employer’s social contributions, such as the Swedish arbetsgivaravgift of 31.42% or the roughly one-fifth employer share of German social insurance. Benefits, equipment and office space come on top and are not in our comparison.
Does an Employer of Record change the maths?
Yes. If you employ someone abroad through an Employer of Record, it charges its own monthly fee, which reduces the saving. A B2B contract has no such fee.