Lano is a powerful payroll solution that makes it easy for organizations to pay employees and contractors across the globe. The platform simplifies cross-border payments, allowing businesses to hire and scale internationally while maintaining compliance and paying workers in their local currencies. Lano also offers employer of record (EOR) services as a more cost-effective solution than setting up local entities.
Read on for our in-depth review of Lano to see if it’s right for your business.
Who Lano Is For
If you’re currently using multiple tools, services, and disconnected mechanisms to pay employees and contractors worldwide, you can use Lano’s global payroll consolidation to simplify your payroll operations while staying compliant.
Say you have overseas developers that you’ve always wanted to hire as full-time employees. Lano can make this possible.
Rather than being forced to only hire within certain geographical borders for fear of the complexities of onboarding international talent, Lano makes it possible to hire, retain, and pay the best workers from anywhere in the world. As an integrated payments solution with employer of record services, Lano lets you recruit and pay talent in over 170 countries without having to set up a legal entity in each one.
Lano is best for fast-growing businesses that want to scale internationally without limits. Organizations that want to set up payroll in new countries, relocate employees, and turn contractors into full-timers can count on Lano to deliver what they need to succeed.
Lano Pricing
Lano has several different solutions to accommodate different global business needs.
The core payroll consolidation platform costs just $2.76 per employee per month, and it includes Lano’s embedded payments solution. The platform makes it easy to run and automate payroll for all entities and teams from a single source of truth.
Many businesses using Lano will also be relying on its multi-country payroll service. This starts at just over $33 per employee per month if you have six or more employees and around $330 per month for any group of five or fewer employees.
There’s also a $1,100 setup fee for each payroll provider that you use with the Lano platform. Due to the high cost, we don’t recommend Lano’s multi-country payroll service for micro-organizations of five or fewer.
Lano’s employer of record service starts at just over $550 per employee per month. While the price tag might seem high compared to Lano’s other options, it’s actually fairly competitive with other global EOR services on the market. More importantly, it’s also cheaper than having to set up and run a local business entity in every country where you want to hire employees.
For contractor management, plans start at $22 per contractor per month. This includes free local payments in over 50 currencies and compliant contracts for over 170 countries worldwide.
The great part about Lano’s pricing structure is it’s billed per payee per month, based on where the person is located and how they’re classified. You can mix and match your needs based on your organization’s combination of existing full-time employees, new hires in other countries, and contractors. Or, take advantage of Lano to easily convert contractors into full-fledged employees.
Lano is built to scale, with costs based on how many employees or contractors you’re paying each month. For a limited time, you can get three months for free when you sign up for Lano’s payroll consolidation.
Pros and Cons of Lano
Our research team conducted a thorough assessment of Lano and its array of service offerings. First, we looked at real user reviews from businesses using Lano. Then we compared Lano’s features and services to other leading payroll solutions on the market to identify the aspects where it rose above the pack (and where it fell short).
The following are the leading virtues and flaws that we found during our research. Use these to guide your purchasing decision and help you determine if Lano is right for your business.
Lano Pros
- Simplified global payroll: Lano unifies the way that businesses pay employees and contractors in different countries and through various subsidiaries. If you’re using multiple tools and services to run payroll, you can turn to Lano as a unified solution.
- Truly global: Many other payroll systems market themselves as global providers, but only offer solutions in a handful of countries. Lano is an exception, with the ability to pay employees and contractors in over 170 countries and over 50 international currencies.
- Turn contractors into employees: If you have contract workers in multiple countries, you can use Lano to onboard them and convert them into full-time employees while staying compliant. You’ll even have a dedicated point of contact at Lano to guide you through the process.
- Straightforward pricing structure: Lano’s pricing is easy to grasp. With the exception of currency conversions, you’re paying a fixed cost per employee or per contractor each month, based on their classifications.
- Local benefits and compliance: Lano ensures that your organization stays compliant with payroll and labor laws in each location you’re paying someone. In fact, Lano guarantees that every employee will receive the necessary local benefits in their area—which both keeps talent happy and protects your business.
- Easy salary management: There are many one-off circumstances that can impact someone’s paycheck. Lano makes it easy for payroll teams to accommodate situations like travel expenses, bonuses, sick leave, overtime pay, and more, in addition to regular deductions and tax calculations.
- Hire top-level talent worldwide: Lano removes barriers from the global hiring process. Businesses can use the platform to tap into new employment markets where it may have previously been too difficult to hire.
Lano Cons
- Not a full-service HR solution: While Lano is great for international payroll and compliance, it’s not an all-in-one HR tool. You’ll still need to use another system for dedicated HR functions like time-off management, applicant tracking, HRIS data, and employee self-service.
- Lack of consulting options: Lano is more of a payroll platform than a service provider, which means it doesn’t have the same payroll and risk management consulting options that you’ll find from some other providers on the market.
- Expensive for small teams: For businesses with five or fewer employees, multi-country payroll solutions start at over $300 per employee, plus a one-time setup fee of $1,100 per provider. The rate drops quite a bit for six or more employees, but the monthly bill is tough to justify for startups with five or fewer employees.
- No proven track record: Lano is trusted by over 2,000 organizations worldwide, but it’s a pretty recent arrival to the scene. Founded in 2018, Lano hasn’t yet proven it will stand the test of time like some of its peers that have been around for decades.
- Limited integrations: Currently, Lano has just over a dozen native integrations with third-party accounting, collaboration, and electronic signature tools. You’ll have to request access to Lano’s API if you want to set up custom integrations.
- Unclear exchange rates: Lano claims that businesses save an average of between 2% and 4% on currency conversions when using Lano Wallet for payments. But you won’t know your exact exchange rate until it’s time to actually make those payments.
Lano Review: The Details
Below, we’ll take a closer look at Lano’s key features and offerings. You’ll learn more about what service offering does, the potential use cases for each, and how included features can benefit your business. We’ll also give you our candid take on what we think about them.
Employer of Record (EOR)
Lano’s employer of record (EOR) service makes it possible for organizations to hire employees internationally without having to set up a local entity in each country where they have an employee.
This is a simple and more cost-effective way to manage global payroll when you need to pay people in regions where you don’t have a local presence.
If you’re planning to set up a new manufacturing facility or a satellite office with hundreds of employees, then an EOR isn’t necessary for you. In this case, you’ll be better off just establishing your local presence through traditional means.
But, if you just want to test new markets or quickly hire a dozen new employees, you can rely on Lano’s employer of record service to create a frictionless experience.
Some key benefits of this service include:
- Simplified local setup
- Local HR support
- Compliance handled for you
- Global onboarding
Lano’s EOR experts can also handle employment contracts on your behalf, so you won’t have to keep track of the various legal stipulations that impact hiring across borders.
Compared to other EOR solutions on the market, Lano is definitely a top option to consider. Best of all, you’ll be able to pay new hires through Lano once they’re onboarded because you’re getting the EOR service and a global payroll solution under one umbrella.
Multi-Country Payroll
For organizations utilizing an international workforce, Lano is an excellent solution for handling global payroll. In addition to Lano’s own robust and capable platform, you can work with its local partner network to run payroll in over 170 countries worldwide.
With multi-country payroll, your organization has access to the Lano Wallet. This simplifies your payment infrastructure by allowing you to manage all payments from a single account. Use it to send bulk payments in multiple currencies to people all over the globe with a single click.
You can also use Lano Wallet to transfer funds between different entities—ensuring compliance and saving money on exchange fees. This helps ensure that your employees in certain countries are always being paid by the correct entity.
Additional standout features include:
- Ability to use your own payroll providers with the Lano platform
- Pay international contractors and freelancers
- Taxes, social security, and mandatory deductions handled for you
- Know the exchange rate before you send money
Overall, this is a simple and low-cost way to manage payroll for remote teams that are dispersed across the globe.
The one downside of this service is the costly setup. Lano charges a setup fee of around $1,100 for each provider. While it’s only a one-time cost, it can add up quickly if you’re, say, using nine different providers for nine separate countries where you have talent residing.
Global Payroll Consolidation
Lano is designed to simplify payroll operations of nearly any scale. The global payroll consolidation service is built specifically for organizations that are relying on multiple payroll providers and a broad array of entities to pay employees in different countries.
For example, maybe you’re using an all-in-one HR platform to facilitate domestic payroll, but you’re using three different tools to pay contractors and a separate payroll provider for each of the six overseas countries where you have other employees.
Rather than keeping track of 10 different systems, Lano unifies everything under one roof. You’re getting:
- Consolidated payroll reporting
- Automatic syncing between HCM and HRIS systems in all countries
- Fast payroll cycle approvals from a single screen
- Cross-border payments without high foreign exchange fees
- Standardized gross-to-net data
- Centralized documentation for paystubs and other records
This is where Lano really stands out above other payroll systems on the market. It’s one of the best ways to get deeper payroll insights while simplifying the way complicated pay runs get managed.
You’ll also be able to add new payroll vendors or swap them with ease. Rather than relying on unorganized spreadsheets and disconnected processes, Lano’s payroll consolidation platform will make your life much easier.
Contractor Management
In addition to its robust payroll solutions, Lano can also simplify the way your organization pays and manages contractors. With over 50 currencies supported, it’s an easy way to pay contractors and freelancers no matter where they’re located.
Here are some of the top benefits of using Lano to pay contractors:
- Pay contractors in their local currencies
- Free local payments in over 50 currencies
- Compliant contracts in over 170 countries
- Simplified invoice approval flows
- Convert contractors to full employees
You can also use Lano to standardize how contractors bill your organization for services. For example, you can give them invoice templates or timesheet templates to fill in, making it easier for you to keep track of everything internally.
Lano also helps you set up contractor agreements to ensure compliance based on the contractor’s location and the regulations relevant to it.
Lano for contractor management is a no-brainer if you’re already using or planning to use Lano for global payroll, EOR, or payroll consolidation. It’s also a great investment if your long-term plan is to start with contractors and eventually transition those workers to becoming full-time employees.
Employee Relocation and Retention
Running payroll in different countries is a challenge in itself. If you’re planning to relocate employees, though, it opens up a whole new area of risk.
Fortunately, Lano can help. In addition to hiring and retaining your remote workforce, they’ll also help you relocate staff if necessary.
Lano provides a range of tools to help make this process go as smoothly as possible, such as:
- Localized benefits packages
- Visa and immigration support
- Customizable and compliant contracts
- Employment cost calculators
- Compliant quote requests
- Salary and expense management tools
Let’s say someone starts as a contractor in Italy and you plan to onboard them as a full-time employee in the future. But then, you open a new office in France and want this rock star to be there in-person as a manager. Lano helps with each stage, no matter how complicated the moving parts get—ensuring compliance through every transition.
Final Verdict
Overall, we recommend Lano to any business that needs to pay employees and contractors in multiple countries around the world. If you’re currently using multiple payroll providers for different entities and workforce classifications, you can use Lano’s platform to consolidate everything into a single source of truth.
From its robust software to its employer of record, contractor, and multi-country payroll services, Lano is definitely a leading option for international brands to consider. Book a demo to get started.