Why We Built Kontrable

The problem

In July 2024, we started thinking about contractor management. We'd been working with contractors at Tarkle—designers, developers, writers—and the tools available made no sense.

Contractors aren't employees. They have their own bank accounts, Wise, PayPal, or Payoneer. They manage their own taxes. They work for multiple clients. They don't need payroll processing, benefits administration, or local entity setup.

But the tools in the market were built for exactly that. EOR platforms—Deel, Remote, Oyster, Rippling—charge $49–$325 per contractor per month. For 10 contractors, that's $490–$3,250/month. You're paying for employment infrastructure you don't need.

The alternative was manual management. Spreadsheets. Invoice emails scattered across threads. Payment details copied into bank transfers, Wise, or PayPal. Screenshots sent back as proof. Tax forms somewhere. Accountants piecing it together at tax time.

There was no middle ground—professional contractor management without employee baggage.

The real problems

Invoice chaos. Contractors send invoices via email. You see them, mean to pay them, forget. They follow up. You search, copy payment details, send proof, forget to log it. At 10 minutes per invoice, a small business wastes 3–8 hours monthly just moving money around.

Compliance anxiety. Every contractor hire: "Am I doing this right? Do I need a contract? What about tax forms?" You Google templates, ask for W-9s, put them somewhere. At tax time, you're searching through emails.

Payment delays. 71% of freelancers report late payments. Most businesses aren't intentionally late—invoices get lost, you forget who got paid, you sent payment but forgot to tell them. Trust erodes.

The spreadsheet mess. Names, email addresses, payment methods (bank? Wise? PayPal?), rates, schedules, last payment dates, total paid this year. Someone sorts one column. You have three versions. Neither is correct.

These aren't payroll problems. They're coordination and documentation problems.

What we're building

You use your own payment accounts. We're not your bank. You already have bank accounts, Wise, PayPal, Payoneer. They're good at moving money. We organize who to pay, track that you paid them, keep records for accounting. Your money stays in your account until you send it.

Built for contractors only. No payroll processing. No benefits administration. No local entity setup. Just organize, track, pay, document. Contractors verify identity, add payout details, you create invoices, approve and pay from your account. Everything tracked and documented.

Contractors are yours, not ours. On Deel, contractors get a Deel account. Their data lives in Deel. With Kontrable, contractors access a portal on your domain with your branding. They're not Kontrable users—they're your users. You own that relationship. If you cancel, you export all your data.

The workflow

Add contractors and send invites. Contractors verify identity through Veriff, add payout details, sign contracts. Once active, create payment requests. Approve, pay from your bank, Wise, PayPal, or Payoneer, mark it paid. They confirm receipt. Everything tracked, documented, ready for accounting.

No email. No spreadsheets. No forgotten payments. No scrambling at tax time.

Pricing that makes sense

$49/month for up to 10 contractors. $99/month for up to 25. No per-contractor fees. No transfer fees. No hidden costs.

Compare that to Deel ($49–$325 per contractor) or Remote ($29–$99 per contractor). For 10 contractors, they charge $490–$3,250/month. We charge $49. You save $441–$3,201/month, or $5,292–$38,412/year.

What we solve

Contractor management system: Identities, contracts, documents, payment history—one dashboard instead of spreadsheets and emails.

Invoice management: Create, review, approve invoices for one-time, recurring, or milestone work—all in one system.

Global payment tracking: Pay from bank, Wise, PayPal, Payoneer. Kontrable logs it, tracks it, shows both sides status in real-time.

Branded contractor portal: Your contractors see your logo, colors, domain at every step. Full white-label control.

Trust and verification: Identity verification through Veriff for individuals (KYC) and businesses (KYB). Establish trust from day one.

Individual and business contractors: Manage freelancers and service companies on the same platform.

Contractor job board: Post jobs that auto-appear on Google Jobs and LinkedIn. Applications come straight in.

1099 support for US contractors: Collect W-9s during onboarding, track payments, generate export data at year-end. You file with IRS or give to accountant.

Who this is for

Design agencies with freelance designers and developers. Remote startups with contract developers. Production companies with project-based crews. Consulting firms with specialized contractors.

Any business managing 3–25 independent contractors and paying them from their own accounts.

The journey

We decided to build Kontrable in July 2024, based on our experiences working with contractors and using large EOR platforms. We put it in our pipeline but waited until we matured in building solutions at Tarkle—after launching Sharebrand and Bripes.

Today, we're in private beta with design partners—agencies, startups, consulting firms managing 5–30 contractors each. We're refining the product based on real feedback from real users.

If you're managing contractors and tired of overpaying for employee infrastructure or drowning in spreadsheets, we're building this for you.