When a remote company grows, it suddenly finds itself hiring remote talent in different countries at the same time. At this point, the best strategy to scale without friction is to look for a provider that takes care of purchasing, delivering, and retrieving hardware in all countries. The options that usually appear are First Plug, Deel IT, Workwize, Allwhere, and GroWrk.
They all basically promise the same thing: global coverage, centralized platform, everything resolved from a dashboard. But when you start to dig deeper, "global coverage" does not mean the same thing to every provider, and that difference is what you need to know to decide which provider to choose according to your needs.
This article compares First Plug with the four providers that appear most in this conversation (Deel IT, Workwize, Allwhere, and GroWrk) across the three pillars that actually determine which one is right for you: who actually operates in your country, how pricing works when headcount is not linear, and whether you are buying a platform or adding a team.
Remote hardware management: The set of processes covering the acquisition, configuration, delivery, support, inventory, and retrieval of devices in distributed teams. In LATAM, the provider's actual operations in each country is the factor that impacts times, costs, and troubleshooting the most. |
Who they are
Deel IT
It is the hardware management module of Deel, the global HR, payroll, and compliance platform. It offers Device Lifecycle Management (DLM): purchasing or leasing equipment, configuration, shipping, support, repairs, and secure retrieval during offboarding, with coverage in over 130 countries. It integrates natively with the rest of Deel's tools (HR, payroll, access management) and with third-party MDMs.
Workwize
An IT asset management platform (procurement, deployment, tracking, and retrieval) for remote and hybrid teams, with deliveries in over 100 countries. It integrates with HR systems (HRIS), Active Directory, MDM, and tools like Slack or MS Teams. Designed mainly for companies with 150+ employees, although it also works with smaller teams if they are completely remote.
Allwhere
An IT equipment procurement and retrieval company for remote and hybrid work, featuring a central dashboard that integrates HRIS, MDM, and iPaaS. Founded in 2021, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. Its direct operations are concentrated in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Additionally, it lists ten Latin American countries on its website.
GroWrk
A software platform for IT asset management (procurement, deployment, tracking, support, retrieval, and disposal) for distributed teams, with coverage in over 150 countries across LATAM, EMEA, APAC, and North America. Founded in 2019, headquartered in Los Angeles, United States. It offers integrations with MDM.
First Plug
A company specialized exclusively in hardware management for remote teams, with its own operations in Latin America. It manages the acquisition, configuration, delivery, support, and offboarding of devices for over 100 companies in more than 170 countries. Founded in Argentina in 2020, it is bootstrapped and an official Apple Reseller in Argentina.
1. Who actually operates in each country?
Saying that a provider "operates in a country" can mean very different things: own infrastructure, a local partner, third-party logistics, or simply geographical presence on the website. This is one of the key differences to keep in mind, and the best choice will depend on where your team is distributed.
Deel IT covers 130 countries, although the depth of that coverage is not uniform. For teams in Europe or the United States, the operation is usually solid. For teams concentrated in Latin American countries, it is worth asking precisely how direct that coverage is in each specific market.
Workwize has a presence in more than 100 countries, but in Latin America that presence relies mainly on local partners.
Allwhere controls the entire chain within its three direct market operations (the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union). Outside of these, including the ten Latin American countries it lists, it relies on regional vendors. This adds a layer of margin to the cost of the equipment and reduces visibility of the order at the moment it is handed over to the partner.
GroWrk maintains a real operation in Mexico and other key markets, and is one of the few providers that placed Latin America at the center of its proposal from the beginning. Outside of those core markets, however, management can also depend on local intermediaries.
First Plug has its own operations in Latin America: it does not work with subcontracting partners, but instead directly manages logistics in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and the rest of the region, with real knowledge of customs, delivery times, and local providers in each country. Furthermore, it reaches over 170 countries worldwide.
The difference between these five providers is not in how many countries they list on their site, but in how many of those countries they operate directly. Having own operations means a single organization in charge, with real on-the-ground knowledge and clear responsibility when something goes wrong. Every intermediary added to the chain (a local partner, a regional vendor) adds coordination time, reduces visibility of the shipment, and dilutes who is responsible if something gets stuck.
2. How does pricing behave when headcount is non-linear?
One month six people join the team. The next, four are offboarded. Most pricing models in this market were not designed to absorb that variability without generating friction.
Deel IT has a tiered structure: the base plan includes inventory features at no additional cost, but complete lifecycle management (setup, support, retrieval, replenishment) starts at USD 37 per device per month. For a company with 50 active devices, this represents USD 1,850 monthly just in management, not counting hardware. Additionally, enterprise users report that add-ons pile up and that the exchange rate spread is not always transparent.
Workwize charges per active seat. When multiple employees are offboarded in the same month, those devices continue to count on the invoice until they are formally processed in the platform. When hiring in blocks, the cost increases immediately, without any buffer for amortization.
Allwhere works under a pay-per-use model, with no fixed subscription fee, although it does charge service fees for procurement, storage, and retrieval. It does not publish rates openly; the process requires a custom quote.
GroWrk uses a subscription model per device, billed in US dollars with a structure designed for companies in the United States or Europe. For a startup operating in Mexican pesos, Brazilian reals, or Colombian pesos, this adds an additional cost derived from exchange rate fluctuations.
First Plug does not charge a monthly fee per device. Its model is direct purchase: the company owns the hardware from day one, with no minimum purchase requirements and without a recurring fee that, after 24 or 36 months, ends up exceeding the direct purchase price.
None of the competitors deliberately hide their pricing structure, and each model makes sense for a different company profile: the pay-per-seat model suits teams with stable headcount who value predictability, the tiered structure suits those who already centralize their entire HR operation on the same platform, and the pay-per-service model suits teams with a constant volume of shipments and retrievals. First Plug chooses a fourth path (direct purchase with no recurring fee), designed for when headcount does not follow a predictable curve and the priority is not to pay for what is not used. What the other four share is that they assume, in one way or another, that headcount moves in a predictable manner—a condition that is rarely met in growing startups.
3. An operating platform or a team that resolves?
This is the most difficult difference to represent in a table, but it is also the one most felt on the day something gets complicated.
Deel IT is a large-scale platform: it serves 40,000 clients and manages 1.5 million workers globally. That scale solves many problems well. For a specific issue in a specific country, it means being just one more in an operation of that size, with the response times that entails.
Workwize and GroWrk are designed to scale through structured support workflows. They work well when there is an internal IT department capable of operating the tool autonomously.
Allwhere solidly handles procurement and onboarding in its core markets, with native integrations to BambooHR and Workday that simplify the workflow. It is a solid option for teams concentrated in North America and Europe.
First Plug functions as a team that knows its clients' operations because it works with them directly. For a company equipping its first employee in Brazil or handling an urgent offboarding in Peru, the difference between opening a ticket and talking to someone who already knows that operation is usually what ends up mattering.
Comparison table
Situation | Deel IT | Workwize | Allwhere | GroWrk | First Plug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Already using the platform for payroll/HR | ✓ Deel | — | ✓ BambooHR/Workday | — | — |
Team concentrated in Latin America | Variable coverage | Via local partners | Via regional vendors | ✓ Strong in Mexico/Central America | ✓ Own operation throughout the region |
Team concentrated in US/UK/EU | ✓ Solid coverage | ✓ | ✓ Direct operation | — | ✓ Global reach |
Variable headcount, irregular offboarding | Price per seat scales | Fixed cost even if not used | Service-based fees, no subscription | Fixed monthly cost | ✓ No cost for inactive seats |
Needs official Apple Reseller | ✘ No | ✘ No | ✘ No | ✘ No | ✓ In Argentina |
Fast response, direct contact | Large-scale platform | Ticketing system | Dashboard with plan-based support | Structured support | ✓ Dedicated team, response within hours |
No dedicated internal IT department | Requires platform management | Requires platform management | Requires platform management | Requires platform management | ✓ Partner operating on behalf of the client |
Which one is best for each case?
Deel IT makes sense for companies that already use Deel for payroll or EOR and prioritize centralizing the entire operation within the same ecosystem, with an internal IT team capable of absorbing the cost per seat as it grows.
Workwize is suitable when headcount is stable, the team is mostly outside Latin America, and there is an IT department that can operate the platform autonomously.
Allwhere is a solid option when the team is concentrated in the United States, United Kingdom, or the European Union, and the HR stack is already running on BambooHR or Workday.
GroWrk is best when operations are concentrated in Mexico or Central America, headcount is predictable, and the priority is to centralize IT management on a single platform.
First Plug makes the most sense when the team is in Latin America (entirely or partially), headcount fluctuates, the company prefers to own the hardware from day one, and they are looking for a partner that solves problems rather than a platform that needs to be operated internally.
Conclusion
None of these providers represent a bad choice in absolute terms. Each one effectively solves the problem it was designed for: Deel IT, for those already operating within its ecosystem; Workwize and GroWrk, for teams with stable headcounts and an internal IT department; Allwhere, for operations concentrated in North America and Europe.
First Plug was built from Latin America for the rest of the world, with its own operations in the region since the very first shipment. This difference becomes evident when the team grows non-linearly, when the country where talent was hired is one where the global provider does not yet have a real presence, or when what the company needs is not another platform to run, but a partner that already knows the operation and responds in a matter of hours.
For growing companies in Latin America, First Plug can prepare a quote in less than 24 hours.
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