Payroll software is essential for paying your team quickly and accurately. But with so many options available, how do you find the one that best fits your business needs?
In this review, we’ll cover the ins and outs of Gusto, an award-winning, all-in-one software platform for payroll, benefits, hiring, onboarding and HR support.
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| Highlights |
|---|
| #1 rated HR platform for payroll, benefits and more |
| G2’s #1 best software for small businesses |
| Unlimited payroll runs for no extra cost |
| Connects with all major apps and software |
| Automatic tax calculations |
| Trusted by 500k+ businesses |
Gusto’s “people platform” is a full-service tool that covers all facets of employee support, from hiring and onboarding to training, paying and retaining your staff. It’s user-friendly, designed with time-saving automations and integrations with top accounting and time-tracking software programs.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Unlimited payroll runs with no extra charge | Some advanced features only available on higher-tier plans |
| Next-day direct deposit available | International payroll only available as an add-on |
| Time-saving AutoPilot feature for payroll | |
| Automatic payroll tax filing and payment | |
| End-of-year form prep, filing and mailing | |
| State tax registration in all 50 states | |
| Employee health insurance and financial benefits | |
| Time and attendance tools, including geolocation time tracking | |
| PTO management and policies | |
| Hiring, onboarding and talent retention tools | |
| Access to certified HR experts and HR resource center | |
| Automatic compliance features and notifications | |
| Employee profiles and self-service portal | |
| Customizable plan options with add-ons |
Gusto’s suite of products is designed to cover a range of business needs, from basic small business payroll to comprehensive payroll and HR solutions. Because Gusto is so feature-rich, we’re taking a deep dive into their offerings, including payroll, employee benefits, time and attendance, hiring and onboarding, talent management and insights and reporting, to discover how these solutions can benefit different business needs.
Gusto’s payroll platform is simple and easy to use, allowing business owners to run payroll with a few simple clicks. Payroll processing, payroll payments including direct deposit, automatic payroll tax filing and year-end tax forms are all part of Gusto’s full-service payroll.
Benefits to using Gusto for payroll include:
For businesses with more complex payroll scenarios, Gusto is equipped to handle hourly, salary and contractor payments, multiple pay schedules, multiple pay rates per employee, deductions, garnishments and bonuses.
These payroll features make compliance and accuracy a breeze, giving you peace of mind and extra time to spend on other aspects of running your business.
Another feature that Gusto offers is employee benefits management. From health benefits to financial benefits, Gusto’s easy-to-use platform will help you create and manage a range of benefits packages to support your team and help them thrive in the workplace.
Configuring health benefits with Gusto allows you to offer employees medical, dental, vision and life insurance, plus HSA and FSA accounts. On the financial benefits side, you’re able to set up and manage workers’ comp benefits, and employees can opt into 401(k) retirement savings plans and Gusto Wallet employee finance tools.
Here are some of the other benefits of using Gusto for employee benefits:
With Gusto’s automated time and attendance tools, your team’s hours, paid time off, holiday pay and more are automatically calculated and entered. Plus, Gusto integrates with a number of popular time-tracking programs, which means no more time-consuming and mistake-prone data entry. Here are some of the benefits of using these features:
Gusto can help with hiring and onboarding, too. From new hires to employee classifications to complex HR tasks, these features combine several systems into one simplified tool, saving you time and alleviating confusion around compliance. Here are some of the things you can do with Gusto’s hiring and onboarding tools:
Gusto’s talent management features give you access tools to help keep your team engaged with a clear path forward, including:
Gusto’s customizable reports, anonymous surveys, automatic compliance alerts and more give you valuable insights and allow you to make smart decisions based on actionable, on-demand data. Here are some of the ways Gusto’s insights and reporting tools can help your business thrive:
Gusto offers three tiered plan options, each with an increasing suite of features, and a fourth plan that was designed specifically for “solopreneurs,” or solo entrepreneurs.
Let’s take a look at what each plan includes:
As more owner-only businesses reach financial stability, many turn to S-corp election for its tax benefits, but it’s important to have expert advice to ensure compliance. Gusto Solo is designed for current and aspiring solopreneurs needing payroll, S-corp compliance support and the option to pay contractors. Here’s what this plan includes:
Designed for small businesses with basic payroll needs, this plan includes:
In addition to these features, Simple subscribers have the option to add on Time & Attendance and Next-Day Direct Deposit for an additional monthly fee.
The Plus plan will best serve evolving teams with advanced payroll, HR and time-tracking needs. Here’s what it includes:
Just like with the Simple plan, you can also add on extra features, including Priority Support and HR Resources, for an additional monthly fee.
Scaling businesses that need a comprehensive solution for payroll benefits and HR will benefit from Gusto’s Premium plan. Here are the details:
As with most payroll providers, Gusto’s service is based on a set monthly fee, plus an additional per-person monthly fee. We appreciate that their pricing is clear, concise and upfront. Here’s what you’ll pay for the each of Gusto’s plan options at the time of this review:
Gusto also offers promotions from time to time. For instance, at the time of writing, the Plus and Premium plans were eligible for a 25 percent discount for the first three months of subscription.
Now that we’ve covered top features, plans and pricing, let’s take a look at how Gusto compares to the competition:
| Gusto | QuickBooks | ADP | Paychex | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited payroll runs with no extra charge | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Automatic payroll taxes in unlimited states with no extra charge | Yes | No | No | No |
| Basic hiring & onboarding tools on lowest tier plan | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Basic PTO and holiday pay on lowest tier plan | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Health & financial benefits on lowest tier plan | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Employee self-service portal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customize your plan with add-ons | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Gusto is a people platform—and not just in the sense of managing your payroll and benefits. They’re upfront and transparent right from the start, which shows they care about the people using their products, too.
Much like their software, Gusto’s website is easy to navigate, with upfront information on plan tiers, included features versus add-ons, and plan pricing. What we love most about Gusto is that their plans are structured in a way that small businesses can get started with a lower-priced plan that meets all of their needs, add on a few key features as they grow, scale up to higher-level plans as their business needs change—and not have to pay for features they won’t use in the meantime.
It really is a payroll platform for the people: Simple to use, with smart automations and integrations to save you time and money, help you do your job more efficiently and give you peace of mind that everything is done correctly, and on time.
Gusto is a full-service payroll and HR platform that’s straightforward and easy to use. Once you’ve set up your company and employees in Gusto, processing payroll takes just a few clicks. You can sync your team’s hours automatically, and even set your payroll up on Gusto’s AutoPilot feature to run automatically on your chosen pay schedule.
Gusto will take care of payroll taxes, too, automatically filing and paying taxes to the right government agencies, including multiple state filings for businesses with remote workers.
Gusto offers tiered plans and upfront pricing. Like most payroll software companies, Gusto is priced with a set monthly fee, plus an additional per-person monthly fee, with the lowest-priced plan option starting at $49 per month, plus $6 per employee. In addition to their affordable plans, Gusto offers the ability to customize plans with add-on services, and they also run sales and promotions for savings on select plan options.
Yes, Gusto’s payroll platform was designed with security, accuracy and compliance in mind, with industry-standard encryption to secure all of your data. Gusto also proactively monitors accounts to help prevent fraudulent transactions. So whether you run payroll on your laptop, tablet or smartphone, you can rest assured that your information is secure.
Methodology
We make choosing the best Payroll easy with expert reviews and rankings.
Here’s the methodology behind our ratings:
