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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Auris

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AAuris, formerly Heartland Payroll, is a solution designed to serve as a single point of contact, where customers have online access to their payroll data and employee information.N/A

    Guideline

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AGuideline headquartered in San Mateo offers a cloud-based 401k management software for businesses priced on a per employee basis.N/A
    Pricing
    AurisGuideline
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    AurisGuideline
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    AurisGuideline
    Considered Both Products
    Acrisure
    No answer on this topic
    Guideline
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    56%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    73%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    63%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    67%
    Happy with the feature set
    6 Answers
    73%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    56%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    78%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    67%
    Implementation went as expected
    6 Answers
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    8 Answers
    Features
    AurisGuideline
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Auris and Guideline
    Feature
    Auris
    5.6
    9 Ratings
    39% below category average
    Guideline
    -
    Ratings
    Pay calculation1.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Support for external payroll vendors10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Off-cycle/On-Demand payment1.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration9.72 Ratings00 Ratings
    Direct deposit files1.17 Ratings00 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management9.35 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reimbursement management7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    401(k)
    Comparison of 401(k) features of Auris and Guideline
    Feature
    Auris
    -
    Ratings
    Guideline
    6.3
    3 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Payroll Integration00 Ratings5.62 Ratings
    Compliance Maintenance00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
    Plan Flexibility00 Ratings7.52 Ratings
    Filings and Disclosures00 Ratings5.12 Ratings
    Ease of Enrollment00 Ratings7.53 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    AurisGuideline
    Small Businesses
    Patriot Payroll
    Score8.6 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    APS
    Score5.7 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.1 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    AurisGuideline
    Likelihood to Recommend
    1.0
    (9 ratings)
    6.5
    (11 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    1.0
    (4 ratings)
    1.0
    (3 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    AurisGuideline
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Acrisure
    We changed payroll companies from Paycom to Heartland this year at the recommendation of our insurance agent who insisted they would integrate with the EASE system, which tracks employee benefits and deductions. However, 8 weeks into it, I regret my decision, since the setup hasn't been completed yet. The lack of responsiveness in some cases is astounding and often we have to ask 3, 4, and 5 times for something to be done. I hate to think what will happen after we are "handed off" from the payroll implementation team to the regular schmucks. We still are not able to track PTO and time off and we have been begging for the self-service feature to be turned on for employees so they can change addresses, bank account info, etc. Their training is NONEXISTENT and their manual is abysmal. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!! I wish I could go back to Paycom!
    Read full review
    Guideline
    I believe that the only thing more broken than Guideline's product is their customer support. From initial contribution dates to the disastrous account closure that cost us personally thousands of dollars, this has been by far the worst SaaS and customer experience I've ever had in my career. If only 1) Guideline's product or 2) customer support had individually been broken, we would not have ended up in this state. I sent dozens and dozens of emails inquiring about oddities I was seeing in the product, but Guideline's reps only gave more conflicting and what ended up being grossly inaccurate feedback and status updates. I hope this review reaches anyone who is thinking of closing their Guideline account. Be extremely wary of what Guideline says and does in the account closure process and exact for detailed and exact timelines (you'll have to follow up many times...). For those of you who haven't yet selected a 401k provider, I'd recommend staying as far away from Guideline as possible.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Acrisure
    • White-glove customer support. All employees are in the United States and they must pay them well, because they don't seem to have turnover there.
    • Technology is awesome. We have Payroll, HR, T&A, ATS, and onboarding with them.
    • Their Tax Credit tech is amazing. I received more money in tax credits last year than payroll cost me. That's a net positive!
    • Compliance with their HR team is great, and they don't hit you over the head on the price for it.
    • Pricing is fantastic with a 3-year price lock. No BS discounting that jumps back up a year later.
    Read full review
    Guideline
    • Administrate individual 401(k)
    • Understand the contributions accumulated in total and per year
    • Understand the percentage of salary being contributed per pay period.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Acrisure
    • Sometimes the system (geocode) will not allow me to process address changes by asking for help from our specialist.
    • Response for assistance is usually a lot slower when our dedicated specialist is not available.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Guideline
    • I feel that the customer support was abysmal - In my experience, we were consistently given conflicting advice and statuses as we closed our account with Guideline. Despite many, many follow-ups attempting to clarify our current status and remaining steps to close the account, Guideline's reps continued to provide, I believe, misleading and inaccurate steps. This cost us thousands and thousands of dollars given Guideline was not able to appropriately pull the funds before closing the account.
    • Guideline's integrations - I believe there is clearly a broken pipeline between Guideline and Rippling. In my experience, contributions were not funded as expected when we first opened the account, and when we closed our account, there was no communication between Guideline and Rippling. Guideline continued to expect contributions into perpetuity despite closure of the account
    • I feel that Guideline's product itself is just broken in critical places - most importantly, statuses of contributions were reflected incorrectly in the software (Guideline thought funds were transferred, but they were not and Guideline never attempted to pull the funds from our bank). This, combined with the terrible customer support, cost us thousands and thousands of dollars after we closed our account. There are many absolutely critical features that are broken -> to give just one of many examples, it was not possible to update the bank account information and no error message was thrown. I was told that our account ended up in an exceptional state given our last payroll contribution date and account closure, but these seem like very basic things a 401k provider has to get right if there are going to manage people's money.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Acrisure
    No answers on this topic
    Guideline
    Well thought out and intuitive user experience for employees and administrators. Educational documentation has been a plus
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Acrisure
    I never have trouble reaching customer support. They always are able to assist with fixing any problems that arise. There honestly haven't been many issues at all. Only ones I've created :)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Guideline
    The few questions that we've had have been answered quickly and helpfully. The implementation was a breeze and the onboarding contacts were really helpful. There was some stuff I had to learn about 401(k)s in making the decision to implement Guideline, but the Guideline team was helpful in pointing me in the right direction.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Acrisure
    The Heartland team could care less about how difficult your experience is. In fact, I think they delight in seeing you struggle!
    Read full review
    Guideline
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Acrisure
    I've considered moving payroll over to QuickBooks Online so that everything is in one place, but it would probably take too much work considering that our current system works really well. I think QuickBooks would confuse me, honestly. There are other systems that offer different user interfaces that are neat looking, but I haven't done too much research because Heartland Payroll offered me a really good deal for processing since we are a small company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Guideline
    We selected Guideline due to their relationship with Gusto, our payroll service. However, we did review alternative options for our 401k program and found them very competitive as to price and quality. We were thinking about going with one of the bigger companies like Schwab, E*TRADE, Ally, etc., but found Guideline to be the best choice for us based on price and ease of use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Acrisure
    • We have a net positive using Heartland. We actually bring more money in from their tax credits than the payroll service actually costs.
    • I used to have a part-time person handing our payroll/HR needs. Now this is done by me because it's so easy.
    Read full review
    Guideline
    • Allow small employees to enhance benefit package
    • Great recruitment tool for new employees
    • Connection with payroll vendor allowed for less manual work
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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