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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    BrightHR

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/ABritish company BrightHR offers a human resources platform which helps replace paper documents with edocuments and contains features for managing employee scheduling and ROTA, sick leave and tardiness, vacation and holiday shift planning, as well as providing employment law legal advice.N/A

    Gusto

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AGusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.

    $49

    per month

    Namely

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/ANamely is an end-to-end HR, benefits, and payroll solution for mid-sized businesses. The cloud-based platform can be used to manage the entire HR process.N/A
    Pricing
    BrightHRGustoNamely
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Simple: A streamlined set of automatic payroll features and benefits integrations
    $49/month + $6/mo per person
    per month
    Plus: Comprehensive payroll, benefits, and HR tools for employers building a great place to work
    $80/month + $12/mo per person
    per month
    Premium: Scalable payroll and benefits, expert HR, and dedicated support for the complex needs of growing teams
    $180/month + $22/mo per person
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    BrightHRGustoNamely
    Free Trial
    NoYesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeRequired
    Additional DetailsPrices start at £4.50 (per employee/per month)Gusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    BrightHRGustoNamely
    Considered Multiple Products
    BrightHR
    No answer on this topic
    Gusto
    No answer on this topic
    Vensure Employer Services
    Chose Namely
    We've used a variety of HRIS and payroll software in the past: ADP, Zenefits, Gusto, Namely, and now, Justworks.

    Of all of them but, Justworks and Gusto are far and away the winners. Namely is just not competitive with them from a UX perspective, attractiveness of benefits …
    Incentivized
    Chose Namely
    Namely was able to check all of the boxes in the most affordable way
    Incentivized
    Chose Namely
    Haven't used a similar product.
    Incentivized
    Chose Namely
    I selected Namely because it offered the most functions and integration that I was looking for at the time (two years ago). It was not the most affordable option, but worth the extra features.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    93%
    Would buy again
    53 Answers
    92%
    Would buy again
    563 Answers
    66%
    Would buy again
    59 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    49 Answers
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    464 Answers
    72%
    Delivers good value for the price
    51 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    52 Answers
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    576 Answers
    70%
    Happy with the feature set
    62 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    87%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    39 Answers
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    316 Answers
    54%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    31 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    46 Answers
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    376 Answers
    62%
    Implementation went as expected
    37 Answers
    Features
    BrightHRGustoNamely
    Human Resource Management
    Comparison of Human Resource Management features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    7.2
    41 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Namely
    9.7
    144 Ratings
    17% above category average
    Employment history7.335 Ratings00 Ratings10.0139 Ratings
    Job profiles and administration7.633 Ratings00 Ratings10.031 Ratings
    Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.419 Ratings00 Ratings10.0133 Ratings
    Organization and location management6.431 Ratings00 Ratings10.0130 Ratings
    Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.318 Ratings00 Ratings10.083 Ratings
    Employee demographic data00 Ratings00 Ratings8.0133 Ratings
    Organizational charting00 Ratings00 Ratings10.0135 Ratings
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    7.4
    16 Ratings
    10% below category average
    Gusto
    9.1
    611 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Namely
    9.2
    128 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Pay calculation7.214 Ratings9.5587 Ratings10.0112 Ratings
    Support for external payroll vendors7.08 Ratings8.58 Ratings10.054 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management8.19 Ratings9.0462 Ratings10.0101 Ratings
    Reimbursement management7.39 Ratings9.0196 Ratings6.657 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration00 Ratings8.7417 Ratings8.0110 Ratings
    Direct deposit files00 Ratings9.7592 Ratings10.0114 Ratings
    Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings00 Ratings10.058 Ratings
    Leave and Attendance Management
    Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    7.3
    53 Ratings
    12% below category average
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Namely
    10.0
    125 Ratings
    19% above category average
    Approval workflow6.551 Ratings00 Ratings10.0122 Ratings
    Balance details7.845 Ratings00 Ratings10.0117 Ratings
    Annual carry-forward and encashment7.526 Ratings00 Ratings10.096 Ratings
    Employee Self Service
    Comparison of Employee Self Service features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    8.3
    52 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Namely
    7.2
    142 Ratings
    14% below category average
    View and generate pay and benefit information7.517 Ratings00 Ratings10.0130 Ratings
    Update personal information8.550 Ratings00 Ratings10.0141 Ratings
    View company policy documentation9.048 Ratings00 Ratings7.0128 Ratings
    Employee recognition00 Ratings00 Ratings2.1117 Ratings
    View job history00 Ratings00 Ratings7.0135 Ratings
    HR Reporting
    Comparison of HR Reporting features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    7.4
    25 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Namely
    7.8
    122 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Pre-built reports7.425 Ratings00 Ratings8.0113 Ratings
    Report builder00 Ratings00 Ratings8.0118 Ratings
    Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings00 Ratings7.574 Ratings
    Onboarding
    Comparison of Onboarding features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    7.3
    16 Ratings
    10% below category average
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Namely
    6.5
    117 Ratings
    21% below category average
    New hire portal7.014 Ratings00 Ratings8.0111 Ratings
    Manager tracking tools7.713 Ratings00 Ratings5.086 Ratings
    Performance Management
    Comparison of Performance Management features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    7.8
    19 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Namely
    6.3
    108 Ratings
    24% below category average
    Review reminders7.919 Ratings00 Ratings7.099 Ratings
    Multiple review frequency7.616 Ratings00 Ratings7.485 Ratings
    Performance plans00 Ratings00 Ratings5.097 Ratings
    Performance improvement plans00 Ratings00 Ratings5.069 Ratings
    Review status tracking00 Ratings00 Ratings7.096 Ratings
    Recruiting / ATS
    Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    6.4
    14 Ratings
    21% below category average
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Namely
    8.8
    6 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Job Requisition Management6.17 Ratings00 Ratings8.95 Ratings
    Applicant Tracking6.06 Ratings00 Ratings8.95 Ratings
    Notifications and Alerts7.113 Ratings00 Ratings8.66 Ratings
    Company Website Posting00 Ratings00 Ratings8.85 Ratings
    Publish to Social Media00 Ratings00 Ratings8.85 Ratings
    Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings00 Ratings8.95 Ratings
    Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings00 Ratings8.85 Ratings
    Asset Management
    Comparison of Asset Management features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    -
    Ratings
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Namely
    5.9
    53 Ratings
    31% below category average
    Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings00 Ratings5.953 Ratings
    Performance and Goals
    Comparison of Performance and Goals features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    -
    Ratings
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Namely
    6.3
    97 Ratings
    25% below category average
    Corporate goal setting00 Ratings00 Ratings5.087 Ratings
    Individual goal setting00 Ratings00 Ratings3.194 Ratings
    Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings00 Ratings10.073 Ratings
    Performance tracking00 Ratings00 Ratings7.090 Ratings
    Succession Planning
    Comparison of Succession Planning features of BrightHR and Gusto and Namely
    Feature
    BrightHR
    -
    Ratings
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Namely
    5.9
    21 Ratings
    29% below category average
    Candidate search00 Ratings00 Ratings5.921 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    BrightHRGustoNamely
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    UZIO
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Patriot Payroll
    Score8.6 out of 10
    UZIO
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zoho People
    Score8.6 out of 10
    APS
    Score5.7 out of 10
    Zoho People
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    PeopleStrong
    Score10 out of 10
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.1 out of 10
    PeopleStrong
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    BrightHRGustoNamely
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.3
    (57 ratings)
    9.1
    (633 ratings)
    7.6
    (146 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (14 ratings)
    8.0
    (10 ratings)
    Usability
    7.2
    (42 ratings)
    9.4
    (457 ratings)
    8.0
    (72 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.4
    (4 ratings)
    4.2
    (27 ratings)
    6.0
    (28 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    5.5
    (85 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    BrightHRGustoNamely
    Likelihood to Recommend
    BrightHR
    I feel Bright HR is well suited to most small/medium sized businesses where they have a 'straight' forward resource set up. For larger businesses or for complex businesses similar to ourselves, where we operate 24 hours per day, rotational shift patterns, ambulatory staff, locums etc...we have to 'fudge' the way we use the information sometimes to make it work for us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    I think Gusto is well-suited for any business, big or small, to use for accounting purposes. It makes it easy to keep track of many things, such as pay stubs, benefits, paid time off, and much more. Where I could see it being less useful is maybe for enterprise businesses with way more employees.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Vensure Employer Services
    Namely is aesthetically very pleasing and navigates like other social media platforms which can be appealing to potentially a remote workforce who interacts more online than in person. Unfortunately, it did not serve our population well as we are primarily manufacturing where people are not as interested in utilizing the HRIS for interactions when they would rather connect in person.
    Read full review
    Pros
    BrightHR
    • BLIP is working very well. Staff find it easy to use and the geo-fencing that can be set up is very useful.
    • Reporting, in particular reporting of Absence. We run this monthly and the information we can download is flexible and useful.
    • Sick analysis - helps in controlling absence.
    • Holiday planning and authorization is very helpful and details including date booked helps manage requests.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    • New employee/contractor onboarding - all the documents are stored and easily accessible (the same goes for off-boarding).
    • A one-click option for syncing hours worked with payroll.
    • The option to run payroll on auto-pilot.
    • Ensuring I'm tax compliant with the states we have employees in.
    • Always having digital records of payroll runs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Vensure Employer Services
    • Namely has helped with our COVID sick leave response. It has made a major difference both with the weekly payroll and the 941 tax filing
    • Keeping track of our multiple PTO plans. Thank goodness for Namely, I have shredded my old PTO spreadsheets.
    • Employees like the convenience of the cell phone app. As a payroll administrator, I like the Geo Tracking tool where I can see where some are when the clock is in or out.
    • The flexibility inside of the payroll system both as you are finalizing an employee profile and when you are processing payroll is a major advantage.
    • The reports I get out of Namely in Excel format work well for me.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    BrightHR
    • Notifications for requests should be optional based on individual employees. For example an admin won’t necessarily want every staff members leave requests by email and push notification. The settings only currently allow for notifications for everyone or no one. Being assigned as a manager may not allow data viewing required of wider staff.
    • Toil should automatically be accrued into a balance if the employees clocked in time amounts to more than the target hours. It shouldn’t have to be calculated and requested.
    • When reviewing hours worked for the week, the history calculation should take into account approved leave and sickness etc. I have a staff members target of 37 hours, but if their hours show 29 hours worked then I have to work out why they worked less. It should account for this if the absence is approved.
    Read full review
    Gusto
    • Digital compliance tools for remote teams
    • Gusto upsold us labor law posters, but I later found them available for free online. Since we’re a fully remote team, I had to manually download and distribute them digitally. It would be much more efficient if Gusto offered free, auto-distributed digital posters tailored to remote compliance.
    • Benefits setup is unintuitive for startups
    • While our rep was helpful, navigating the benefits system felt complex and not tailored to early-stage companies. More guided flows or simplified options for small, remote startups would be a big help.
    • Limited dashboard customization for remote workflows
    • As a fully online company, we’d benefit from dashboard options that highlight relevant tools for remote operations—like compliance tracking, digital communications, or onboarding checklists.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Vensure Employer Services
    • Limits to custom reporting
    • No direct feed for Ohio Workers Comp (now a manual process on our end)
    • No option to place an employee on Leave of Absence and exclude them from payroll while they are "inactive"
    • No option to suppress certain deductions for certain pay types (i.e. allow 401K for commissions but block remaining deductions - also now a manual process to uncheck the suppress box for 401K for each commission check)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    BrightHR
    It's not entirely my decision - we are members of a 'community' of veterinary practices who have signed up to the contract with pensinusla and have bright hr as part of that contract however, I am usually involved in the tender process as I am one of the biggest users of both bright hr and the services from peninsula
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    Unless they break it, I'm never leaving. It's just too easy. Gusto is also really affordable, and for what I pay, it's worth having the historical record within the system. I like that I can go back and pull up W2's for year's past. This sort of easy access reporting, has been helpful especially when getting reports for PPP loans.
    Read full review
    Vensure Employer Services
    Administrators and employees love Namely. It is very easy to use and streamlined. Employees stay engaged with news feed updates and enjoy all the self service options. The time cards are very easy to access and clocking in and out for non-exempt employees is a breeze. Namely is part of our family.
    Read full review
    Usability
    BrightHR
    Onboarding took too long due to our unique working ways however the support team tried their hardest to make it work (still ongoing) In particular Leyla S. who has been our point of contact, she has ensured our issues are addressed and always follows up.
    Read full review
    Gusto
    Gusto is pretty user-friendly, and the website is easy to navigate overall. They also offer good, responsive customer support and have helpful articles available when needed. So far, I have not had any major issues with the platform and am overall very happy with it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Vensure Employer Services
    It is very simple to use for myself, the HR team, and our employees. I find the payroll process very user-friendly. Reporting is simple to navigate and produce the required information requested. I know our employees enjoy the self-service feature and use it on a regular basis, which saves me time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    BrightHR
    The team are proactive, having an advocacy team is just amazing and a great way to really understand their product roadmap and have input into useful features or feedback
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    Gusto's customer service has really deteriorated lately and they seem to have really changed their focus. It used to be when you called you were routed to an individual who knew about payroll, benefits, reporting, etc. but now you get someone who seems to have not received the correct training. My last call about a dismissal payroll took me over an hour of my time and the person still could not help me and finally transferred me to someone else.
    Incentivized
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    Vensure Employer Services
    Namely platform has pretty good support: knowledgeable and relatively fast response times. Namely Payroll and Namely Benefits are very much depending on the quality of the support agent or CSM: we have had knowledgeable and attentive ones, but also ones that have provided erroneous information or failed to respond to urgent asks in a timely manner
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    BrightHR
    it was fairly easy to do but timely as i had to enter everything from scratch - i didn't at the time realise how important it was to set up the variable or fixed working pattern correctly given future changes as this is very tricky once it has been set up and i wished i had been aware that sometimes you can't make future changes without deleting the whole profile and starting again
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    Reach out to support immediately if you are having trouble setting up Gusto. Rather than being confused and trying to figure it out yourself, it's much better to talk to someone who knows what they are doing. Save yourself time and frustration and reach out to support
    Incentivized
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    Vensure Employer Services
    Implementation was a bit complicated and our company had to carry most of the weight. It often felt like our implementation manager was giving us extra work that she did not want to do herself. It also took much longer than expected - I believe almost 2 months. I believe our company carried a bit too much of the weight.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    BrightHR
    I chose BrightHR as it offered a one-stop platform for HR management for which we have dedicated UK and ROI HR specialists who not only give HR advice but also write policies and handbooks, etc. They are a one-stop-shop, which was very important as when I signed the contract I did not have an HR person in my team and they were essentially my back office. Also, by signing up, I got access to Bright Safe too; which is great as again it's a one-stop-shop for Health and Safety in the workplace. So I can roll out toolbox talks, training, and accident management.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    While I never actually got to the point of trying out ADP, I had several conversations with an ADP representative, and it seemed that they would be able to provide the same (if not less) level of service for a significantly higher price
    Incentivized
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    Vensure Employer Services
    The reason I continued to choose Namely at multiple employers is due to the continuity of employee experience. And the features have continued to grow since I initially onboarded in 2014. Also, through the years, I have had terrific benefits teams. The customer service has been the worst part of the experience outside of the benefits team.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    BrightHR
    • Able to reduce one member of staff in personnel from 5 days to 3 days.
    • Able to reduce time spent by payroll on holiday records significantly and improve accuracy significantly.
    • Able to improve control of sick absence and improve record keeping.
    • BLIP meant we did not need to buy expensive attendance software.
    • Looking at possible use of payroll and other aspects of Bright HR not used at present.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    • Time tracking + payroll calculations me 30-60 minutes every time I run payroll.
    • Integrated workers' comp, so I didn't have to find an outside carrier and get quotes—it's all taken care of in the same platform.
    • Improved employee experience with onboarding.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Vensure Employer Services
    • We were able to transition to a fully digital onboarding process which saved us hours in time per new hire and made the process smoother for the new hire.
    • Namely is our first HRIS and has helped the HR department to find data and information quickly.
    • Namely helped us digitize our performance management process which the company undergoes on an annual basis.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    BrightHR Screenshots

    Screenshot of BrightHR dashboardScreenshot of Brainbox+Screenshot of Bright ExchangeScreenshot of BrightSafeScreenshot of PoP by BrightHRScreenshot of BrightHR Payroll

    Gusto Screenshots

    Screenshot of Gusto's automated payrollScreenshot of the time-off tracking interfaceScreenshot of the source of truth for HR data

    Namely Screenshots

    Screenshot of the Namely employee dashboard. This creates a central hub to access payroll and benefits info, share announcements, celebrate milestones, and navigate everything HR, from a desk or on the go.Screenshot of Namely Payroll, which is backed by automation and built-in compliance.Screenshot of the Onboarding interface, for new hires.Screenshot of the Applicant Tracking interface, which supports processes from job posting to onboarding with tools for hiring teams and candidates.Screenshot of the Benefits Administration interface, which supports open enrollment, plan changes, and employee elections.Screenshot of the Workforce Management interface. From here, viewers can track time, manage schedules, and handle complex workforce needs.