TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    Handshake Talent Engagement Suite

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AHandshake Talent Engagement Suite (TES) helps employers source, engage, manage, and build their brand with early talent at scale. Tell an impactful story and build a strong employer brand using rich media, candidate reviews, employee testimonials, and more.N/A
    Pricing
    GustoHandshake Talent Engagement Suite
    Editions & Modules
    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
    GustoHandshake Talent Engagement Suite
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsGusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GustoHandshake Talent Engagement Suite
    Considered Both Products
    Gusto
    No answer on this topic
    Handshake
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    563 Answers
    86%
    Would buy again
    30 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    464 Answers
    81%
    Delivers good value for the price
    21 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    576 Answers
    80%
    Happy with the feature set
    28 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    316 Answers
    84%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    16 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    376 Answers
    85%
    Implementation went as expected
    17 Answers
    Features
    GustoHandshake Talent Engagement Suite
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Gusto and Handshake Talent Engagement Suite
    Feature
    Gusto
    9.1
    611 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Handshake Talent Engagement Suite
    -
    Ratings
    Pay calculation9.5587 Ratings00 Ratings
    Support for external payroll vendors8.58 Ratings00 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration8.7417 Ratings00 Ratings
    Direct deposit files9.7592 Ratings00 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management9.0462 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reimbursement management9.0196 Ratings00 Ratings
    Recruitment Marketing
    Comparison of Recruitment Marketing features of Gusto and Handshake Talent Engagement Suite
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Handshake Talent Engagement Suite
    8.0
    11 Ratings
    24% above category average
    Passive Recruitment Advertising00 Ratings8.07 Ratings
    Active Recruitment Advertising00 Ratings8.39 Ratings
    Employer Branding Tools00 Ratings7.610 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GustoHandshake Talent Engagement Suite
    Small Businesses
    Patriot Payroll
    Score8.6 out of 10
    LinkedIn Jobs
    Score7.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    APS
    Score5.7 out of 10
    Glassdoor
    Score7.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.1 out of 10
    Snagajob
    Score6.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GustoHandshake Talent Engagement Suite
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (633 ratings)
    8.5
    (37 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (14 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.4
    (457 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    4.3
    (27 ratings)
    9.6
    (25 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GustoHandshake Talent Engagement Suite
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Handshake
    Compared to bulk messaging students who are listed as 'matches' on the job listing page, the segments & campaigns I created were so helpful in identifying leads & helping to convert those leads to applicants without me having to continually follow-up with students (thank you- follow-up email feature!) For roles that require a lot of applicant flow, or for positions that require a large cohort of hires at one time, these features are perfect.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Handshake
    • Connects us with our target audience (current college students and recent graduates).
    • Connects us with a variety of career services offices, building trust in our organization.
    • It provides capacity to our recruiters while also allowing us to balance volume and personalization in recruitment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Handshake
    • Ability to directly source and reach out to specific candidates (rather than just a whole pool with campaigns)
    • More flexibility over the way postings look to allow for creativity
    • More details about students on their profiles to make it easier to source the right candidates
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    Handshake
    It works and has been a valuable tool for recruitment and talent engagement
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    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
    Handshake
    It is intuitive
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    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
    Read full review
    Handshake
    Becca always responds very quickly to my questions. We had an issue where I couldn't register for a fair because another division of my company had already registered and this problem was fixed the next day. I feel like the team at Handshake Talent Engagement Suite actually cares about my experience. Not all companies do once the contract is signed! They definitely treat their customers well. I literally feel like I am their only customer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    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
    Read full review
    Handshake
    It is a great product and valuable tool for recruitment and sourcing of talent
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Read full review
    Handshake
    I think Handshake is similar to Linkedin Recruiter in a lot of ways. The main differentiator for me/our company is who we are trying to reach or target. LinkedIn is not an easy platform to find early careers talent on, so Handshake has been the best way for us to connect with schools, register for events easily, advertise to college students and reach them where they are!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    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
    Handshake
    • Summer internship recruiting for hard to fill roles has grown to be much easier. Without Handshake Talent Engagement Suite, we would be left scrambling to specific school job boards.
    • Hosting a simple one-hour informative event and reaching a large audience has helped with brand awareness. We don't necessarily see immediate obvious results but have been content with our ability to connect with underclassmen, getting them excited to apply for internships in a year or two.
    • Creating a talent segment and sending campaign messages is much more efficient and effective than reaching out to individual candidates with cold calls/emails.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Gusto Screenshots

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