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    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

    Harvest

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AHarvest is used to track time, gain insights from past projects, and get paid for work. Dedicated apps and integrations with popular tools like Asana and Slack allow Harvest to fit into a team’s workflow. A selection of visual reports are offered to keep projects running smoothly and an organization's team supported. Harvest also helps to turn a team’s tracked time and expenses into professional nvoices and collect payment quickly with integrated online payments.

    $13.75

    per month per seat

    Pricing
    GustoHarvest
    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
    Harvest Pro
    $13.75
    per month per seat
    Harvest Premium
    $17.50
    per month per seat
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GustoHarvest
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsGusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.20% discount for annual billing on Pro and Premium plans.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GustoHarvest
    Considered Both Products
    Gusto
    Chose Gusto
    I haven't used or evaluated any other products like Gusto.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is much more simple and easy to use than ADP. There are less barriers and easy both as the user and the admin.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is easier to use, more secure, and the mobile app offers the best user experience. The ability to use a Spending Account Card along with a Rainy Day Fund is a unique feature and enables staff to get paid and use their money faster in a pinch. It has a better UI overall.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    ADP works great too, but they have so many password changing rules that it's too much of a hassle to worry about it.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Compared to Intuit (the only other tool I've used that is similar to Gusto), Gusto is much more fun and easy to use. It is also more affordable. Sometimes it doesn't provide as much detail, but that's something I don't care too much about as a young professional. For my …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    I love Xero, but the payroll product offered a couple of years ago was woefully inadequate. Xero has made great strides in improving their payroll product but I still prefer Gusto for small business payroll processing.

    The other payroll products I have worked with, like ADP and …
    Incentivized
    Harvest
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    563 Answers
    96%
    Would buy again
    25 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    464 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    24 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    576 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    25 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    316 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    16 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    376 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    19 Answers
    Features
    GustoHarvest
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Gusto and Harvest
    Feature
    Gusto
    9.1
    611 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Harvest
    -
    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
    Best Alternatives
    GustoHarvest
    Small Businesses
    Patriot Payroll
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Time Doctor
    Score8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    APS
    Score5.7 out of 10
    Toggl Track
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.1 out of 10
    TimeCamp
    Score7.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GustoHarvest
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (633 ratings)
    9.5
    (52 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (14 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.4
    (457 ratings)
    9.1
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    4.3
    (27 ratings)
    8.4
    (18 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GustoHarvest
    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
    Harvest
    Harvest is ideally suited for a variety of scenarios, particularly in the realms of freelance or consulting work, where accurate hour tracking for billing is crucial. It excels in small to medium businesses managing team projects, allowing for effective resource allocation and time management across multiple concurrent projects. For budgeting and forecasting, Harvest provides valuable data, aiding in accurately estimating the duration and cost of future projects based on past data. It's also highly beneficial for remote or distributed teams, thanks to its cloud-based platform that facilitates seamless coordination. Additionally, its detailed reporting features enhance client transparency, fostering trust through clear communication of time spent on projects. However, Harvest may be less suitable for larger enterprises with complex integration needs or specialized industries requiring more niche features. Small startups or individuals on tight budgets might find the cost challenging, especially if they don't fully utilize all its features. Lastly, for those needing only basic time tracking, simpler or free tools might be more appropriate, making Harvest an unnecessary expenditure for basic needs.
    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
    Harvest
    • Offers several options on using the tool, for example, you can use the app on your phone, the app for desktop, or simply have the website open.
    • The timer integrates with other platforms. For example, our team uses Asana as our project management tool. Now, in real-time, I can know which projects my team is working on and whether we're implementing good time management strategies to meet our goals.
    • The summary break downs are wonderful! You can view an individual's hours as well as project hours. There are even notifications you could receive when your team is getting close to reaching the allotted time for a client's project.
    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
    Harvest
    • I’m still trying to figure out how tasks best associate to a specific project. There’s a couple different places to edit that and I’m a little confused as to best practice.
    • Does not integrate into basecamp which is our project management system
    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
    Harvest
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Harvest
    Again, just a minor compatibility issues using with other platforms such as Basecamp, but it does do everything promised. The only downfall we have found is having to create a job in both platforms and then connecting them later vs being able to create a project once and having them automatically connect.
    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
    Harvest
    They're very responsive and do their best to answer whatever questions we've had. Sometimes, the question or request we've made is for a feature that doesn't yet exist, however in most cases those features have been built later and did eventually address our need.
    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
    Harvest
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Harvest
    Harvest is significantly better than Jira. I think Jira's is not originally intended to be used as a time logging/management system, but we had been previously using it as that. It was much clunkier, and many employees had a difficult time using it as a user interface goes. Harvest is much more user friendly and has simplified the daily time-logging process for everyone in our office
    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
    Harvest
    • Harvest has improved our payment schedules. Since we switched, we get paid for projects much sooner.
    • Harvest has saved us a ton of time with payroll. We are able to track our users time and pay them appropriately based on their billable hours.
    • Harvest is becoming a lifesaver around tax time. The reporting features have allowed us to pull reports for our tax accountant.
    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

    Harvest Screenshots

    Screenshot of the time tracking experience in HarvestScreenshot of project progress tracking, with budgets and costsScreenshot of team capacity trackingScreenshot of a visualization displaying where a team's time is goingScreenshot of Harvest invoicing, that turns tracked time and expenses into invoices so users can get paid online