Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Gusto
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Gusto 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
Payactiv
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Payactiv, headquartered in San Jose, offers their eponymous platform to enable employees to get financial relief between paychecks, a service the vendor states is needed by two-thirds of the workforce. They give businesses the tools essential to ease the financial stress of their employees and build a higher performing workforce.N/A
Pricing
GustoPayactiv
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
GustoPayactiv
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
GustoPayactiv
Features
GustoPayactiv
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
9.1
611 Ratings
10% above category average
Payactiv
-
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
GustoPayactiv
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.2 out of 10
Paychex
Paychex
Score 6.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Paycom
Paycom
Score 8.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
Dayforce
Dayforce
Score 8.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
GustoPayactiv
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(633 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(14 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.4
(457 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
4.1
(27 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
GustoPayactiv
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.
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PayActiv, Inc.
I think it is well suited because it lets the employees know that the company cares, that we want them to be able to have financial stability, and by doing that we are providing a way for them to access their funds earlier.
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.
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PayActiv, Inc.
  • It is seamless for me and my office staff
  • In all the time we have used it we have never had a problem or issue
  • Does not cost me any time or money
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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.
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PayActiv, Inc.
  • I have no suggestions for improvement, it's never been a problem for my office staff and we have never had a complaint from the field staff, which is most of our employees.
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.
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PayActiv, Inc.
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.
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PayActiv, Inc.
No answers on this topic
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.
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PayActiv, Inc.
No answers on this topic
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
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PayActiv, Inc.
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
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PayActiv, Inc.
I think Pay Activ is the only tool really we need as a company since it has more than just early access to money but can provide other tools to help you in your financial situation
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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.
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PayActiv, Inc.
  • Sorry, not something we track, but I believe it has an impact on worker dignity, they don't have to come to me hat in hand ask for an advance.
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