Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Gusto
Score 7.5 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.
$46
per month
Paylocity
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Paylocity provides 24/7 access to your online payroll and human resource data management. Paylocity offers highly customizable payroll functionality, as well as HR, benefits administration, and time and talent management programs.N/A
Pricing
GustoPaylocity
Editions & Modules
Simple: A streamlined set of automatic payroll features and benefits integrations
$40/month + $6/mo per person
$12 per employee/contractor
Plus: Comprehensive payroll, benefits, and HR tools for employers building a great place to work
$80/month + $12/mo per person
Premium: Scalable payroll and benefits, expert HR, and dedicated support for the complex needs of growing teams
Exclusive pricing, contact Gusto
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
GustoPaylocity
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, so you can choose the plan that meets your business needs.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
GustoPaylocity
Considered Both Products
Gusto
Chose Gusto
In my opinion, Gusto cannot compare to Paylocity in terms of service or premiums.
Chose Gusto
Comparable prices are overall with other payroll service companies. I can't do all the complicated payrolls like a few others, but overall good to work with 90% of our clients.
Chose Gusto
Gusto generally wins on price compared to its competitors. Some organizations nickel-and-dime on billing with headcount, states filed, etc. while Gusto's bills are very easy to calculate and understand. Competitors generally will handle state registrations that Gusto won't do, …
Chose Gusto
While Dayforce is more robust than Gusto in some ways, Gusto is a nicer overall experience. We all enjoy using the product. It was thoughtfully designed and that shows in the way the information is organized. It gives our employees a central place to find the data they need, …
Chose Gusto
Gusto's customer service is superior. Their response times are excellent and the simplicity of the system is appreciated.
Chose Gusto
ADP Workforce Now, Paylocity are both better at more complicated payrolls, but at the expense of the overall look and experience.
Paylocity
Chose Paylocity
Gusto was a bit difficult platform and its customer support was not responding so we made our mind to switch the tool and we chose Paylocity. Now Paylocity is giving great services and I am hopeful that it will be improving its services and giving more advanced services.
Chose Paylocity
Have worked with ADP, Gusto and Ceridian. All three, even at their worst were better than Paylocity. There were definitely issues with them from time to time as well but nowhere like or spanning as long of a time as they did at Paylocity
Chose Paylocity
We have used Gusto, Paychex, ADP, and QuickBooks payroll. We chose Paylocity because we believed it would save us time and would be an amazing service. It is not a service--it is software with many glitches that costs us time and money. Beware what your sales rep sells …
Chose Paylocity
Gusto was my favorite overall, but would have been too pricey with the growth that we had projected.
Paychex was great, but the customer service was terrible.
ADP was meh. More trouble than it was worth.
Chose Paylocity
For a small company - I have used Gusto. Gusto was cheaper and worked well for a company with maximum of 10 employees
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity was the most affordable option that offered a service to help us get set up in states across the US. They have a background check partner and offer free integration with Employee Navigator, which was important to us. Justworks PEO was a close second, but couldn't …
Chose Paylocity
Gusto is horrible, and Paylocity blows it out of the water. Paycom and Paycor and comparable, but for us it came down to the price, and the relationship that we established with our account manager and sales representative. Mike Vezzoli was excellent and was incredibly genuine …
Chose Paylocity
It is better for growing organizations due to its integrations with Bswfit and BambooHR. It saves time when we do not manually enter benefits, which we had to do while we were on Gusto.
Chose Paylocity
Excellent. Userface in Gusto and bamboo more intuitive but MUCH better system and service assistance than ADP or Paychex.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is generally better than all these other systems
Chose Paylocity
Some of these other platforms were less expensive than Paylocity but lacked the integrations we sought. They also did not have the customer support and knowledge base Paylocity does. The demo for Paylocity was far more robust and curtailed our pain points than any other demo …
Chose Paylocity
We went with Paylocity because of the level of service they provided for a company of our size. Being mid-market, there aren't many options, but I feel confident with our decision for us and our employees moving forward as we continue to grow internally and within different …
Chose Paylocity
From what I have used, Paycom is the one closest but I still prefer Paylocity because is way more user-friendly with Payroll processing, timesheets, accruals, and reporting. Paycom is cumbersome, the customer service is just okay and the platform is "rigid", employees don't …
Chose Paylocity
All HRIS are clunky, some more than others. I like it better than Workday and ADP.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is generally very flexible and scalable.
It does require investment (it isn't just flipping a switch).
Chose Paylocity
I have used all of the above in the past when working for other companies. While I didn't have issues with any of the others, Paylocity does well against the others. It has great functionality compared to the others, and I feel it has made the others step up and change their …
Chose Paylocity
Products have a lot of the same functions, so I believe the key is to pick a product and stick with it - commit to learning how it functions, and train employees to do the same. Flip-flopping between products is the worst you can do.

Your success with a product is also dependent …
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is an all-in-one platform. I have used many HRIS softwares and not one compares to Paylocity. I have been with organizations who have converted from others to Paylocity and have been extremely happy with their decision. Paylocity offers many great modules, …
Chose Paylocity
Its much more in-house for us which I think helps us understand our costs, wages, and fix any problems quicker than waiting for a rep from the company to look at the complaint.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is a more-in-one solution but we are not happy with its offerings and have found ourselves using more 3rd party solutions because Paylocity's solutions are just okay.
Chose Paylocity
I didn't select Paylocity...I inherited it.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
GustoPaylocity
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
8.4
163 Ratings
2% above category average
Paylocity
8.1
836 Ratings
1% above category average
Pay calculation8.3155 Ratings8.6812 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.58 Ratings7.3382 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.6107 Ratings7.2555 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.4158 Ratings8.9811 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.1134 Ratings8.2642 Ratings
Reimbursement management9.511 Ratings7.9396 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings8.5582 Ratings
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.8
848 Ratings
0% below category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings8.5799 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings8.2780 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings7.8717 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.6728 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings7.1669 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings7.8651 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings7.5557 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.6
699 Ratings
6% below category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings7.9620 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings7.4669 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings7.4519 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.3
848 Ratings
2% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings8.5825 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings8.6839 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings8.0666 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings8.3582 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings8.3704 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.5
238 Ratings
3% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings7.5238 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.0
774 Ratings
8% below category average
Report builder00 Ratings7.0740 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings7.4754 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings6.5450 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.2
722 Ratings
2% above category average
New hire portal00 Ratings8.3718 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings8.0560 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.4
375 Ratings
10% below category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings7.4283 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings7.4346 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings7.3245 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings7.4349 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.4
481 Ratings
7% below category average
Performance plans00 Ratings7.2430 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings7.2356 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings7.4442 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings7.5444 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings7.6363 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.1
221 Ratings
10% below category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings6.7147 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings7.1181 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings7.4201 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings7.4162 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.7
453 Ratings
1% below category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings7.8372 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings8.1396 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings7.7304 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings7.7371 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings7.0310 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings8.0416 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings7.9414 Ratings
Best Alternatives
GustoPaylocity
Small Businesses
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 out of 10
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
GustoPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(176 ratings)
7.7
(883 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(7 ratings)
8.9
(82 ratings)
Usability
8.1
(3 ratings)
8.5
(58 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.8
(9 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(9 ratings)
Support Rating
1.6
(24 ratings)
7.2
(79 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(10 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.2
(1 ratings)
8.2
(33 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(7 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(4 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
6.6
(7 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.8
(8 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(7 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(6 ratings)
User Testimonials
GustoPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
Gusto
I would love to use Gusto for companies of all staff sizes but I understand that larger businesses will opt for a PEO and willingly give up flexibility and features to do that. However, I love that Gusto can be customized on so many levels – offer letter, adding documents for new hires, document verification, deploying documents to existing staff, tracking who has signed, helping staff select health benefits (love that this is an entirely paperless process!), screen share support (love this!), a host of integrations with other apps are easy to link up. The interface is delightful (love the piglet!), HR support for Master Admins is very professional. There are templates, forms, rules and updates provided for all States. And the reports are so easy to read, customize and understand. Amazing!
Read full review
Paylocity
Paylocity works well for our organization. Ease of use for our managers and employees is very important. Makes it easier for us in HR to manage. Time and attendance works very well. Efficient and effective. Payroll runs very smoothly. We appreciate the performance and compensation module for tracking employees performance, journals and getting feedback and annual compensation.
Read full review
Pros
Gusto
  • The self-service aspect of the software is very nice. We rarely need to get customer service involved.
  • For the first 2 years of our subscription to Gusto, customer service has been good when we needed it.
  • We have also had good experience with third parties recommended by Gusto including a 401(k) administrator, R&D tax credit analyst, and background check software.
Read full review
Paylocity
  • Customer Service is always helpful with little wait time.
  • Always improving; for example, the recent change to processing payroll. So much easier.
  • Onboarding makes it simple and the fact that the company can personalize the messaging to new hires allows us to make it more personalized.
  • Having an assigned account manager regardless of company size is definitely a plus.
Read full review
Cons
Gusto
  • The support isn't very impressive, although it's rare that we even need their help.
  • I would like to see a better scheduling tool for the staff. Currently I have to use Homebase for this feature alone because Gusto's offering is lacking in this area.
Read full review
Paylocity
  • Recruiting piece/ATS could be improved.
  • A candidate being able to save progress on their application is really a must as they can't leave and come back to their application without having to restart, i.e. if they need to get a phone number for a reference for example.
  • Could use more room in entering the job for internal notes.
  • Quirky when doing cut and paste of job details that leaves spaces that aren't in the document being pasted.
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
Paylocity
We have had many issues with the way our platform was set up at implementation that still continue to plague us. In addition, our benefits, in particular our FSA, have been mis-managed causing a balance due from an employee (and also a lot of work for our accounting and HR team, as well as stress for the employee). Our service rep continues to answer incorrectly on many fronts (original response is usually check out this paylocity article, vs. helping) and recently our COBRA management was mishandled (not adding Dental to a person on Cobra who had requested it). So- all in all...we are not particularly happy w/ Paylocity
Read full review
Usability
Gusto
The UI is clean and simple. It's incredibly easy to find what you need to find, and if you can't, a quick search of their help files will direct you where you need to go about 90% of the time. For that last 10%, a support e-mail will result in a quick answer. Almost any time I try to do something new I haven't done before with Gusto, I can do it in a few minutes.
Read full review
Paylocity
Overall, in my experience, Paylocity has been easy to use for both staff and administrators. First, the staff has an application and inputting Paid Time Off is easy to do. I then get an alert on my app and I am able to approve it on the spot from my app that gives me access as an employee and an administrator without having to use multiple apps or logins. As an administrator I think the portal is easy to use, Paylocity did a great job showing me tools and rolling out training classes before rollout.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Gusto
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
Paylocity support is always available and I never have to wait endlessly on hold. If our dedicated account manage is not available, there is an entire team assigned to our account. Every one of them is knowledgeable about our organization and Paylocity's process.
Read full review
Performance
Gusto
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
pages load in an acceptable amount of time, reports come back quickly, but integration is very complicated and hasn't been possible
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.
Read full review
Paylocity
Everyone wants immediate assistance. Awaiting a response from an email only to ask 2-3 more questions is time consuming. Within the first six months of setup, I would rather respond back to the instructors who provided me the training in each category of my contract.
Read full review
Online Training
Gusto
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
The training was live online, but was with a group of other companies. We did not receive any personalized training with our team. Whenever we would ask for training, we would be sent a peak article link or a video. It felt like the reps we dealt with didn't know the answer to the questions.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Gusto
Super easy to implement and use!
Read full review
Paylocity
I had gone through an implementation process of another HR platform (Paycom) in my previous job and was traumatized, it was painful. I was surprised how easy and fast it was with Paylocity, the team was very helpful and set us up for success
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Gusto
Gusto was the only payroll provider we used for our business. Before Gusto we were running payroll manually, which was cumbersome and didn’t account for our tax liability. Gusto is heads and shoulders above running payroll manually. It takes the load of payroll management off your shoulders and gives employees and easy to use portal to manage their personal payroll information.
Read full review
Paylocity
We honestly had a program that only kept track of our Demographics, salaries, etc. then all of our Payroll was done on paper with paper leave slips etc. When I saw Paylocity, I was very excited about how easy it is/would be to use. [...] Our Paylocity rep that I spoke to was super GREAT in the explanation of Paylocity and I didn't even shop around much.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Gusto
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
I wasn't involved in the sales process. I joined the organization after Paylocity was implemented.
Read full review
Scalability
Gusto
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
You have an account manager assigned to you on a daily basis but that person is barely available to you
Read full review
Professional Services
Gusto
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
Support is quick and proffessional
Read full review
Return on Investment
Gusto
  • Saves me time and time is money so I've definitely saved money using Gusto over other payroll providers
  • 401k integration was not a good fit for my size company unfortunately, which I was disappointed about initially, but if you are a larger company it could be an excellent asset to your benefits structure for your team
  • Has increased employee retention because of its ease of use
Read full review
Paylocity
  • Definitely more consistent processes. Everything is very user friendly and it reduces the amount of time it has taken us in the past before we started using Paylocity. Everything flows super smoothly.
  • We have an improved retention since we have used Paylocity. Before hand, many employees thought it was difficult to find anything like tax forms, pay stubs, benefit elections, etc. when we used other platforms before we implemented our data into Paylocity.
  • Costs have been reduced and the decision-making process has improved and got quicker. Before Paylocity, it would take at least a week to get a salary increase approved, or a job title change approved. Now, it take less than a day and is super easy.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Gusto Screenshots

Screenshot of Flexible, automated payrollScreenshot of Time-off trackingScreenshot of The source of truth for HR data