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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

    QuickBooks Desktop Pro

    Score7.8 out of 10
    N/AQuickbooks Desktop Pro is accounting software from Intuit, Inc. It includes core accounting features, plus analytics and exportable reports. It is offered in on-premise and SaaS forms.N/A
    Pricing
    GustoQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    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
    GustoQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    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
    GustoQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Considered Both Products
    Gusto
    Chose Gusto
    Paylocity was fairly easy to use like Gusto but could not accommodate the number of employees we have.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Far superior and easier to use.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Having two different products to use left a lot of room for error and took way too much time. Employees needed to count out their hours themselves and email the hours from Excel over to the boss. Then the Boss had to send the hours over to our book keeper which used quick …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    When it comes to Gusto versus ADP, I feel they both get the job done. The difference is Gusto is much more user friendly and easy to navigate without having to do a deep dive. Also, the Payroll portion is a lot smoother along with the approving hours portion of it.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto provides many of the same functions as Paychex, but is less money per month and more user-friendly.
    Incentivized
    Intuit
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    563 Answers
    88%
    Would buy again
    29 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    464 Answers
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    28 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    576 Answers
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    32 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    316 Answers
    83%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    20 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    376 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    25 Answers
    Features
    GustoQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Gusto and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Gusto
    9.1
    611 Ratings
    9% above category average
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    6.6
    69 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Pay calculation9.5587 Ratings6.364 Ratings
    Support for external payroll vendors8.58 Ratings00 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration8.7417 Ratings6.338 Ratings
    Direct deposit files9.7592 Ratings6.656 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management9.0462 Ratings6.352 Ratings
    Reimbursement management9.0196 Ratings7.754 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Gusto and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    5.7
    43 Ratings
    28% below category average
    API for custom integration00 Ratings6.535 Ratings
    Plug-ins00 Ratings5.039 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Gusto and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    8.5
    101 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Single sign-on capability00 Ratings8.482 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.695 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Gusto and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    8.5
    117 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings8.4100 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings8.9117 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings8.1114 Ratings
    General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
    Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Gusto and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    7.5
    124 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Accounts payable00 Ratings9.3119 Ratings
    Accounts receivable00 Ratings9.2121 Ratings
    Cash management00 Ratings9.2107 Ratings
    Bank reconciliation00 Ratings9.7119 Ratings
    Expense management00 Ratings9.4108 Ratings
    Time tracking00 Ratings7.451 Ratings
    Fixed asset management00 Ratings5.669 Ratings
    Multi-currency support00 Ratings6.931 Ratings
    Multi-division support00 Ratings8.958 Ratings
    Regulations compliance00 Ratings8.342 Ratings
    Electronic tax filing00 Ratings8.355 Ratings
    Self-service portal00 Ratings5.941 Ratings
    Global Financial Support00 Ratings4.217 Ratings
    Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings7.140 Ratings
    Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings7.943 Ratings
    Localizations00 Ratings4.219 Ratings
    Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings8.876 Ratings
    Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings6.838 Ratings
    Configurable Accounting00 Ratings7.647 Ratings
    Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings5.427 Ratings
    Standardized Processes00 Ratings8.555 Ratings
    Inventory Management
    Comparison of Inventory Management features of Gusto and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    5.8
    59 Ratings
    23% below category average
    Inventory tracking00 Ratings6.056 Ratings
    Automatic reordering00 Ratings6.035 Ratings
    Location management00 Ratings6.032 Ratings
    Manufacturing module00 Ratings5.218 Ratings
    Order Management
    Comparison of Order Management features of Gusto and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    6.8
    77 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Pricing00 Ratings7.555 Ratings
    Order entry00 Ratings8.555 Ratings
    Credit card processing00 Ratings7.251 Ratings
    Cost of goods sold00 Ratings8.063 Ratings
    Order Orchestration00 Ratings5.220 Ratings
    End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings6.123 Ratings
    Order exception Resolution00 Ratings5.218 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GustoQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Small Businesses
    Patriot Payroll
    Score8.6 out of 10
    QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
    Score4.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    APS
    Score5.7 out of 10
    MYOB
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.1 out of 10
    Microsoft Dynamics GP
    Score5.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GustoQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (633 ratings)
    8.5
    (135 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (14 ratings)
    8.0
    (19 ratings)
    Usability
    9.4
    (457 ratings)
    9.1
    (42 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    4.2
    (27 ratings)
    1.2
    (29 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    CPA Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (22 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GustoQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    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
    Intuit
    For a small business, QuickBooks Desktop Pro is great! For a larger, more complex business, another system may be more beneficial. We actually run multiple businesses on QuickBooks Desktop Pro, but all are very small. The help feature is sometimes so beneficial, and sometimes it seems like you just can't get the right answer and need to find a workaround - but this is usually for more complex issues.
    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
    Intuit
    • It is easy to manage and adjust inventory on hand.
    • It is easy to make reports and customize them to your needs.
    • We also use it to pay our employees directly.
    • It is easy to make year-to-year comparisons to see where we can make improvements and the current financial situation.
    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
    Intuit
    • QuickBooks Desktop Pro has been around for a few years and after an update[,] they force you to look at the changes/updates before you can use [them] after updating.
    • QuickBooks Desktop Pro does not have 2FA.
    • QuickBooks Desktop Pro should offer a way to store backups to a personal cloud without having to map a local network drive.
    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
    Intuit
    I'd love to keep using it, and do intend to - though we've not been pleased with price increases over the past several years. In fact, we used to subscribe to the payroll service, but QuickBooks priced themselves out of reach for us, so we discontinued that. Currently, pricing would be the primary reason for NOT renewing, if we didn't.
    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
    Intuit
    The set up was quite easy. I took some online training causes, and figured our the rest pretty quickly. The only issue I had during the implementation process was it was very hard to change some of the GL Account name to reflect the needs of a non-profit organization, such as Net Assets. At the end I had to scratch what I did, and used the existing formats that the third-party bookkeeping firm shared. Everything else is simple and easy to manage and implement.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Intuit
    I haven't experienced a time when QuickBooks Pro was unavailable when I needed it in the entire 20 years of using the software
    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
    Intuit
    They are awful. Intuit doesn't spend real money on support. They appear to have typically said, first-level script readers who are sending messages to the senior people for anything even a little bit difficult. Many of them don't speak particularly good English. Considering that they recently doubled (or, if you are paying annually, tripled) their pricing, and touted as one of the benefits that it includes [..] support, it's a real ripoff. However, we have to use the product because it is ubiquitous. I look forward to the day a competitor comes up with something good enough, which has excellent support, that matches all the features QuickBooks Desktop Pro currently has [...] or at least gives us a way to have all the functionality we currently have without excessive sacrifice [...] so that we can switch. I was very satisfied with QuickBooks for many years. This latest [rise] in price, and their sheer gall at touting the benefit of the 100 to 200% increase as being [the] inclusion of support, is what turned me so far against them.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Intuit
    Best thing I ever did was to attend a two day training seminar on QuickBooks, I learned an immense amount in a short time with hands on training by experts. I strongly recommend such training for anyone using any part of the software. It will pay for itself in the first month.
    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
    Intuit
    We implemented the software ourselves. The training we received on the software was done by taking a community course teaching us how to use QuickBooks. It allowed me to get started with some basics of how to use the program and have not needed much assistance since completing the course work.
    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
    Intuit
    We tried switching from QuickBooks Desktop Pro to QuickBooks Online, but there were a lot of issues and bugs so we ultimately decided to stay with Desktop Pro. Unfortunately, we are losing a lot of Online Banking capabilities on 5/31 as we have an older version of QB, but we plan to stick with Desktop Pro. In terms of invoicing, SaaSOptics beats QuickBooks in almost all aspects as it's all automated and takes seconds to create and send invoices. However, SaaSOptics is not really a full ERP program so it wouldn't serve us as a main bookkeeping software like QB.
    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
    Intuit
    • Training time is low compared to other accounting packages
    • It was difficult to adapt to DCAA requirements, [which] required [the] hiring of [a] special consultant for that
    • QuickBooks Desktop Pro is a standard for small companies and makes it easy to hire bookkeepers
    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