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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

    SherpaDesk

    Score8.4 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    SherpaDesk is a help desk / ticketing platform with time tracking, invoice generation, and business intelligence capabilities.

    $0

    per agent

    Pricing
    GustoSherpaDesk
    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
    1st Tech Free
    $0
    per agent
    Adventure Package
    $39
    per agent
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GustoSherpaDesk
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsGusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GustoSherpaDesk
    Considered Both Products
    Gusto
    No answer on this topic
    SherpaDesk
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    563 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    464 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    576 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    316 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    376 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    GustoSherpaDesk
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Gusto and SherpaDesk
    Feature
    Gusto
    9.1
    611 Ratings
    9% above category average
    SherpaDesk
    -
    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
    Incident and problem management
    Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Gusto and SherpaDesk
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    SherpaDesk
    8.5
    3 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings9.12 Ratings
    Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings6.82 Ratings
    Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings8.93 Ratings
    Ticket response00 Ratings8.93 Ratings
    Self Help Community
    Comparison of Self Help Community features of Gusto and SherpaDesk
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    SherpaDesk
    7.3
    1 Ratings
    9% below category average
    External knowledge base00 Ratings5.51 Ratings
    Internal knowledge base00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Multi-Channel Help
    Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Gusto and SherpaDesk
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    SherpaDesk
    9.1
    2 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Customer portal00 Ratings9.12 Ratings
    Email support00 Ratings9.12 Ratings
    Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GustoSherpaDesk
    Small Businesses
    Patriot Payroll
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Help Scout
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    APS
    Score5.7 out of 10
    LiveAgent
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.1 out of 10
    Front
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GustoSherpaDesk
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (633 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (14 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.4
    (457 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    4.3
    (27 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GustoSherpaDesk
    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
    SherpaDesk
    [It's] well suited for cloud support applications as there's no installation or maintenance required.
    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
    SherpaDesk
    • Ticketing is very fast & easy
    • Tracking time is fast
    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
    SherpaDesk
    • Its ability to switch between tickets, assets, etc., is a little clunky. A static menu bar would be helpful.
    • The ability to see the latest update in the ticket view.
    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
    SherpaDesk
    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
    SherpaDesk
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SherpaDesk
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SherpaDesk
    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
    SherpaDesk
    When looking for solutions for our business, I personally looked at Aautotask. I am not the decision maker so I don't know what my boss looked at in full. Autotask seems good. It looked like it got a bit complicated and may be for very large enterprise customers. Just lots of features that we don't need.
    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
    SherpaDesk
    • As a single freelance consultant Sherpadesk has exceptional ROI because it's free but if my company had more support people I would definetly go with SherpaDesk again.
    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

    SherpaDesk Screenshots

    Screenshot of Techs get instant access to what needs to be done and how they are performing against their teamScreenshot of Manage all open tickets and sort by priority on what needs to be completed firstScreenshot of Track and enter all billable and non-billable timeScreenshot of Review project progress and profitabilityScreenshot of Create flexible rate plans and compile invoices that can be sent out through QuickBooks or FreshBooks integrationsScreenshot of Update customer requests, add time and expenses remotely