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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

    TaxJar

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ATaxJar offers automated sales tax reporting and filing. According to the vendor, capabilities include: Accurate, Detailed Sales Tax Reports: TaxJar’s local jurisdiction reports show sales and sales tax collected not only for each state, but for local jurisdiction (counties, cities, special jurisdictions, etc). Users can also sort data by any date range. Estimated Sales Tax Reports: Users can see a comparison of what they actually collected versus what…

    $19

    for up to 200 orders/month

    Pricing
    GustoTaxJar
    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
    Starter
    $19
    for up to 200 orders/month
    Professional
    $99
    for up to 200 orders/month
    Premium
    Custom
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GustoTaxJar
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional DetailsGusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.30 day free trial. No obligation, no activation fees. Upgrade, downgrade or cancel anytime. Pricing based on order volume. Transactions are equal to -Orders imported into TaxJar with one or more line items -SmartCalcs API pushed sales tax calculation If you go over your transaction limit during a single month, we will charge you the difference between the plan you’re on and the next highest plan. The next month you’ll start back on the original plan that you subscribed to, and the process will repeat itself again. This is all done automatically. Your plan will never be interrupted and you will not have to speak with a salesperson.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GustoTaxJar
    Considered Both Products
    Gusto
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is much more intuitive and easier to use, especially for those who may not have a lot of experience running payroll. Customer service at Gusto is superior to ADP - much more responsive. Reports in Gusto are much easier to find and print when needed. Finally, Gusto is far …
    Incentivized
    Stripe
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    563 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    464 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    576 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    316 Answers
    88%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    376 Answers
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    Features
    GustoTaxJar
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Gusto and TaxJar
    Feature
    Gusto
    9.1
    611 Ratings
    9% above category average
    TaxJar
    -
    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
    Type of tax
    Comparison of Type of tax features of Gusto and TaxJar
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    TaxJar
    9.3
    6 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Sales and Use Taxes00 Ratings9.76 Ratings
    Cross-border Taxes00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Tax Reporting & Compliance
    Comparison of Tax Reporting & Compliance features of Gusto and TaxJar
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    TaxJar
    9.6
    6 Ratings
    21% above category average
    Geolocation for Tax Assessment00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
    3rd-Party Software Integrations00 Ratings8.76 Ratings
    Tax Data Reporting00 Ratings9.85 Ratings
    Compliance Administration Management00 Ratings9.54 Ratings
    Tax Exemption Processing00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
    Tax Document Management00 Ratings9.54 Ratings
    Complex Tax Scenario Management00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GustoTaxJar
    Small Businesses
    Patriot Payroll
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Intuit Lacerte
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    APS
    Score5.7 out of 10
    Lappa
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.1 out of 10
    Vertex
    Score8.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GustoTaxJar
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (633 ratings)
    9.3
    (13 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (14 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.4
    (457 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    4.3
    (27 ratings)
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GustoTaxJar
    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
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    Stripe
    If you aren't a tax professional, this is a must. Trying to manually calculate which county/city/state sales tax is owed will break your brain. Actually, even if you were a tax professional, why would you want to manually do it when you could just have a tool like this to calculate it for you. I wish it was also affordable to have it file for you and there are some crunchy bits, but its pros definitely outweigh the cons.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Stripe
    • The CSV upload for clients that do not have or want to connect directly is very good. It allows us to get a lot of the information done quickly.
    • The cost is very competitive.
    • According to our clients, the integration is relatively easy.
    • For the most part, the reports are accurate.
    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
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    Stripe
    • Continually increase its native integration features with BigCommerce, which recently just opened up more Checkout APIs and Sales Tax APIs.
    • The Amazon integration is confusing only because Amazon (sometimes?) calculates and collects sales tax on your behalf. It's not clear what's best-- to let Amazon do it for you or for TaxJar to handle it.
    • Onboarding could be a bit easier and guided.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Stripe
    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
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    Stripe
    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
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    Stripe
    We had a few questions about integrations & onboarding, and support answered quickly and in-depth. They understood our questions - which were a bit technical in nature - and were able to provide an explanation in a timely and specific manner that allowed us to get the system up and running quickly.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Stripe
    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
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    Stripe
    TaxJar is less expensive, simpler to integrate and their billing is straightforward so that you don't have to worry about huge surprises at the end of a month or quarter. They spend a lot less time on sales/marketing but their support is excellent and overall we have had a much better experience with TaxJar.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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    Stripe
    • With regards to ROI, it definitely saves time. And time, as they say, is money. It may be hard to put a particular dollar sign on this, but it definitely has provided a positive return.
    • It keeps me aware of where I have sales tax nexus that I might not know about otherwise. This is important. Even if I have to check it manually, at least I am made aware of where I need to file.
    • It allows me to track how much in sales tax we've paid year over year, which is a good indication of how our sales are doing.
    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

    TaxJar Screenshots

    Screenshot of TaxJar Reports dashboard showing you the states in which you have nexus, how much sales tax was collected, and your gross sales summary.Screenshot of TaxJar state report showing breakdown of sales tax by city, county, and local jurisdiction for easy sales tax filing.