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
UKG Pro
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
UKG delivers cloud-based HCM solutions including UKG Pro that help businesses simplify payroll computations, accelerate talent acquisition, manage time and attendance, and support proactive, strategic talent management on a global level.N/A
Pricing
GustoUKG 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
GustoUKG Pro
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
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
GustoUKG Pro
Considered Both Products
Gusto
Chose Gusto
Much better to use, and has less fluff that I don't care about
Chose Gusto
I've been in UKG's time tracking and HR portal which is much less aesthetically pleasing and more difficult and less intuitive to operate. I prefer Gusto's interface and would be more likely to recommend Gusto by a long shot.
Chose Gusto
UKG is just annoying and hard to navigate. Paylocity is more similar to Gusto but just not quite as user friendly - thought Paylocity DOES do Payroll processing a bit earlier. Workday is the most frustrating site in the world.

While Gusto and Paylocity do have their …
Chose Gusto
Gusto's customer service is superior. Their response times are excellent and the simplicity of the system is appreciated.
UKG Pro
Chose UKG Pro
I've used Gusto for timekeeping and payroll and HR. I do think the Gusto interface is nicer to look at and more motivating to visit. It has less functions, but I don't use all of UKG Pro's functions anyway, so I like the clean simplicity of Gusto. However, I like that you can …
Chose UKG Pro
Ultipro is not as easy to use as many of these apps but has extensive functionality and is very solid.
Features
GustoUKG Pro
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
9.0
567 Ratings
9% above category average
UKG Pro
8.1
857 Ratings
0% below category average
Pay calculation9.4544 Ratings8.3811 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.58 Ratings7.8407 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.8391 Ratings7.7732 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.3550 Ratings8.5799 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.0424 Ratings8.3659 Ratings
Reimbursement management9.1163 Ratings8.057 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings8.2318 Ratings
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
7.8
940 Ratings
4% below category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings8.6851 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings8.3877 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings8.0847 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.6832 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings7.1743 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings8.0756 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings7.2599 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
7.7
662 Ratings
6% below category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings7.7587 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings7.8617 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings7.7510 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
8.1
907 Ratings
1% below category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings8.3875 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings8.5880 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings8.0649 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings7.4340 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings8.4861 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
7.6
229 Ratings
5% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings7.6229 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
7.1
843 Ratings
6% below category average
Report builder00 Ratings7.4819 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings7.3832 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings6.7579 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
7.9
643 Ratings
1% below category average
New hire portal00 Ratings8.2636 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings7.7515 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
7.5
438 Ratings
7% below category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings7.4345 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings7.5417 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings7.6298 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings7.6387 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
7.5
542 Ratings
5% below category average
Performance plans00 Ratings7.6484 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings7.0381 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings7.7498 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings7.5468 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings7.6394 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
7.1
235 Ratings
9% below category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings6.8189 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings7.3203 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings7.5206 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings7.0187 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
7.5
530 Ratings
2% below category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings7.6499 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings7.6489 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings7.2387 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings7.5451 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings7.1382 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings7.7486 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings7.7451 Ratings
Best Alternatives
GustoUKG Pro
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.4 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
GustoUKG Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(588 ratings)
8.2
(1078 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(12 ratings)
10.0
(197 ratings)
Usability
9.4
(412 ratings)
8.0
(315 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(76 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(333 ratings)
Support Rating
1.3
(26 ratings)
5.8
(496 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(88 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(206 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(2 ratings)
9.0
(87 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(78 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
6.9
(68 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(95 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(57 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(50 ratings)
User Testimonials
GustoUKG Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
Gusto
Gusto is a great fit for small teams and startups that want a simple, reliable way to run payroll, manage tax filings, and give CPAs access without constant micromanagement. It’s especially useful for founders who need something that “just works.” The human support has been excellent—especially when forwarding confusing IRS mail.
That said, it’s a bit less intuitive when it comes to benefits and compliance for fully remote companies. For example, labor law poster distribution isn’t streamlined for digital teams, and setting up benefits felt more complex than it needed to be. Still, I’d recommend Gusto to any startup looking to get payroll right from day one.
Read full review
UKG
I would say, well, I don't want to focus on less appropriate. I want to be well suited. I really feel like if the transparency with our count rep and then just diving in onto how to problem solve and how to troubleshoot, I think that's most important with that.
Read full review
Pros
Gusto
  • Gusto really kills it on the simplicity. The app and website are very clear and straightforward.
  • Gusto also does a great job at being easy to navigate, visually pleasing, and logically posed.
  • Gusto communicates very clearly and provides just the right amount of communication.
  • Gusto makes the onboarding process very easy. I recently started at a new company and the process of filling out the necessary documents, filling out forms, and getting my benefit information input was soooooo easy!
Read full review
UKG
  • UKG has an amazing support team to reach out to if assistance is needed
  • All add-ons of UKG Pro integrate seamlessly making it a powerful software program
  • UKG Pro is very configurable to meet the specific needs of companies
  • It is easy to use and navigate
  • The mobile app is loved by all employees and provides on-demand access
  • The Ultimate Community is amazing!! On-demand information on all products and how they are used. Connect with other companies that use UKG Pro and learn from each other.
  • The Learning Centre is also amazing!! Learning right at your fingertips anytime, anywhere.
Read full review
Cons
Gusto
  • Adding in previous time manually could be more accessible.
  • Notifications for when employees manually change hours.
  • We should allow 1099 users to use the mobile app instead of restricting them to the website, especially since they can just log into the full website on their mobile device.
Read full review
UKG
  • Onboarding and recruiting need an environment that is more stable and dependable.
  • Core Benefits could be enhanced to allow OE and LE events via the mobile app.
  • Service and support need to be increased; days and weeks now, when we first went live, it was minutes and hours.
  • Adapting all version of time management into one or two versions, at no cost to the customer would allow the resources from UTA, UTM and WFM Classic to be directed to future enhancements and would allow support services to be increased for the 2 remaining platforms.
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
UKG
We have been a customer since 2015, we have gone to market and find that UKG Pro product is both user friendly for administrators as well as the employee. The qualify of support and service of UKG team is valued and we trust the product.
Read full review
Usability
Gusto
The overall platform and its speed of response are amazing. I would recommend this to any other business owner for ease of use and reliability. Email reminders are great if I’m super busy and have forgotten a few tasks. The price point compared to local payroll service is hands down a huge win.
Read full review
UKG
It gets the job done, but not with a few deep sighs. Once you know where stuff lives, it's manageable, but the first learning curve is steep, some menus feel buried. However, it's consistent, reliable and doesn't crash on me, which counts for a lot. With a little UI glow up it could push into a 9 zone.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Gusto
No answers on this topic
UKG
For the most part UltiPro has been reliable, but it could definitely be better. There have been several notable server issues where we were unable to access the product or unable to utilize some of the features. Customer support is usually quick to respond to questions about these issues, but they do not proactively reach out to customers whose environments have been effected by outages
Read full review
Performance
Gusto
No answers on this topic
UKG
Normally UKG Pro loads quickly. We had been having major issues with reports running in a timely manner but recently they broke out our virtual server to another instance where is wasn't sharing resources and that seems to have helped reporting run more efficiently.
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
UKG
The quality of UKG Support is related directly to the UKG rep. who handles the issue. In some cases you get someone who really is good at supporting the product and others may not have as much experience and it shows
Read full review
In-Person Training
Gusto
No answers on this topic
UKG
I've been to a few in-person (hands on) training sessions and it is very similar to the online classes. You have the same reference material to look back on after the training. So regardless of in person training or online you really get the same thing.
Read full review
Online Training
Gusto
No answers on this topic
UKG
Most of the online training was very generic (to be expected) but we had specific requirements for configuration that could have been better addressed with more individual sessions earlier on from our project team. However, we did finally begin booking training sessions with our implementation team which were recorded, and so provided additional information for how to correctly configure and test the system.
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
Read full review
UKG
Make sure you have all of your tax account information with all the states you are registered in available and that you are knowledgeable about the filing status, frequency, etc. We had some unique challenges with our state unemployment tax set up that I was not aware of and needed to be addressed prior to going live. Working with the state unemployment office can be a challenge.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Gusto
It's been a while since I used QuickBooks for payroll, but it doesn't even come close to it. Gusto is infinitely easier, allowing for employee time tracking, handling calculations and payments of payroll and payroll taxes, managing regulatory compliance in the background, and more. I had a lot of moments using QuickBooks Payroll where I thought, "Am I even doing this right?" — it felt like you had to have additional knowledge of HR regulations in your state to do everything correctly. Gusto has it ALL handled so you can focus your time on higher-impact tasks in your business.
Read full review
UKG
We used ADP WFN prior to switching to UKG. We interviewed three different payroll companies to see what our options were. UKG stood out and aligned with our company values. The sales team was very helpful and asked questions about what we were currently doing and how they could assist with simplifying things. I personally had a side meeting with them to see if there were options for a process that we manually process and if UKG could actually eliminate the process. We came to the conclusion that we weren't able to get it 100%, but we could pull 80% of what we needed from UKG, and then we would only need to manipulate 20% of the information. It was also determined from that meeting that we wouldn't need to pay extra to have a special report built. The customer service is what we were sold on. The other companies that we looked at didn't give us the confidence that their customer service would be any better than what we previously had.
Read full review
Scalability
Gusto
No answers on this topic
UKG
Read full review
Return on Investment
Gusto
  • For me, it is hard to quantify payroll software as having an ROI. It does save quite a bit of time per pay period, so perhaps we could assign a theoretical number to an employee taking that time. I'd say, at the least, it saves 30-60 minutes a pay period compared to a more difficult-to-use payroll software.
Read full review
UKG
  • Personally as a veteran user of UKG Pro, in past employers I have seen many amazing increases in employee engagement and ROI.
  • With QuVa, we are still very new to the UKG Pro platform and are just now beginning to get out of the implementation phase where we can start measuring the change. I will be looking for changes in Overtime spending to reduce as a result of more informative and actionable dashboards for managers to monitor overtime and timeclock abuses in real time. I am also expecting employees to engage more with new features being pushed out to the mobile app.
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

UKG Pro Screenshots

Screenshot of included workforce analytics.Screenshot of the payroll gateway.