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Guideline

Guideline

Overview

What is Guideline?

Guideline headquartered in San Mateo offers a cloud-based 401k management software for businesses priced on a per employee basis.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Guideline serves as a valuable retirement program solution for businesses looking to offer comprehensive benefits to their full-time …
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TrustRadius Insights
TrustRadius Insights
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Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Verified User
Manager in Marketing
Computer Software Company, 201-500 employees
Verified User
Professional in Engineering
Information Technology & Services Company, 51-200 employees
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Pricing

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Guideline

Guideline

N/A
Unavailable

What is Guideline?

Guideline headquartered in San Mateo offers a cloud-based 401k management software for businesses priced on a per employee basis.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.guideline.com/pricing

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

Human Interest

Human Interest

$124
per month
What is Human Interest?

Human Interest headquartered in San Francisco offers their cloud-based 401k administation platform for employers featuring flexible plan design and a dedicated account manager.

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Product Details

What is Guideline?

Guideline offers aims to offer a simple, affordable way to save for retirement, by providing plans presented as low cost and highly automated. This helps companies to offer a valuable benefit, and it helps companies' people to invest in their financial future with confidence.



Guideline Features

401(k) Features

  • Supported: Administration and Recordkeeping
  • Supported: Payroll Integration
  • Supported: Compliance Maintenance
  • Supported: Plan Flexibility
  • Supported: Filings and Disclosures
  • Supported: Ease of Enrollment

Guideline Competitors

Guideline Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Guideline headquartered in San Mateo offers a cloud-based 401k management software for businesses priced on a per employee basis.

Human Interest, Betterment, and ForUsAll are common alternatives for Guideline.

Reviewers rate Ease of Enrollment highest, with a score of 7.

The most common users of Guideline are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(24)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Guideline serves as a valuable retirement program solution for businesses looking to offer comprehensive benefits to their full-time employees. Users appreciate the range of low-cost index ETF funds available through Guideline for their 401K options, providing a diverse range of investment opportunities. The super easy-to-use interface has been specifically mentioned by users, making it simple and efficient for employees to enroll and manage their retirement savings. The real-time calculation of contribution limits is also highly valued, providing peace of mind when making changes to contributions. Guideline's seamless integration with Gusto payroll further enhances its convenience, streamlining the administrative process for employers. The continuous safe harbor analysis offered by Guideline is also appreciated by administrators, helping them meet compliance requirements effortlessly. With Guideline as the company-wide 401K platform, businesses can eliminate the manual aspects of maintaining and processing employee retirement contributions, freeing up time for the executive team. Additionally, Guideline's quarterly reports allow users to track the progress of their portfolio and fine-tune their long-term financial strategy. The responsive support team provides timely assistance through email and phone, ensuring a seamless experience for customers. Overall, Guideline's user-friendly features, cost-effectiveness, and comprehensive services make it an efficient tool for businesses of all sizes.

Low-cost investment options: Several users have mentioned that Guideline offers low-cost investment options, which has been a positive aspect for them. They appreciate the affordability of the platform and feel that it allows them to invest their money without incurring high fees or expenses.

Excellent customer support: Reviewers have consistently praised Guideline's customer support, noting their commitment to helping users. The prompt and helpful assistance provided by the support team has contributed to a positive experience for many customers.

Easy-to-use interface: Many users have found Guideline's software to be easy to use and navigate. They appreciate its intuitive design, visually appealing interface, and user-friendly features. The seamless integration with payroll vendors also adds convenience for users.

Terrible Customer Service and Lack of Investment Options: Users have expressed dissatisfaction with Guideline's customer service, noting a lack of investment options. Some users have stated that the customer service provided by Guideline has been subpar, while others have mentioned that there are limited investment options available.

Lack of Integration and Synchronization Frequency: Some users have found the integration and synchronization feature of Guideline to be lacking in terms of frequency. They feel that the synchronization only occurring once per day is not sufficient and suggest that it should be more frequent for real-time updates.

Limited Customization and Absence of Mobile App: The simplicity of Guideline has been criticized by some users who feel it lacks customization options, which may be problematic for businesses with more sophisticated plans. Additionally, the absence of a mobile app for tracking progress on devices like phones and iPads has been seen as a drawback by users who believe having this feature would enhance ease of use.

Based on user reviews, here are the most common recommendations for Guideline:

  1. Guideline is highly recommended for small nonprofits as a good solution for retirement benefits. Users have found it to be an efficient and cost-effective option.

  2. Businesses that use Gusto are advised to consider Guideline for their 401(k) plan administration. Users have found it to be a compatible and seamless integration with Gusto.

  3. Many users recommend Guideline for businesses seeking easy 401(k) plan administration. They appreciate its user-friendly interface and hassle-free management of retirement benefits.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-11 of 11)
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February 28, 2024

In my opinion, Awful customer service — couldn’t transfer my money for over 1 month

Verified User
Manager in Marketing
Computer Software Company, 201-500 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
It has been 4 weeks since I’ve tried to extract my money from their account, and I still have not received. I’ve had to escalate the customer service ticket and I still have to stay on top of them. The money also is coming via check versus a simple account transfer because the customer service team closed my account prematurely, so it’s overall been an awful experience for me with a decent chunk of change. Very unsettling
January 09, 2024

Guideline Review from a Senior Staff Researcher Point of view

Verified User
Professional in Engineering
Information Technology & Services Company, 51-200 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I think that the good thing of it is that it is easy to follow up contributions and accumulated money for the retirement without the need to directly ask H.R. people. That saves HR resources.

On the other hand, portfolios are not easy to understand and select. The meaning of risk is not clear.
What is risk in this case?
January 04, 2024

Disastrous account closure process with a broken product & terrible customer support that cost us thousands of dollars

Verified User
C-Level Executive in Product Management
Computer Software Company, 1-10 employees
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I believe that the only thing more broken than Guideline's product is their customer support. From initial contribution dates to the disastrous account closure that cost us personally thousands of dollars, this has been by far the worst SaaS and customer experience I've ever had in my career. If only 1) Guideline's product or 2) customer support had individually been broken, we would not have ended up in this state. I sent dozens and dozens of emails inquiring about oddities I was seeing in the product, but Guideline's reps only gave more conflicting and what ended up being grossly inaccurate feedback and status updates. I hope this review reaches anyone who is thinking of closing their Guideline account. Be extremely wary of what Guideline says and does in the account closure process and exact for detailed and exact timelines (you'll have to follow up many times...). For those of you who haven't yet selected a 401k provider, I'd recommend staying as far away from Guideline as possible.
November 17, 2021

Guideline Can Guide Your Company in the Right Direction as to Employee Retirement

Verified User
Analyst in Legal
Law Practice Company, 1-10 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Guideline is well suited for a comprehensive 401k service to most any business, whether small (10 or fewer employees) or far larger businesses. They can help employees understand how to invest their money and provide options for them. An employee can allow the people at Guideline to invest their money based upon a simple algorithm of conservative/moderate/less moderate risk or the employee can invest as they choose. Guideline is probably not the best suited as far as the type of financial advice one might get from more established investments and financial groups.
November 10, 2021

Guideline is a simple and effective benefit solution

Verified User
Administrator in Corporate
Design Company, 1-10 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
So far, guideline had done just about everything perfectly. Plan setup was simple and quick, and the initial onboarding process was outstanding. In the rare instance we have needed some form of support, it has been quick and simple as well. Its generally obvious that the first tier of support has not been particularly well trained on the platform, however, despite this small hinderance they have been able to adequately address our requests.
November 10, 2021

Not recommended at all - Terrible customer service

TN
Tom Nemcek
Human Resources Director
Vivos Therapeutics, Inc. (Health, Wellness and Fitness, 51-200 employees)
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Guideline is really only good if you are a small company looking to integrate it easily with your current payroll provider. It gives you the bare minimum 401k options, and I could see a growing company using them to start. However, other 401(k) vendors far out-class them between customer service, investment options, and employee financial options.
November 10, 2021

Jordan's Guideline Review

Jordan Wilhelmi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Jordan Wilhelmi
Director Media Public Relations
Unbendable Media LLC (Public Relations & Communications, 1-10 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Guideline is the perfect 401k retirement platform for small businesses. The best thing about Guideline is its interface, as it is so easy to understand and use. I can't think of a scenario where Guideline would not be a great option for this use. The only thing I dislike about Guideline is that it is sometimes slow to process contributions from my paychecks, or at least confirm those contributions.
November 10, 2021

Very complete and low costs 401K option for fast growing SMBs

RM
Robert Malnati
COO (Chief Operating Officer)
thatDot, Inc. (Computer Software, 1-10 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Guideline is an excellent tool for SMBs who want to offer a complete and low costs 401k option without administrative complexity. We are especially pleased with the integration to Gusto our payroll service. Employees appreciate the options for split contributions between Roth and conventional 401k accounts. Admins like the ease of use, complete feature list and low price.
January 18, 2020

Great 401(k) solution for startups and small businesses

Ed Hart | TrustRadius Reviewer
Ed Hart
Chief Marketing Officer
South Cypress (Retail, 11-50 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Guideline seems particularly suited to a small business with relatively simple plan requirements. Everything is online and easily accessible to our employees and the interface is more user-friendly than some of the larger 401(k) companies. If you're looking for a lot of plan complexity or bells and whistles, then Guideline might seem limited, but for a startup or small business with a technically savvy team using Gusto as the payroll system, Guideline is a no-brainer.
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