Delivers on 99.9% of things that any small business needs.
We use Gusto daily as the punch clock for the employees. However, in an industry with unfortunately high turnover, it turns the hiring …
Gusto
Gusto
Starting at $40 per month
View PricingOverview
What is Gusto?
Gusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.
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Awards
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Best of
2023
Best of
2023
Best of
2023
Popular Features
View all 6 features- Direct deposit files (137)8.383%
- Pay calculation (135)8.282%
- Salary revision and increment management (115)7.878%
- Benefit plan administration (93)6.464%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
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Pricing
View all pricingSimple: A streamlined set of automatic payroll features and benefits integrations
$40/month + $6/mo per person
Cloud
$12 per employee/contractor
Plus: Comprehensive payroll, benefits, and HR tools for employers building a great place to work
$80/month + $12/mo per person
Cloud
Premium: Scalable payroll and benefits, expert HR, and dedicated support for the complex needs of growing teams
Exclusive pricing, contact Gusto
Cloud
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://gusto.com/product/pricing?utm_s…
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting / Integration Services
Starting price (does not include set up fee)
- $40 per month
Features
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Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Gusto?
Gusto is an online people platform that aims to help small businesses take care of their teams. According to the vendor, their products and services help customers onboard, pay, insure, and engage their team in one integrated, easy-to-use platform used by over 200,000 modern employers. Gusto aims to make taking care of teams a joyful experience, while helping users manage their bottom line and stay compliant. Gusto promises that users will feel like a pro no matter how complicated the situation.
Full-service payroll - According to the vendor, Gusto makes running payroll easy. Gusto automatically calculates and files payroll taxes, help keeps companies compliant, and provides awesome support.
Benefits that work for any team and budget - Gusto aims to make offering employee benefits a reality for any small business. Whether an organization is buying health insurance for the first time or wants to integrate an existing plan with payroll, Gust can provide expert guidance. They'll help with add-ons like 401(k), life insurance, and commuter benefits, which the vendor says allows companies to create a competitive package that attracts and retains employees. The vendor promises their modern, intuitive software and team of licensed advisors helps customers navigate benefits with confidence.
Gusto Features
Payroll Management Features
- Supported: Pay calculation
- Supported: Payroll history for each employee
- Supported: Benefit plan administration
- Supported: Direct deposit files
- Supported: Payroll tracking and auditing
- Supported: Salary revision and increment management
Gusto Screenshots
Gusto Video
Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNd0xp8sVWU to watch Gusto video.
Gusto Integrations
- QuickBooks Online
- Xero
- FreshBooks
- QuickBooks Time
- When I Work
- Deputy
- Justworks Hours
- ZipBooks
- Homebase
- Clover
- Accelo
- Trainual
- Expensify
- Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
- Veryfi
- Ximble
- a Paycor company Unpublished
- eBillity Time Tracker
- QuickBooks
- Aplos
- Kinderlime
- ClienTrak!
Gusto Competitors
Gusto Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
| Supported Countries | United States |
| Supported Languages | English, Spanish |
Frequently Asked Questions
Gusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.
Gusto starts at $40.
Reviewers rate Reimbursement management highest, with a score of 9.5.
The most common users of Gusto are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(302)
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
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Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Gusto provides payroll for our company, and we originally switched to it for improved ease of use compared to our prior payroll provider, whom we had to call into each pay period. Gusto, being natively online, is modern and overall better than who we'd used previously. We saved about 50% as well. We also went remote fully prior to the COVID-19 pandemic setting in. During the pandemic, we had an employee move out of state, and Gusto proved to be super easy to setup for the new state, including ensuring we were properly set up to pay local city taxes in addition to the new state taxes. As the company owner, I've hired employees and contractors since using Gusto, and have converted some contractors to full-time employees. Gusto makes this easy as well, and having an intuitive platform that I trust to calculate deductions and everything else, frees my time up to do paying work. Oh, and Gusto is fully integrated into my bookkeeping software, QuickBooks Online, so when I approve a payroll, there's nothing more for me to do from a bookkeeping standpoint.
- Handles federal, state, and local tax withholdings
- Easy onboarding of contractors and W-2 employees
- Real-time access to paystubs and W-2s
- Intuitive, natively online platform
- Seamlessly integrated with QuickBooks Online
- Some items take too many clicks to get to, like paystubs
- I'd like to permanently skip some features I don't use, like sick time tracking
- At times, reminders can become redundant
- I like that Gusto handles all of the federal, state, and local tax withholdings and payments. This really is the basics of a payroll system, but I'm a small firm, yet I pay employees across 4 different states. Gusto makes it easy.
- Gusto integrates with QuickBooks Online, and that's key for me. Once I approve a payroll, there's nothing else I need to do to keep my bookkeeper happy. Before Gusto, I had to make manual entries, and that was a pain and just busy work in hindsight.
- Gusto is natively online. I can manage employees and payroll from anywhere with an internet connect, even my phone.
95%
9.5
- I currently pay $57 a month to pay employees in 2 states. I used to pay $147 a month with ADP, and the Run system I was on with ADP paled in comparison to Gusto's ease of use.
- As the owner, I love that I can login and adjust withholdings, or split paychecks across multiple accounts at any time, without waiting for changes to take effect after hitting submit.
- I can approve payroll in about 5 clicks, but could cut down on this by switching to Gusto's AutoPilot if I wanted. I don't mind the 5 clicks though, gives me the control I like.
- RUN Powered by ADP®
This system allowed us to approve payroll online, which was an improvement from the prior ADP system where we had to call in via phone to dictate hours and pay for employees. But, RUN was clunky, and seemed cobbled together. It was also expensive for what it provided. Also, I ended up with stacks of paystubs and reports that were mailed to me each pay cycle. None of my employees wanted a paper copy, so this, along with the plastic security envelopes, just stacked up and became a hassle to deal with. When I transitioned to Gusto, employees got their own login to view their paystubs if they wanted, and I cut down on all the paper and plastic waste (I had to eventually shred it all). And Gusto has much better ease of use at less than half the price I was paying for the RUN by ADP system.
1
Owner/General Manager
1
If you're not an idiot and you can use a computer and understand a website, Gusto is the right choice for you! It helps to have a basic understanding of payroll and tax functions, but setup is super easy and Gusto guides you through this. Once set up, there's very little required to "support" Gusto. You need to approve payroll if you want to get paid, but that's about it!
- Paying myself and staff
- Federal, state, and local tax withholdings and payments
- Tracking of retirement benefits
- Setting up additional states to hire staff across the country. In the work-from-anywhere era, we've employed people in 4 different states. Gusto made this very easy for us.
- I can literally run payroll from my phone. Super easy.
- Integrating with QuickBooks Online made my bookkeeper happy and saved busy work.
- More full featured benefits tracking
- Tracking of sick days (we don't bother keeping track now)
June 07, 2022
Gusto is annoying for users
We use Gusto to clock in and clock out in order to get paid. Gusto handles the payroll processing for our accountants. Gusto is used for all employees in order to get paid properly.
- Handles state/federal taxes for each user
- Handles direct deposit
- The website appears simple enough for users
- The Gusto website often times won't load the page you want and will load the wrong page multiple times before it will finally work
- Gusto won't allow anyone to manually input a clock out time in the future. It will only accept the current timestamp or a previous timestamp
- Gusto sends out multiple annoying emails
- Handles direct deposit
- Handles state/federal taxes
40%
4.0
- It saves time for the accountants compared to the prior system
- It frustrates users more than the prior system
- Unanet and Justworks Hours (formerly Boomr)
Gusto is much easier to use than Unanet, both for the users and the accountants. Gusto appears to have additional features than Boomr, but is more annoying than Boomr to use on a daily basis.
60
Everyone from CIO/CFO to the entry-level Techs use Gusto for tracking their time
Technically no user supports Gusto, so any actual support needs to come from Gusto's own Support Techs themselves. Any easy and basic help needed in Gusto would be handled by our Accountant and/or the 2 Clerks that help with the payroll.
- Pays employees on time
- Includes 401k options
- Tracks PTO accrual and usage
- Can't think of any
- It would be nice to import CW Manage timesheets directly into Gusto
Yes
It replaced Boomr. Boomr was just a temporary system while we transitioned to something that could handle numerous employees spread across multiple timezones.
- Price
- Product Usability
The single biggest factor in the decision was simplicity. The previous system was convoluted and required lots of manual input, so we were looking for something that was simple to use from a user standpoint and a payroll standpoint.
I would want to trial a couple other payroll systems with the actual users because they have to use it everyday. Gusto isn't the best user experience, even though it's nice from the payroll side of things.
March 10, 2022
Make Your Payroll Task Easy With Gusto
We at Arcadio Consulting use Gusto to do payroll for our own company and clients. But unfortunately, payroll involves a complicated set of tasks. That's when Gusto comes into play. Gusto is a fantastic payroll tool that helps you automate payroll tasks for both employees and contractors, no matter how hard or complex. In addition, it makes the onboarding process easy and enables you to avoid any errors. Finally, its user-friendly approach to setting up payroll is the tool anyone would enjoy using.
- Easy onboarding process
- Clear and accurate tax reports
- Running payroll is pretty straightforward. It is easy to pay employees and contractors.
- Gusto's support department is super bad, very slow, and hard to reach. In my opinion, I'm better off with the help center.
- There is not an easy termination process. Accountant firms are too controlled and can't do much when suspending a payroll account.
- Dashboard messages are a pain in the neck; even though the feature isn't supposed to be on, it still reminds you about it. So, for example, when a client doesn't need worker's compensation insurance because of state law, the dashboard messages still remind you to add the insurance information.
- Onboarding process
- Payroll management
- Pay calculation report detailed
100%
10.0
- Gusto has simplified our payroll tasks.
- Gusto is affordable and is user-friendly for small businesses.
- Gusto provide integration with accounting software such as QuickBooks and Xero.
2
Payroll management
2
Payroll calculation knowledge and federal and state laws.
- Payroll
- For detailed tax reports
- HR
- Benefits system
- PTO
November 23, 2021
Gusto is a Disaster
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We have been with Gusto since 2018, but we cannot in good conscience recommend them to any businesses, small, medium, or large. Their software is faulty and their customer service is never available to help. Holidays are not added properly to payroll even though we are on their Complete plan with "automated PTO/payroll syncing". Our 401(k) matching contributions are not calculated properly because their software doesn't use all eligible wages before calculating the 401(k) match. The list of issues goes on. It takes Gusto ~ 2 weeks to answer emails. We sent them an email 3 weeks ago and we have yet to receive a response!!! It always takes them many days or a few weeks to get back to us (when they do reach out). And when we get a response, they simply don't address the problem or cannot solve the issue. Gusto is either disorganized or growing too fast. They are no longer a viable solution if you are looking for reliable payroll software and responsive customer service. We're considering leaving them in 5 weeks and starting 2022 with a more robust platform.
- Minimalist platform
- Good for simple payroll
- Faulty software
- Unresponsive customer service
- No accountability
- Tax filing
23.333333333333336%
2.3
- Negative ROI (we're spending too much time contacting Gusto to fix issues and problems are not solved in a timely manner)
3
Owner, payroll administrator, employee
2
- Payroll only (Gusto is not our benefits administrator)
- We are probably leaving Gusto at the end of the year. It's no longer a viable solution for us or a reliable platform.
June 14, 2017
Gusto -Easy to use but not perfect.
We use Gusto to do our own company's payroll and we also use it to provide payroll services to our clients, some of whom basically use it to do their own payroll and simply consult with us if there are issues or they need help, and others whom we do the entire payroll process for.
- Gusto is very user-friendly in terms of employee onboarding - you simply enter some very basic information and the employee enters all of their personal details themselves.
- Running payroll is quite simple as well, it guides you every step of the way, and you also have the option to pause in your payroll processing and return to finish at a later time. And if you do make a mistake you can always cancel the payroll run and start over as long as you do it before the deadline.
- Setting up paid time off is quite simple and you can use Gusto not only to track paid time off but also for requesting and approving of time off as well.
- There is a 4-day lead time required for direct deposit which doesn't always work well for smaller companies who don't have a lot of cash flow and would prefer to keep the money in the bank until much closer to pay day. Also, if there is a bank holiday during that 4-day period then you have to run it 5 days ahead of time. I've had several clients who simply refused to consider Gusto as an option due to this as they can have a 2-day lead time with many other payroll companies.
- There have been several occasions when they have made a mistake in the payroll tax filings. When I first signed up with Gusto on behalf of a client (several years ago)they filed their local payroll taxes incorrectly for several periods in a row and I was told by the local tax agency that they did this not only with my client but several other companies as well. It took a long time to straighten this out, and they were not always prompt in their customer service response. Most recently they paid the state unemployment taxes a day late due to a "technical issue" - they say they are working to resolve the issue and will either get all penalties forgiven or cover them themselves - since this happened very recently I don't yet know the result of this one but they have been very pro-active on it so far.
- The payroll reporting could be a little more robust and accurate, especially the YTD reports. For example when running a payroll we always want a report that covers only that payroll as well as reports that cover the entire year to date, however, if you try to print the YTD report on the same day that you run the payroll, it does NOT include the payroll that you just ran because it hasn't happened yet, so you actually have to log back in 4 days later in order to get an accurate YTD report. Also, you can't run a report for only one employee - you have to cover all of them even if you only need the information on one of them.
- Gusto has decreased the time it takes me to run payroll by about 50% over my previous solution.
- My employees love the ease of onboarding, changing their personal information, and the cute emails they get when it's payday that not only tells them they've been paid but also congratulates them if they've received a raise or a bonus. They also love being able to log in any time (even if they've left the company) and pull up all of their historical paystubs and W-2s.
3
As the owner of the company I use Gusto to run our own payroll, as an accounting/bookkeeping company we also use Gusto to run payroll for clients so my staff also uses Gusto to process payroll for them.
1
There are really no special skills needed as it is really quite user friendly.
- Internal payroll
- Client payroll