Easy and Affordable Full-Service Payroll
Updated May 19, 2025

Easy and Affordable Full-Service Payroll

Stephanie Kochis | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Gusto

I use Gusto for my firm's payroll. It addresses the problem of needing a company to run full service payroll (including tax withholding and filing) so that I don't have to deal with that. The scope of my use case is for a one person S-Corp, so I only run payroll for one person.

Pros

  • integrate payroll journal entries with QuickBooks
  • Auto Pilot payroll is set it and forget it. You never have to run payroll once it's set up
  • The setup support was very helpful for my initial software setup.
  • The Gusto dashboard is pretty easy to navigate.
  • I like that as an accountant user I can have access to my client's payroll dashboards as well.

Cons

  • I would love to see Gusto set up integration with Wave Accounting software.
  • Gusto saves me time from running payroll and filing payroll taxes.
  • Gusto saves me time from dealing with payroll at all, and direct deposit is great.
I think it's pretty easy to navigate once you get used to the dashboard. A few times I had to google "how to do X in Gusto" and it turned up a really great knowledge base article of instructions. So for anything I can't figure out on my own, they have great resources to help you figure things out. And if you still need help, they have really good support as well.
Gusto seems to offer everything that ADP Payroll does, but at a much more affordable cost. Gusto's prices are much more reasonable for very small businesses and startup businesses. Most of my clients fall into that category. I would say ADP is more for larger small businesses that are established and have more complicated payroll needs. For small businesses with more simple payroll needs, Gusto is perfect.

Do you think Gusto delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Gusto's feature set?

Yes

Did Gusto live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Gusto go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Gusto again?

Yes

Gusto is great for very small companies. I recommend it to almost all of my small business bookkeeping clients. The only clients I haven't recommended it to are the bigger companies who have multi state payroll. I have no experience (Good or Bad) with multi state payroll, but I have good experience with another company handling multi state payroll, so I recommended the other company in that instance. For everyone else, I recommend Gusto. I mostly work with very small companies, and Gusto is more affordable for them, while still handling everything necessary, such as QuickBooks integration, user self setup, and tax withholding and filing.

Gusto Feature Ratings

Payroll Management
10.0
Pay calculation
10
Benefit plan administration
Not Rated
Direct deposit files
10
Salary revision and increment management
Not Rated
Reimbursement management
Not Rated

Using Gusto

1 - I am the owner of a firm that provides bookkeeping for small businesses. I use Gusto to process payroll for my own firm, and I also recommend it to any client or prospective client in need of a full service payroll provider.
Once I get clients set up with Gusto, they handle payroll processing themselves. I help getting the Gusto integration with QuickBooks set up, and I manage that integration as needed for when new accounts need to be created and mapped.
  • Running Payroll
  • Withholding and paying payroll taxes
  • Running various payroll and tax reports
  • Support for questions about payroll, taxes, or reports
  • Referring clients to Gusto helps build my reputation as a knowledgeable professional in my industry
  • Save time with auto pilot payroll
Gusto offers very easy to use features at a pretty reasonable price. The integration with QuickBooks works well, and it's also easy to pull reports when you need them. They are my number one choice for payroll services, and as long as they continue to offer great features and service at a reasonable price, I have no reason to choose another payroll provider.

Evaluating Gusto and Competitors

  • Cloud Solutions
  • Integration with Other Systems
  • Ease of Use
Gusto works well with QuickBooks. I knew that from working with Gusto for other bookkeeping clients before adopting it for my firm. I needed something that integrated with QuickBooks, and I wasn't happy with ADP from other clients and knowing that the price point was too expensive for really small businesses. Once I set up Gusto, I was impressed with how easy it was to use. It is very user friendly, and there is a great knowledge base for when you have questions.
I would do it the same. Because I work with lots of bookkeeping clients who use all kinds of payroll software, I already had a good idea of what worked well and what didn't. Among the software that works well, Gusto was also the most reasonably priced for really small businesses. The decision was easy.

Gusto Implementation

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.
  • Implemented in-house
  • Knowing how to set everything up properly
  • Knowing what everything was - tax accounts and numbers

Gusto Support

Every time I have needed support, they have been great. I needed support to initially set up payroll because I'm not a payroll person, and some of the set up wasn't intuitive to me. I reached out to Gusto and talked to Cam, who walked me through everything. He has been great. He has provided the same level of support to a church who I referred to Gusto. Gusto helps solidify my status as "trusted advisor" for my clients.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
I did not purchase premium support for Gusto because I don't feel that I need it. After my initial setup support, I put my payroll on Auto Pilot and don't ever need to change anything. I can see the need for it in a larger organization with a lot of payroll and a higher probability of questions and payroll issues. But my organization is small and payroll is simple, so there is no need for premium support.
During initial setup I was very confused because I never had to set up payroll before and I had so many questions. Cam walked me through set up and made it very straightforward. It was still a long process, but he was very helpful.

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