Gusto Payroll Review: Pricing, Features and Benefits

Gusto is a straightforward payroll software, ideal for smaller teams. We were able to get the software up and running in less than 30 minutes, using its intuitive and user-friendly interface. Quite literally, it takes just a few clicks to pay your staff and, if payroll stays the same every month, you can even set it to auto-run. 

Cost-wise, with prices starting from $49 per month plus a per-employee fee, Gusto is fairly affordable and it doesn’t bind you to a fixed-term contract. Because of this, it made our experts’ ranking of the best payroll software for small businesses — specifically those who don’t have much experience with payroll, or are hiring third-party contractors. 

Keep reading our Gusto review for a detailed analysis of its payroll features, its setup process and how much the platform could cost you.

What are Gusto’s Top Features?

Gusto is a straightforward payroll software, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t stacked with useful features. Here are some capabilities you can expect with Gusto.

Automated payroll

Gusto calculates your payroll automatically and gives you an easy-to-understand overview of the payroll run. You can view the employee pay date and the total payroll amount, plus the debit amount. You can also download a file of all of the payroll data for your records. 

Each run, Gusto sends you prompt reminders to run payroll. If your payroll stays the same each month, you can actually set it to auto-run. This means you just need to set it up one time and Gusto will automatically run it each month. You just have to approve it. 

Tax filing

Gusto automatically calculates, files and pays your local, state and federal payroll taxes. It also issues W-2’s and 1099s, and sends them out to your employees and contractors — at no extra cost. Some payroll providers charge extra to carry out this task. 

Gusto also deals with state tax registrations in all 50 states — even if your employees are scattered around the US. This means you can easily run payroll across multiple states. 

Gusto also keeps track of legislation updates to ensure your business stays compliant. For example, the payroll platform has supported employers through recent changes tied to the SECURE 2.0 Act, including updates to retirement plan contributions and reporting requirements.

This ensures payroll deductions and filings remain accurate without manual intervention, reducing the risk of errors when tax laws change.

Benefit management 

Gusto has made it easy to provide workers’ compensation in a simple and budget-friendly way. It partners with AP Intego to provide accurate deductions for each payroll. The great thing about this is that it saves time and money and reduces the risk of errors. Your premium is spread out over the year, avoiding any large down payments or surprise end-of-year fees. 

Gusto also partners with Guideline to provide you with 401(k) plans. With no setup fees or minimum number of employees, contributions are automatically deducted from payroll each month.

Gusto also promises to provide the ability to integrate your existing 401(k) plans with the platform. Employees can set up their own 401(k) and, with help from Guideline, they can easily adjust their contributions. 

Time and attendance tracking

Gusto offers built-in tools that let employees track hours, submit timesheets and request time off independently. All of these functions flow directly into payroll to help streamline pay calculations and take responsibilities off managers.

Gusto also integrates seamlessly with time tracking solutions like TSheets (QuickBooks Time), helping to automatically import approved hours and improve payroll accuracy for hourly teams.

However, while Gusto’s time and attendance tracking features will help meet the needs of small to mid-sized teams, the provider lacks certain specialized tools, like detailed scheduling and geofencing for clock-ins. This makes the software slightly less suited to larger businesses.

Smartphone app

Gusto offers a dedicated smartphone app for both iOS and Android, too, allowing employers to run payroll, approve timesheets and manage employee details directly from their phone. This makes payroll far more accessible than relying on a mobile browser, as the app is easier to navigate and better optimised for smaller screens.

That said, the mobile app is designed to complement the desktop platform rather than fully replace it. Some advanced settings and HR features — like payroll configuration and benefits administration — are still best handled on a desktop.

Third-party integrations

Gusto offers a solid range of third-party integrations designed to simplify payroll workflows for small and mid-sized businesses. On the accounting side, it integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks, Xero and FreshBooks, allowing payroll data, wages, and tax expenses to sync automatically with your books — reducing manual data entry and helping to prevent errors as a result.

However, Gusto does not offer ready-made integrations with large-scale human capital management (HCM) platforms such as SAP or Oracle. Businesses already using these systems may need to rely on custom integrations or manual data transfers to connect Gusto with their existing HR infrastructure.

How Secure Is Gusto?

Gusto has a strong security framework in place and follows many of the same best practices as larger, more established payroll providers like ADP and Rippling.

The provider uses encryption to protect payroll and personal data, including employee bank details and tax information, both in transit and at rest. Gusto also applies role-based access controls and supports two-factor authentication (2FA) for account logins, adding an extra layer of protection beyond passwords alone.

Gusto can also support single sign-on (SSO) via integrations like Okta and OneLogin. However, the provider doesn’t offer this functionality as a part of its standard admin controls, like ADP and Rippling. While this won’t be a dealbreaker for most small and mid-sized businesses, it could present limitations for large organizations with strict identity management policies.

Is Gusto Easy to Set Up?

Yes, Gusto is one of the easiest payroll providers to set up, especially compared with more traditional, enterprise-focused providers, like ADP and Rippling. After we tested Gusto out, we were impressed with how fast the onboarding process was — we were able to get a basic payroll set up running in under 30 minutes.

If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll need to provide Gusto with your company details, such as your name and address. But the great thing about Gusto is that you can have your employees provide all the necessary information about themselves. Just click a button, and your employees will receive an email asking them to provide their details. 

You’ll also need to provide tax-related information, such as your business type and your Employer Identification Number (EIN). Then, you’ll have to provide state-related information, which can be a little complicated. But Gusto simplifies this by providing helpful information and links throughout the process. 

If you’re moving from another provider, you’ll also need to hand over your payroll history. Gusto makes this as straightforward as possible by providing assistance throughout the process. This process can become very complicated if you make an error, so this help from Gusto is super handy. Its user-friendly interface also makes things less daunting. 

How Much Does Gusto Cost?

Gusto’s Simple package is great for startups and small businesses as it contains all the necessary features to run payroll, file taxes and provide employee benefits. Simple and Plus are well-priced, especially considering the features provided. 

The Premium package will be better suited to larger businesses, both price- and feature-wise. As your business grows, you’ll find that you can easily scale up to these plans. 

Gusto also offers a Solo plan ($49 + $6 per person, per month) for solopreneurs interested in self-managing payroll. The tier offers compliance self-pay and automatic tax-filing features, a reasonable salary calculator, and an S Corp compliance dashboard. You’ll also get access to the Solopreneur Platform, helping you manage health benefits and Solo 401(k) plans.

There is also a Contractor Only plan ($35 + $6 per contractor, per month) for contractor-only businesses that haven’t hired W-2 employees.

If you want to broaden your search horizon and find out exactly how much payroll is likely to cost your business, you can use our free comparison tool to receive free, tailored quotes from trusted payroll providers. This way, you can compare prices between a range of providers that have been matched to suit your needs. 

How Does Gusto’s Price Compare With Competitors?

To help you understand Gusto’s value compared with competitors, we’ve created a chart illustrating how much businesses with teams of different sizes (five, 10, and 50 employees) might expect to pay in annual payroll costs when using Gusto, versus providers like ADP, Paychex, and OnePay.

The comparison factors in monthly base fees and per-employee charges, giving a more realistic picture of how costs scale as your workforce grows.

Gusto’s pricing structure is notably predictable, which is one of its strongest differentiators against enterprise-level providers. In comparison, ADP’s pricing is typically not published transparently. Instead, it’s offered via custom quotes that depend heavily on company size and chosen modules.

Paychex also uses a custom pricing model, with typical small business packages starting “around $39 per month plus $5 per employee,” according to expert guides. However, the actual total monthly cost varies widely with features, support level, and add-ons.

NB: Since ADP and Paychex don’t publish fixed pricing, this chart uses conservative industry-average estimates commonly cited in sales disclosures. 

Is Gusto Right For My Business?

Unsure whether Gusto will be able to meet your specific needs? Here’s a summary of what businesses the payroll platform is more suitable for.

How We Assessed Gusto Payroll

Gusto FAQs