Gusto Review 2023: A Top-Notch Payroll and HR Platform

Users of Gusto’s software will also be able to use the phone, email, and live chat support options, as well as the Gusto video support library, to effectively set up and manage their account. Even Gusto’s lowest tier is generous in functionality – and you get even more features when you advance to the Complete plan. Gusto isn’t the only payroll software on the market, and its main competitors may have something your business needs that Gusto doesn’t offer. Gusto does have mobile apps for its employee app, called Gusto Wallet. It allows W-2 employees to access information such as their most recent paystubs; a people directory; personal details and time off; benefits and pay; and HR documents. Automated payroll is becoming more common on these sites, and Gusto offers it, as does Rippling.

• For example, you can help employees manage their 401s via Gusto, or create a health reimbursement system to make sure your employees are taken care of.
• And you can request free payroll setup assistance from Gusto or tackle the online setup process yourself when creating your initial payroll account.
• It acts as a bank within an app, connected directly to an employee’s cashflow, to help them manage their money.
• You prepare this report by selecting the columns you want to appear from a few dozen options, like employment type and payment method.
• However, customer support isn’t available during weekends and priority payroll and HR support is an add-on.

When analyzing prices, QuickBooks Payroll is similar to Gusto, with a $45 fee and $4 per person. Gusto’s HR experts are available for Plus and Premium plans, who can help businesses ensure compliance, such as with OSHA standards, and organize lawsuits. Gusto also has templates for countless HR forms that would otherwise need drafting from scratch, including offer letters and evaluations. The company aims to have transparent pricing with no hidden or unexpected fees to users throughout the payroll process. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.

Gusto Ease of Use

His articles focus on website builders, and business software that allows small businesses to improve their efficiency or reach, with an emphasis on digital marketing or accounting. He has written for Website Builder Expert and MarTech Series, and has been featured in Forbes. In his free time, Duncan loves to deconstruct video games, which means that his loved ones are keenly concerned about the amount of time he spends looking at screens. However, if you opt for the more expensive Complete or Concierge plans, you’ll be able to harness the power of next-day deposits. Dental and optical benefits, commuter benefits, and paycheck splitting can all be created and governed through Gusto. Some of these cost nothing, while others are listed as “low-cost” or “premium,” but you won’t have to worry about knowing what you need before you need it, as these can always be added at any time.

Gusto is one of the best payroll companies out there, offering a vast amount of features at a very reasonable price point. Even its most expensive tier ‘Plus’ which operates on a custom pricing model will likely be worth the investment due to the wealth of HR resources it offers. Our recommendation is the Plus plan, which still offers a reasonably affordable flat rate while still adding a load of useful features, like permissions and time tracking. The Premium tier is nice, but for such a massive price increase, you’d want to know for sure that you stand to gain a lot from their HR resources. While there aren’t specific add-ons offered by Gusto, there are plenty of integrations that are supported by Gusto. These can include time tracking, accounting, or point of sale software, among others.

Using this, you’ll be able to create your own employee handbook. Users on Concierge will also have access to a service that provides them unlimited access to a team of SHRM and HRCI professionals via phone and secure messenger. By taking this leap, you gain everything included in the provider’s Plus plan, with additional access to Gusto’s HR resource center. While this may seem like a large investment for a single add-on, it means you don’t have to buy individual HR software, which can be a big money saver. QuickBooks and Gusto share many similarities, including employee portal access and tax-filing assistance. The differences are minimal, and it may come down to trying a trial period for both and determining which interface your business likes best.

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But the site goes beyond that, covering commuter benefits, charity matching, gym membership, and more. Click the Time Off tab, and the screen displays related requests and policies, as well as a tracking history . The Documents page contains a list of HR forms the employee has completed and signed. You can add and view Benefits by clicking on that tab and keep private notes under the Notes tab. Click on the new Apps tab, and you can set up connections to apps that your team uses, like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Slack.

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This is the best payroll preview page I’ve seen among the sites I’ve reviewed. Besides a regular payroll, you can initiate a bonus, off-cycle, dismissal, or corrected payroll run. You can now also report a payroll you processed outside of Gusto, which is unusual among online payroll services. Gusto offers standard retirement plans as well as medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability coverage.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to pay your contractors using AutoPilot. Gusto is also a good fit for businesses that would like administrative management for employee health and retirement benefits, or that are looking for easy access to human resources tools. There is no monthly fee – instead you’ll just pay $6 for each contractor you pay through Gusto. However, you can still pay contractors on other Gusto plans, at a rate of either $6 in the Simple plan, or $9 in the Plus plan. Some of the leading integration options include Shopify, which lets you independently run an online store, and QuickBooks accounting, which lets you manage your financials beyond payroll.

Unlike some popular software, such as QuickBooks and Wave, that includes both accounting and payroll platforms in one place, Gusto doesn’t offer any accounting or billing features. That means your accounts receivable and accounts payable will need to operate on separate platforms—though Gusto’s integrations with accounting software could solve that problem for you. The lowest plan on offer is the Core plan, which costs $40 a month, plus an additional $6 for every employee enrolled in the software. This means that a company with 15 employees would be paying a monthly $130 fee. Gusto is a payroll and benefits administration platform for startups and small businesses. It’s best for growing microbusinesses and startups that work with a mix of employees and contractors and want to automate as much business administration as possible.

Is Gusto a reputable company?

You can give credit memo to your company’s Gusto administration to an employee within your company or someone outside your company. So, anyone you hire for HR, accounting or bookkeeping can get the information they need without going through you. The Premium plan comes with access to HR experts to help you stay compliant with ever-changing laws, as well as priority support so you can get help quickly if needed. You can also unlock exclusive discounts and waived fees, as well as a tax discount. Gusto enables varying levels of account permissions so that admins and managers can only access features and functions specific to their level.

The Simple plan has a two-day delay for direct deposits, even when using the Autopilot feature, which means you need to plan ahead when it comes to managing your employees’ pay. If you’re on the hunt for payroll software, Gusto isn’t the only viable option on the market. Here’s how Gusto pricing compares to other market-leading payroll software. With Gusto, you’ll be able to pay employees across all 50 states by creating employee profiles for anyone you’ve hired. Gusto has three pricing tiers, with an extra tier for those who rely on contractors instead of standard employees. Read our payroll software review of Gusto to learn more about pricing, pros, cons and more.

Gusto not only helps you manage your current employees, but helps you hire new ones thanks to ready-made offer letter templates, document storage and self-service payroll sign up. Gusto tracks contractor payments and generates a 1099 form for each contractor each year. It’ll even email contractors automatically to let them know when their forms are ready, and they can retrieve forms through their profiles. Running employee payroll through Gusto is simple and flexible to your company’s needs.

The tables below this information display link to lists of what gets taxed and debited, employee earnings and take-home pay, and your company contributions. Below that is a list of employees with key numbers from the current payroll. You can open a huge, all-encompassing table of that payroll run’s data, which you can view on the screen and download as a CSV or PDF file.

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And you’ll be able to set up time tracking, time off, and benefits. Gusto also offers a subscription-free plan for businesses that hire contractors, rather than full-time employees. Gusto’s comprehensive dashboard has a streamlined user-friendly interface.Whereas some payment software only manages payments, Gusto handles employee benefits, time clocks, taxes and hiring. Its all-in-one system allows accountants and bookkeepers to perform all necessary admin in one location, instead of increasing app stacks for a company.

During payroll submission, the system automatically considers benefit deductions, so an extra step isn’t required for employees. Prices are subject to change depending on sales and special offers, which Gusto offers regularly. There are occasional dedicated links within the site, like when you open the payroll-processing section, for example. There’s a link in the upper right corner that says, “I need help with this.” When you click on it, you can watch a video or click on links to other help content. You can also search the Help Center via a labeled field at the top of each page, which lets you find people, shortcuts, and help articles.

And unlike Gusto, their pricing is custom quote-based, meaning you only pay for what you want. However, you’ll only know the price point after you put the plan together, so it might end up costing more than you’ll be able to pay. If you’re concerned about payroll cost above all else, you might want to look at QuickBooks’ Core tier, which costs $45/month, but only $4 per employee. This tier still offers a lot of great features despite its low price, like 401 assistance and 1099 forms for contractors. Gusto’s tax-filing tools include compliance notifications and information about tax credits your company could be eligible for.Gusto has the option to toggle reminders for tax regulations. If laws change in your region, even if it isn’t tax season, Gusto will notify you, so your business remains compliant.

For companies with larger teams, the Premium plan may be the best fit. You can work with the sales team directly to find the best pricing for the number of employees you’re looking to manage. Gusto is a full-service payroll and benefits platform designed to grow with U.S.-based startups and small businesses.

Garnishments and custom deductions also appear here, as do links to pay stubs. The Personal screen contains data like social security number, birthday, address, and emergency contact. If you’ve set up an integration with a performance application , you see that data when you click the Performance tab. Gusto has its own performance review tool, but it’s not included in Gusto Simple. Similar to ADP RUN, Paychex Flex is the small-business version of Paychex’s payroll platform. It serves small businesses with less than 50 employees and provides simplified payroll processing.

You should compare Gusto’s monthly cost to your normal cost of operating. As with any software, Gusto excels in some areas and not others. Depending on the size of your company and your line of business, you may find Gusto to be a worthwhile investment for your day-to-day operations. Has a user-friendly interface with simple step-by-step tools and checklists.

Most sites begin the process using the setup tool, but then you’re on your own to explore the site’s settings. Unlimited chat, email, and phone support are available should you need help. Gusto is not a health insurance company, but can help you manage your employee health insurance benefits.

There are also low-cost 401 plans, and access to small group health insurance, with a choice of more than 3500 plans from 100 carriers that also cover dental and vision. The cheapest plan, Basic, is aimed at teams of one or two people and is still in development. It has fewer features than the other plans and can only be used in a single state, whereas the others offer full-service payroll across all 50 states. Direct deposits take four days on Basic, compared to two days for the Core plan and next day for Complete and Concierge. Payroll will process automatically one day before the deadline, so you’ll have 24 hours to make any changes if they’re needed. Changes made after the 24-hour period will be applied to the next payroll cycle.

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Then there is workers’ compensation, health reimbursement – an alternative to traditional health insurance – and commuter benefits. We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team. Gusto offers telephone, email, and chat support during regular business hours. In addition to the support options available, Gusto offers a searchable knowledge base.

• On those plans, both hourly and salaried non-exempt employees can track their hours.
• Gusto’s tax-filing tools include compliance notifications and information about tax credits your company could be eligible for.Gusto has the option to toggle reminders for tax regulations.
• But the site goes beyond that, covering commuter benefits, charity matching, gym membership, and more.
• If you pay anyone by check, you have to manually print checks Gusto generates.

Gusto offers the best user interface and navigation system of any service I’ve reviewed. Its use of space and choice of fonts, graphics, and color are excellent. The site’s layout and navigation tools make a lot of sense, too. After you’ve saved the data on those two screens and advanced to the third, Gusto calculates your payroll run and displays a terrific preview outlining what’s about to happen. You can see the total payroll along with the debit amount and date as well as the employee pay date.

You’ll have to enter them into Gusto yourself to get them started, but once you supply basic details, including an email address, Gusto will email the employee directly. I think this is one of Gusto’s most important features, particularly for small business owners who may not have as much time to spend on payroll and personnel-related details as they may like. Though Gusto features are certainly robust enough for mid-sized businesses, pricing can be prohibitive for businesses with more than 20 employees. Overall, Gusto is one of the cheaper options on the market, but it doesn’t skimp on features.