Gusto Review {{year}}: Pros, Cons, Features and Pricing

Full-Service Payroll

You can run payroll in a few clicks while Gusto calculates wages, deductions, and taxes automatically. It also files and pays payroll taxes for you, reducing errors and saving time.

Employee Benefits

You can manage health insurance, retirement plans, and other benefits in the same system as payroll. Premiums and contributions sync automatically, so you don’t have to track them manually.

Time Tracking Tools

You can track employee hours, overtime, and paid time off directly in the platform. Approved hours flow into payroll automatically, reducing manual adjustments.

Talent Management

You can send offer letters, store employee records, and manage basic workforce data in one place. This keeps hiring and employee information organized and easy to access.

HR and Onboarding

Gusto helps you collect documents, set up new hires, and stay compliant with required forms and reporting. This makes onboarding faster and more structured for your team.

Insights and Reporting

You can view payroll summaries, tax reports, and workforce data from built-in reports. These insights help you monitor payroll costs and stay informed without manual tracking.

Gusto Money

Employees can access a spending account, savings tools, and early wage access from their dashboard. This helps your team manage finances more effectively without additional HR involvement.

Workers’ Comp Insurance

Gusto lets you set up workers’ compensation and sync premiums with payroll automatically. Payments adjust based on payroll, helping you stay compliant and avoid manual tracking.

I find Gusto to be one of the most user-friendly payroll systems available. The interface is clean and easy to navigate, and payroll tasks follow clear, step-by-step flows with built-in guidance when needed. You can get payroll up and running quickly with minimal training, even without prior payroll experience.

Setup is guided with clear steps that help you add company details, employees, and payroll settings without confusion. Its Help Center offers practical guides, tutorials, and searchable articles when you need support, so you can move forward without heavy training. Most teams reach first payroll quickly, though more hands-on setup help for complex cases would improve the experience.

You can reach support by chat, phone, or email, with chat being the fastest way to get help for urgent issues. In my experience, chat resolves most questions quickly and keeps your work moving. You do need to be signed in to contact support, and response times can vary outside business hours, but help is generally reliable when you need it.

Integrations include QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, FreshBooks, Expensify, Deputy, When I Work, Homebase, and more available in the app directory. An API is available for building custom integrations.

Gusto pricing is fair for what you get—strong payroll tools, tax filing, and HR features that grow with your team. Users say the setup is smooth, and the automation saves time. Each tier has a base per-month fee and an additional per-person-per-month fee, which means it can get expensive as your team grows.

• Simple: Full-service payroll, auto tax filings (W-2 and 1099s), expert support, employee app, 2–4 day direct deposit, health benefits, life and disability, 401(k), workers’ comp admin, basic team management, invoices and bill pay, Payroll Bridge.
• Plus: Everything in Simple, plus next-day direct deposit, multi-state payroll, time and project tracking, hiring suite, advanced team management, expanded HR tools, and full benefits support.
• Premium: Everything in Plus, plus a dedicated service advisor, priority support, HR resource center, HR expert access, and Gusto Money Plus.
• Contractor Only: Contractor payments, 1099 filing, and payroll tools for businesses without W-2 employees.