Gusto Reviews - Pricing, Pros/Cons, User Reviews

Gusto offers a user-friendly payroll and HR platform for small businesses, with expanding services beyond payroll. Ideal for companies under 150 employees. Find your HRIS match on OutSail's HRIS marketplace.

Brett Ungashick
OutSail HRIS Advisor
July 4, 2023
user comparing HRIS systems

Gusto

Overview

Gusto is the modern leader in small business payroll. This space has been dominated by ADP and Paychex for years, but Gusto's modern user interface and ease-of-use have made them a popular choice for new companies. In the last few years, Gusto has adding benefits admin, time tracking and onboarding capabilities to the system to provide more value to clients

Market Segment

Gusto is considered an SMB HRIS, which means the system works best for companies with less than 150 employees. SMB solutions are designed to cover some, but not all HR needs with some gaps to be filled in by 3rd party solutions. SMB solutions are typically more user-friendly and more modernly designed than other vendors. Additionally, they are typically built with integrations in mind and have open APIs. A solution like Gusto usually takes 2-4 weeks to implement and often does not require a great deal of work from an administrator to get started, due to the fact that most of the system is not configurable. SMB solutions tend to have limited rules engines and custom workflow tools, which can limit how scalable they can be.

Many companies compare Gusto to Quickbooks Payroll or evaluate Gusto vs ADP in their evaluations since those companies tend to be the market leaders for small business payroll and common Gusto competitors.

Many companies wonder if Gusto is a professional employer organizations (PEO). However, Gusto is not a certified PEO today. They do, however, offer full service payroll processing functionality and benefits broker services to small business owners. However, they do not take on the liability for employment that a PEO does.

Costs

What is Gusto payroll pricing? Gusto pricing for accountants and customers is charged on  a monthly or quarterly subscription basis. Gusto rates are often a good value for companies and the software fees can cost between $12 and 16 PEPM.

Ad for OutSail's marketplace

Additionally, Gusto does not usually charge an implementation fee to clients to get started.

See a demo of Gusto

Strengths
  • Gusto delivers a modern, user friendly payroll software and HR experience for companies that don’t want to use legacy platforms like Paychex or ADP
  • In addition to their technology offering, Gusto offers robust HR support services for companies that needed added help with creating policies and staying compliant
  • The Gusto user experience gets positive reviews from employees for it’s simplicity and ease of use
  • Gusto recently added functionality to support state registrations and for paying global contractors
  • In addition to their technology offering, Gusto offers additional HR support services for companies that needed added help with creating policies and staying compliant
  • Gusto recently opened their app marketplace and now have a number of pre-built integration partners for 3rd party HR apps
Weaknesses
  • Gusto focuses on very small companies. Companies tend to outgrow Gusto’s platform when they grow beyond 50-75 employees
  • Gusto has struggled to maintain their customer support SLA’s since the pandemic began and their resolution times have dropped significantly for customers
  • Gusto’s timekeeping tool offers basic clock-in / out functionality but is not designed to support complex hourly workforces with scheduling or job costing requirements
  • Gusto is fairly limited beyond Core HR and can’t offer employee engagement, ATS / Recruiting or robust learning management
Integration Capabilities

Gusto has strong integrations with accounting systems and benefit carriers, but has traditionally lagged behind its peers with their HR point solution integrations. They've recently started building a marketplace and opening up APIs but it will take time for their capabilities to catch up

Global Capabilities

Gusto is a domestic payroll solution and has historically only worked with US-based companies. However, they recently purchased a global payroll start-up that will allow them to expand internationally in the future.

Modules Offered
  • Gusto Online Payroll
  • HR / Employee Files
  • Gusto Employee Login
  • Time & Attendance (limited)
  • Onboarding
  • Performance Management
Reports
2024 HRIS 
Landscape Report
Read OutSail's 2024 HRIS Report with write-ups on 30+ leading vendors
Thank you! You can download your report at this link
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Services
Unsure about your software needs?
Use our HRIS Requirements Builder to quickly identify your must-have & nice-to-haves
Brett Ungashick
OutSail HRIS Advisor
Accelerate your HRIS selection process with free support
Thank you! Our team will reach out to you shortly
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Meet the Author

Brett Ungashick
OutSail HRIS Advisor
Brett Ungashick, the friendly face behind OutSail, started his career at LinkedIn, selling HR software. This experience sparked an idea, leading him to create OutSail in 2018. Based in Denver, OutSail simplifies the HR software selection process, and Brett's hands-on approach has already helped over 1,000 companies, including SalesLoft, Hudl and DoorDash. He's a go-to guy for all things HR Tech, supporting companies in every industry and across 20+ countries. When he's not demystifying HR tech, you'll find Brett enjoying a round of golf or skiing down Colorado's slopes, always happy to chat about work or play.

FAQ

Everything you need to know about OutSail
What is OutSail?
OutSail is the first-ever broker of HR Software. We offer market insights, evaluation tools & advisory services to help organizations research, evaluate and select the right HR software. And best of all - OutSail is free!
How is OutSail free?
OutSail is free due to our one-of-a-kind software broker model. When a company makes a purchase through OutSail, the winning vendor owes us a small fee for making the introduction.

No Hidden Fees - You don't pay for our services and the vendors don't pass our costs along either
Vendor Agnostic - OutSail partners with 220+ HR Tech vendors including every market leader
What are the benefits of OutSail?
1.) Market Insights: Access the industry's most trusted data. Read user reviews of every leading HRIS vendor. Access verified pricing data. Use proprietary tools to sort & filter by your selection criteria.
2.) Evaluation Tools: Access to project plans & timelines. Customize your own scorecard tools. Leverage expert-generated demo questions. Collaborate with your team
3.) Advisory Services: Work with HRIS industry experts. Assistance during proposal review and guidance for negotiations. Implementation readiness
What if I'm a broker, consultant or vendor?
We love partnering with brokers & consultants and bringing innovative vendors to our customers. Follow those links to learn more about how we can partner together and bring OutSail's benefits to your customers.

The Future of Software Buying

See why modern buyers prefer OutSail's broker model when buying their next HRIS