Gusto Review 2023: Features & Alternatives

What Is Gusto?

Gusto is an all-in-one payroll and HR resource center for businesses. You can use Gusto Payroll to manage employee payments and payroll taxes. Along with this payroll software, you also get helpful tools for managing employee benefits and automatic payroll tax filing.

From benefits administration and automated tax filing to contractor payments and health insurance and time tracking, Gusto does it all. You can even create and run employee surveys through it and manage your onboarding tools.

The platform also comes with many online resources, which can help with everything from basic payroll and tax filings to tax software and cash accounts. Gusto is truly an all-in-one platform that’s perfect for a small business looking for scalable payroll support and help with things like a benefits package and health benefits.

Gusto Advantages

Gusto is a full-service payroll and employee benefits tool. But it’s not the only payroll software out there. With that in mind, here are a few of the unique advantages that creating a Gusto account for processing payroll brings to the table.

All-In-One HR Platform

Gusto is a full-service payroll software that lets you manage your entire HR department from a single platform. It can help with:

• Health benefits
• Workers’ compensation
• Gusto wallet and pay stubs
• Time tracking for hourly employees
• Commuter benefits
• Local tax filings and local payroll taxes
• Hiring and onboarding
• And more

You get everything you need to run payroll, benefits tracking, health insurance plans, employee pay from the Gusto wallet app. Being able to manage all of this in a single place can be very helpful for small businesses.

Save Time With Automation

Gusto doesn’t just give you the ability to manage payments for salaried employees. It can also automate payroll for you in a variety of ways. For example, it will automatically calculate taxes, sync QuickBooks payroll, keep tabs on payroll processing and health insurance benefits, and much more.

If you’re looking for automated payroll support with your HR tools, then this payroll software could be right for you.

Integrate With Existing Tools

Another great feature for small businesses is Gusto’s ability to integrate with the tools you’re already using, such as QuickBooks. This makes it much easier to complete a full service payroll migration regardless of the accounting software or payroll solution you’re using now.

Helpful Online Tools and Resources

Gusto also gives you access to a wide variety of tools and online resources. They have a burn rate calculator, employee payroll calculator, hiring and onboarding tools, an employee handbook builder, and other comprehensive payroll tool and expense management options to choose from.

Multiple Customer Support Contact Options

With Gusto’s popular accounting software, you also get access to several different forms of support, ranging from priority phone support to live online chat and email help. This allows you to get the help you need through the format you prefer.

Gusto Packages

Gusto offers several different employee management and payroll tools plans to choose from. Here’s a look at what separates them from one another.

Gusto Packages

Gusto Simple Plan

The Gusto Simple Plan is the company’s entry-level option. It’s a good fit for small and medium-sized businesses that only operate in a single state.

 The Simple Plan includes:

• Full-service single-state payroll including W-2s and 1099s
• Employee profiles and self-service
• Basic hiring and onboarding tools
• Gusto-brokered health insurance administration
• Employee financial benefits
• Payroll and time-off reports
• Custom admin permissions
• Integrations for accounting, time tracking, expense management, and more
• Basic support

Gusto Plus Plan

The Gusto Plus Plan is a middle-of-the-road option. It’s a solid choice for medium-sized companies that do business in multiple states and smaller ones that have more advanced HR needs.

The Gusto Plus Plan comes with everything you get from the Simple Plan, as well as:

• Full-service multi-state payroll including W-2s and 1099s
• Next-day direct deposit
• Advanced hiring and onboarding tools
• PTO management and policies
• Time tracking and project tracking
• Workforce costing and custom reports
• Team management tools
• Full support

Gusto Premium Plan

With Gusto’s Premium Plan, you get the best of the best. Medium and large companies with advanced compliance, payroll, and tax requirements will find this option best for their goals.

The Premium Plan comes with everything you get from the Plus Plan as well as:

• HR Resource Center
• Compliance alerts
• Access to certified HR experts
• Full-service payroll migration and account setup
• Health insurance broker integration
• R&D tax credit discount
• Waived fees and exclusive pricing
• Performance reviews
• Employee surveys and insights
• Dedicated support

Gusto Quick Overview

4.8 stars

Best Overall Value

• All-in-One Payroll and HR Platform
• Helpful Online Tools and Resources
• Multiple Plan Options to Choose From

Sign Up Now

Gusto Customer Reviews

Worst customer service ever! Login won’t work and their suggestions to fix it don’t either!! Gave me an email to contact IT for assistance and the email didn’t work either!! Apparently, the only way to contact customer service is to wait on the phone for a couple of hours only to NOT get any help! This has happened to other Gusto works well for small organizations with 30 employees and under.customers I know. Very frustrating when you are trying to access YOUR money! When I can finally access my account I will close it out.

Denise P

Gusto was our payroll provider when I first started at Super Dispatch and they seemed to be a good provider. They had the option to take a pay advance within their app which is always nice since I am a single mother.

Stacey S

Knowledgeable, professional, courteous, and personable. Everything they told me to expect was exactly as they said it would. There was no endless game of phone tag, chasing more and more documents. They knew exactly what they wanted, asked for that, and proceeded with the processing of the loan upon receipt. I generally dread the entire loan and loan approval process. I cannot say enough about how pleased I was with the entire process.

Michael

Gusto takes all the stress out of employee and payroll management

Jody G

It has an employee portal tool, where we have in an organized way the information of each employee of the company. The tracking of vacation time and absences of employees and weekly hours, allows calculations and payments are accurate and error-free.

Jessica Anne M

Gusto Service Review

Is Gusto Right For You?

Gusto may or may not be the right HR platform for your company. The platform comes with everything you need for managing payroll and employee benefits. But the company’s support team is hit or miss. You may sometimes struggle to get the help you need if you choose this provider.

Here are some other factors you may want to consider while making this decision.

Cost Value 

Gusto’s cost value is solid. The company’s plans are fairly expensive, with the cheapest option running $40 per month plus extra for each additional HR employee you want to add. But you get a ton of value for this since you can use Gusto for managing every aspect of your HR department.

Customer Service

The company provides several different ways to contact its support team, which is helpful for business owners with preferences in this area. However, some customers report receiving ineffective customer support and needing to reach out multiple times to get a problem fixed.

Ease of Use

Gusto is extremely easy to use. It puts all of the HR tools that your company uses in a single place so you can access all of them quickly and easily. It also has an interface that’s very straightforward.

Included Features

Gusto has a massive list of included features, which range from help with automatic payroll processing to analytics-driven insights into your company’s performance over time. This ensures that you’ll get a ton of value out of your Gusto plan.

Overall

Gusto is an excellent payroll tool that every business should consider. It integrates with other programs and gives you access to everything you need in a single place. The only real downside is its pricing and sometimes-ineffective customer support.

Top Gusto Alternatives

OnPay

OnPay is a full-service payroll and HR tool that’s very similar to Gusto. It’s also slightly cheaper, with its lowest-priced plan totaling $36/month. However, the company doesn’t offer a mobile app and it isn’t a good fit for employers that do business outside of the United States.

Conclusion

Gusto is a platform that makes managing your company’s HR department easier in every way you can think of. It keeps all of the tools you need in a single place, offers analytics-driven insights, provides automated calculation, and gives you the ability to integrate with the tools and platforms you’re already using.

If you want to make it easier to run payroll and pay employees, then Gusto is a service that’s absolutely worth trying, as long as you can afford to do so and are okay with not always receiving top-of-the-line customer support.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)