Why Use Gusto?
Gusto Payroll is a payroll application designed for S-corps and small businesses. It was first launched in 2011 under the name ZenPayroll, which the founders then altered to the catchier Gusto as they added more features.
Its initial proposition was simple: to be an online payroll provider where businesses can automate the same functionalities of many programs that live offline. It was aimed at around 6 million small and medium enterprises across America that were living off programs developed for larger companies, like Run Powered by ADP. When Gusto launched, around 31% of people who ran SMEs used manual processes to do their payroll, which made each cycle vulnerable to human error and unnecessarily time-consuming.
ZenPayroll was completely transformed into Gusto in late 2015. With the rebrand came a new feature that allowed users to compute, modify, and automate processes for employee benefits. Workers' compensation and health insurance trackers were added as they leveraged their already growing database of nearly 10,000 customers.
When they saw that people wanted more, they kept adding more and more features. Since 2015, their platform has branched out into many software integrations, like worker's compensation with AP Intego, and accounting features from third-party accountants.
Even before Gusto was born after ZenPayroll, it enjoyed one of the highest Net Promoter Scores in its niche. 87% of Gusto clients said that they would encourage fellow business owners to use it. Here are a few reasons why:
- It's easy to learn. Gusto is known for its clean interface and ease of use. The software has become so intuitively refined that newbies with no accounting or HR experience can use it without much tutoring.
- It integrates seamlessly with other accounting platforms. It's compatible with Xero and Quickbooks, which makes it easier for bookkeepers to separate salaries, corporate taxes, and income taxes when filing payroll to the State and the IRS.
- It's easy to access and read for regular employees. If your employees don't have access to payroll information, they will rely on their superiors for inquiries and any changes that have to be made to their personal information. With Gusto, they can access an employee portal to update it easily.
- It's easy for HR departments to set up 401(k) plans, retirement plans, and health insurance as a company grows.
Gusto Payroll Plans
How does Gusto payroll work, and how much is it going to cost you? In this section, we're going to go over Gusto's three payroll plans and what comes with each.
The Core Version
The base-level version is similar to competing payroll services like ADP but it provides employee self-onboarding, which you can't find in any other payroll software in its price range.
All a business owner needs to do to hire an employee is to enter their name, hire date, and other basic information. The system then adds them as an employee and they can do the onboarding themselves, then it would grant them access to their pay stubs, tax documents, and more.
The Complete Version
Once a plan is upgraded to the Complete version, it's going to have access to modifiable administrator and manager permissions. A business owner can determine what their payroll and HR staff can do. Some admins can run payroll, pay contractors, and view tax filings, while some can manage time tracking, team insights, and employee benefits.
It also gives customizable templates that a manager can give employees to e-sign. After employees acknowledge these documents, it would show up on the dashboard. This is very useful for employee growth charts, employee handbooks, and eligibility forms.
The Concierge Version
The Concierge version is made for larger companies with no extra cost per employee, just a steady additional charge on the monthly base cost. It provides more guides that are employee and HR-focused, like custom employee handbooks, job description templates, and HR policy templates. It also provides the plan holder with a direct line to the Gusto support team.
Compare Gusto Payroll Prices
Suppose you're a small business in the market looking for a new payroll provider. The first choice you might have to make is between Gusto and Intuit QuickBooks. Both of these solutions are made specifically for small businesses and come with an impressive list of features at a good price.
Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll come in three similar pricing levels. You will pay a basic price on top of a fee that's charged per employee, per month, and for both, you would only pay it for currently active employees and contractors that are currently hired.This pricing system is slowly becoming the norm in this niche of the payroll software industry. Gusto's pricing tiers are as follows:
- The Complete plan comes with more features but is going to cost $12 per month per head, plus a $39 per month base cost. Aside from having all the features of the Core plan, it also has vacation days and sick leave management, and the option to create and monitor employee surveys.
- The Concierge version is $12 per employee, so the same cost as the Complete plan, but the base cost is going to be $149 per month. Because this plan has a significant price premium over the previous two, it offers real-time HR support through their customer care team and an additional resource center for your HR needs. They help you in writing employee handbooks, guides on employee issues and anti-harassment measures, and more.
- The contractor tier is an addition for companies that don't hire full-time workers. Designed to handle contractors and freelancers with no steady hours, Gusto aimed for maximum flexibility with this plan. It has no base cost and you only pay $6 per hired freelancer each month, and you have the flexibility to pay them whenever you'd like.
It also provides contractors with work they can do themselves, such as creating 1099 forms and other various filings.
It's worth noting that Gusto is generally less expensive than most offerings in the market, including QuickBooks. Many payroll solutions rely on promotions once in a while to stay competitive, so it truly helps to check every now and then.
Compare Gusto Features
Gusto takes care of all of the most daunting tasks that you'll ever have to deal with as a business owner. In this section, we'll cover the feature sets that Gusto offers per plan and compare them against each other.
Core Plan Features
For the core plan, you get employee self-service, individual profiles, and support for health benefits and workers' compensation, on top of full-service payroll.
- The full-service payroll feature covers taxes filed and paid to your state government and the IRS, while also managing tip credits, direct deposits, and changes to your payroll schedule.
- The employee profile feature will enable your workers to monitor the teams they're part of, their larger departments, and the managers they're under. They can also e-sign I-9 and W-4 forms.
- The employee self-service feature will allow your workers to see their tax forms and pay stubs.
- The health benefits and workers' compensation feature allows you access to your benefits policies, set up automatic billing for contributions, and get estimates from online advisors.
- The PTO tracking feature lets you monitor your employees' vacation and sick days.
- The Core plan also gets you access to their online help chat, phone support, and email helpdesk.
Complete Plan Features
The Complete plan offers the same features as the Core but with additions that are indispensable for companies with 30 employees and up.
- The admin privileges feature lets you control who's doing what in your payroll structure.
- The upgraded PTO tracking feature lets you approve and deny PTO requests through the Gusto app, and synchronize your payroll and company calendars.
- The employee offers feature will give you templates for offer letters that your employees can e-sign, like onboarding and non-disclosure documents. You can store them in an online vault after the fact.
- The employee survey and directory feature will allow you to conduct employee surveys with complete anonymity. It will collate their results and suggest trends that you can then take action on.
Concierge Plan Features
The Concierge plan is Gusto's most comprehensive offering.
- It will give you unrestricted access to HR advisors to help strengthen employee relations as your organization grows more complex, and technical help with getting your Gusto app set up.
- The HR resource center feature will advise you on writing your employee handbook, employee job descriptions, and other materials that are needed for the management of your employees.
- You'll have your own Gusto customer support team that will help you with any unique payroll problems of your organization.
Compare Features
| Basic | Complete | Concierge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-Service Payroll | |||
| Unlimited payrolls | Y | Y | Y |
| All 50 states | Y | Y | Y |
| Tax filings and payments | Y | Y | Y |
| State and Federal Unemployment Insurance | Y | Y | Y |
| W-2s and 1099s | Y | Y | Y |
| Garnishments | Y | Y | Y |
| Multiple pay rates and schedules | Y | Y | Y |
| Tip credits | Y | Y | Y |
| Direct deposit | Y | Y | Y |
| Paid-time-off policy tracking | Y | Y | Y |
| Holiday pay | Y | Y | Y |
| Time-off tracker & reporting | Y | Y | Y |
| Accounting integrations | Y | Y | Y |
| Time-tracking integrations | Y | Y | Y |
| State new hire reporting | Y | Y | Y |
| Payroll reports | Y | Y | Y |
| Employee Benefits | |||
| Paystubs and tax forms | Y | Y | Y |
| Lifetime access | Y | Y | Y |
| Payroll self-onboarding | Y | Y | Y |
| Payday emails | Y | Y | Y |
| New hire welcome | Y | Y | Y |
| Gusto Cashout™ | Y | Y | Y |
| Health Benefits Administration | |||
| Licensed benefits advising | Y | Y | Y |
| Online enrollment | Y | Y | Y |
| Employee support | Y | Y | Y |
| ACA, HIPAA, ERISA compliance | Y | Y | Y |
| Worker's Comp Administration | |||
| Integrated pay-as-you-go policies | Y | Y | Y |
| Automated billing | Y | Y | Y |
| Online estimates | Y | Y | Y |
| Best-in-class Support | |||
| Unlimited phone, email, chat | Y | Y | Y |
| Permissions | |||
| Customizable admin permissions | N | Y | Y |
| Manager permissions | N | Y | Y |
| Employee Offers and Onboarding | |||
| Online offer letters | N | Y | Y |
| Secure document vault | N | Y | Y |
| E-sign custom documents | N | Y | Y |
| Time management tools | |||
| Simple time tracking | N | Y | Y |
| Time-off requests | N | Y | Y |
| Automated payroll sync | N | Y | Y |
| Calendar sync | N | Y | Y |
| Custom paid holidays | N | Y | Y |
| Employee Directory | |||
| Org chart | N | Y | Y |
| Coworker directory and fun facts | N | Y | Y |
| Custom fields | N | Y | Y |
| Employee Surveys | |||
| Anonymous employee surveys | N | Y | Y |
| Survey trend analysis | N | Y | Y |
| Certified HR Pros | |||
| Actionable feedback | N | N | Y |
| Unlimited ask the pro | N | N | Y |
| HR compliance help | N | N | Y |
| Employee relations advising | N | N | Y |
| HR Resource Center | |||
| Custom employee handbook | N | N | Y |
| Job description templates | N | N | Y |
| HR guides and policy templates | N | N | Y |
| Harassment prevention training | N | N | Y |
| Proactive compliance updates | N | N | Y |
| Dedicated Support | |||
| Dedicated support team | N | N | Y |
| Direct line for phone support | N | N | Y |
Compare Software Integrations
Gusto is highly modular and compatible with most programs that business owners use for accounting, time tracking, point of sale, business operations, and expense management.
Accounting is made more efficient, less prone to mistakes, and snappy by letting you know what changes are made in your accounting pipeline in real-time. Gusto can be integrated with these accounting programs:
- FreshBooks cloud accounting
- Xero
- QuickBooks Online
- QuickBooks
- Aplos
- ZipBooks
- Autobooks
Time tracking can be integrated into Gusto by exporting employee hours from other apps for more efficient management. Gusto can work with:
- Homebase
- TSheets
- When I work
- Deputy
- Ximble
- Boomr
- Time Tracker
- 7shifts
These point of sale systems can be seamlessly joined with Gusto by syncing up employee hours and profiles.
- Clover
- SpotOn
- Upserve
Gusto is widely compatible with business operations programs that are tailor-made for particular industries like:
- Procare
- Trainual
- Veryfi
- Accelo
- ClienTrak!
- Hubstaff
- Vagaro
Employee information and business expenses can be seamlessly imported into Gusto and combined into the payroll data. It can be integrated with these two apps:
- Expensify
- ReceiptBank
Gusto Payroll Add-ons
Gusto already has a very impressive offering with its three plans, but if you're looking for more features, they offer their in-house add-ons that are separate from product integrations. You can add these like a side dish to a meal, and they will mostly reflect the unique needs of your business.
- The Health Benefits add-on is made available with no additional administration charges from the licensed brokers you'll be talking to. You can sign up for a health insurance plan that will cover you and your employees with only the premiums for it being the only charge you'll have to pay.
- The 401(k) retirement plan is a feature provided by Guideline. It will connect you to their 401(k) infrastructure for a low price, and you would only have to pay $500 to have it set up, and an additional $8 per month, per contributor.
- The Workers' Compensation insurance is provided by AP Intego, and it's technically a product integration to the Gusto app.
- Your workers can save up for a college degree with a 529 college savings plan handled by Gradvisor. It will allow you to open savings accounts with tax incentives for $6 a month per head, for a minimum of three savers per month.
Top 5 Gusto Complaints
Gusto does a great job of transparent payroll management and automation. Since all transactions are virtual, it must be fed the proper data. For this, it adopts a flexible mode of operation as it adapts and recognizes calculations no matter their complexity.
However, some entries and compliance changes must be verified and confirmed from within the system, and it may end up with some possible inconsistencies in real-time use. Gusto allows the administrator to choose how an employee is paid, and it can't be liable for faulty data because of the time it takes to verify things.
Gusto also doesn't provide its benefits feature for states other than California, Massachusetts, Colorado, New Jersey, Florida, New York, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Texas. More states are going to be joining this roster as new updates are rolled out.
Another downside of Gusto is it can leave too much power to the employee. Employees have the admin rights to adjust the hours on their PTOs, and you will have to create countermeasures to stop it. For part-time and project-based employees with varying hours, this process becomes difficult.
Gusto is designed to comply with EIRSA, HIPAA, and ACA standards, and it will check your data for a comprehensive compliance report, unlike other systems. However, different states have different overtime laws and unless a FEIN account is already present for a state, it will not conform to them. This is an area that could be improved by additional automation and connectivity.
Another issue with connectivity is Gusto's lack of a mobile app. Today, people can log in to Gusto through their mobile browsers, but if you're a business owner who needs to approve time offs or a change in personal information while on the move, you're out of luck.
Top 5 Gusto Top Reviews / Pros
It's not very hard to search online and find glowing Gusto payroll reviews. It's just simply one of the best payroll services for small businesses today.
Gusto is very easy to setup. To get things ready, all you would need to do is fill up an online form with your filing and mailing address, your bank account, pay schedule, federal tax ID, and state tax setup. To add employees, you can send an official invitation with a pre-filled template and ask for their basic information, and then you can enter them into the system.
Gusto also makes it very easy to process payroll. If you've ever processed payroll in the past, you would know how much of a headache it is. With Gusto, you just have to log in at the time when payroll is due, input the number of hours you've tracked per employee, and it will give you a summary replete with taxes and liabilities.
Another great thing about Gusto is how it handles the little things. It makes scheduled direct deposits to your employee's accounts and delivers pay stubs electronically to their email accounts, which simplifies the payroll process.
Whatever accounting software you're using, chances are, you can automatically import transactions to Gusto. Integration is one of its core strengths. As soon as you run payroll, Gusto is going to send your new transactions over to your accounting software, and all you have to do is review and approve them.
Finally, if you're doing payroll by yourself or with a bookkeeper, it will cost you exponentially more than just getting a simplified solution like Gusto. They're very fair about their pricing. If you let go of an employee or contractor during a certain month, you would only pay their per-head fee up until the last time they were paid, which speaks to the quality of their business practices.