Gusto

Gusto is US payroll software with HR, benefits and hiring features built around it. It handles running payroll, calculating and filing federal, state and local payroll taxes, and paying employees and contractors, then adds the paperwork that surrounds employment: onboarding, offer letters, time off, health insurance and retirement plans. It is designed for owners and office managers who run payroll themselves rather than for full-time payroll specialists, so the workflow is guided and the language is plain.

What you can actually do with it

Payroll is the anchor; most of the other features exist because they feed it or fall out of it.

• Run payroll as often as you need. Salaried and hourly employees, off-cycle runs, bonuses and corrections, with tax calculations handled automatically for all fifty states.
• Automatic tax filing and forms. Gusto files payroll taxes and produces year-end forms such as W-2s and 1099s for you, which is the main reason most small businesses stop doing payroll by hand.
• Pay contractors, including overseas. Contractor payments are supported in a large number of countries alongside domestic employees, useful for teams with remote freelancers.
• Benefits administration. Health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), HSA and FSA accounts and workers’ compensation can be administered through Gusto so deductions flow straight into payroll.
• Hiring and onboarding. Job posts, applicant tracking, offer letters, e-signed documents and self-service onboarding, so a new hire enters their own details before day one.
• Time tracking and time off. Mobile clock-in with geolocation, PTO policies and approvals, and overtime alerts that connect directly to hours on the payroll run.
• Reporting and people tools. Workforce cost reports, compensation benchmarking, performance reviews and employee surveys, plus integrations with common accounting tools so payroll journals reach your books.

Who it fits best

Gusto is a natural fit for US businesses from a couple of employees up to a few hundred, especially startups, agencies, restaurants, clinics and shops where the person running payroll also does several other jobs. If you are moving off a spreadsheet, a bookkeeper’s manual process or a clunky legacy payroll bureau, the improvement is immediate.

It also suits companies that want payroll and benefits from one vendor rather than stitching a payroll provider to an insurance broker. Teams that are mostly contractors, or businesses whose main need is deep HR process rather than paying people, will get less out of it.

Things worth knowing before you commit

• Employee payroll is US-only. You cannot put employees in other countries on Gusto payroll. International workers have to be contractors, or you need an employer-of-record service instead.
• Benefits availability varies by state. Gusto brokers insurance in many states but not all, and the plans offered differ by location. Check your state and your carrier before assuming you can move existing coverage across.
• Pricing is a base fee plus a per-person charge. That structure is predictable, but small teams pay proportionally more, and features like multi-state payroll, time tracking or dedicated support sit on higher tiers.
• Support is a common complaint. Reviews frequently mention slow responses at busy periods such as year-end. If payroll problems need same-day answers, ask what support level you actually get.
• HR depth is moderate. Performance reviews, surveys and document storage are fine for a small company, but larger HR teams usually want a dedicated HR system alongside it.

Alternatives to compare it against

If your priority is HR records, hiring and performance rather than payroll mechanics, BambooHR covers that ground better and can hand payroll to a partner. If you need payroll, HR, devices and app access managed together, Rippling aims at that combined problem. Traditional providers such as ADP or Paychex are worth a look once headcount and compliance complexity grow, or if you want a named payroll representative. And if you employ people outside the US, look at global platforms like Deel or Remote instead, because that is the one thing Gusto does not do.

Pricing tiers, per-person fees and which features are included change regularly — check Gusto’s own pricing page for current details before deciding.

Further reading

• QuickBooks Payroll System Essentials — the main alternative US payroll route, worth comparing if your books already sit in QuickBooks.
• Employee Benefits Management: A Beginner’s Guide — background for deciding whether to run insurance and 401(k) through Gusto or a separate broker.
• How Automated Scheduling Links to Payroll Systems — explains the hours-to-payroll handoff behind Gusto’s time tracking and overtime alerts.
• Top 10 Onboarding Tools 2024 — benchmarks Gusto’s offer letters and self-service new-hire setup against dedicated onboarding tools.

Have you used Gusto?

One sentence is enough. Would you pick it again, and why or why not? We publish the critical reviews too — that is the point.