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Gusto

Score8.9 out of 10

1,262 Reviews and Ratings

What is Gusto?

Gusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.

Read more details.

Categories & Use Cases

Media

Screenshot of Gusto's automated payroll
Screenshot of the time-off tracking interface
Screenshot of the source of truth for HR data

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Screenshot of Gusto's automated payroll

Gusto Key Features

Learn about the best (and worst!) features Gusto has to offer, as determined by TrustRadius' reviewers.
Based on 1,262 ratings of Gusto's features
View all Gusto features

Top Performing Features

  • Pay calculation

    Pay calculation provides for computation of employee pay with state and federal deductions.

    Category average: 9

  • Direct deposit files

    Direct deposit is the ability to electronically transfer pay to an employee’s personal bank account.

    Category average: 9.1

  • Reimbursement management

    Reimbursement management provides cash reimbursement for employee expenses related to business travel or other.

    Category average: 8.1

Areas for Improvement

  • Salary revision and increment management

    Salary revision is the ability to modify individual employee pay.

    Category average: 8.7

  • Benefit plan administration

    Benefit plan administration is administration of health insurance plans and 401k plans, and other benefits.

    Category average: 8

  • Support for external payroll vendors

    Support for external payroll vendors is the ability to integrate with 3rd-party payroll services.

    Category average: 7.2

Who Buys & Uses Gusto

Gusto Reviews

What users are saying about Gusto.
View all Gusto reviews

Pros

  • Streamlines payroll processing, saving users significant time (47% of reviewers)
  • Simplifies tax-related tasks, including multi-state filings
  • Offers HR and benefits management capabilities

Cons

  • Mobile application has usability issues, including missing functionalities and password-saving problems (20% of reviewers)
  • Limited benefit options compared to other platforms (13% of reviewers)
  • Communication regarding employee enrollment confirmations could be improved

Stop looking and go with Gusto

Incentivized
Alicia Oswald
Owner/Chiropractor at Oswald Elevated Chiropractic Inc (1-10 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I highly recommend using Gusto for any small business. It makes running payroll a breeze and I don't have to worry about everything being legally done. It's also nice to see what kind of benefits I can offer to my employees and I was able to find a 401k and Worker's comp provider through Gusto. I'm happy to be working with them!

Pros

  • Easy communication if I need help
  • Great benefits offerings
  • Makes running payroll easy

Cons

  • Nothing I can think of.

Return on Investment

  • Lessens my admin time.

Usability

Gusto is just the best!

Incentivized
Verified User
C-Level Executive in Corporate (1-10 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Gusto to on-board new hires, to pay our staff, and manage integrated benefits. Gusto has a delightful, intuitive and easy-to-use on-boarding process. Best of any system that I've tried, and every aspect of it is digital – including all document signing. This is great for virtual teams! We also easily, paperlessly and seamlessly sign up staff for benefits. Everything is integrated and simple to administer. We also use Gusto to manage payroll for all our clients. It's easy to toggle to different clients, and stay on top of the varied payroll and reporting schedules that our clients have.

Pros

  • Process payroll, generate payroll reports, keep track of quarterly and annual filings
  • Integrated with a host of other specialize applications to customize personnel management by client
  • Billing is simple to understand and easy for master account holders to manage when they have multiple clients.
  • The interface is terrific. Best SaaS, in my opinion!

Cons

  • Export reports directly to Excel instead of CSV.
  • Allow admins to build better, customized workflows and notifications to managers.

Most Important Features

  • Running payroll
  • Integrating apps that are critical to our clients
  • Managing benefits seamlessly
  • Easy-to-use and easily customizable reports

Return on Investment

  • Saves me a TON of time, running and reporting payroll – and making corrections, if these are ever needed
  • It's so intuitive to use that clients' staff, even if not tech savvy, can manage easily
  • I have professional level HR support when I need it for all of my clients
  • I can have billing go to me or to my client, on a client-by-client basis. Love this!
  • I love Gusto promotions and having my own account free as long as I can add clients
  • I love that Gusto is a good payroll provider for very small businesses (even those with just one employee) and can accommodate hundreds of employees, too
  • I love that I can add an "employer's note on an individual paycheck when processing payroll that the employee sees.
  • Gusto takes the guesswork out of processing regular payroll, off-cycle payroll or bonuses
  • Gusto saves a ton of time with very flexible reports for Workers Comp audits that always span odd time periods by design.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Rippling, Paychex Flex, RUN Powered by ADP® and ADP Workforce Now

Other Software Used

Rippling, RUN Powered by ADP®, Paychex, ADP Workforce Now

Best Online Payroll Service

Incentivized
Verified User
Executive (1-10 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I've been using Gusto to run payroll for 10 years now, and I've never been tempted to switch. From the start, Gusto has been incredibly easy to use for someone without a business/finance/accounting background. I love that forms get filed automatically for me, new employees are able to onboard their own paperwork online, and everyone has online access to all of their forms and paystubs. Direct deposit works beautifully; I'm able to have benefits deducted with one setup and never have to think about it again; Gusto integrates with our time tracking app, so I just upload an employee time report and run payroll within a couple of minutes. I even get reminders when it's time to run. Over the years, they've expanded functionality without affecting the quality of the basics (unlike some other apps). I absolutely recommend Gusto!

Pros

  • Running payroll for employees and contractors
  • Integrating with other applications, such as Homebase timesheets and Intuit QuickBooks
  • Automatically staying on top of filing forms and payroll taxes
  • Providing adjacent services, including Worker's Comp Insurance
  • Responsive and competent customer service

Cons

  • I would use their time tracking feature if it included scheduling for hourly shifts

Return on Investment

  • Gusto has saved me plenty of time and headaches trying to calculate payroll on my own and file the proper taxes/forms on time
  • Saved money by running payroll myself instead having my accountant or bookkeeper handle it
  • Onboarding employees and out-of-state contractors has been a breeze

Usability

Other Software Used

QuickBooks Online, Homebase, Squarespace, Adobe Illustrator CC

Get Gusto to save you time and overwhelm

Incentivized
Verified User
Executive in Finance and Accounting (1-10 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As a bookkeeper, I recommend Gusto to my clients needing payroll processing. The setup is quick and easy. My clients have no issues when running payroll. I can easily pull any reports that I need with the accountant access. I also use Gusto for a full service client that I have where I am running payroll for them. They love the PTO breakdown and the payroll approval process as well. The integration with QuickBooks Online saves me so much time as their bookkeeper.

Pros

  • Fast and extremely helpful customer service
  • Clear and easy setup
  • Accurate QBO integration

Cons

  • ability to hide PTO balances from managers

Return on Investment

  • Increase professionalism for employees
  • Peace of mind knowing payroll taxes and reporting are correct
  • Reassurance that my clients' payroll needs are handled

Usability

Alternatives Considered

isolved and QuickBooks Online Advanced

Other Software Used

QuickBooks Online, CDM+ Essentials, Scoro, Financial Cents

Love Gusto

Incentivized
Verified User
Professional (1-10 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Recently, I hired my first employee. There are a lot of changes with that especially dealing with government agencies. Gusto was so wonderful helping me understand and get everything setup correctly. One gal emailed me proactively to ask if I needed help, which I did. I was so appreciative of her help. I am so thankful for Gusto. I could not do this without you. Your help staff are so kind and patient. They do a good job of helping when I need it.

Pros

  • Payroll
  • Customer Service

Return on Investment

  • Its made payroll so much easier

Usability

Gusto Alternatives

Products similar to Gusto that may also meet your needs.
View all Gusto alternatives
QuickBooks Online
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ADP Streamline Payroll
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Paychex
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