Is Gusto or QuickBooks better?

Neither clearly leads. Gusto starts at $49/month and QuickBooks at $30/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Gusto or QuickBooks?

Gusto starts at $49/month and QuickBooks at $30/month.

Does Gusto or QuickBooks run on more platforms?

Gusto runs on Web. QuickBooks runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api.

What is Gusto best used for?

Gusto is most often used for payroll processing, benefits administration, tax compliance, employee onboarding. Of those, payroll processing and benefits administration are not what QuickBooks is typically brought in for.

What can Gusto do that QuickBooks cannot?

Gusto covers Automated payroll, Tax filing, Benefits administration, Time tracking. QuickBooks covers Income & expense tracking, Invoicing, Payment processing, Financial reporting. Both handle Square, TSheets, SOC2, PCI DSS.

All industries · head to head

Gusto vs QuickBooks

Gusto

All industries

The people platform for small businesses

From: $49/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

QuickBooks

All industries

Smart, simple online accounting software for small business

From: $30/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Gusto customer service can be slow and unresponsive to issues; QuickBooks chart of Accounts is capped on every QuickBooks Online tier except Advanced; Simple Start, Essentials and Plus all have a limited entry count
They diverge on capability: Gusto covers Automated payroll, QuickBooks covers Income & expense tracking.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Gusto and QuickBooks actually diverge.

Attributes where Gusto and QuickBooks differ
Attribute	Gusto	QuickBooks
Starting price	$49/month	$30/month
Pricing model	Unknown	subscription
Platforms	Web	Web, Ios, Android, Api
Founded	2011	1983

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (All industries).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Gusto

Automated payroll
Tax filing
Benefits administration
Time tracking
Employee onboarding
HR compliance
Workers' comp
401(k) management

Only in QuickBooks

Income & expense tracking
Invoicing
Payment processing
Financial reporting
Tax preparation
Bank reconciliation
Bill management
Mobile apps

Both cover

Square
TSheets
SOC2
PCI DSS
Bank-level encryption

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Gusto

Payroll processingnot QuickBooks
Benefits administrationnot QuickBooks
Tax compliancenot QuickBooks
Employee onboardingnot QuickBooks
Time trackingnot QuickBooks

QuickBooks

Bookkeepingnot Gusto
Invoicingnot Gusto
Expense trackingnot Gusto
Financial reportingnot Gusto
Tax preparationnot Gusto

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Gusto

Customer service can be slow and unresponsive to issues
Weak reporting capabilities, cannot export data to spreadsheets for analysis
Support staff lacks deep payroll expertise and knowledge
Rehired employees do not have settings reset, causing manual cleanup work
City tax handling requires additional monitoring and monitoring
Onboarding can have issues with bank account verification and tax registration

QuickBooks

Chart of Accounts is capped on every QuickBooks Online tier except Advanced; Simple Start, Essentials and Plus all have a limited entry count
Even the top Advanced tier caps bulk invoice uploads at 1,000 transaction lines per batch
Payroll is a separate paid add-on billed per employee per month (USD 6 to 10 depending on plan) on top of the base subscription

Pricing, plan by plan

Gusto

$49/month

No published plan breakdown. See the Gusto review.

QuickBooks

$30/month

Simple Start$30/month
- Income & expense tracking
- Invoice & payments
- Tax deductions
Essentials$60/month
- Everything in Simple Start
- Bill management
- Time tracking
Plus$90/month
- Everything in Essentials
- Inventory tracking
- Project profitability
Advanced$200/month
- Everything in Plus
- Dedicated account team
- 25 users

Which should you pick?

Choose Gusto if

You need automated payroll.
You also want tax filing.

Gusto review

Choose QuickBooks if

You need income & expense tracking.
You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
You also want invoicing.

QuickBooks review

Questions people ask

Is Gusto or QuickBooks better?: Neither clearly leads. Gusto starts at $49/month and QuickBooks at $30/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Gusto or QuickBooks?: Gusto starts at $49/month and QuickBooks at $30/month.
Does Gusto or QuickBooks run on more platforms?: Gusto runs on Web. QuickBooks runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
What is Gusto best used for?: Gusto is most often used for payroll processing, benefits administration, tax compliance, employee onboarding. Of those, payroll processing and benefits administration are not what QuickBooks is typically brought in for.
What can Gusto do that QuickBooks cannot?: Gusto covers Automated payroll, Tax filing, Benefits administration, Time tracking. QuickBooks covers Income & expense tracking, Invoicing, Payment processing, Financial reporting. Both handle Square, TSheets, SOC2, PCI DSS.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Gusto: What is Gusto's starting price?

Gusto starts at $49 per month plus $6 per person. The company also offers a Contractor-only plan for $35 per month plus $6 per contractor.

Source

Gusto: Does Gusto include unlimited payroll runs?

Yes, all Gusto plans include unlimited payroll runs at no extra charge, including off-cycle payrolls.

Source

Gusto: What core features are included in Gusto?

All plans include payroll processing, tax administration, digital onboarding, benefits enrollment, time tracking, performance management, and next-day direct deposit for most plans.

Source

Gusto: Does Gusto support integrations?

Yes, Gusto integrates with accounting software, applicant tracking systems, benefits providers, time-tracking tools, and other business platforms to reduce data entry.

Source

Gusto vs QuickBooks

Gusto

QuickBooks

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Gusto

Only in QuickBooks

Both cover

What people use each for

Gusto

QuickBooks

Where each one falls short

Gusto

QuickBooks

Pricing, plan by plan

Gusto

QuickBooks

Which should you pick?

Choose Gusto if

Choose QuickBooks if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Gusto

More on QuickBooks

Keep looking

Other head to heads