Is Gusto or Sage 50 better?

Neither clearly leads. Gusto starts at $49/month and Sage 50 at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Gusto or Sage 50?

Gusto starts at $49/month and Sage 50 at $29/month.

Does Gusto or Sage 50 run on more platforms?

Gusto runs on Web. Sage 50 runs on Windows.

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 Sage 50 is typically brought in for.

What can Gusto do that Sage 50 cannot?

Gusto covers Automated payroll, Tax filing, Benefits administration, Time tracking. Sage 50 covers General ledger, Invoicing, Inventory management, Job costing.

All industries · head to head

Gusto vs Sage 50

Gusto

All industries

The people platform for small businesses

From: $49/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Sage 50

Accounting & Finance

Powerful desktop accounting for small businesses

From: $29/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Gusto customer service can be slow and unresponsive to issues; Sage 50 sage 50 tiers as captured in 2022: Pro Accounting $595/year for 1 user, Premium Accounting $970/year for 1-5 users with multi-company support, Quantum Accounting $1,610/year for larger teams
They diverge on capability: Gusto covers Automated payroll, Sage 50 covers General ledger.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Gusto and Sage 50 actually diverge.

Attributes where Gusto and Sage 50 differ
Attribute	Gusto	Sage 50
Starting price	$49/month	$29/month
Pricing model	Unknown	subscription
Platforms	Web	Windows
Category	All industries	Accounting & Finance
Founded	2011	1981

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

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 Sage 50

General ledger
Invoicing
Inventory management
Job costing
Budgeting
Microsoft 365
Salesforce
Local encryption

What people use each for

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

Gusto

Payroll processingnot Sage 50
Benefits administrationnot Sage 50
Tax compliancenot Sage 50
Employee onboardingnot Sage 50
Time trackingnot Sage 50

Sage 50

Desktop accountingnot Gusto
Job costingnot Gusto
Inventory trackingnot 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

Sage 50

Sage 50 tiers as captured in 2022: Pro Accounting $595/year for 1 user, Premium Accounting $970/year for 1-5 users with multi-company support, Quantum Accounting $1,610/year for larger teams

Pricing, plan by plan

Gusto

$49/month

No published plan breakdown. See the Gusto review.

Sage 50

$29/month

Pro Accounting$50/month
- Core accounting
- 1 user
- Basic reports
Premium Accounting$85/month
- 5 users
- Job costing
- Inventory

Which should you pick?

Choose Gusto if

You need automated payroll.
You also want tax filing.

Gusto review

Choose Sage 50 if

You need general ledger.
You work on Windows.
You also want invoicing.

Sage 50 review

Questions people ask

Is Gusto or Sage 50 better?: Neither clearly leads. Gusto starts at $49/month and Sage 50 at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Gusto or Sage 50?: Gusto starts at $49/month and Sage 50 at $29/month.
Does Gusto or Sage 50 run on more platforms?: Gusto runs on Web. Sage 50 runs on Windows.
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 Sage 50 is typically brought in for.
What can Gusto do that Sage 50 cannot?: Gusto covers Automated payroll, Tax filing, Benefits administration, Time tracking. Sage 50 covers General ledger, Invoicing, Inventory management, Job costing.

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 Sage 50

Gusto

Sage 50

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Gusto

Only in Sage 50

What people use each for

Gusto

Sage 50

Where each one falls short

Gusto

Sage 50

Pricing, plan by plan

Gusto

Sage 50

Which should you pick?

Choose Gusto if

Choose Sage 50 if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Gusto

More on Sage 50

Keep looking

Other head to heads