How much does Gusto cost?

Gusto starts at $49/month. No tier-by-tier breakdown is published on the record we hold.

Does Gusto have a free plan?

Not on the record we hold. Whether a free trial is offered is not something this record captures, so check the vendor's site.

Which payroll tools can I use without paying?

1 of the 8 payroll tools listed alongside Gusto have a free tier: Payactiv.

What am I actually paying for with Gusto?

The record lists 27 features across 6 areas: other, integrations, security, deployment, platform, localization. In practice it is brought in for payroll processing, benefits administration, tax compliance.

Does Gusto charge per user?

The record carries a price and a billing period, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.

Are these Gusto prices current?

They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.

What should I compare Gusto against before paying?

The closest payroll tools in this directory are Rain Instant Pay, Clair, Openwage, Refyne. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Gusto covering price, platforms and features.

Payroll · pricing

Gusto pricing

No tier breakdown is published on the record we hold for Gusto. Below is what is on record, and how it compares with the payroll tools listed alongside it.

As of 30 August 2026, Gusto pricing is $49/month. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.

Entry price: $49/month
Model: Not recorded
Tiers: -
Free tier: Not on record

What is on record

The Gusto catalogue entry carries a starting price of $49/month, but no tier breakdown. The category comparison below is still useful, and the Gusto review carries the full feature record.

What the product covers

The full Gusto feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.

Other

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

Integrations

QuickBooks
Xero
FreshBooks
Slack
Google Calendar
Clover
Square
TSheets

Security

SOC2
PCI DSS
Bank-level encryption
2FA

Deployment

Cloud deployment

Platform

Web support
Ios support
Android support
Api support

Localization

English language support
Spanish language support

People bring Gusto in for payroll processing, benefits administration, tax compliance, employee onboarding, time tracking. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Gusto are worth a look before you commit to a tier.

How that compares in Payroll

Too few payroll tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.

Gusto entry price against other Payroll tools
Tool	Entry price	Model	Rated	Head to head
Gusto (this page)	$49/month	-	-
Rain Instant Pay	On request	quote	-	vs Gusto
Clair	On request	quote	-	vs Gusto
Openwage	On request	Per-transfer fee, paid by the employee	-	vs Gusto
Refyne	On request	quote	-	vs Gusto
Hastee	On request	quote	-	vs Gusto
Wagestream	On request	quote	-	vs Gusto

Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Gusto badges page.

Before you pay for Gusto

Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.

What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: not published on the record we hold. With no free tier on record, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to compare Gusto against the tools that do have one before committing.

Gusto runs on web, and is published by Gusto Inc of San Francisco, CA. The full record is on the Gusto review, and the rest of the category is under best payroll tools.

Gusto pricing on the vendor's own site

Gusto pricing questions

How much does Gusto cost?: Gusto starts at $49/month. No tier-by-tier breakdown is published on the record we hold.
Does Gusto have a free plan?: Not on the record we hold. Whether a free trial is offered is not something this record captures, so check the vendor's site.
Which payroll tools can I use without paying?: 1 of the 8 payroll tools listed alongside Gusto have a free tier: Payactiv.
What am I actually paying for with Gusto?: The record lists 27 features across 6 areas: other, integrations, security, deployment, platform, localization. In practice it is brought in for payroll processing, benefits administration, tax compliance.
Does Gusto charge per user?: The record carries a price and a billing period, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
Are these Gusto prices current?: They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
What should I compare Gusto against before paying?: The closest payroll tools in this directory are Rain Instant Pay, Clair, Openwage, Refyne. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Gusto covering price, platforms and features.