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Gusto

The people platform for small businesses

As of 30 August 2026, Gusto starts at $49/month. Gusto is a modern, online people platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. Softwr lists it under Payroll. Gusto is made by Gusto Inc, launched in 2011, available on Web.

Overview

What Gusto does

Gusto is a modern, online people platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. With Gusto, you can manage payroll, benefits, HR, and more in one simple, integrated platform.

What people use it for

  • Payroll processing
  • Benefits administration
  • Tax compliance
  • Employee onboarding
  • Time tracking

The honest half

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of Gusto

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

Capabilities

Features

  • Automated payroll

  • Tax filing

  • Benefits administration

  • Time tracking

  • Employee onboarding

  • HR compliance

  • Workers' comp

  • 401(k) management

  • QuickBooks

    Integration with QuickBooks

  • Xero

    Integration with Xero

  • FreshBooks

    Integration with FreshBooks

  • Slack

    Integration with Slack

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

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
Does Gusto include unlimited payroll runs?

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

Source
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
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

Behind it

Who makes Gusto

Company
Gusto Inc
Based in
San Francisco, CA
Founders
Joshua Reeves, Tomer London, Edward Kim

Timeline

Gusto over time

  1. Acquisition2025-08-01

    Gusto agrees to acquire Guideline for small business retirement plans

    Source
  2. Milestone2012-01-01

    Gusto enters Y Combinator Winter 2012

    Source
  3. Founded2011-11-01

    Gusto (originally ZenPayroll) founded by Joshua Reeves, Tomer London, and Edward Kim

    Source
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Keep looking

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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Gusto, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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