Dayforce vs. Gusto

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Dayforce
Score 7.9 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Dayforce is a people platform that simplifies HR operations. As a unified HCMS, it delivers HR, payroll, benefits, workforce management, talent, and analytics—helping organizations boost productivity, stay compliant, and make smarter decisions with embedded intelligence and personalized experiences.N/A
Gusto
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Gusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.
$496
per month
Pricing
DayforceGusto
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Simple: A streamlined set of automatic payroll features and benefits integrations
$49/month + $6/mo per person
per month
Plus: Comprehensive payroll, benefits, and HR tools for employers building a great place to work
$80/month + $12/mo per person
per month
Premium: Scalable payroll and benefits, expert HR, and dedicated support for the complex needs of growing teams
$180/month + $22/mo per person
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DayforceGusto
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsGusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
DayforceGusto
Features
DayforceGusto
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.2
Ratings
4% above category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration9.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.9.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting6.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management6.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.7
Ratings
9% above category average
Gusto
9.2
Ratings
11% above category average
Pay calculation9.30 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors7.00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.50 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.30 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.30 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Reimbursement management9.10 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
9.0
Ratings
12% above category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Approval workflow9.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.3
Ratings
3% above category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation7.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee recognition9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history7.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.6
Ratings
6% above category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
6.2
Ratings
19% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Report builder6.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports6.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.7
Ratings
10% above category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
New hire portal9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.6
Ratings
8% above category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking8.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.1
Ratings
3% above category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Performance plans8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.5
Ratings
8% above category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Create succession plans/pools9.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate development8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
9.3
Ratings
18% above category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Job Requisition Management9.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Company Website Posting9.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to Social Media9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting9.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Applicant Tracking9.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts9.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
DayforceGusto
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
DayforceGusto
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
4.2
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(0 ratings)
1.3
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.9
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
DayforceGusto
Likelihood to Recommend
Dayforce has great customer support, and you can always count on them to get you the professional help you need. It is a great place to store all your personal data in a very secure manner by assigning different user roles. The only thing where I wouldn't see it appropriate is for very small-scale companies, less than 50 people.
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Gusto is a great fit for small teams and startups that want a simple, reliable way to run payroll, manage tax filings, and give CPAs access without constant micromanagement. It’s especially useful for founders who need something that “just works.” The human support has been excellent—especially when forwarding confusing IRS mail.
That said, it’s a bit less intuitive when it comes to benefits and compliance for fully remote companies. For example, labor law poster distribution isn’t streamlined for digital teams, and setting up benefits felt more complex than it needed to be. Still, I’d recommend Gusto to any startup looking to get payroll right from day one.
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Pros
  • Payroll - it shows everything in real time and it runs quickly.
  • People - Having all employee details from the offer letter to W2 information in the same spot.
  • Dayforce Wallet: The on-demand feature is fully integrated with Timesheets and Payroll. What shows in one will be in the other.
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  • Gusto makes onboarding employees and ensuring their documents are signed very easy.
  • The way you can integrate things like Google Workspace makes both onboarding new employees into the apps you use a breeze, as well as when you need to offboard them.
  • Managing benefits is simple, because they take care of all the heavy lifting. I just have to review the options, make a selection, and they take it from there.
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Cons
  • In payroll, there are sometimes issues with calculating pay when people’s rates change mid-pay period
  • Would love to see an option to assist with building SQL or XML statements in the future (maybe co-pilot AI?)
  • Would love an easy way to store pre-hire documents with candidates that syncs over to their HR profile when hired
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  • Adding in previous time manually could be more accessible.
  • Notifications for when employees manually change hours.
  • We should allow 1099 users to use the mobile app instead of restricting them to the website, especially since they can just log into the full website on their mobile device.
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Likelihood to Renew
We are highly invested in Ceridian's Dayforce product. It give us the flexibility and scaling that our growing company needs. Its potential reaches beyond the basic HR functions to the decision making that our Management Team needs. Ceridian is always innovating the employee and employee experiences to offer cutting edge options.
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Unless they break it, I'm never leaving. It's just too easy. Gusto is also really affordable, and for what I pay, it's worth having the historical record within the system. I like that I can go back and pull up W2's for year's past. This sort of easy access reporting, has been helpful especially when getting reports for PPP loans.
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Usability
I give Dayforce a 10 because it was easy to integrate into our network since it was cloud-based. It is also user friendly and easy to maneuver around the web site. We were able to integrate three separate applications into just one site which made it easier for employees to access the tools they need
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The overall platform and its speed of response are amazing. I would recommend this to any other business owner for ease of use and reliability. Email reminders are great if I’m super busy and have forgotten a few tasks. The price point compared to local payroll service is hands down a huge win.
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Reliability and Availability
Dayforce's high availability ensures that our HR processes are supported around the clock, which is critical for a global organization like ours. The platform is cloud-based, offering reliable access from any location at any time, allowing our employees, managers, and HR teams to stay connected regardless of time zones or geographic locations. This level of availability ensures that payroll processing, employee self-service, and real-time data access continue uninterrupted, even during peak periods or unforeseen disruptions. The system’s robust infrastructure minimizes downtime, which is vital for operations that span multiple regions. Additionally, having a centralized platform that’s always available helps keep our teams aligned, ensures compliance, and facilitates timely decision-making across all our locations.
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No answers on this topic
Performance
We haven't noticed any slow-down due to the integration of Dayforce WFM with our Ceridian HPL products (HRIS and Payroll). The new HTML view of the timesheets don't load as quickly as the old Silverlight view - however, we have gotten used to the change.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
This is dependent on what type of support that is needed. Ceridian has opportunities to make improvements relating to support on the global/UK side. I find it challenging to get problems solved quickly with our UK Native payroll. The US side is different. We tend to get our issues resolved quickly when we encouter issues on the US side.
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Gusto's customer service has really deteriorated lately and they seem to have really changed their focus. It used to be when you called you were routed to an individual who knew about payroll, benefits, reporting, etc. but now you get someone who seems to have not received the correct training. My last call about a dismissal payroll took me over an hour of my time and the person still could not help me and finally transferred me to someone else.
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In-Person Training
This training was at insights, it was great once we have been on the system for a while so it makes sense.
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No answers on this topic
Online Training
The courses are very interactive and informative. There are classes for every topic, which allows you to make the most of the system. There are also some "go at your own pace" course which is a great option for a busy schedule.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Have a strong internal team. Communicate with your implementation team - they are there to make it work for you. Take the time to really think about how you want the system to work for you - in some cases, you may need to rethink your own business practices to see if you are working harder when the system could do it for you
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Reach out to support immediately if you are having trouble setting up Gusto. Rather than being confused and trying to figure it out yourself, it's much better to talk to someone who knows what they are doing. Save yourself time and frustration and reach out to support
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Alternatives Considered
Having Payroll, HR, Time, and Benefits all in a single application with Dayforce has significantly improved efficiency and accuracy. Unlike other solutions with third-party integrations, Dayforce eliminates data silos, reduces errors, and saves time by streamlining processes, providing a more cohesive and user-friendly experience. Dayforce also had a competitive price point versus competitors
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It's been a while since I used QuickBooks for payroll, but it doesn't even come close to it. Gusto is infinitely easier, allowing for employee time tracking, handling calculations and payments of payroll and payroll taxes, managing regulatory compliance in the background, and more. I had a lot of moments using QuickBooks Payroll where I thought, "Am I even doing this right?" — it felt like you had to have additional knowledge of HR regulations in your state to do everything correctly. Gusto has it ALL handled so you can focus your time on higher-impact tasks in your business.
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Scalability
Overall, we are extremely happy with the Dayforce WFM module. Our biggest pain point is concerning the twice annual software upgrades - which is the only reason I haven't rated them as a '10'. Because every customer is configured differently, the upgrades can sometimes have adverse effects on our current configured policies/rules. And although they roll-out the upgraded version in a test environment several weeks before go-live, not all testing is accurate in that environment. Some issues do not present themselves until you are working with live punches.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Easy to integrate to SAP Fiori an BlueWorx
  • The efficiency within Ceridian DayForce has allowed our payroll department of only 2.5 FTE handle paying ~3,000 employees.
  • Easily handles the differences and nuances in our multiple bargaining agreements. Everything from different pay schedules and unique rates/bonuses for some of the most detailed/granular CBA details.
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  • I am not involved enough to know well, but I would say that Gusto has saved me about 1-2 hours in my onboarding process with my new company compared to my past experiences trying to onboard with ADP. I have also finished the process and am not frustrated like usual.
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ScreenShots

Dayforce Screenshots

Screenshot of Dayforce HubScreenshot of Human Resources (Position Management)Screenshot of Dayforce Reporting & AnalyticsScreenshot of People AnalyticsScreenshot of Dayforce HR Service DeliveryScreenshot of Dayforce Flex Work

Gusto Screenshots

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