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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Emburse SpringAhead

    Score10 out of 10
    N/ASpringAhead is an expense reporting, billing, and time tracking platform that was owned and supported by Certify Travel and Expense created from the 2017 merger of Certify, Nexonia, and other companies, and now from Emburse, the company formed from the merger of Certify and Chrome River Technologies in March 2019.N/A

    Gusto

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AGusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.

    $49

    per month

    Pricing
    Emburse SpringAheadGusto
    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
    Emburse SpringAheadGusto
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsGusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Emburse SpringAheadGusto
    Considered Both Products
    Emburse
    No answer on this topic
    Gusto
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto was recommended to us by our bookkeeper when we took over handling payroll from them (they had previously use SpringAhead) as being more user-friendly for someone who is not a CPA.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    91%
    Would buy again
    488 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Delivers good value for the price
    395 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    501 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    89%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    254 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    311 Answers
    Features
    Emburse SpringAheadGusto
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Emburse SpringAhead and Gusto
    Feature
    Emburse SpringAhead
    -
    Ratings
    Gusto
    9.2
    514 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Pay calculation00 Ratings9.6493 Ratings
    Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings8.58 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration00 Ratings8.9358 Ratings
    Direct deposit files00 Ratings9.5497 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings9.4383 Ratings
    Reimbursement management00 Ratings9.5127 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Emburse SpringAheadGusto
    Small Businesses
    Dext
    Score9.8 out of 10
    OnPay
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    BILL Spend & Expense
    Score8.9 out of 10
    APS
    Score1.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Emburse Chrome River
    Score9.1 out of 10
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Emburse SpringAheadGusto
    Likelihood to Recommend
    6.5
    (3 ratings)
    9.2
    (538 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (12 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (362 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.3
    (25 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Emburse SpringAheadGusto
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Emburse
    It's definitely well suited for all organizations with knowledge workers who use computers to do their work and are able to log in and enter their time on a regular basis. I've always had access to it as part of my job and love using SpringAhead. It may be less appropriate in a role where the worker does not have regular access to a computer to enter their hours digitally.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Emburse
    • Allows for tracking of time very easily. Users can add all their project's time in one place instead of drilling into each project.
    • Managers can approve their team's time all in one place. We do not need to drill down to find the info and approve. Users who don't report to the manager but are part of the project can still be approved by the project manager.
    • Reports are easy to read when looking at historical information. Reports can be run with multiple parameters that the user needs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    • Gusto really kills it on the simplicity. The app and website are very clear and straightforward.
    • Gusto also does a great job at being easy to navigate, visually pleasing, and logically posed.
    • Gusto communicates very clearly and provides just the right amount of communication.
    • Gusto makes the onboarding process very easy. I recently started at a new company and the process of filling out the necessary documents, filling out forms, and getting my benefit information input was soooooo easy!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Emburse
    • Automated reminders to employees would be great
    • A more modern and up-to-date user interface
    • The approvals system for projects vs. users could use some work
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Gusto
    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.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Gusto
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Gusto
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Gusto
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Emburse
    We selected SpringAhead because of price and usability. This tool is easy to set up and configure. It is a cloud application allowing access from anywhere. There were no training requirements. When you have a small use case this tool is the way to go. We moved off SpringAhead to get more functionality and it has required a lot more training and effort to maintain and utilize
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Emburse
    • Positive - tracking return on project investments
    • Positive - being able to plan on future projects
    • Positive - being able to manage costs and attendance
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gusto
    • For me, it is hard to quantify payroll software as having an ROI. It does save quite a bit of time per pay period, so perhaps we could assign a theoretical number to an employee taking that time. I'd say, at the least, it saves 30-60 minutes a pay period compared to a more difficult-to-use payroll software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Gusto Screenshots

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