Factorial is a business management software designed to streamline HR processes, including time and attendance tracking, talent development, payroll, and finance management.
$80
per month
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.
$49
per month
Pricing
Factorial
Gusto
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
Factorial
Gusto
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Yes
Yes
Entry-level Setup Fee
Optional
No setup fee
Additional Details
—
Gusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Factorial
Gusto
Features
Factorial
Gusto
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Factorial
7.8
1 Ratings
1% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data
9.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Employment history
9.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration
8.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Organizational charting
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Organization and location management
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Factorial
7.7
1 Ratings
4% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Approval workflow
9.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Balance details
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Factorial
5.0
1 Ratings
47% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Update personal information
5.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
View company policy documentation
3.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Employee recognition
2.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
View job history
8.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Factorial
6.0
1 Ratings
29% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets
6.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Factorial
5.3
1 Ratings
35% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Report builder
6.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Pre-built reports
4.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data
6.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Factorial
3.5
1 Ratings
77% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
New hire portal
4.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools
3.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Factorial
2.8
1 Ratings
96% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting
1.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Individual goal setting
4.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility
4.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Performance tracking
2.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Factorial
5.8
1 Ratings
30% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Performance plans
6.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans
5.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Review status tracking
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Review reminders
6.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency
5.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Factorial
5.7
1 Ratings
30% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Job Requisition Management
4.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Company Website Posting
6.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Publish to Social Media
6.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting
4.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Applicant Tracking
5.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts
8.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
I am not fully convinced about factorial HR yet. We are about to transition to a new tool after using Recruitee for a long time. The bar was high when it came to recruitment ATS. and Factorial HR is multifaceted but not as well structured or functional. Support in other languages should also be improved, as those are the most common reviews I have seen online.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
I does not stack up very well. It's best feature is that it is a 360 HR platform, but it needs to evolve and improve. Recruitee and Teamtailor seem way better options, in my opinion, for the Applicant tracking system. Time off tends to get confusing at times, and employees prefer tools like bamboo or Roots, which integrate well with other tools.
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.
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.