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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    Paycom

    Score7.4 out of 10
    N/APaycom supports HR and payroll with automated, employee-first technology that supports every stage of employment. Its single database enables seamless data management, to reduce errors, endless data entry and time-consuming administrative tasks.N/A
    Pricing
    GustoPaycom
    Editions & Modules
    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
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GustoPaycom
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsGusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GustoPaycom
    Considered Both Products
    Gusto
    Chose Gusto
    Paycom is a much more difficult interface than Gusto. It’s harder to access for employees and more difficult to find what you are looking for initially. Gusto has all of its options laid out on the main page to allow for easy access and understanding to use it. I would never …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    I will say i do prefer Paycom in comparison to Gusto because there are more perks when it comes managing employee timecards, getting help from a rep and all of the HR/Benefit modules they had. Gusto is universes better and easier to manage than ADP.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is 100000% better than ADP. ADP is confusing, misleading, overly complicated, and not clear at all. Gusto just makes the whole process smooth as butter. Paycom is good, but Gusto seems much better. Paycom seems to have a lot of its own internal lingo and just doesn't make …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    I chose Gusto over Paycom for its superior user-friendliness and seamless integration of hour tracking with external insurance options, making it more efficient and convenient for my needs as a self-contractor.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Homebase is extremely crude and the only thing I find useful is their scheduling tool. I wish Gusto would take a note about this one facet of their business from them. Paycom is extremely comprehensive and offers lots of tools that I have no use for. As a result, their software …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Paycom is really ugly, and the interface is not easy to navigate. I think it's often buggy, and I can't see it being something really friendly and workable. When I look at the different options like Workday as well, I feel similar. Gusto feels much more friendly compared to its …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is better for our company's size right now and easier for our HR/payroll folks to use. It makes HR fun and humanizing instead of a pain.

    The quick editing on the tax forms are key. Welcome emails for the team and payroll emails are fun. The time off segment is easy to …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    ADP is cumbersome, complex, and hard as ever to find anything on the site. The ADP program is focused on Payroll only and does not offer the all-in-one feature that Gusto does. Gusto gives ease of use and practicality, while other programs, such as ADP that boast this, but end …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    N/A - I am an employee and did not choose our company's HR software.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is the easiest to use out of all the payroll programs that I have tried out at various companies. Manually entering time is less complicated and requires less time on gusto than on the others.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    I used this payroll service at a previous employer, and it was very irritating to have to use your fingerprint every time you clocked in or out. Sometimes it wouldn't read, and the system was constantly going down.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    I like Gusto. It's user-friendly. Plus, I like that piggy bank that they use as a loading cursor.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is so easy and very user friendly. Navigating through the other sites is difficult and confusing. I have never had an easier time selecting benefits or splitting paychecks. Gusto gives me confidence that I have control over my paychecks and benefits.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Neither Gusto nor QB Payroll offer dedicated support. The cost of each is comparable with Gusto being a little higher on average. QB is glitchy from all of their recent updates (2020-2021). Tech phone support can take a minimum of an hour per issue. Gusto used to be very …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is much more simple that the 3 companies that I've used in the past. It pulls over less information but also leaves a lot of flexibility for custom payroll settings. I also appreciate the one way communication with our HRIS platform, making changes in Gusto will not …
    Incentivized
    Paycom
    Chose Paycom
    ADP Workflow, Paylocity, BambooHR, Worklio - Paycom has a superior feature set and reporting tools. Rippling, Gusto, PlanSource - Paycom is less preferred due to its overly complex feature set.
    Incentivized
    Chose Paycom
    We eliminated ADP to go to Paycom at 2 companies. Both companies were thrilled with the outcome.
    Incentivized
    Chose Paycom
    Paycom allows more flexibility. The cloud-based integration is great and flexible, it also has a lower learning curve, allowing for an easy transfer to new team members if needed. We use almost all functionalities managing hundreds of accounts with personal data and archives, …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    91%
    Would buy again
    488 Answers
    95%
    Would buy again
    317 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    92%
    Delivers good value for the price
    395 Answers
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    290 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    501 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    321 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    89%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    254 Answers
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    228 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    311 Answers
    90%
    Implementation went as expected
    220 Answers
    Features
    GustoPaycom
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    9.2
    514 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Paycom
    8.0
    402 Ratings
    0% above category average
    Pay calculation9.6493 Ratings9.1390 Ratings
    Support for external payroll vendors8.58 Ratings6.447 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration8.9358 Ratings8.0338 Ratings
    Direct deposit files9.5497 Ratings9.8389 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management9.4383 Ratings7.1323 Ratings
    Reimbursement management9.5127 Ratings7.2219 Ratings
    Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings8.713 Ratings
    Human Resource Management
    Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Paycom
    7.8
    390 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Employee demographic data00 Ratings9.0354 Ratings
    Employment history00 Ratings8.6340 Ratings
    Job profiles and administration00 Ratings8.2341 Ratings
    Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.1341 Ratings
    Organizational charting00 Ratings7.3261 Ratings
    Organization and location management00 Ratings7.5298 Ratings
    Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings7.3283 Ratings
    Leave and Attendance Management
    Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Paycom
    7.7
    354 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Approval workflow00 Ratings7.8337 Ratings
    Balance details00 Ratings7.5338 Ratings
    Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings7.8282 Ratings
    Employee Self Service
    Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Paycom
    8.9
    402 Ratings
    10% above category average
    View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings9.8395 Ratings
    Update personal information00 Ratings9.6398 Ratings
    View company policy documentation00 Ratings8.6354 Ratings
    Employee recognition00 Ratings7.3192 Ratings
    View job history00 Ratings8.9316 Ratings
    Asset Management
    Comparison of Asset Management features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Paycom
    4.9
    26 Ratings
    49% below category average
    Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings4.926 Ratings
    HR Reporting
    Comparison of HR Reporting features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Paycom
    6.7
    346 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Report builder00 Ratings7.2340 Ratings
    Pre-built reports00 Ratings7.2337 Ratings
    Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings5.855 Ratings
    Onboarding
    Comparison of Onboarding features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Paycom
    7.8
    342 Ratings
    1% below category average
    New hire portal00 Ratings8.0339 Ratings
    Manager tracking tools00 Ratings7.6293 Ratings
    Performance and Goals
    Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Paycom
    5.5
    199 Ratings
    36% below category average
    Corporate goal setting00 Ratings4.236 Ratings
    Individual goal setting00 Ratings6.9186 Ratings
    Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings4.835 Ratings
    Performance tracking00 Ratings6.2195 Ratings
    Performance Management
    Comparison of Performance Management features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Paycom
    7.0
    247 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Performance plans00 Ratings7.4228 Ratings
    Performance improvement plans00 Ratings7.0216 Ratings
    Review status tracking00 Ratings7.5222 Ratings
    Review reminders00 Ratings7.1228 Ratings
    Multiple review frequency00 Ratings6.0204 Ratings
    Succession Planning
    Comparison of Succession Planning features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Paycom
    6.8
    34 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings9.124 Ratings
    Candidate ranking00 Ratings6.830 Ratings
    Candidate search00 Ratings5.833 Ratings
    Candidate development00 Ratings5.429 Ratings
    Recruiting / ATS
    Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Gusto and Paycom
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Paycom
    5.7
    239 Ratings
    30% below category average
    Job Requisition Management00 Ratings5.8214 Ratings
    Company Website Posting00 Ratings5.2211 Ratings
    Publish to Social Media00 Ratings4.8169 Ratings
    Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings5.3196 Ratings
    Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings6.3185 Ratings
    Applicant Tracking00 Ratings5.4219 Ratings
    Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings7.1225 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GustoPaycom
    Small Businesses
    OnPay
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Zoho People
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    APS
    Score1.4 out of 10
    Zoho People
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.4 out of 10
    PeopleStrong
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GustoPaycom
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.2
    (538 ratings)
    7.9
    (425 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (12 ratings)
    8.9
    (23 ratings)
    Usability
    9.5
    (362 ratings)
    9.1
    (24 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    1.3
    (25 ratings)
    9.1
    (52 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (7 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GustoPaycom
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Paycom
    It's very mobile friendly, especially for people that aren't tech savvy. We have an aged workforce where we were really concerned about how they would adapt, going from the comfort of using paper to a mobile and online application. But the training was really easy and the adaptation has been simple for us as a company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Paycom
    • I would say the communication post-implementation is amazing. Allie is our representative. She's amazing. Caitlin is amazing. I just met Travis last week at the office. Amazing. The communication is great and helpful, so if one of the team members don't have the answer, they can just jump in. For instance, I was on a call with Caitlin yesterday and she was like, "I'm not really sure about this answer. Let me see if I can go run it byTravis." I know he's on another call and instead of him saying blah, blah, he came over and looked at the screen and was like, do this, do this. It's a little different. So I would say the customer service is the best.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Paycom
    • I think that when we do need a response back, which is very unlikely from the contact about something that's happening or going on, it can take a little long to get back to us. Longer than we would like because obviously it's an emergency to us, but we understand they have tons of emergencies they have to solve. But I think that's the only aspect.
    • I know from a payroll standpoint, which I'm not really privy to because I don't work on the payroll side, there have been some little hiccups that about certain formulas used, certain credits being issued that we've already filed for tax credits that we filed for. So I know that my CFO's already on top of it and pay comes on top of it as well and it's getting resolved, but obviously that's a big issue that needs some work there.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    Paycom
    Because it has everything that we need and as we grow, we are learning how robust Paycom can actually be but we need to be willing to spend the money. It's not expensive but we, as a company, are not used to spending that much on a system for HR and payroll.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    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
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    Paycom
    The interface is very intuitive, you can navigate it pretty well. Everything's pretty much spelled out and the features just flow really well. They make it easy for you to go back and forth with the UX/UI type of interface. So I think it was built pretty well.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Paycom
    They are very dependable and I have never experience any outages
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Paycom
    Yes, Paycom's performance is excellent, no issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    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
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    Paycom
    Our TSR has been wonderful to work with. Every step of the
    way he was quick to respond and answer any questions we had. I knew I could
    reach him at any time (day or night) and he would be available to assist.
    Implementing a new HRIS system is obviously a huge task and I contribute all
    our success to our rep Kurt! Of course, with any implementation, there were
    bumps along the way and issues. But I always knew we would work as a team to
    get those issues figured out. Working in the Paycom system has been smooth and
    easy to learn and I enjoy the employee self-service interface. Our managers
    have had positive things to say and are all excited about the changes we have
    been able to make to our organization due to Paycom being implemented.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Paycom
    They were a sales person and not really a good trainer.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Paycom
    All the online training modules were short and straight to the point. Every module teach you how to use the system. If there is one thing they know how to do is training. We did implementation during the pandemic so all had to be done online or via zoom meetings.
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    Implementation Rating
    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
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    Paycom
    Not at all satisfied it was a nightmare we spent over 8 months with the implementation team having issues after issues all related to the Puerto Rico regulations (half my employees are in Puerto Rico) and at the end we were moved over from the implementation team to the production team without all the issues being resolved
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    Alternatives Considered
    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
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    Paycom
    We really only had Paychecks and that was our biggest problem is that with several different companies, it was very hard If you had a salary employee and didn't terminate them in the prior company, they get paid twice, so this has really been definitely a big help for us.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Paycom
    They are not able to meet our current needs
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    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
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    Paycom
    • I think our fiscal team who handles the ROI would say that it has had a negative impact just because a lot of stuff is a la carte and we weren't aware of that before we went into a business relationship with Paycom. So I think it's had a negative impact.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Gusto Screenshots

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

    Paycom Screenshots

    Screenshot of a new study that reveals that for a composite organization representative of interviewed clients, unifying HR and payroll in a single-database software with automation and streamlined workflows achieved a three-year 362% ROI and resulted in: $1.4M net present value*; over 45% total time saved by HR; 80% time saved on compliance work.Screenshot of IWant, which is a command-driven AI engine in a single database, for instant access to employee data.Screenshot of Direct Data Exchange®, which takes a detailed pulse of how employees interact with Paycom. It automatically assigns a dollar value of savings based on Ernst & Young research.