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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

    SurePayroll

    Score4.2 out of 10
    N/ASurePayroll offers an online payroll service that lets small business owners run payroll anywhere, anytime. The vendor automatically pays and files federal, state and local payroll taxes.N/A
    Pricing
    GustoSurePayroll
    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
    GustoSurePayroll
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    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
    GustoSurePayroll
    Considered Both Products
    Gusto
    Chose Gusto
    It’s the easiest to use, visually.
    Incentivized
    Paychex Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    91%
    Would buy again
    488 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    92%
    Delivers good value for the price
    395 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    501 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    89%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    254 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    311 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    GustoSurePayroll
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Gusto and SurePayroll
    Feature
    Gusto
    9.2
    514 Ratings
    11% above category average
    SurePayroll
    1.4
    16 Ratings
    142% below category average
    Pay calculation9.6493 Ratings2.516 Ratings
    Support for external payroll vendors8.58 Ratings1.012 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration8.9358 Ratings1.27 Ratings
    Direct deposit files9.5497 Ratings1.213 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management9.4383 Ratings1.212 Ratings
    Reimbursement management9.5127 Ratings1.210 Ratings
    Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings1.09 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GustoSurePayroll
    Small Businesses
    OnPay
    Score9.9 out of 10
    OnPay
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    APS
    Score1.4 out of 10
    APS
    Score1.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.4 out of 10
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GustoSurePayroll
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.2
    (538 ratings)
    1.0
    (26 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (12 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.5
    (362 ratings)
    1.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    1.3
    (25 ratings)
    9.2
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GustoSurePayroll
    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
    Paychex Inc.
    We use SurePayroll to make monthly payrolls in our company, as well as to close the month and year with all the income and expenses and most importantly to make tax payments. The application is perfect for making payrolls when the personnel adapted for it is not in the head office, SurePayroll has an application for mobiles that allows to make these operations remotely. The application is perfect when you want to make immediate payments, at the time of loading the payroll to the system, it proceeds to automatically perform transactions for each employee entered without any error.
    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
    Paychex Inc.
    • Super easy interface - honestly running payroll couldn't be easier on their site.
    • Incredible customer service - VERY knowledgeable, professional and friendly. They will walk you through anything you need to do on the site and understand payroll, tax and benefit issues.
    • Tax filing and payments and year-end paperwork for 1099 contractors and W-2s. They make it so easy.
    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
    Paychex Inc.
    • My chief complaint is the software sometimes requires me to have a code sent to my phone before I can continue with some process. That in itself is fine. The problem is the check box that lets SurePayroll remember the computer doesn't actually do that. I select that check box every time, but the software doesn't remember me or my computer.
    • Fees have creeped higher every year over the last two or three years. I feel like I'm nitpicking here, though. What I spend for the service is reasonably priced for the amount of headaches it prevents.
    • I have a case where an employee is sometimes salaried and sometimes contract. There's not a way to handle that without terminating him when he needs to switch.
    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
    Paychex Inc.
    Very likely, easy to use, support system in place.
    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
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    It's a poor user interface. It feels like the interface is twenty years old. If you make a mistake with payroll in their terrible UI, and try to correct it 15 seconds later, they want to charge you $39 to correct your mistake. Overall, a very poor experience in terms of user interface.
    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
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    SurePayroll was great when we had questions or needed support, ie. if we messed up with a payroll, needed to submit tax documents or get documents. The ease of communication between us and the organization was great and they made it easy for users to call in with support requests.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Paychex Inc.
    They were awesome. They knew the system very well and could help me very much.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    No, I can't think of any.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    SurePayroll offers a comparable service at a better rate. They are better designed for small companies who need to save money any way they can. Their fees are more appropriate than ADP but the service offerings are just as good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Paychex Inc.
    In retrospect, I wouldn't change anything.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Paychex Inc.
    We were able to calculate different hourly numbers when we completed Certified Payroll for professional services.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    • SurePayroll helps us process payroll quickly and effortlessly 97% of the time.
    • On the rare occasion when there is an issue SurePayroll needs to address, it can take hours and hours of time over many months to get that issue resolved. Through the process, SurePayroll employees have always been professional and courteous in their communication.
    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