Recently, I hired my first employee. There are a lot of changes with that especially dealing with government agencies. Gusto was so wonderful helping me understand and get everything setup correctly. One gal emailed me proactively to ask if I needed help, which I did. I was so appreciative of her help. I am so thankful for Gusto. I could not do this without you. Your help staff are so kind and patient. They do a good job of helping when I need it.
As a bookkeeper, I recommend Gusto to my clients needing payroll processing. The setup is quick and easy. My clients have no issues when running payroll. I can easily pull any reports that I need with the accountant access. I also use Gusto for a full service client that I have where I am running payroll for them. They love the PTO breakdown and the payroll approval process as well. The integration with QuickBooks Online saves me so much time as their bookkeeper.
Pros
Fast and extremely helpful customer service
Clear and easy setup
Accurate QBO integration
Cons
ability to hide PTO balances from managers
Likelihood to Recommend
I recommend Gusto for everyone. Whether you are only paying contractors, yourself, or a full team, the platform is user friendly and visually appealing. I love that they are able to handling all payroll tax payments and filings including all year end filings. This saves business owners so much time, ensures accuracy and has everything conveniently in same place. I do not have clients with over 50 employees, so I cannot speak to larger organizations. But with departments and manager settings, it seems that Gusto would be able to handle that as well.
VU
Verified User
Executive in Finance and Accounting (Accounting company, 1-10 employees)
Our team relies on Gusto for tracking time off across the company, quickly and efficiently running payroll, tracking certain benefits, and managing employee happiness through surveys and reviews. The all-in-one platform ensures our team is efficient and knowledgable about all of the HR-related functions in one place and in an intuitive, user-friendly way.
Pros
Easy and playful user interface for both admins and team users
Detailed view of payroll breakdown while running payroll as an admin and in paystubs for team members
Multiple types of time-off options for flexible work environments
Cons
When running payroll, if you have to go back to change something, the hours worked for part time employees can be glitchy unless you have the support team completely wipe the payroll clean and re-run.
It can be confusing at times to see what team members have requested in the future vs. what has been paid out vs. what has been used but not paid out in terms of time off.
Likelihood to Recommend
Great for small to mid-sized teams and the ability to track HR functions across the company.
VU
Verified User
C-Level Executive in Finance and Accounting (Marketing & Advertising company, 11-50 employees)
As a solo freelancer, I never thought I’d need a payroll service—but Gusto changed that. I run a one-person business and don’t offer benefits, so I assumed payroll software would be overkill or too expensive. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Gusto makes it incredibly easy to pay myself as an S-Corp owner. Setting everything up—payroll, tax filings, and direct deposit—was straightforward and surprisingly fast. The interface is clean and intuitive, and I love how automated everything is. No more scrambling with quarterly tax payments or W-2s at the end of the year. Gusto handles it all behind the scenes, which gives me peace of mind and frees up my time to focus on actual client work.
Even though I don’t offer benefits, I still get access to all the core payroll features I need, and the pricing is fair for what you get. Plus, their customer service has been responsive and helpful any time I’ve had a question.
If you’re a solo freelancer running your business as an S-Corp and want a no-fuss, professional way to pay yourself and stay compliant, Gusto is 100% worth it. I wish I had signed up sooner.
Pros
Payroll
Customer Service
Easy Interface
Cons
I would like to see a lower price-point option given the features I use, but the cost is overall fair.
Likelihood to Recommend
Gusto is a great solution for small and mid-size businesses. While the platform offers a lot (and consistently adds more functionality), a larger solution, like ADP, may be more suited for a large enterprise.
As a fully remote cybersecurity startup spread across eight states, we needed payroll that just worked. Gusto made it painless to set up W-2 and 1099 payroll, automatically handling multi-state tax filings so we never lost sleep over misclassified contractors. We were also able to launch benefits, health, dental, and vision, in days, which was crucial as we got off the ground. Their support team is quick to answer even the smallest question. With Gusto handling the details, we spend our time building security tools, not spreadsheets.
Pros
Payroll Automation
Benefits
Multi-State Employee withholding
Notices and Tax form evaluation by a human
Cons
Integrations with Retirement
Integrations with Quickbooks
Notifications
Likelihood to Recommend
It just works, there are humans their to help and it is a modern user friendly platform.
Gusto is amazing. I handle payroll for several small companies. Recently, I needed to switch several to Gusto quickly. Setup and onboarding with Gusto are simple and very user-friendly.
Pros
User-friendly interface.
Handles all of the payroll tax reporting.
Excellent customer support.
Cons
While I appreciate the help, I don't need unsolicited phone calls during tax season.
Likelihood to Recommend
Gusto works well for small and larger companies. It recognizes and works with non-profits that are exempt from things like unemployment tax, etc. It's great that employees and contractors can still log in to Gusto after leaving their employer—it's great to have all of the payroll records securely available at any time.
I've used Gusto to manage employees and contractors, track PTO policies, and run payroll reports. I also use the integration with Quickbooks Online every time I run payroll. When I'm setting up a company that is migrating from another payroll provider, I've also used Gusto's migration services and previous payrolls template to make sure that all of the company's payroll data makes it into Gusto. Finally, I've also used Gusto for filing reports such as 941s.
Pros
Managing basic and custom PTO policies like holiday pay, vacation pay and personal/sick days
The interface is extremely clean and user friendly.
It's very simple to make transition someone from contractor to employee and vice versa.
I barely have to think about quarterly report filings because Gusto handles it all behind the scenes.
Cons
The full HR suite has room for improvement. Being able to offer benefits beyond the standard healthcare and retirement plans.
The mobile app experience can be improved.
The time tracking tool is very basic so I don't use Gusto for time tracking. The ability to sync with Quickbooks chart of accounts, products and services and client/customer lists would make me consider switching over.
Likelihood to Recommend
Gusto is fantastic for small to medium sized teams. The different plan options offer a good fit for any company, however, solopreneurs may not take full advantage of all of the features.
VU
Verified User
Account Manager in Professional Services (Accounting company, 1-10 employees)
We used ADP prior to Gusto, and not only was it very expensive, it was very difficult for some users to use. The constant requirement to change the password was very frustrating to some of our staff, especially those not as computer literate. What I really like about Gusto is the simplicity. It is not hard to use, even for beginners. I like that it has an easily accessible app and I also like how we can track our paid and unpaid time correctly.
Pros
Simplicity of Website
Emailed update of when payday is and snapshot of important things like accrued PTO, Net pay, an a fun fact
PTO and Unpaid tracking
Ease of accessing benefits
Likelihood to Recommend
My brother actually had previously used Gusto for his small business. It was most affordable and offered all of the features that he needed. We also chose to use Gusto for our company as the accessibility and ease of the site is what we were looking for. We needed something that wasn't too complicated, yet offered the details and features for our employees
Works great for my needs as a small business. It has been just a few clicks to get things done for my limited employee needs. I primarily work with subcontractors, and it has done a good job of getting their payments out and tracking. Fairly easy to use. I saved a lot of time and stress this year by having Gusto send out the 1099 forms for me. I recently encountered a subcontractor who needed to get paid by check. Wish I could have used Gusto to make that payment for me. It would've made things easier. Other than that, everything's been good. I wish the price had not increased by $5 a month. We're a small busines,s so every penny counts.
Pros
Easy to use.
Sends me an email when their are tasks that need to get done.
Cons
Wish I could pay contractors with checks through Gusto as an option.
Likelihood to Recommend
I believe Gusto is better suited for someone who does not need assistance when using online products. If a person is not technically savvy, they may be better off with a different company that offers more phone support with their plans. I've had good experiences with other companies that might cost a little more, but they provide a rep.
We are a small company that was branching out from a larger company. With only less than 10 employees, we needed something easy to use that wouldn't take much time. The owner found Gusto and was able to get everyone set up easily for payroll. Although he tried to avoid it, I later decided to go part-time. Gusto made it super easy for him to add in my hours, even including accrued PTO! I personally love that I can log in at any time and see my pay stubs, tax information, and make splits to the bank accounts for direct deposit. It's been very easy to use and I believe has saved the owner lots of overhead. I'm sure it's well worth the cost (which I believe is minimal).
Pros
PTO
Direct deposit split
Pay day notification emails
Cons
Part-time hours.. I believe he sets a 'default' and has to remember to change it
Likelihood to Recommend
Great for our small business where we don't have a lot of time to dedicate to payroll and management. It may not be the best for large companies if the cost scales poorly, although to be honest I'm not completely up on the costs. I know it's been super easy to use as an employee.
