Gusto vs Paylocity

by Gralio Feb 21, 2025

Gusto and Paylocity offer distinct approaches to HR and payroll management. Gusto shines with its user-friendly design and comprehensive features for SMBs, while Paylocity caters to mid-sized businesses with stronger talent management tools and a partnership-focused customer support model.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 7924 reviews and 60 websites, saving 1 day, 20 hours, 31 minutes of reading.

Gusto

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Paylocity

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About

Gusto is an all-in-one HR platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses in the USA. It offers payroll, benefits administration, hiring and onboarding tools, and HR management features. Gusto aims to simplify and automate HR processes, ensuring compliance and saving you time. It's known for its user-friendly interface, strong customer satisfaction ratings, and comprehensive feature set.

Paylocity is a cloud-based HR and payroll software platform designed for mid-sized businesses. It offers a range of features including payroll, benefits administration, talent management, time tracking, and employee experience tools. Paylocity aims to streamline HR tasks, improve employee engagement, and provide data-driven insights for better decision-making. They emphasize strong customer support and a partnership approach to help businesses achieve their goals.

Summary

Main difference

Gusto is a better choice for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the USA seeking an all-in-one, user-friendly platform for HR, payroll, and benefits. Paylocity is more suitable for mid-sized businesses that require robust talent management and employee experience tools, and prefer a partnership approach to customer support.

Relative strengths of Gusto (compared to Paylocity)

Stronger focus and better features for SMBs in the USA (e.g., comprehensive benefits administration, hiring/onboarding tools).
More user-friendly interface, contributing to higher ease of use scores and positive user reviews regarding onboarding and general navigation.
Transparent and flexible pricing plans catering to various business needs, with options for add-on features.

Relative weaknesses of Gusto (compared to Paylocity)

Limited talent management capabilities compared to Paylocity, making it less suitable for businesses with complex HR needs.
Customer support, while generally positive, has some reported inconsistencies regarding payroll deposit times.
Mobile app functionality, while supporting payroll access, may not be as comprehensive as Paylocity's in terms of HR features.

Who should use Gusto VS. Paylocity

Gusto is a user-friendly HR platform praised for its streamlined onboarding and comprehensive features, including payroll, benefits, and hiring tools. While some users report occasional payroll deposit delays and difficulties with one-time salary adjustments, many appreciate the excellent customer support and ease of use. Gusto offers flexible pricing plans to suit various business needs.

Paylocity is a cloud-based HR and payroll platform designed for mid-sized businesses. It offers features such as payroll, benefits administration, talent management, and time tracking. Users praise Paylocity's user-friendly interface and robust payroll functionality. However, some have reported issues with customer service consistency and PTO accrual management. Paylocity is best for companies seeking to streamline HR processes and improve employee experience.

Ideal for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the USA, especially those with under 100 employees.
Suitable for a wide range of industries, from healthcare and finance to retail and technology.

Best fit for mid-sized businesses.
Ideal for Finance, Healthcare, and Professional Services.

Gusto and Paylocity features

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Benefits Administration

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Gusto supports benefits administration, including health insurance, retirement plans, and other benefits programs.

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Paylocity offers a comprehensive benefits administration platform, including enrollment and administration.
Time Tracking

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Gusto supports time tracking, including monitoring work hours and payroll calculations. Time-off requests are supported.

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Paylocity offers tools for tracking work hours, managing time off, and ensuring accurate payroll.
Hiring and Onboarding

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Gusto offers hiring and onboarding tools, including paperwork, payroll setup, and new hire information.

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Paylocity offers streamlined onboarding, including paperwork, payroll setup, and essential information delivery.
Mobile payroll

Supported

Gusto supports mobile payroll through the Gusto Wallet app, enabling employees to view paychecks, tax documents, pay insights, and manage their finances.

Supported

Employees can access payroll information via the Paylocity mobile app.
Payroll integration

Supported

Gusto seamlessly integrates with payroll systems, enabling automatic transfer of benefit deductions and other HR-related data.

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Paylocity integrates with payroll systems and automates benefit deductions.
Tax compliance

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Gusto fully supports managing and submitting payroll taxes.

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Paylocity automates payroll tax calculations, filings, and manages related documents.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

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Customer Service

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Ease of Use

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Reliability and Performance

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Ease of Implementation

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Scalability

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Gusto and Paylocity Pricing

Gusto offers flexible plans to support a variety of business needs, from simple payroll to comprehensive HR solutions. Additional features are available a la carte to further customize your plan.

Plans

See full Pricing page

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Gusto and Paylocity review insights

Users love

Gusto is known for its user-friendly interface and ease of use.
Excellent customer support, readily available and responsive to queries.
Streamlined onboarding process, allowing employees to self-onboard and handle their information.
Comprehensive features covering payroll, benefits, hiring, and HR management.

User-friendly interface for both administrators and employees.
Robust payroll functionality, ensuring accurate and timely processing.
Comprehensive HR features, including onboarding, performance management, and benefits administration.
Strong customer support during implementation, providing helpful guidance and training.

Users dislike

Accessing transit benefits through Gusto is overly complicated.
It is difficult to make one-time salary adjustments. The process requires adjusting the annual salary and then reverting it.
There is no option to set recurring amounts for contractors. Manual entry is required for each payment.
Some users report payroll deposit delays, occasionally extending into the afternoon.

Customer service is hit or miss, with some reps providing conflicting or inaccurate information.
PTO accruals can be difficult to manage and sometimes calculate incorrectly.
Time and Labor integration with HR/Payroll can be clunky, leading to issues with PTO and timesheet data.
Some features, like the mobile app and reporting tools, have limited functionality.

Gusto and Paylocity Ratings

Glassdoor

3.2/5

(893)

Glassdoor

3.8/5

(2669)

Company health

Employee growth

18% increase in the last year

5% increase in the last year

Web traffic

21% increase in the last quarter

7% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

October 2022 - $746M

January 2008 - $10M

How do Gusto and Paylocity compare in ease of use for small businesses?

Gusto has a higher ease-of-use score (0.89) compared to Paylocity (0.76). User reviews for both platforms frequently mention user-friendliness, but Gusto's higher score and focus on small businesses suggest it may be simpler to navigate for users less experienced with HR software. While Paylocity is also considered user-friendly, some users report clunky integration and limited functionality in certain areas.

Which product, Gusto or Paylocity, offers better integration with existing accounting systems?

Both Gusto and Paylocity offer integrations with accounting systems. However, the provided information doesn't offer enough detail to definitively say which has *better* integrations. More research is needed to compare specific integrations offered by each product, like which accounting software they integrate with and the depth of those integrations (e.g., one-way or two-way syncing).

What are the advantages of Gusto?

Gusto stands out with its user-friendly interface, comprehensive feature set covering HR, payroll, benefits, and hiring, and strong customer satisfaction ratings. It offers a streamlined onboarding process and excellent customer support. Gusto's focus on small to medium-sized businesses in the USA makes it a tailored solution for this market segment. It's praised for simplifying complex HR processes and automating tasks, ultimately saving businesses time and ensuring compliance.

What are the disadvantages of Gusto?

Gusto has some drawbacks based on user reviews. These include difficulty managing one-time salary adjustments and recurring contractor payments, a complicated process for accessing transit benefits, and occasional payroll deposit delays. Additionally, while Gusto is praised for its ease of use and robust features for SMBs, its scalability for larger organizations is limited.

Alternatives to Gusto and Paylocity

BambooHR

BambooHR is an HR software platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It brings together various HR functions like hiring, onboarding, payroll, benefits, and employee data management into one system. This allows for streamlined workflows, automated tasks, and easier access to employee information. BambooHR aims to simplify HR processes, improve data accuracy, and enhance the employee experience. It is used by companies in various industries and boasts features like custom reporting and integrations with other software.

Rippling

Rippling is a comprehensive employee management platform designed for businesses of all sizes. It streamlines and automates various HR, IT, and finance processes, including payroll, benefits, device management, and expense tracking. By centralizing these functions, Rippling aims to simplify employee lifecycle management, reduce administrative burden, and improve operational efficiency for businesses. The platform is particularly valuable for companies with global operations, offering localized solutions for international payroll, benefits, and compliance.

Namely

Namely is a human resources management software (HRMS) designed for small to mid-sized businesses. It offers a suite of tools including payroll, benefits administration, time and attendance tracking, performance management, and onboarding. Namely aims to simplify HR processes with its user-friendly platform and provides dedicated customer support.

Fingercheck

Fingercheck is an all-in-one HR software designed for small to medium-sized businesses in the USA. It aims to simplify HR and payroll tasks by automating processes like payroll, benefits administration, time tracking, and onboarding. This cloud-based platform offers features such as automated tax calculations, employee self-service portals, and compliance support. Fingercheck prides itself on providing affordable, user-friendly software combined with accessible customer support.

Inova Payroll

Inova Payroll is a cloud-based HR and payroll software designed for mid-sized businesses in various industries across the US. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools, including payroll, HR, benefits administration, time and attendance tracking, recruiting and onboarding, and compliance reporting, all within a single platform. Inova Payroll focuses on automating tasks, improving efficiency, and providing excellent customer support. It stands out for its user-friendliness, flexibility, and transparency, allowing businesses to manage their HR and payroll processes more effectively.

QuickBooks Payroll

QuickBooks Payroll is a cloud-based payroll software designed for small to medium-sized businesses in the USA. It aims to simplify payroll processing with features like automated tax calculations and filings, direct deposit, and integrated time tracking. QuickBooks Payroll also offers additional tools like HR support, workers' compensation administration, and health benefits options. It stands out with its tax penalty protection, promising to cover penalties incurred due to errors within the software.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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