Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll

by Gralio Feb 03, 2025

Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll are both suitable for small and medium-sized businesses in the USA. Gusto offers broader HR functionalities and better customer support, making it a good fit for businesses prioritizing ease of use and a comprehensive HR solution. QuickBooks Payroll is a better fit for businesses already using QuickBooks accounting software, valuing its tight integration and emphasis on tax compliance.

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 5471 reviews and 60 websites, saving 1 day, 6 hours, 53 minutes of reading.

Gusto

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QuickBooks Payroll

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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.

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.

Summary

Main difference

Gusto offers a more comprehensive and user-friendly HR platform with better customer support, while QuickBooks Payroll excels with its seamless integration with QuickBooks accounting software and stronger tax penalty protection.

Relative strengths of Gusto (compared to QuickBooks Payroll)

User-friendly interface and strong customer support
Comprehensive HR features beyond payroll
Streamlined onboarding process

Relative weaknesses of Gusto (compared to QuickBooks Payroll)

Limited integration with accounting software (compared to QuickBooks Payroll's seamless integration with QuickBooks Online)
Occasional payroll deposit delays reported by some users
Difficulty with one-time salary adjustments and recurring contractor payments

Who should use Gusto VS. QuickBooks Payroll

Gusto is a user-friendly HR platform ideal for small and medium-sized businesses in the USA. It simplifies payroll, benefits, hiring, and HR management. Users praise its intuitive interface and responsive customer support, while some note occasional payroll deposit delays and difficulties with one-time salary adjustments.

QuickBooks Payroll simplifies payroll for SMBs. Automated tax calculations and filings, direct deposit, and QuickBooks Online integration are appreciated by users. However, some find editing payroll details and customer support challenging.

Best for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the USA, particularly those with under 100 employees.
Suitable for most industries, including Healthcare, Finance, E-commerce, Retail, and Technology.

Best for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the USA.
Suitable for most industries, including Healthcare, Finance, Retail, and more.

Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

Benefits Administration

Supported

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

Partially supported

QuickBooks Payroll supports health insurance and retirement plans via integrations.
Time Tracking

Supported

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

Supported

QuickBooks Payroll supports time tracking and time-off requests via QuickBooks Time integration in Premium and Elite versions.
Hiring and Onboarding

Supported

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

Partially supported

QuickBooks Payroll supports basic onboarding like payroll setup and employee information, but not full hiring processes.
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

QuickBooks Payroll allows employees to access payroll information via a mobile app.
Payroll integration

Supported

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

Partially supported

Benefit deductions are supported but automatic transfers require integrations.
Tax compliance

Supported

Gusto fully supports managing and submitting payroll taxes.

Supported

QuickBooks Payroll supports managing and submitting payroll taxes. It automates tax calculations, files taxes with relevant agencies, provides tax penalty protection, and ensures compliance with the latest tax laws.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

+0.13

Neutral sentiment

-0.5

Rather negative sentiment
Customer Service

+0.17

Neutral sentiment

-0.43

Rather negative sentiment
Ease of Use

+0.89

Strongly positive sentiment

+0.45

Rather positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance

+0.34

Rather positive sentiment

+0.13

Neutral sentiment
Ease of Implementation

+0.6

Rather positive sentiment

+0.33

Rather positive sentiment
Scalability

+0.04

Neutral sentiment

+1

Strongly positive sentiment

Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll 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

User sentiment

Neutral

+0.13

See full Pricing page

QuickBooks offers three pricing plans for their payroll and bookkeeping services, each bundled with different QuickBooks Online plans. The prices listed are monthly fees. Each plan can be purchased with a 50% discount for the first three months. Each plan also has an additional fee per employee that is not subject to the discount.

Plans

User sentiment

Rather negative

-0.5

See full Pricing page

Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll review insights

5411 reviews analysed from and

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.

Easy to use and set up
Automated tax calculations and filings
Direct deposit
Integrates with QuickBooks Online

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.

Taxable benefits do not show up on employee paystubs
Paystubs cannot be altered in any way, missing legal requirements
Support is basically non-existent
Difficult to edit payroll and employee details aside from very basic aspects

Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll Ratings

Glassdoor

3.2/5

(893)

Company health

Employee growth

18% increase in the last year

No data

Web traffic

21% increase in the last quarter

No data

Financing

October 2022 - $746M

No data

How reliable and performant is QuickBooks Payroll compared to Gusto?

Gusto has a higher reliability and performance score (0.34) compared to QuickBooks Payroll (0.13). User reviews for Gusto also frequently mention its ease of use and streamlined processes, while QuickBooks Payroll users have reported difficulties with editing payroll information and limited customer support. This suggests Gusto may offer a more stable and efficient user experience.

Which product offers better customer support, Gusto or QuickBooks Payroll?

Gusto has significantly better customer support than QuickBooks Payroll. Gusto's customer service rating is 0.17, while QuickBooks Payroll's is -0.43. Furthermore, user reviews praise Gusto's readily available and responsive customer support, while QuickBooks Payroll users complain about the lack of support.

What are the advantages of Gusto?

Gusto offers a more user-friendly interface and better customer support compared to QuickBooks Payroll. Gusto also provides a more comprehensive suite of HR features, including hiring and onboarding tools, benefits administration, and time tracking, whereas QuickBooks Payroll primarily focuses on payroll processing. While both offer tax compliance features, Gusto has significantly better user ratings, suggesting greater satisfaction. Finally, Gusto's pricing is more transparent and predictable, based on a per-employee/per-month model, unlike QuickBooks Payroll's bundled pricing structure tied to QuickBooks Online plans, which can be more expensive and less clear.

What are the disadvantages of Gusto?

Gusto has some drawbacks based on user reviews. These include difficulty managing transit benefits and making one-time salary adjustments. Setting recurring payments for contractors requires manual entry for each payment. Some users have also reported delays in payroll deposits.

Is Gusto cheaper than QuickBooks Payroll?

Gusto's pricing is significantly cheaper than QuickBooks Payroll. Gusto's plans range from $40 to $135 per month per employee, plus a base fee. QuickBooks Payroll bundles its software with QuickBooks Online accounting software, resulting in much higher monthly costs, ranging from $4250 to $9200 per month. Therefore, for payroll services alone, Gusto is the less expensive option.

Alternatives to Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll

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.

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.

ADP Workforce Now

ADP Workforce Now is a comprehensive HR software suite designed for mid-sized companies (50-5,000 employees). This cloud-based platform combines core HR functions like payroll, benefits, and talent management into a single, easy-to-use system. ADP Workforce Now helps businesses streamline HR processes, improve compliance, and make better decisions with data-driven insights. It also offers a mobile app for convenient employee and manager self-service.

Paylocity

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.

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.

SurePayroll

SurePayroll is a cloud-based payroll software designed for small to midsize businesses, especially those with 1-100 employees. It simplifies payroll processing, tax filing, and offers additional HR solutions like benefits administration and workers' compensation. Key features include automated payroll runs, direct deposit, tax calculations and filing, and access to US-based customer support. SurePayroll aims to be user-friendly and save businesses time and money on payroll management.

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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