Gusto Pricing Plans & Cost Guide (Jan 2023)

Gusto HR Review
ITQlick Score: 99/100
ITQlick Rating:
Pricing: 4/10 - average cost
Category: Human Resources -> Gusto review -> Gusto pricing
Ranking:Ranked 1 out of 584 Human Resources systems
Company: Gusto
Pricing: starts at $39 per month
Typical customers: Small, medium and large size businesses
Platforms: Desktop, Mobile, Cloud
Links: Gusto review, Gusto alternatives
Shlomi LaviShlomi Lavi / Jan 28, 2023

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Gusto pricing: How much does it cost in 2024?

When it comes to pricing, Gusto offers three plans to cater for businesses with separate needs.

  • Simple: This plan is available for $40 per month, along with $6 per person.

  • Plus: The plus plan costs $60 per month and $9 per employee.

  • Premium: The pricing of this plan is exclusive. Contact the sellers to know the price.

Gusto Monthly Pricing Plans

Prices and Plans Compared

The simple plan deals with a wide range of features that can help businesses with benefit integrations and automatic payroll features. The features offered by this plan include employee financial benefits, payroll and time-off reports, employee profiles and self-service, basic hiring and onboarding tools, full-service single-state payroll including 1099s and W-2s, Gusto-brokered health insurance administration, custom admin permission, and bank support.

The next plan is the Plus plan. This plan offers all features offered by the simple plan along with more features. Additional features offered by this plan include next-day direct deposit, PTO management and policies, advanced hiring and onboarding tools, team management tools, workforce costing and reports, and full support.

Lastly, the Premium plan offers all the features offered in the plus plan in addition to specific features like an HR resource center, access to certified HR experts, compliance alerts, health insurance broker integration, full-service payroll migration and account setup, performance reviews, waived fees and exclusive pricing, R&D tax credit discount, dedicated support, and employee surveys and insights.

However, if you opt for the basic plan of Gusto, you won't be able to access time tracking and employee features. These features, on the other hand, are available in all the plans offered by Zenefits, one of Gusto's competitors. Another competitor of Gusto is Paycheck, which offers similar features as Gusto. However, Paycheck provides health insurance benefits in all the states, whereas Gusto offers them in a limited number of states. Moreover, if you compare Gusto with QuickBooks, there are some benefits offered by QuickBooks that are missing in Gusto. Some of them are built-in expense tracking, bookkeeping skills, and a free trial.

Which Plan Is Right for You?

The plans offered by Gusto include integrated benefits, payroll, and HR alongside higher tiers that provide additional features. You can further personalize the plan by adding add-on features according to your business's needs.

If you are looking forward to running payroll for one state and giving your employees financial and health benefits, then the simple plan can be a good fit for your business. Not only does this software help businesses manage their current employees, but it also helps them in hiring new ones with the help of its ready-made offer letter templates, self-service payroll sign-up, and document storage.

Businesses that need to manage their employees in numerous states can consider getting the Plus plan. It offers all the features that are included in the simple plan, along with slightly expanded functionalities. With the Plus plan, you can customize the onboarding checklists and offer letters, create org charts and use it for running payrolls a day prior to the payday. Even though the Plus plan does not include priority customer support, it can be added for an additional $8 per employee.

Businesses that have larger teams and want to manage employees with efficiency can go for the Premium plan. It gives an opportunity for businesses to work directly with the sales team to figure out the best pricing according to the number of employees that they want to manage. It also comes with an HR expert to help businesses in staying compliant with their ever-changing laws, along with priority support so they can be quick help when required.

Gusto vs. competitors (pricing)

Software

Pricing

Free Trial 

Gusto 

$40 - $60 per employee per month  

90 days 

Workday  

$45-62  per employee per month   

30 days

APS

$5 - $11 per employee per month 

Free trial unavailable

Rippling  

$8  per employee per month  

Free trial unavailable

ADP Workforce Now  

$19-26  per employee per month  

No free trial 

Paylocity   

$18-25  per employee per month   

Free trial unavailable

Cost of software customizations

Customizing the software to meet the specific needs of the organization can be a costly process, especially if the customization requires significant development or integration work. The average cost of customization can range from a few thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars, depending on the complexity of the customization work.

Data migration cost Relevant for Gusto

Migrating data from old systems to the new software can be a time-consuming and costly process, especially if the data is large or complex. The average cost of data migration can range from a few thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars, depending on the size and complexity of the data.

Cost of training

How many groups (different departments, usages, type of users) are needed for Gusto training? Training employees to use the new software can be a significant cost, especially if the software is complex or requires specialized knowledge. The average cost of training can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per employee, depending on the complexity of the software and the duration of the training.

Cost of maintenance

Ongoing maintenance and support for the software can be a significant cost, especially if the software requires frequent updates or has a high rate of bugs or issues. The average cost of maintenance can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per year, depending on the complexity of the software and the level of support required.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How much does Gusto cost per month?

Their pricing plan starts at $39 per month.

They offer a free trial?

No, Gusto don't offer a free trial at this time. Free trials are great because your team can test the software (at least basic features of it) in your own time without the pressure of sales teams. We hope they will offer free trials in the future.

Can I use Gusto for free?

No, Gusto don't offer a free version of their product.

Any good free alternative to Gusto?

Free alternatives to Gusto include Fluida and Freshteam. Fluida's free plan offers access to the directory of company, email support for around ten users, and time and attendance features. On the other hand, Freshman is designed to help businesses in finding, screening, interviewing, and hiring qualified individuals for multiple roles.

How can the team at ITQlick help?

The science of TCO (total cost of ownership) may not be easy to calculate. If you seek to get detailed info about the TCO, get in touch with ITQlick experts. Contact us today and get up to date, detailed quotes.

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Our Veredict

Gusto is an online modern human resource platform that is designed to help small business owners handle their HR-related operations. It offers a wide range of HR services and tools to help with running payroll, employee onboarding, and administering health benefits. It also helps in engaging teams and employees using an easy-to-use and integrated platform. Furthermore, it also offers expert guidance from HR professionals if you are purchasing health insurance for the first time.

Human Resources Software Products Price Range

HRIS comes with different prices, which are usually determined by either number of employees or the number of users. Either way, HR Tools pricing ranges from $5–$15 and $16–$25 per employee per month; for most providers, these prices are also set based on the robustness of the chosen package feature-wise, and they may not include fees for setup or training.

However, HR software that are priced based on the number of users may have slightly higher prices because, unlike ones with per employee prices, they do not require an organization to pay for every employee but, instead, employees that are actively using the tools. For example, Conrep is priced at around $30 per user per month, while HRnest costs around $20 per employee per month. Another instance is HRnest, which costs $1 per employee, provided its paid in bulk for 35 employees each, and 2 feature plugins, which cost $40 and $60 respectively, must be paid for alongside.

In addition, HRIS pricings are adjusted by most vendors, depending on the business size.

  • Small Businesses can expect around $5 for a single employee or nothing at all, as some software makes their basic HR features free for small workforces. Some examples are PeopleBookHR, Snappi, and IceHRM. At the same time, premium HR providers like VAIRKKO Suite costs $1 monthly per employee, Optimity pricing is around $5 monthly per user, and Attendee HRM costs $28 per year to manage 28 employees.
  • Medium Businesses that need more robust HRIS features can expect to pay between $5–$15 per employee. For instance, ICMIS Recruit costs around $6,000 per year to manage between 51–100 employees, Info:HR charges a one-time fee of $2800, and FingerCheck pricing is priced at $200 monthly for 50 employees.
  • Large Businesses can expect to pay less on a per-employee basis because the logic is the more the employee, the lesser the fee. However, the number of features and onboarding costs may cost more. For instance, FingerCheck costs $1,600 monthly for 500 employees and Britix24 $199 per month.

HRIS best of breeds and their price ranges are as follows:

  • Applicant Tracking Tools While some applicant tracking apps are priced per job posting, businesses can, however, expect to pay between $19–$28, $28–$49, and $49 upwards per user, per month. For instance, Yahoo Indeed costs around $150 per month, Monster TMS costs $5,000 per year while Manatal pricing is charged at $15 per user per month.
  • Performance Appraisal Software Like most applicant tracking solutions, performance appraisal pricing is based on a "per user, per month" basis. So, business enterprises can expect to pay between $1 to $4, $4 to $10, and $10 upwards. Note that the package type is also a determining factor for performance appraisal tool pricing, as some packages have more features than others. The pricing of some performance appraisal appls like Performly Talent starts from $2 monthly per user, Small Improvements from $5 per user per year, and AssessTEAM costs $1 monthly per user.
  • Onboarding Software Onboarding Tools are also priced on a "per user, per month" basis. Users can expect to pay between $1 and $12 upwards. However, these prices are mostly for entry-level prices found on vendor website; more robust packages may be slightly higher, depending on the number of users. For example, Boardon costs $50 per month for a bunch of active users, EmployeeConnect $6 monthly per user, and WISP pricing falls around $50 depending on company size.
  • 360 Degree Feedback 360 Degree feedback products mostly have per month pricings. In this case, companies can expect to pay between $1 and $149 and above. Again, these prices depend on the number of features the vendor is offering. Examples are Click-360 costs between $7-$55 per report, SurveyLab $29 per month, and Bloomin costs $4 monthly per user.
  • Payroll The pricing for payroll products is usually divided into three tiers and priced per user per month. Enterprises can expect to pay between $1 to $5, $5 to $12, and above $12 per user, per month and depending on the tier. For instance, Payroll Mate is priced around $120 per year ($15 per month) and Payment Evolution Payroll costs $22 monthly per user. Alternatively, some payroll products have a one-time payment; examples are Accounting Xpert costs around $1,500 for one user, and Brightpay pricing is around $300.

Auditor - Shlomi Lavi

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Shlomi Lavi is an entrepreneur and founder of ITQlick.com. He holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Information Systems Engineering from Ben Gurion University in Israel. Shlomi brings 17 years of global IT and IS management experience as a consultant and implementation expert for small, medium and large-sized (global) companies. Shlomi’s goal is to share the best knowledge and news about information systems so you can make smarter buying decisions for your business.