HR and payroll software · Comparison

Gusto vs Justworks vs Rippling

3 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.

Side by side

Gusto vs Justworks vs Rippling: value, access facts, plan limits and bottom lines
Metric	Gusto	Justworks	Rippling
What you're paying for	Worth the priceFull-service US payroll with tax filings, onboarding and benefits administration at a published monthly price, with no long-term contract.	Worth the priceLow-cost multi-state payroll for small US teams, with a PEO path to group health benefits when you need it.	Saves engineering timeOne employee record that drives HR, payroll, benefits, devices and app access, with a long list of audits behind it.
Overall score	6.3Best	5.6	3.3
Free option	Free trial	Paid only	–Not measured
Card to start	–Not measured	–Not measured	–Not measured
Getting access	Self-serve	Self-serve	Sales call required
Starter priceCheapest paid plan	$49/mo + $6/person	$50/mo + $8/employee	$8/employee/mo + base fee
Pricing model	Seat + usage	Seat + usage	Custom quote
Pricing page	Public prices	Public prices	Prices hidden
Billing unit	Monthly base fee plus a price per active person; US contractors billed only in months they are paid	Payroll: monthly base fee plus a price per employee; PEO: per employee, no base fee	Per employee per month plus a monthly base fee, by custom quote
Free option	Free account to set up and onboard; billing starts with the first payroll	No free plan or trial stated	None stated; 6 months free for eligible US VC-backed startups
Reference scenario (10 employees, one state)	$109/mo on Simple ($49 + $6 × 10), computed	$130/mo on Payroll ($50 + $8 × 10), computed (prices as of May 21, 2026)	Not priced: payroll by custom quote
Multi-state payroll	Plus ($80 + $12 per person)	Included on every plan	Stated (registration and filing in all 50 states); price by quote
International hiring	Contractors in 120+ countries, per-payment fee; no employer-of-record service listed	Contractors $39 each; EOR $599 per employee on PEO plans	Global payroll, EOR, global contractors (185+ countries); by quote
PEO option	None listed	PEO Basic $79, PEO Plus $109 per employee	Rippling PEO, by quote
SOC 2 / ISO 27001	SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports (type not stated); ISO 27001 not stated	Not stated on the pages we read	SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001, 27018, 42001; CSA STAR Level 2
Contract terms	Month to month, cancel anytime	Not stated; first year of PEO fees can be prepaid	Not stated on the pricing page
Data export	Reports as CSV, PDF or Excel; a payroll data export workbook per year	Each payroll downloads as CSV	Reports and a documented REST API with customer API tokens
Bottom line	From its public pages, Gusto is the clearest buy here: full-service payroll with HR basics from $109 a month for 10 employees, month to month. Multi-state payroll needs Plus, and there is no employer-of-record or PEO option on the pricing page.	From its public pages, Justworks pairs low-cost multi-state payroll with a priced PEO path. Its score is held back by a security file and API that its pages do not state, and its pricing page could only be read in a May 2026 archive copy.	From its public pages, Rippling offers the widest platform and the strongest compliance file in this group, but no published price for payroll or any module. Its score reflects what the pages commit to; a quote is the only way to compare its cost.

Evidence: Gusto: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Justworks: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Rippling: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.

When to pick each

In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.

From our Gusto review
Checked Oct 16, 2026
Pick Gusto when
You want the lower 10-employee price ($109 vs $130 a month, computed) and built-in performance reviews on a published plan.
Pick Justworks when
You need multi-state payroll on the entry plan, or a PEO plan for access to group health benefits.
From our Gusto review
Checked Oct 16, 2026
Pick Gusto when
You want prices you can read before talking to anyone.
Pick Rippling when
You want HR, payroll, IT and finance in one system and are ready for a custom quote.
From our Justworks review
Checked Oct 16, 2026
Pick Justworks when
You employ people in more than one state and want multi-state payroll on the entry plan.
Pick Gusto when
You want built-in performance reviews, a free account before the first payroll, or the lower price ($109 vs $130, computed).
From our Rippling review
Checked Oct 16, 2026
Pick Rippling when
You want HR, payroll and IT on one record and the audits to back it, and can work with a quote.
Pick Gusto when
You want published prices and month-to-month terms, from $109 a month for 10 employees (computed).

Entry price

Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.

GustoLowest price
Simple
$49/mo
Plus $6 per person a month
- Full-service payroll in one state, unlimited payroll runs
- Federal, state and local tax filings and payments
- Time off, offer letters with e-signature, digital I-9s and W-4s
- Time tracking add-on at $6 per person
Justworks
Payroll
$50/mo
Plus $8 per employee a month (pricing page, Internet Archive copy of May 21, 2026)
- Multi-state payroll, tax filings, W-2 and 1099 filings
- Online onboarding, PTO management, basic timecards
- Phone and chat support
- Health insurance add-on at $8 per benefits-eligible employee
Rippling
Rippling platform
From $8/employee/mo
Plus a monthly base fee; total by custom quote
- Products chosen as modules
- Per-employee pricing for most products
- Startup program: 6 months free for eligible US VC-backed startups

Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Gusto 2026-10-16, Justworks 2026-10-16, Rippling 2026-10-16.

Which one fits

If you need to start today without a sales call: GustoSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (6.3/10).
Lowest starter price: Rippling$8/employee/mo + base fee for the Starting price; custom quote plan.
Highest overall score: Gusto6.3/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.

Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score

Full reviews

Add a product

Search by product name or by what it does, such as “email” or “feature flags”. 1 more fits in this comparison.