by Gusto, Inc.HR and payroll software
Full-service US payroll with tax filings, onboarding, time off and health benefits administration, from $49 a month plus $6 per person, month to month.
Full-service US payroll with tax filings, onboarding and benefits administration at a published monthly price, with no long-term contract.
From $49 a month plus $6 per person, Gusto runs unlimited payrolls and files and pays federal, state and local payroll taxes, so a small business does not track deposits and forms itself. The same plan covers US contractor payments, time off, offer letters with e-signature and health insurance administration brokered by Gusto with no admin fee. Plans are month to month, and the account can be set up before the first paid payroll.
Against 3 other products we reviewed in HR and payroll software: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Gusto | Deel | Justworks | BambooHR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | Built-in reachPay US employees, contractors abroad and employees hired through an employer of record from one platform, each with a published price. | Worth the priceLow-cost multi-state payroll for small US teams, with a PEO path to group health benefits when you need it. | Easy to adoptA complete HR record, from hiring and onboarding to time off and reviews, with payroll that reads from the same data. |
| Overall score | 6.3 | 6.3 | 5.6 | 3.6 |
| Free option | Free trial | Paid only | Paid only | Free trial |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured | No card needed |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Sales call required | Self-serve | Sales call required |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $49/mo + $6/person | $22/employee/mo | $50/mo + $8/employee | $250/mo |
| Pricing model | Seat + usage | Per seat | Seat + usage | Tiered |
| Pricing page | Public prices | 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 | Per employee or contractor per month; activation through a quote | Payroll: monthly base fee plus a price per employee; PEO: per employee, no base fee | Flat monthly price up to 25 employees, then per employee; add-ons by quote |
| Free option | Free account to set up and onboard; billing starts with the first payroll | No free plan or trial; free demo | No free plan or trial stated | Free trial, no card; length not stated |
| Reference scenario (10 employees, one state) | $109/mo on Simple ($49 + $6 × 10), computed | $220/mo on HR + US Payroll Core ($22 × 10), computed | $130/mo on Payroll ($50 + $8 × 10), computed (prices as of May 21, 2026) | Not priced: payroll add-on by quote ($250/mo Core plus payroll) |
| Multi-state payroll | Plus ($80 + $12 per person) | All 50 states, self-serve or managed | Included on every plan | Not stated on the payroll page |
| International hiring | Contractors in 120+ countries, per-payment fee; no employer-of-record service listed | Contractors $49/mo each; EOR $599 per employee | Contractors $39 each; EOR $599 per employee on PEO plans | EOR and contractors through Remote, by quote |
| PEO option | None listed | PEO Starter $110, PEO Pro $120 per employee ($125 on another card) | PEO Basic $79, PEO Plus $109 per employee | None listed |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports (type not stated); ISO 27001 not stated | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 | Not stated on the pages we read | SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2; ISO 27001 not listed |
| Contract terms | Month to month, cancel anytime | Month to month per the pricing FAQ | Not stated; first year of PEO fees can be prepaid | Month to month or an extended term |
| Data export | Reports as CSV, PDF or Excel; a payroll data export workbook per year | Reports as CSV, PDF or Excel; REST API | Each payroll downloads as CSV | Custom reports; API generates reports in several formats |
| 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, Deel is the broadest published price list here for paying people in the US and abroad, with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. US payroll costs more than Gusto or Justworks for 10 people, activation goes through sales, and a few cards disagree on PEO prices. | 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, BambooHR is a well-rounded HR system with payroll as a quoted add-on. Its score is held back by the unpublished payroll price and add-ons, not by the HR plans themselves. |
Evidence: Gusto: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Deel: 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; BambooHR: 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.
Review from public pages
Written from Gusto's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 16, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
We read Gusto's pricing page with its embedded plan comparison, the security page, the free setup page, the help article on reports and the developer docs on Oct 16, 2026; we did not create an account or run a payroll for this review. gusto.com and its help center return an error to our requests, so we read the Internet Archive copies listed in our sources (the pricing page as of Oct 9, 2026); the developer docs loaded directly.
The pricing page is clear on the main lines: three plans, each a monthly base fee plus a price per person, a month-to-month FAQ, and a long list of add-ons with prices. The plan comparison marks each feature as included, an add-on or unavailable per plan, which made the scenario easy to price: Simple at $49 plus $6 per person files taxes and runs payroll in one state.
A few points need a question to Gusto. State tax registration and 401(k) are priced "by state" and "by integration". The global contractor card lists a $5 fee only for payments to US-based bank accounts. The security page says SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports exist without naming the type, and ties manager permissions to a "Complete plan" the pricing page no longer lists.
Every plan shows a base fee and a price per person, the FAQ says there is no long-term contract, and downgrades take effect at the next billing period.
vs Rippling: Rippling and BambooHR price payroll through a quote; Deel’s activation ends with a quote from sales.
Simple costs $49 + $6 × 10 = $109 a month (computed) with tax filings, unlimited payroll runs and US contractor payments included.
vs Justworks: Justworks Payroll comes to $130 and Deel’s HR and payroll bundle to $220 for the same 10 people.
Simple includes time off, offer letter templates with e-signature, digital I-9s and W-4s, employee self-onboarding, document storage and health insurance administration.
Reports download as CSV, PDF or Excel, and a payroll data export builds an Excel workbook of all payrolls for a year.
Simple runs payroll in one state; multi-state payroll, time tracking and performance reviews are on Plus at $80 plus $12 per person.
Workaround: Time tracking is also sold as an add-on to Simple at $6 per person.
The pricing page lists payments to contractors in 120+ countries but no service for hiring employees abroad and no PEO plan.
The security page mentions SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports, available after an NDA, without the type, and does not mention ISO 27001.
Workaround: The page links to a trust center for the reports.
Gusto bills a monthly base fee plus a price for each active person, and US contractors only in months they are paid. For our scenario, 10 employees in one state on Simple cost $49 + $6 × 10 = $109 a month (computed), before tax, with tax filings and unlimited payrolls included. Moving to Plus for a second state or time tracking costs $80 + $12 × 10 = $200 (computed); Premium is $180 + $22 × 10 = $400 (computed). Add-ons are listed: time tracking $6 per person on Simple, next-day pay $15 plus $3 per person, priority support $30 plus $3 per person, Remote I-9 $20 a submission, Gusto Business Compliance $85 per state a month on an annual contract. State tax registration and 401(k) are priced case by case.
Admins can download most reports as CSV, PDF or Excel and run a payroll data export that builds an Excel workbook of all payrolls for a year, with employee, earnings and tax tabs. The pricing FAQ says plans are month to month and can be cancelled at any time. We did not find a published fee for leaving.
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.
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Billing unit | Monthly base fee plus a price per active person; US contractors billed only in months they are paid |
| Free option | Free account to set up and onboard; billing starts with the first payroll |
| Reference scenario (10 employees, one state) | $109/mo on Simple ($49 + $6 × 10), computed |
| Multi-state payroll | Plus ($80 + $12 per person) |
| International hiring | Contractors in 120+ countries, per-payment fee; no employer-of-record service listed |
| PEO option | None listed |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports (type not stated); ISO 27001 not stated |
| Contract terms | Month to month, cancel anytime |
| Data export | Reports as CSV, PDF or Excel; a payroll data export workbook per year |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 16, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Gusto yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 16, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Gusto yet.
Gusto lists 4 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Simple, costs $49/mo + $6/person.
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-16.
Source: gusto.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.
We read the pricing, security, legal, help center and developer pages of three payroll services on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. What 10 employees cost, who each can pay, which HR tools come with the plan, and who should pick which.
