Gusto Review 2024

Gusto is a best all-around payroll and HR system that appeals to both new and experienced administrators. Easy usability, top-notch payroll, HR, and reporting setup. Here’s why Gusto is worth a shot.

Gusto, originally ZenPayroll, came into service in 2012. The company had three founders with an objective of creating a backend system that will reward them for their work. The project, because Gusto now serves 100,000 businesses in the US. These businesses enjoy from Gusto’s payroll and other administrative benefits. Moreover, Gusto has offices in San Francisco, New York and Denver. The company also enjoys a host of investors, including popular individuals like Alexis Ohanian, Jared Leto and Ashton Kutcher – a big boost in terms of advertisements and popularity.

Gusto identifies with its common phrase “we believe that humans aren’t resources.” Thanks to this, Gusto has earned a reputation of being on the side of its customers and has always strived to emphasize the “human” in human resources. As such, you can bank on Gusto to focus on employee benefits, automation and very easy to use tool.

Overall, Gusto can serve up to 100 employees, and it helps take a load off on heavy tasks like health insurance administration. It gets better, Gusto is cloud-based, and as such you can access its platform from virtually anywhere hassle-free. Noteworthy, Gusto some features are geo-restricted to some states – a bit of an early downside.

Gusto pricing

Gusto offers up to four paid plans to choose from. The first three plans display the base price and an additional rate per person, but the select plan is custom and you can get its pricing via contact requesting. The packages also include different features, with benefits going up as you upgrade.

We looked at the four price plans and here is how they compare:

• Core plan: It starts at $39 per month and an additional $6 a month per person. This is the most affordable plan and it targets smaller businesses with low salaries, wages and pay schedules. It gives you all payroll features like direct deposits, reports and unlimited payroll runs. The plan also also guarantees that Gusto will settle also federal, state and local tax fillings. You can also gift bonuses and give your employees the Gusto wallet app to access their W-s and pay stubs.

• Complete plan: It starts at $39 a month plus $12 per month per employee. If you’re looking to expand your busiess with rewarding working conditions, the Complete package is an excellent start. You get everything available on the Core plan. Noteworthy, its Payroll system is an upgrade and lets you make next-day deposits. There’s more, you get additional features like team management tools, time tracking, PTO requests, project tracking, workforce management, hiring and onboarding benefits.

• Concierge plan: The package sells a base price of $149 per month and an additional $12 a month for every employee. The concierge plan is meant for busy and compliance-minded businesses that have a strong commitment to their emoloyees. The plan is somewhat pricier, but it makes up with a ton of features and benefits. For instance, you get all features from the Complete plan alongside premium features like certified HR pros, HR resource center (you can check employee job decsription and policy templates), compliance alerts (when policy laws are changed to stay compliant) and an unbeatable dedicated customer service that includes a toll-free direct phone line.

• Select plan: Is a great alternative if your company has over 25 emploeyees and you want to enjoy premium features and services for growing your business. The select plan doesn’t list its pricing rates, but you can get the information once you contact Gusto directly. It involves custom pricing and ships with all features found in the concierge package. Fast growing businesses also get premium features like direct access to dedicated customer success manager, a full-service payroll migration, access to health insurance broker integration and waives fees and gives exclusive pricing.

We think Gusto’s pricing rates are fairly reasonable, considering the level of service they offer. You get free setup, compliance features and an unbeatable customer support – not readily available from Gusto’s competitors. Furthermore, every susbcription plan gives you unlimited payroll systems designed for any US state as well as W-2s and 109s files at zero cost.

HR Features from Gusto

To literate, Gusto has an incredible dedication to treating employees as humans and not machines. The company achieves this by providing an easy-to-use digital platform for both managers and employees to work with. Here are some of the top features you can get from Gusto:

Payroll

Like most HR software, Gusto also offers a payroll tool, but it stands out as an unlimited payroll system. For instance, Gusto’s payroll system lets you disburse payment to employees any time without additional fees. Moreover, the Payroll system allows you to make unscheduled payments, release benefits, and pay one-time freelancers, hassle-free. Consequently, cancelling payments is equally as easy on Gusto.

HR Services

Gusto offers certified human resource services that improve the administrative duties. Gusto HR services include getting certified HR professionals, as well as access to an HR resource center where you can check for employee job descriptions and standard policy templates. Additionally, you also get services like employee health benefits such as insurance, time-off tracking, unemployment, payments, and college savings. The best part, you can monitor and manage all these features from an online Gusto dashboard.

Onboarding procedures

Gusto offers your hiring division onboarding procedures that lets them incorporate new employees with ease. For instance, when an applicant is accepted, the hiring crew taps a button to onboard the new hire automatically. As such, Gusto sends all official onboarding documentation like contracts, tax forms, and other paperwork to the new employee to sign and send back. The process is much easier and faster with Gusto.

Accounting and Time Management

Gusto has partnered with Deputy (a time-tracking software) to allow manager to track employees’ attendance, and project deliveries. Thank to this you can determine the dedication and productivity of employees at your company. Gusto also integrates with systems like Xero, TSheets, and QuickBooks to track employee hours, tax management, and other features. This makes accounting easier as you can properly monitor books in accordance to the state and federal legislations. Furthermore, Gusto even updates your tax files with respect to the latest reforms and compliances. What’s more, you can easily integrate this feature with others like back office assistance and data security.

Records and Reports

Gusto generates reports that are easy to read and analyze even for non-technical users. The system displays customizable fields, and lets you create, manage and print a range of reports with ease. You can generate payroll reports, employee productivity charts, departmental reports, timesheets, new recruit reports, and general employee surveys (with or without names).

Flexibility of Terms

Gusto also offers freedom of choice with its packages. For instance, you’re free to select a customizable package that has features you desire. Thanks to this, you can only pay for what you need, and leave out the unnecessary HR features for your business.

Gusto Set up procedure

Gusto doesn’t charge any setup fee. When you want to get started with Gusto, request for a free payroll setup assistance from the customer support. Alternatively, you can do it yourself.

For instance, on the Gusto website, select your preferred premium plan. You get free initial Payroll, HR, and other benefits from all plans. You’re also free to upgrade and downgrade your plans. Choose the number of employees and the extra benefits you want for your team. Most of the benefits include the Gusto wallet (it’s free). Furthermore, Gusto can help you to build a benefits package that to fit your company requirements.

Gusto Ease of Use

The modern Gusto digital dashboard makes adding and customizing data manageable. And once you feed the right information like schedules, settings and preferences, the Gusto HR tool takes over the operations automatically. This means that you won’t have to manually keep an eye on the motion of administrative roles.

Unfortunately, Gusto doesn’t offer a mobile app. However, they make up with an optimized mobile platform that lets you log in directly from your smartphone. The mobile version sports everything you’ll get on a PC and offers an equal effortless experience.

Noteworthy, Gusto also uses best-in-class security protocols on its platform. For instance, users can appreciate the two-step authentication security procedures – an excellent way of securing your company data. Gusto also secures its data centers with security infrastructure like biometrics, iris scanner locks, 24/7 surveillance cameras and onsite security guards.

Gusto customer service

Gusto offers the best customer service in the industry. You can live chat with actual humans or call them via a toll-free phone line any time of day. Unfortunately, customer support isn’t available over the weekends, with an exception of Select plan subscribers. However, you can still benefit from the vast knowledgebase system of articles, guides, FAQs and video on the website support page.

Pros

• Impeccable user experience
• Flexible, and thorough employee records
• Simple, engaging payroll system
• Numerous types of records and reports
• Employee wallets
• Great customer support
• Time management
• Accounting

Cons

• Lacks mobile apps
• Customer support unavailable over the weekends

Bottom Line

Gusto has transcended the traditional administrative operations with its automated features and benefits. You get an unlimited payroll, numerous HR features, and an improved manager-employee interaction. The excellent balance of its features and fair prices, Gusto stands out as an excellent start if you want to run seamless administrative roles.