Our take, in brief
A reasonable shortlist candidate for a small U.S. employer that wants payroll, benefits and room to grow. Compare plan limits carefully: multi-state payroll requires a higher plan than Simple.
What Gusto includes
Gusto’s published Simple plan includes unlimited payroll runs, payroll tax filings and payments, and basic PTO policies. Plus adds time tracking and scheduling, multi-state payroll and next-day pay. Premium adds a named account-support relationship and additional HR and compliance tools. Availability and eligibility restrictions apply to individual features.
Benefits are not free insurance. Depending on the arrangement, insurance premiums, retirement services and tax-advantaged accounts have their own costs.
What a small team would pay
Simple is $49/month plus $6/person; Plus is $80/month plus $12/person; Premium is $180/month plus $22/person. At five paid people, those published prices work out to $79, $140 and $290 per month, before optional services. The difference is recurring, so choose for the work you need to do each month rather than features you may never use.
Gusto says its payroll plans are month-to-month. Its contractor billing rules differ for U.S. and global contractors; confirm the treatment of your exact workforce.
Where it looks useful
A single-state employer can start with a payroll-focused plan and later evaluate more HR and time tools. Having employee onboarding, payroll and supported benefits in a connected system may reduce the number of places you enter the same data. That is a potential workflow advantage, not a measured time-saving claim from us.
Reasons to compare alternatives
Simple is not the right price benchmark if employees work in several states. Compare the cost of Gusto Plus against OnPay’s published all-state payroll coverage. If your setup is straightforward and you do not need a broad benefits workflow, compare Patriot Full Service, including its additional-state fees. Support upgrades and add-ons also deserve a line in your budget.
Before you commit
- Confirm state and local tax support for every work location.
- Ask about funding deadlines and eligibility for faster pay.
- Check which benefits carriers and integrations are supported.
- Have an accountant verify year-to-date balances before switching.
We have not run payroll through a test account. This review evaluates published plans and their stated limits; it does not assess support response times, usability or filing accuracy from firsthand experience.
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Sources & research notes
Official vendor pages checked November 10, 2026. Prices and features are snapshots, not live quotes. Confirm location, currency, billing term, taxes, fees and eligibility with the provider.
No paid test accounts were used. We have not independently verified vendor performance claims. Our method →