Gusto
Payroll, benefits, and HR for modern small businesses.
Executive Summary
Gusto is a comprehensive SaaS platform that centralizes payroll, benefits, and HR administration, primarily designed for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and their accountants. It enables teams to automate payroll runs, tax filings, new-hire onboarding, and employee self-service, ensuring compliance with employment and tax requirements. The platform provides HR leaders and business owners with enhanced visibility into headcount, compensation, and benefit costs through consolidated records and reporting, leading to reduced administrative effort, fewer errors, and improved employee experience.
Use Cases
- Automating end-to-end payroll processing, including tax calculations and filings, for employees and contractors.
- Administering and managing employee benefits such as health insurance, 401(k)s, and PTO.
- Streamlining new hire onboarding with digital document signing, automated tax form completion, and customized workflows.
- Tracking employee time and attendance, and integrating it seamlessly with payroll for accurate compensation.
- Ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and tax regulations through automated processes and alerts.
- Providing employees with self-service access to pay stubs, benefits information, and time-off requests via web and mobile apps.
Features
Visibility
- Customizable Reporting: Generate and customize detailed reports on payroll, benefits, tax filings, and time off balances to gain insights into workforce costs and trends.
- Workforce Costing Reports: Access reports that provide visibility into headcount, compensation, and benefit costs, aiding in financial planning and analysis.
- Employee Directory & Org Charts: Maintain an organized employee directory and visualize organizational structure with automatically generated org charts.
- Pay Insights: Utilize real-time payroll data to gain compensation insights for your business.
Intelligence
- Automated Payroll Processing: Automatically calculates, files, and pays payroll taxes, and can run payroll on AutoPilot®, reducing errors and administrative burden.
- AI-Powered Data Import: Uses AI to intelligently map and process messy or unstructured data during imports, such as matching employee names or expenses.
- Compliance Alerts & Guidance: Continuously monitors employment law updates and provides proactive alerts and personalized guidance to ensure regulatory compliance.
- R&D Tax Credit Service: Helps businesses identify and claim federal and some state R&D tax credits, potentially saving money.
Support
- Multi-Channel Customer Support: Offers support via email, phone, and chat, with options for expedited support for signed-in users.
- Dedicated HR Professional: Premium plans include access to a dedicated HR professional for guidance on onboarding, compliance, and team development.
- Comprehensive Help Center: An extensive online knowledge base with articles, guides, and FAQs to assist users in self-service problem-solving.
- Accountant Partner Program: Provides specialized support and resources for accountants managing multiple client accounts on Gusto.
Technical Specifications
- Architecture
- Cloud-native SaaS
- Deployment
- Cloud/SaaS
- Authentication
- MFA, Two-step verification, OAuth2
- API Available
- Yes
- MCP Server
- No
Infrastructure
- AWS
AI/ML Stack
- NLP
- Machine Learning
Integrations
- QuickBooks Online
- Xero
- FreshBooks
- TSheets/QuickBooks Time (time tracking connectors where available)
- Business banking partners and 401(k)/benefits providers (availability varies)
Security & Compliance
Certifications: SOC 1, SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA
Encryption: AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.2 in transit
Data Residency:
Pricing
- Model
- Per user/month, Tiered subscription
- Starting Price
- Simple: $49/month + $6/person; Plus: $80/month + $12/person; Premium: Contact Sales; Contractor-only: $6/person.
- Target Customer
- SMB, Micro-businesses, Growing Small Businesses
- Contract Type
- Monthly available, Annual (implied)
- Free Trial
- Yes, Up to 2 billing cycles (for Time & Attendance Plus on Simple plan), 1 month (for accounting plans). (credit card required)
About Gusto, Inc.
Gusto provides cloud-based payroll, benefits, and HR software for small and mid-sized businesses. The platform helps employers run payroll, manage tax filings, offer employee benefits, handle time tracking, and support onboarding and HR workflows in one system.