Written by: Natalie Fell
Natalie is a writer with experience in operations, HR, and training & development within the software, healthcare, and financial services sectors.
Reviewed by: Daniel Eisner
Daniel Eisner is a payroll specialist with over a decade of practical experience in senior accounting positions.
Updated on August 22, 2023
Payroll is an absolutely crucial business process, and because it’s often complex and tedious many entrepreneurs rely on a professional payroll service to do the job.
Two of the leading online services to consider are Gusto and QuickBooks. To help you determine which is better, and which might be best for you and your business, we have thoroughly reviewed their services by putting ourselves in the shoes of an entrepreneur.
Read on to make the choice that will put your business on the path to success.
Overall, QuickBooks offers a better value for the payroll needs of small businesses.
Visit QuickbooksGusto has three plans, all of which include full payroll services, although their base plan only includes single-state payroll. The Gusto plans also offer health insurance administration and financial benefits administration including 401K and healthcare savings accounts.
Their upper-tier plans also offer extensive HR tools and support.
QuickBooks also has three plans, all of which include multi-state payroll services. Their plans include healthcare and 401K administration, but not healthcare savings accounts.
QuickBooks has fewer HR tools and offers less customer support than Gusto.
Gusto’s base plan is $40 per month plus $6 per employee per month. It includes full single-state payroll services, health insurance administration, and financial benefits administration.
Gusto’s base plan is $40 per month plus $6 per employee per month. It includes full single-state payroll services, health insurance administration, and financial benefits administration.
Gusto’s middle plan is $80 per month plus $12 per employee per month and has the additional benefit of some HR management tools. Gusto’s top-tier plan is custom-priced and offers a robust suite of HR tools, resources, and support.
The QuickBooks base plan is $45 per month plus $5 per employee per month. It offers full-service payroll including W-2s and 1099s and tax filings. It also includes health insurance and 401K administration.
The QuickBooks middle plan is $75 per month plus $8 per employee per month. It has the additional benefits of same-day direct deposit, as opposed to next-day in the base plan. It also includes time tracking on the go, which allows you to track and approve an employee’s hours from a mobile app. With the plan, you’ll also have access to an HR support center and receive workers’ compensation administration.
The QuickBooks top-tier plan is $125 per month plus $10 per employee per month. It has the unique benefit of tax penalty protection, so that if you receive a late penalty for tax filings, those penalties are taken care of up to $25,000, subject to terms and conditions. You’ll also have a personal HR advisor.
The two plans are similarly priced, but if you have more than five employees, the QuickBooks plan will be less expensive. The Gusto Simple Plan only offers payroll in a single state, so if you have employees in multiple states, QuickBooks is the better option.
The Gusto plan offers HSA account administration and hiring and onboarding tools, while QuickBooks has a mobile app for employers, which offers a convenient way to manage payroll.
| Gusto | QuickBooks | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $40 per month plus $6 per employee per month | $45 per month plus $5 per employee per month |
| Payroll services | Single-state | Multi-state |
| Direct deposit | Two day | Next day |
| Health care insurance | Included | Included |
| 401K plans | Included | Included |
| HSA accounts | Included | Not included |
| Hiring and onboarding tools | Included | Not included |
| Mobile app for employers | Not available | Included |
| Customer Support | Basic | Full – business hours |
Again, the Gusto plan is more expensive, but their plan offers more HR tools. However, the QuickBooks plan offers workers’ compensation administration.
| Gusto | QuickBooks | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $80 per month plus $12 per employee per month | $75 per month plus $8 per employee per month |
| Payroll services | Multi-state | Multi-state |
| Direct deposit | Next day | Same day |
| Health care insurance | Included | Included |
| 401K plans | Included | Included |
| HSA accounts | Included | Not included |
| Hiring and onboarding tools | Included | Not included |
| Mobile app for employers | Not available | Included |
| Customer Support | Full | Full – business hours |
| Time tracking | Included | Included |
| HR support center | Not included | Included |
| PTO management | Included | Not included |
| Workforce costing and reports | Included | Not included |
| Team management tools | Included | Not included |
| Worker’s comp admin | Not included | Included |
While it’s difficult to judge these plans on pricing, since the Gusto plan is priced for each potential client, both offer quite a few benefits to employers. Gusto, again, has more robust HR tools, while QuickBooks offers tax penalty protection.
| Gusto | QuickBooks | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Exclusive pricing | $125 per month plus $10 per employee per month |
| Payroll services | Multi-state | Multi-state |
| Direct deposit | Next day | Same day |
| Health care insurance | Included | Included |
| 401K plans | Included | Included |
| HSA accounts | Included | Not included |
| Hiring and onboarding tools | Included | Not included |
| Mobile app for employers | Not available | Included |
| Customer Support | Full | Full –24/7 |
| Time tracking | Included | Included |
| HR support center | Included | Included |
| PTO management | Included | Not included |
| Workforce costing and reports | Included | Not included |
| Team management tools | Included | Not included |
| Worker’s comp admin | Not included | Included |
| Tax penalty protection | Not included | Included |
| Personal HR advisor | Access to experts | Included |
| Compliance alerts | Included | Not included |
| Full-service payroll migration | Included | Not included |
| R & D tax credit discount | Included | Not included |
| Performance reviews and employee surveys | Included | Not included |
The site is laid out well and easy to understand. You can easily find the plans, detailing features and pricing, and get more information on each service.
The site also has a robust help center where you can get information on numerous topics.
When you view all the packages, you have the option to select one and set up an account. Once you make your selection, you’re asked a series of questions about your company, including:
Next, you’re offered a few add-ons before you’re taken to a screen to select your plan.
You don’t have to pay for the service until your first payroll run. The whole process was quite simple and streamlined.
Gusto has a mobile app for employees of companies that hire Gusto for payroll. Employees can track hours, manage direct deposit information, and access up to $500 of their paycheck before payday through a payday-type loan, without fees or interest.
This seems to be one of the more useful apps.
The site is quite user-friendly overall, and information is easy to find. If you have all your information handy, you can probably complete the signup process in 25 minutes.
The site is not very “salesy” and simply seems to guide you toward the right plan for your company. It offers an excellent customer experience.
We tested all three forms of Gusto customer support. Here’s what we found.
We used the chat feature to ask a question and received an immediate response.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Immediate
The answer was quick and clear.
We called customer support to ask if there is a required minimum number of employees to sign up for the service. Our call was answered immediately, and the answer was no. The service representative was nice and asked if we needed further assistance.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Very quick
We filled out an information request form on the site. The question we asked was, again, “Is there a minimum number of employees you need to have to sign up for the Simple plan?” We asked the question on a Friday and a week later had yet to receive any response.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Reasonable
The site is user-friendly. The plans are easy to find, with good detail on features and pricing. You can even get more information on each individual service. It’s laid out well and easy to understand.
When you view all the packages, you have the option to select one and set up an account. After you select your plan, you’re offered their bundled plans that include QuickBooks accounting features. You can choose one of those plans or select “just payroll”.
Next, you’ll go to check-out, where you’ll set up your account and password. However, the next step is to enter credit card information, which is unusual, as most competitors do not charge clients until the first payroll run.
This means that with Quickbooks you need to be absolutely certain of your choices when you’re setting up your account.
QuickBooks has quite a robust mobile app for employers. You can enter employee hours, submit your payroll, view your payroll taxes and forms, and even pay your payroll taxes. This app is far superior to competitor apps that we’ve seen. Many payroll services do not even have an app for employers to manage payroll.
The site is quite user-friendly, and information is easy to find. The only issue was that new clients must pay immediately when they sign-up, which seems a bit aggressive. Otherwise, the site is not very “salesy” and just guides visitors to the optimal plan. Overall, a pleasant customer experience.
We tested all three forms of QuickBooks customer support.
We asked chat support a simple question – do you have the option of paying employees by direct deposit or paper check? She asked us several questions before saying she had to route us to a sales person, and asked for our email and phone number. Disappointing! We just wanted a quick answer, not a sales pitch. We never got any answer.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Reasonable
Phone customer support is only available if you have an account. You can only contact sales, so we did and asked the same question about paper checks vs. direct deposit. The answer was yes, both are available, but the representative pressed us to sign up.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Reasonable
Again, email support is only available if you have an account.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Reasonable
After a thorough assessment, we have determined that QuickBooks offers the better value for businesses that need payroll services. While it was a close race, you will save money with QuickBooks and have the same level of site usability.
The main advantage of Gusto is its more robust HR services, but QuickBooks still represents the better value for payroll.
As a leading human resources advisory site, we take our responsibilities seriously. We understand that countless entrepreneurs, and potential entrepreneurs, rely on our judgments and insights, particularly when it comes to managing their business.
As a result, our writers do their utmost to gain a comprehensive understanding of the services offered and the actual customer experience. In this case, we:
Thanks to this full immersion in the actual customer experience, our reviewer and team are able to provide the most complete and insightful comparison of Gusto and QuickBooks payroll services.
A payroll service handles the payroll process for you, making it nearly seamless and automated while offering additional services that can make life easier for a business owner. The service takes care of all the red tape so you can focus on building a successful business.
The Simple service level offers full-service single-state payroll including W-2s and 1099s, basic hiring and onboarding tools, Gusto-brokered health insurance administration, and an employee financial benefits service.
Gusto’s payroll service offers a complete suite of services to take many tasks off your plate, such as federal, state, and local tax filings, including employee W-4 and I-9 forms and W-2s and 1099s.
The Premium plan has the additional benefits of same-day direct deposit. With the plan, you’ll also have access to an HR support center and receive workers’ compensation administration.
The Elite plan includes full payroll services and has the unique benefit of tax penalty protection, so that if you receive a late penalty for tax filings, those penalties are taken care of up to $25,000, subject to certain terms and conditions. You’ll also have a personal HR advisor.
Payroll is an absolutely crucial business process, and because it’s often complex and tedious many entrepreneurs rely on a professional payrollser ...
Payroll is an absolutely crucial business process, and because it’s often complex and tedious many entrepreneurs rely on a professional payrollser ...
Payroll is an absolutely crucial business process, and because it’s often complex and tedious many entrepreneurs rely on a professional payrollser ...