Written by: Coralee Bechteler
Coralee is a business writer with experience in administrative services, education, and software testing.
Reviewed by: Daniel Eisner
Daniel Eisner is a payroll specialist with over a decade of practical experience in senior accounting positions.
Updated on July 14, 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 Patriot and Gusto. 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 keep your business on the path to success.
If you’re looking for an affordable payroll service for small businesses with limited HR features, then we recommend to go with Patriot. Gusto has a higher starting price, but it offers a lot more features.
Explore Patriot PayrollPatriot has two plans. Their Basic plan offers payroll services that are quite flexible, so that you can customize your payroll process. Their Full Service plan includes federal, state, and local tax filings.
Gusto 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 health care savings accounts.
Their upper-tier plans also offer extensive HR tools and support.
The Patriot base plan is $17 per month plus $4 per month per employee and is a good value for companies that just need basic payroll.
The Patriot top-tier plan is $37 per month plus $4 per month per employee and has the additional benefit of tax filing services.
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 benefits of some HR management tools.
Gusto’s top-tier plan is exclusively priced, and offers a robust suite of HR tools, resources, and support.
Patriot’s Basic Payroll Plan is much less expensive than Gusto’s Simple Plan, but does not include tax filings. The Gusto plan includes hiring and onboarding tools and benefits administration. If you’re just seeking to have your payroll process handled, however, the Patriot plan offers better value.
| Patriot | Gusto | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $17 per month plus $4 per month per employee | $40 per month plus $6 per month per employee |
| Payroll service | Full | Single-state |
| Tax filings | Not included | Included |
| Direct deposit | Two-day | Two-day |
| Integrations for accounting and more | Included | Included |
| Workers’ comp integration | Included | Not Included |
| Reports | Included | Included |
| Hiring and onboarding tools | Not Included | Included |
| Customer Support | Full | Basic |
Patriot’s plan is less expensive and includes tax filings but does not include as many HR resources as Gusto’s plan, nor does it include benefits administration. However, again, if you’re just looking for a service to take payroll tasks off your plate, Patriot is the better value.
| Patriot | Gusto | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $37 per month plus $4 per month per employee | $80 per month plus $12 per month per employee |
| Payroll service | Full | Full |
| Tax filings | Included | Included |
| Direct deposit | Two-day | Next Day |
| Integrations for accounting and more | Included | Included |
| Worker’s comp integration | Included | Not included |
| Reports | Included | Included |
| Hiring and onboarding tools | Not included | Included |
| Customer Support | Full | Full |
| PTO management | Not included | Included |
| Time tracking | Included | Included |
| Workforce costing | Not included | Included |
| Team management tools | Not included | Included |
| Tax filing accuracy guarantee | Not included | Included |
The exclusively-priced Premium plan offers a robust suite of services, along with everything mentioned above. It’s hard to judge the value, since it’s uniquely priced for each customer, but it’s a strong full-service plan that includes:
At Patriot’s website it’s easy to find the plans and pricing details. The information is in a simple, easy-to-read chart. The site’s very user-friendly and the free trial offer is prominently displayed.
Start your free trial by entering your name and email address. It does not ask for your phone number, streamlining the process.
Next, you’ll get an email to confirm your email address. Then you’ll need to create a username and password.
Choose the plan that you want. Once you make your selection, you’ll be offered two add-on services:
Next you’ll enter your business name, address, phone number, and number of employees.
Then you’ll go through the startup wizard, a series of questions about payroll needs, and provide your EIN number. The next steps are to actually set up your payroll, add employees, and enter your tax filing information.
Patriot does not have a mobile app, but their website is optimized for mobile.
The site is quite user-friendly overall, and information is easy to find. If you have all your information handy, you can complete the signup process in less than 30 minutes. It offers an excellent customer experience.
We tested all three forms of Patriot customer support, as detailed below.
We asked the chat customer support if both direct deposit and paper checks are available. We received an immediate response.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Immediate
We called customer support to ask if Patriot offers same-day direct deposit. Our call was answered within a few seconds, and the answer was that they only offer two-day direct deposit. The support representative was friendly and helpful.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Immediate
We asked email support if both direct deposit and paper checks are available. We sent our message on a Sunday and received a response on Monday at about 10:30 a.m.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Reasonable
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 to set up an account. Once you make your selection, you’re asked a series of questions about your company, including number of employees, industry, and business entity type.
Then you’re asked to set up your account and asked a series of questions:
Next you’re offered a few extra add-ons before you’re taken to a screen to select your plan.
You don’t have to pay for the service until your actual first payroll run. The whole process was quite simple and streamlined.
Gusto has a mobile app for employees of companies that use Gusto for their payroll. You can track your hours, manage your direct deposit information, and access up to $500 of your paycheck before payday through a payday-type loan, though no fees or interest are charged.
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.
The answer was quick and clear.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Immediate
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:
Immediate
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 had not received a response by midday Monday.
Support Rating:
Response time:
Reasonable
After a thorough assessment, we have determined that Patriot offers the better value as a payroll service. With Patriot, you’ll save money and receive stronger customer service. The main advantages of Gusto are its HR tools and benefits administration, but if you just need a payroll service, we recommend Patriot.
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 Patriot and Gusto 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 Basic Payroll plan offers a robust payroll service, with unlimited payroll runs and many features to allow you to customize your payroll process.
The Full Service Payroll plan includes everything you need to make payroll easy, and also offers federal, state, and local, tax filings.
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 ...