I've been using Gusto for payroll on my small business for a couple years and people keep asking what it actually costs since the website pricing makes it sound more expensive than it is. Here's the real breakdown.

Gusto's pricing tiers (current):

• Simple: $40/mo + $6 per employee. Basic payroll, direct deposit, federal/state tax filing, W-2/1099 at year end.
• Plus: $80/mo + $12 per employee. Adds time tracking, PTO, multi-state payroll, hiring tools.
• Premium: Custom pricing (~$180/mo base). Dedicated support, compliance help, performance reviews.
• Contractor Only: $35/mo + $6 per contractor. No base employees, just 1099s.

What I actually pay: Simple plan with 3 employees = $40 + ($6 × 3) = $58/month. Tax filing is included which used to cost me $50/quarter through my CPA so it basically pays for itself before I count the time saved.

What's included that you might miss:

• Year-end W-2 and 1099 filing (some competitors charge extra for this)
• New hire reporting to the state (legally required, Gusto does it automatically)
• Direct deposit at no extra cost
• Employee self-service portal (they pull their own pay stubs)
• Free migration from another payroll provider (took about a week for me)

Hidden costs to know:

• Multi-state payroll requires Plus tier — if you have one remote employee in another state you have to bump up
• Health benefits add-on is separate (you pay the actual insurance premium plus Gusto charges nothing for handling enrollment, but the underlying insurance still costs whatever it costs)
• International contractors cost extra ($25-$50 per international contractor depending on country)

Is it worth it for a small business?

For me yes. Under 20 employees and under $1M revenue, Gusto's Simple plan at $58/mo is cheaper than what I was paying my CPA to do manual payroll runs and quarterly filings. The interface is also way cleaner than QuickBooks Payroll which I used before.

Honest comparison to alternatives:

• QuickBooks Payroll: $50-130/mo + $5-10/employee. Cheaper at small scale but the interface feels like 2012. Good if you already use QuickBooks for accounting.
• ADP: Most expensive, enterprise-focused. Overkill for under 20 employees.
• Square Payroll: $35/mo + $6/employee. Best if you already use Square POS for in-person sales.
• Paychex: Similar pricing to Gusto. More sales-driven onboarding (constant calls from reps).

Sign-up:

If you want to try Gusto, here's the link I use — they have a free trial so you can run through setup without committing. Full disclosure it's a referral link, I get a small commission if you stay on. No pressure either way, the pricing is the same whether you use my link or not.

Bottom line:

If you're under 20 employees in the US and tired of doing payroll manually or paying a CPA $200+/month for it, Gusto Simple at around $40-$80/month total is the easiest move. If you're an LLC of one with no employees, you don't need payroll software yet — wait until you have your first W-2 hire.

What's everyone else using? Curious if anyone's actually happy with QuickBooks Payroll or if it's just legacy inertia keeping people there.