# Gusto

Gusto is a payroll and HR platform for US small businesses, rated 4.6/5 on G2 and 4.6/5 on Capterra. Sourced profile: funding, pricing, features, and reviews.

**Category:** Payroll, benefits & HR platform  
**Vendor:** Gusto, Inc.  
**Founded:** 2011 (launched publicly December 2012 as ZenPayroll)  
**HQ:** San Francisco, California, US  
**Website:** https://gusto.com/  


## About

Gusto is a payroll, benefits, and HR platform built for US small and midsize businesses. It launched in December 2012 as ZenPayroll and rebranded to Gusto in 2015, founded by Joshua Reeves, Edward Kim, and Tomer London after going through Y Combinator's Winter 2012 batch. The platform runs payroll, files state and federal payroll taxes, and administers health benefits, 401(k), and workers' comp from one dashboard, serving more than 500,000 businesses. Gusto remains a private company headquartered in San Francisco, and in 2025 it acquired 401(k) provider Guideline to bring retirement plan administration in-house.

## Ratings

| Source | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.6/5 | 11,743 |
| Capterra | 4.6/5 | 4,217 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.4/5 | 4 |
| TrustRadius | 8.9/10 | 1,459 |
| Trustpilot | 2.1/5 | ~2,200 |

## Funding

Over $746M raised across multiple rounds (Crunchbase, as of 2024); reached a $9.6B valuation in 2023 and a $9.3B valuation on a 2025 tender offer

| Round | Amount | Date | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $6.1M | Dec 2012 | Investors included Aaron Levie and David O. Sacks |
| Series B | $20M | Feb 2014 | Valued the company above $100M |
| Series C | $50M | Dec 2015 | Valued the company at $1B |
| Series D | $200M | Jul 2019 | Valued the company at $3.8B |

## Viability

Low risk for an SMB payroll vendor, though it carries the usual private-company caveats. Gusto is not publicly traded, so it does not file audited financials, but it has raised over $746 million from investors including General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins, and Y Combinator, reached a $9.6 billion valuation in 2023, and reportedly crossed $1 billion in annualized revenue by early 2026. It serves more than 500,000 businesses and made an acquisition (Guideline, a 401(k) provider) in 2025, which points to expansion rather than distress. The most consistent risk signal in reviews is not solvency, it is a pricing structure that gets noticeably more expensive once a business crosses into multi-state payroll.

## Pricing

Gusto's pricing is per-employee plus a monthly base, and it is transparent up front, but the jump between tiers is real. Simple starts at $49/mo plus $6/employee for single-state payroll only. The moment a business hires in a second state, it needs Plus at $80/mo plus $12/employee, nearly double the Simple base. Premium at $180/mo plus $22/employee adds HR advisory access and compliance alerts. There is a separate Contractor Only plan at $35/mo plus $6/contractor for businesses that only pay 1099s. Confirm current pricing on gusto.com before budgeting, since Gusto has raised the Simple base price before without much advance notice to existing accounts.

| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Contractor Only | $35/mo + $6/contractor | Businesses paying only 1099 contractors, no W-2 employees |
| Simple | $49/mo + $6/employee | Single-state payroll for teams under about 25 employees |
| Plus | $80/mo + $12/employee | Multi-state payroll or teams needing time tracking |
| Premium | $180/mo + $22/employee | Larger teams wanting HR advisory access and compliance alerts |

## What reviewers say

_11,743 G2 reviews at 4.6/5, 4,217 Capterra reviews at 4.6/5, 1,459 TrustRadius reviews at 8.9/10, and roughly 2,200 Trustpilot reviews at 2.1/5_

**Praised:**
- Setup and day-to-day payroll runs are consistently called fast and simple; reviewers describe running payroll in a few clicks once the account is configured
- The employee self-service portal (paystubs, W-2s, time off, benefits enrollment) is repeatedly cited as reducing HR admin workload for small teams
- Automated federal and state tax filing is one of the most-cited reasons small businesses pick Gusto over running payroll manually
- Reviewers with under 50 employees frequently say Gusto is affordable and easy for a non-specialist to operate without dedicated payroll staff

**Complaints:**
- Customer support responsiveness is the largest gap between review sites: G2 and Capterra skew positive on support, while Trustpilot's much lower 2.2/5 score is driven heavily by slow or unhelpful support when payroll or tax issues go wrong
- Multi-state payroll forces an upgrade from the Simple plan to Plus, a jump reviewers and independent pricing analyses describe as a steep and sometimes unexpected cost increase
- Reporting is described as simplistic; reviewers who need more advanced payroll or compliance reporting say it does not scale well past a certain company size
- A recurring subset of Trustpilot reviews report payment errors such as incorrect tax withholding or account debit issues that are more serious than typical software complaints

## Compliance

- **SOC 2:** Yes (SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II)
- **GDPR:** Not applicable (Gusto serves US-based businesses only)
- **HIPAA:** Business Associate Agreements available for benefits/health data
- **SSO:** Yes (provisioning integrations for Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Zoom)

## Integrations

- QuickBooks Online
- Xero
- Google Workspace
- Microsoft 365
- Slack
- Zoom
- TSheets
- Guideline (401k)
- Clover
- Xero

## FAQs

### Is Gusto free to use?

No. Gusto does not have a free tier for running payroll; it offers a 30-day free trial on its paid plans. Pricing starts at $49/mo plus $6 per employee for the Simple plan, which only covers single-state payroll.

### How much does Gusto cost for a small business?

For single-state payroll, Simple starts at $49/mo plus $6/employee. Once you have employees in more than one state, you need Plus at $80/mo plus $12/employee. Premium, at $180/mo plus $22/employee, adds HR advisory access. A contractor-only plan is $35/mo plus $6/contractor.

### Does Gusto handle payroll taxes automatically?

Yes. Gusto automatically calculates and files federal and state payroll taxes on behalf of the business, and this is one of the most consistently praised features in reviews. Plus and Premium plans add penalty protection related to tax filing.

### Is Gusto SOC 2 compliant?

Yes. Gusto maintains SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II reports, updated annually, and encrypts data in transit and at rest. It also enters into Business Associate Agreements to protect health-related benefits data. Check Gusto's security page for the current scope of its compliance program.

### Who is Gusto best for?

Gusto fits US-based small businesses, roughly under 100 employees, that want payroll, benefits, and basic HR in one system without a dedicated payroll team. It is weaker for companies needing deep custom reporting, complex multi-entity payroll, or international payroll, where reviewers more often point to larger platforms like ADP or Rippling.


## Sources

- [G2: Gusto product reviews](https://www.g2.com/products/gusto/reviews): rating 4.6/5 across 11,743 reviews (product-specific page; the g2.com/sellers/gusto seller-aggregate page shows 12,848 across all Gusto products and should not be used as the entity figure)
- [Capterra: Gusto reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/131882/Gusto/reviews/): rating 4.6/5, 4,217 reviews, ease of use 4.6, customer service 4.4, demographics
- [Gartner Peer Insights: Gusto (Driver Payroll Systems)](https://www.gartner.com/reviews/product/gusto-driver-payroll-systems): rating 4.4/5 across 4 reviews, low sample size
- [TrustRadius: Gusto reviews](https://www.trustradius.com/products/gusto/reviews): score 8.9/10 across 1,459 reviews (via search aggregation; direct page fetch was blocked)
- [Trustpilot: Gusto reviews](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/gusto.com): TrustScore approximately 2.1/5 across roughly 2,200-2,400 reviews, driven by support and payment-error complaints
- [Wikipedia: Gusto, Inc.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gusto,_Inc.): founding date, founders, HQ, funding rounds, valuation history, acquisitions
- [Crunchbase: Gusto](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/gusto): total funding over $746M, founded 2011, investor list
- [Y Combinator: Gusto company profile](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/gusto): W12 batch, founding story
- [Gusto Security page](https://gusto.com/security): SOC 2 Type II, encryption at rest and in transit
- [Gusto Help Center: SOC reports and bridge letters](https://support.gusto.com/article/105983845100000/request-access-to-soc-reports-and-bridge-letters): confirms SOC 1 and SOC 2 report availability
- [Gusto Help Center: App directory and integrations overview](https://support.gusto.com/article/106622037100000/App-directory-and-software-integrations-overview): integration list including QuickBooks, Xero, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Zoom
- [PayrollDetective: Gusto pricing 2026](https://www.payrolldetective.com/payroll-providers/gusto-pricing): current tier pricing and multi-state upgrade cost analysis
- [Topickz: Best Payroll Software for Small Business](https://www.topickz.com/list/best-payroll-software-for-small-business/): internal tested pros/cons and pricing verification, cross-checked