Home > Payroll Software > Gusto > Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll

Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll

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Our analysts compared Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Payroll Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Overview Pricing Benefits & Features Analyst Ratings Comparison Charts User Ratings Analyst Summary Screenshots
Gusto Software Tool
SelectHub Award Winner
QuickBooks Payroll Software Tool
SelectHub Award Winner
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Product Basics

Analyst Rating

80 Detailed Analysis

User Sentiment

Excellent User Sentiment (2802 Reviews)

Analyst Rating

84 Detailed Analysis

User Sentiment

Great User Sentiment (626 Reviews)
Gusto is a web-based payroll system for medium-sized organizations. It handles benefits, compliance, direct deposit, employee self-service, employee management, payment processing and taxes. Using automation, calculators and other administrative and HR modules, users can streamline the entire process of paying employees. It integrates with other technologies to offer expanded services such as accounting, bookkeeping, POS, time tracking and other business operations. In addition to filing taxes, it scans the laws of over 50 states to ensure accurate state and federal payments, helping organizations avoid penalties.
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Quickbooks is an Intuit payroll and accounting solution designed to meet the needs of both small and medium-sized, growing businesses. There are a variety of plans, starting with small packages built for independent contractors and self-employed individuals. It handles payment, calculating and filing taxes, benefits management, direct deposits and more.

The variety of products and packages enables users to find a solution that fits a company’s unique needs. Quickbooks offers specialized features for organizations in a variety of fields, including manufacturing and retail. Overall, it serves 1.4 million businesses.
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$40 Monthly
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$37.50 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

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Email
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24/7 Live Support
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Product Insights

  • Flexible and Easier to Use: Guides admins through set-up and features a user-friendly interface. Let employees account for unexpected expenses, up to 40% of their paycheck, by automatically taking the amount out of their next check.
  • More Cost-Effective: Take advantage of a one-month free trial before full implementation. Subscribe on a monthly basis or based on a price quote, depending on the business’s needs.
  • Better Compliance: Check for updated tax law ensures that the proper documents are filed on time and follow the most recent legislation. Help users keep in compliance with ACA, ERISA and HIPAA standards. Record tests to comply with nondiscrimination policies from the IRS or benefits programs such as FSAs.
  • Timer Saver: Cut down on busy work and manual data entry to save valuable employee hours in payroll processing and tax filing. Manage and complete administrative work by accessing premade job templates, HR guides, live harassment prevention webinars, fitness tests, handbooks, best practices, manuals and more.
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  • Save Time: Connects with bank accounts and syncs with various apps to help streamline payroll processing. Saves users more than 40 hours monthly on average and spares them from tedious manual data entry.
  • Save Money: Saves the average users more than $3,500 annually through its assistance with tax filing and other processes.
  • Easy-to-Use: Provides a simple interface so HR managers and others can store and access relevant accounting information easily. Centralizes and organizes data, making it simple to access.
  • Simplified Administration: Manages benefits, payments, time tracking, workers’ compensation, inventory, compliance and other essential business functions from one location. Simplifies processes and handles all of them through one solution.
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  • Payroll Processing: Automatically calculate employee checks and file taxes while using online faxing, filing and signing technologies.
    • Payroll Reports: Send money out weekly, bi-weekly, twice a month or monthly. Calculate an employee’s gross pay before taxes by simply entering the amount they should receive. Figure out overtime pay for hourly workers whether they have one or multiple pay rates. Leverage other payroll capabilities such as calculating unlimited and off-cycle payrolls, employee reimbursements, bonuses and more.
    • Automated Taxes: Calculate, file and pay all payroll taxes per local and federal legislation through direct deposit. Generate and send 940, 941, 1099, 8974 and W-2 forms for full-time employees and independent contractors. Manage deductions, garnishments and send child support in all states except for South Carolina. Make adjustments, get support and enter claims for the Federal R&D Tax Credit, FLSA minimum wage requirements and the FICA Tip Credit tax.
    • E-Signatures: Sign and file important documents and forms such as W-2’s, 1099s, 940s, 941s and 8974s. Make it easier to get everyone’s ducks in a row, even when separated by thousands of miles.
    • Leave Tracking: Set up and monitor vacation time, time off and sick time. Choose federal holidays or create other holidays for organizations that accommodate different faiths, locations or cultures.
  • Benefits: Make the necessary deductions automatically for medical insurance, 401(K) contributions and more. Give employees dental, medical and vision insurance and help them find the appropriate plan. Provide other benefits such as 529 (college) savings, commuter perks, disability insurance, FSAs, HSAs, life insurance and workers’ compensation.
  • Wallet: Manage banking accounts, emergency funds, paychecks and savings. Create as many as five saving goals, which deduct funds automatically from the correlating spending accounts — transfer funds from savings to spending easily. Put paychecks in different accounts and let workers see checks and the specifics of deductions, hours and taxes. Give access to paystubs, the Wallet app and W-2s.
  • Worker Management: Give workers digital paystubs accessible by the payday email, account or Wallet app. Let employees send money to charities, organize workers into departments and set policies for PTO and sick leave. Customize and assign various permissions to ensure users can access the appropriate content but not sensitive data.
  • Self-Service: Let employees complete tasks like adding dependents, picking out plans and scheduling changes to plans based on personal details. Let them retain access to specific account information after termination to cut down on unnecessary content. Organize reports based on teams or departments and let workers sign essential documents like I-9s and W-4s.
  • New Employees: Report new hires to the government automatically. Send out onboarding papers before new staff members start so they can fill out bank details, contact information and W-4s. Use an onboarding to-do list for tasks like adding employees to the payroll, background checks, filling out an employee’s I-9, setting up benefits and signing forms.
  • Directory: Create an address book of employees with profile pictures and contact information. Give new workers org charts to see where they fit in the organization. Organize fun facts, t-shirt or merch orders, birthdays and communal coffee dates.
  • Calendar Sync: Track deadlines, birthdays and employee anniversaries and sync with other calendars in iCalendar, Google, and Outlook.
  • Integrations: Uses closed APIs. Integrate with platforms like Accelo, Asana, Box, Clover, Dropbox, Expensify, FreshBooks, Github, G Suite, Homebase, Microsoft 365, QuickBooks Online, Receipt Bank, Slack, SpotOn, TSheets, Veryfi, When I Work, Xero, Ximble, Zoom and more. Contact the vendor for custom connections.
  • Reporting and Analytics: Generate and download reports for benefits, payment history, bank transactions, PTO, contract work, tax payments and more
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  • Payroll Processing: Operate 24-hour direct deposit. Pay employees, access integration services for employees, calculate taxes automatically and file taxes directly through the system. Automate payments to save time.
  • Benefits Management: Administrate workers’ compensation, health insurance, retirement plans and more. Covers workers’ compensation through AP Intego. Offers medical, dental and vision insurance through SimplyInsured. Compare different plans to judge the coverage, value and deductibles and make informed decisions. Calculates deductions for health, medical and dental automatically. Deducts and calculates contributions for 401(k)s from each employee paycheck.
  • Mobile Capabilities: Create, track and send invoices via smartphone as well as payment reminders.
  • Workers’ Compensation: Manage workers’ comp, understand state requirements and laws and pick a policy through AP Intego. Provides a free quote and automates premiums.
  • Inventory: Import information from Excel and sync with Amazon, Etsy and other similar websites to track products, cost of goods, create purchase orders and manage vendors.
  • HR Management and Compliance: Provides HR resources and consultation to help with compliance through Mammoth Inc. Creates forms from templates for onboarding checklists, employee handbooks and job descriptions. Aids in creating policies, obeying HR laws, hiring and conflict management.
  • Time Tracking: Track and add billable hours to invoices. Review and put a stamp of approval on employee timesheets. Provides tracking through TSheets. Link hours to specific jobs, save time during payment processing and see real-time insights into employee work hours. Approve and enter employee time cards.
  • Reporting: Run and export a variety of reports. Create customizable reports for balance sheets, expenses and tracking profit and loss. Create, export, print and customize reports to share with accountants or critical stakeholders. Covers deductions, tax liability, contributions, more than one worksite, summary for taxes and wages, vacation, workers’ compensation and sick leave.
  • Taxes: Helps users find tax deductions. Store photos of receipts, share books with accountants and sort business expenses by tax categories to help streamline tax filing.
  • Penalty Payments: Covers payments of up to $25,000 if errors in local, state or federal taxes result in a penalty. Communicates with the IRS. Reviews taxes with experts before sending them to the IRS to cut off issues before they start. Doesn’t cover specific penalties in some situations such as fraud, insufficient funds, healthcare administration, employee classification and several others.
  • Project Tracking: Track project details such as labor costs, expenses and profits.
  • Payroll Plans: Offers three separate plans for payroll needs.
    • Core: Provides core functionality such as payment and calculating payroll taxes.
    • Premium: Covers team management and provides more powerful tools and services for payroll.
    • Elite: Gives access to experts on-demand to answer payroll questions. Gives access to tax penalty protection.
  • Implementation: Aids in transferring current payroll information to the new system. Provides expert support to help users with initial setup and compliance.
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Product Ranking

#7

among all
Payroll Software

#47

among all
Payroll Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

80
84
95
38
40
92
90
74
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Benefits Management
Expense Management
Payroll and Tax Management
Platform Capabilities
Mobile Capabilities
Dashboard and Reporting
Payroll and Tax Management
Time and Attendance Management

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Gusto
QuickBooks Payroll
+ Add Product + Add Product
Benefits Management Dashboard And Reporting Expense Management Mobile Capabilities Payroll And Tax Management Platform Capabilities Security And Compliance Time And Attendance Management 95 40 90 54 89 87 80 63 38 92 74 94 91 75 80 91 0 25 50 75 100
92%
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

71%
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29%
64%
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User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 2802 reviews
Great User Sentiment 626 reviews
93%
of users recommend this product

Gusto has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 93% when considering 2802 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

89%
of users recommend this product

QuickBooks Payroll has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 89% when considering 626 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.2 (23)
4.7 (17)
4.3 (305)
4.0 (25)
4.7 (2474)
4.5 (550)
n/a
3.5 (34)

Awards

Gusto stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated QuickBooks Payroll and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Mobile Capabilities.

Mobile Capabilities Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Easy to Use: Just under 70% of all reviewers found this product easy to use with 10% specifically praising the design.
Great Conflict Resolution: The customer service was noted for being helpful, knowledgeable and excellent at resolving errors.
Helpful Features: Around 40% of reviewers said they appreciated the functionality, particularly praising the tax system, deductions, payroll processing and multiple payment options.
Appropriate Pricing: Over 30% of users felt that the price was well worth the system.
Good for Small Business: This was called a good choice for small businesses in over 10% of reviews.
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Excellent Functionality: Over 90% of users that discussed functionality were happy with the features, including the tax filing, automation and employee salaries and hours functions.
Simple to Use: Reviewers that talked about the ease of use felt it had a simple and intuitive interface over 80% of the time.
Manage Salary and Hours: More than 80% who discussed the employee time tracking and salary functions felt it worked well.
Affordable: Just under 70% of users who discussed price felt it was an affordable option.
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Issues with Certain Functionality: While around 40% felt the solution worked well, another 40% reported issues, especially with the time tracking and integration features.
Slow/Pushy Customer Support: Around 10% of users reported negative experiences with customer service. Of them around 50% felt the staff was pushy and trying to upsell them and 50% felt they had to wait too long for answers or couldn't get in touch with them online.
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Bad for Large Organizations: Over 90% of reviewers that discussed using the system for big organizations felt the system wasn’t complex enough.
Mixed Customer Service: Users were split on customer support quality, with 52% approving and 48% disliking the service.
Issues with Price: While overall, reviewers that discussed price felt it affordable, over 30% were displeased and said they got overcharged or billed after they’d already canceled.
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Gusto is a well-reviewed payroll solution which many users enjoy for its good design and easy-to-use features. It’s UI and payroll processing abilities in particular make it a popular choice for automating payroll. Many also feel it handles benefits and PTO well. Some say it's an affordable choice given what it does while others note that it’s on the pricey side. The time tracking features aren’t universally loved. Users are split on the integration abilities with around 10% satisfied and around 10% dissatisfied. All in all, it appears to be a good solution for small and medium-sized businesses looking to streamline their payroll. Keep an eye on the price and, as always, demo extensively before buying.

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Quickbooks Payroll is part of the Intuit suite of programs. Commenters felt it was easy to use, train and adopt with a simple interface that worked well. They found it affordable and found the integrations of time tracking with employee salaries made running payroll a quick process. Commenters said it was reasonably priced and the features worked well. The most popular functionality included automation, tax calculations and filing, and its ability to centralize and organize data. The largest complaint by far was that this program isn’t complex enough for larger organizations. Reviewers recommended only using it for small organizations. Reactions to customer service were very mixed. Reviewers who were satisfied said the support workers got back to them quickly, were friendly, helpful and called back promptly. Other users had adverse reactions say the staff was incompetent, complaining that there was only chat support and complained of always getting different answers. While most were pleased with the price, some reported getting overcharged and said it was difficult to cancel with charges showing up well after they’d terminated the service. Quickbooks Payroll is a good choice for small and medium-sized businesses. Be sure to understand what functionality comes with which pricing plan before purchasing.

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Screenshots

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