Gusto vs BambooHR

Setup and monthly fees

Gusto offers straightforward monthly plans, with options starting at a monthly base fee of $49, plus an additional $6 per employee per month. If you don’t have W-2 employees, you can use Gusto to pay your contractors for just $35/month plus $6/month per contractor (only in the months you pay them). There are no hidden fees, and our base price includes tax filing, multiple payroll runs, reporting, and other essentials.

How does that compare with BambooHR? We wish we could tell you, but they don’t provide any upfront fee information—you’ll have to fill out a form and request a quote. And the word on the street is, their platform is overpriced for what you get, and leaves you saddled with fees for almost every feature.

Running payroll

With Gusto, you can complete payroll in just a few clicks whether you’re at your desk or on the go. It takes our customers 8 minutes, on average, to process payroll† and you can even set up AutoPilot to process your payroll automatically. You have the power to set up multiple pay rates and schedules, and we offer next-day pay at no extra cost.

With BambooHR? That’s gonna be extra.

Tax filings

Gusto automatically calculates and files all federal, state, and local taxes every time you run payroll. Both W-2s for your employees and 1099s for your contractors can be created and sent out right from the platform, all at no extra cost.

With BambooHR? That’s gonna be extra.

Run payroll in multiple states

We go wherever you go. With Gusto, you can run payroll in all 50 states. Got employees working in multiple locations across several states? Our plus and premium plans have got you covered.

With BambooHR? That’s gonna be extra.

Employee Benefits

We know you want to give your employees the best. That’s why Gusto provides leading medical, dental, and vision benefits with all of our plans. Our team has licensed health insurance brokers in 37 U.S. states and counting offering more than 3,500 plans from top-tier networks like Humana, BlueCross BlueShield, United Healthcare, and more. Our licensed advisors will work with you to find affordable insurance options that keep your employees happy and healthy.

While BambooHR offers traditional health benefits like medical, dental, and vision along with worker’s comp, FSAs, and HSAs, what they don’t have is a wide range of no-cost and low-cost benefits options like commuter plans and the Gusto Wallet mobile app that lets employees manage their paychecks, save money, access emergency cash, and more.

With Gusto, benefits administration is always included, and the only costs are the premiums for the plan you choose. Also, there are no set up fees for 401(k) retirement plans. BambooHR charges an administration fee on top of the premiums you pay.

Employee self-service

Gusto’s self-onboarding makes adding new team members a breeze while confidential information stays confidential. And with Gusto’s lifetime employee access, employees will always be able to access their W-2s and benefits information without having to contact anyone on your team—no matter how long it’s been since they left the company.

Hiring & onboarding

Both Gusto and BambooHR offer a full suite of tools to help you hire, onboard, and retain your team, including team directories and org charts, custom employee handbooks, and custom onboarding checklists. But e-signing documents, online offer letters, and a secure document vault come included with all Gusto plans while BambooHR only offers these features with their premium Advantage plans.

Team management

Gusto’s Plus and Premium plans include time tracking, so employees can track hours, request paid time off, and easily view PTO straight from their accounts. And any approved hours automatically sync to payroll.

BambooHR also offers time tracking features for an extra fee.

All of Gusto’s products come with full access to our friendly sales and customer support teams via phone, email, and chat Monday through Friday. And our FAQ and Help Center are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Companies with more than 10 employees also benefit from our dedicated onboarding support team.

While BambooHR does have phone and email support, they offer limited onboarding support for new customers.

Our payroll platform integrates with nearly 200 leading software tools for time tracking, expense management, point of sale (POS), accounting, and more. And we never charge extra for integrations. Check out our full list of integrations here.

Both BambooHR and Gusto offer integrations with powerful HR tools like Lattice and 15Five, but BambooHR falls short when it comes to your finances. They have no available integrations with popular accounting software like Quickbooks and Xero.