Gusto vs Paylocity

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 setup, tax filing, multiple payroll runs, reporting, and other essentials.

Paylocity doesn’t offer transparent pricing, and you’ll need to call them to get a quote. But you can expect to pay anywhere between $18 and $25 per employee per month, depending on the options you choose. 

In addition to higher fees, Paylocity typically charges a setup fee of 10–20% of your annual software fee.

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 and unlimited payrolls every month at no extra cost.

While Paylocity has a similar suite of payroll tools included, it’s unclear whether they charge extra for unlimited payrolls. 

Tax filings

Gusto automatically calculates, files, and pays 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. 

Paylocity includes automated federal and state tax filing when you run payroll, but they charge $7 per employee to file W-2s.

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. 

On top of traditional benefits, Gusto also offers a wide range of options such as workers’ comp, FSAs, and HSAs, along with no-cost and low-cost add-ons like commuter plans and the Gusto Wallet mobile app that lets employees manage their paychecks, save money, access emergency cash, and more. 

Paylocity offers traditional benefits administration as well as worker’s comp and flexible benefits like HSAs and FSAs, but they charge a fee in addition to your premiums. They also offer an “on-demand” payment solution that lets employees access paychecks early for emergencies, but it’s not nearly as robust as Gusto’s no-cost benefits options.

Employee self-service

Gusto’s self-onboarding makes adding new team members a breeze while confidential information stays confidential. Employees can check their accrued PTO, request time off, and clock in and out straight from the app.* 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.

Paylocity also offers the ability for employees to self-manage their time off, benefits, and tax info, though it’s unclear if they offer lifetime access once an employee leaves the company. 

*Time tracking comes included with our Plus and Premium plans

Hiring & onboarding

Gusto offers a full suite of tools to help you hire, onboard, and retain your team, including team directories and org charts, custom employee handbooks, and onboarding checklists. We also make it easy to manage the process with document e-signing, online offer letters, and a secure document vault that come included with all Gusto plans. 

While Paylocity also offers a full suite of talent management tools for recruiting, onboarding, and retaining your team, they aren’t included in the basic payroll pricing but instead come as part of their Talent Management System. 

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. 

Paylocity has a similar suite of team management tools, but they come as part of their Workforce Management software (separate from their Talent Management System). Because Paylocity lacks transparent pricing, it’s difficult to know how much you’ll pay to get the tools you need. 

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. 

Paylocity also has live phone and chat support Mondays to Fridays, an online FAQ and knowledge base, and a dedicated account manager. Just like Gusto, access to certified HR pros comes as an add-on with their HR software.

Integration capabilities

Our payroll platform integrates with nearly 200 leading software tools for HR, 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.

Paylocity has a similar set of available integrations, and like Gusto, they also offer the ability to customize integrations via API.