What’s happening and when
This lineup of new monthly plans is more streamlined than our current lineup, it matches more robust features for more complex needs, and it introduces more choice for customers to select the service model that’s the right value for them. Since Covid distributed more workers, hiring across geographies is an advancing trend we don’t see reversing. We want to enable your clients’ hiring success and help them provide benefits to employees, no matter where they hire. Given that multi-state employers have more complex needs for taxes, HR compliance, benefits compliance, and benefits servicing, we need to update our lineup of plans to better match their needs and value to the right tier of plan, allowing us to deliver the appropriate service.
Check out our chart with breakdowns of each pricing plan.
Clients you'd like to add to the existing plan lineup who are in the process of onboarding before July 11, 2022 will still be able to choose our legacy plans.
Clients you add or refer beginning July 11, 2022 will only have access to the new product lineup.
For our Bronze/Silver/Gold tier partners, clients currently using Gusto will not see any change from their legacy plans prior to February 1, 2023, unless they choose a new plan. After February 1, 2023 the client may see changes to their legacy plan if they expand geographically or Gusto deprecates the legacy lineup.
For our Starter tier partners, clients currently using Gusto will not see any change from their legacy plans prior to September 1, 2022, unless they choose a new plan. After September 1, 2022 the client may see changes to their legacy plan if they expand geographically or Gusto deprecates the legacy lineup.
Nothing changes in the structure of our partner program, including your access to VIP care if you have that today. If your firm is currently using our Complete plan as part of our free firm payroll perk, you'll now get free access to Plus. That will happen automatically — no actions required.
Clients with partners in Bronze, Silver, Gold tiers, or GPAC, will have a grace period without any prompted upgrades till Feb 2023. And after that, prompted upgrades will only occur when clients add more states (On average we see less than 3% of all our SMB customers experience a change like this each month).
If you pass along discounts or rev share, the % stays the same, and will adjust when tiers change.
Existing customers have been given a grace period to their existing plans. The new plans will only be triggered for an existing client on the Core, Complete, or Concierge plan if they add a new state on or after September 1, 2022 for Starter partners OR February 1, 2023 for Bronze/Silver/Gold partners. At that point, they will be required to upgrade to Plus.
- Example 1a: If Client A of a Starter partner on Core has employees in CA and NV ($39/m + $6 PEPM) and hires a new employee in NY before September 1. No change required. Then the client will remain on Core after September 1, 2022 ($39/m + $6 PEPM).
- Example 1b: If Client A of a Starter partner on Core has employees in CA and NV ($39/m + $6 PEPM) and hires a new employee in NY after September 1, 2022. Change required: Then the client will need to migrate to Plus the following month ($80/m + $12 PEPM).
- Example 2a: If Client B of a Starter partner on Complete has employees in CA and NV ($39/m + $12 PEPM) and hires a new employee in NY before September 1, 2022. No change required. Then the client will remain on Complete after September 1 ($39/m + $12 PEPM).
- Example 2b: If Client B of a Starter partner on Complete has employees in CA and NV ($39/m + $12 PEPM) and hires a new employee in NY after September 1, 2022. Change required: Then the client will need to migrate to Plus the following month ($80/m + $12 PEPM).
- Example 3: If Client C of a Starter partner on Concierge has employees in CA and NV ($149/m + $12 PEPM) and hires a new employee in NY after September 1, 2022. Change required: Then the client’s plan will change to Plus the following month ($80/m + $12 PEPM + $8 PEPM add-on for Concierge support team, access to HR Pros and Tools).
- Example 4: If Client D of a Starter partner on Core has employees in CA ($39/m + $6 PEPM) and does not hire in an additional state after September 1, 2022. No change required. Then the client will remain on Core after September 1, 2022 ($39/m + $6 PEPM).
The new plan lineup will be available on July 11, 2022 for all new customers, including those added through accountants.
We are actively increasing the number of team members on our accountant support team, employer support team, improving our caller recognition, and expanding knowledge across taxes and payroll to help you get quick and reliable answers.
How existing clients will be affected
No, changes will not apply unless they expand geographically or we deprecate our legacy lineup.
You can see the filing state in the Clients tab in Gusto Pro. To see the number of states your clients have, you need to click into each individual client account. Alternatively, you can contact your account manager.
When your client adds another state, they’ll be notified of the implications (plan upgrade and price change) that will go into effect once the employee in that state has been paid. They’ll be able to continue to use the full range of Gusto’s features that is available to them in their existing plan. If they choose to upgrade immediately, they’ll have access to the new tier’s features previously unavailable to them.
Clients on partner-billing do not have the ability to change the plan they are on in their Gusto account. Clients that are directly billed by Gusto can change their plans based on election or in-app action, in which case the accountant partner will be notified.
You and your client (if applicable) will be notified via in-app notifications and emails.
The new plans are available to all existing clients beginning September 1, 2022 if they want to take advantage of the new offerings. In the case of clients in Concierge, some of them will pay a lower monthly fee once they move to the new Plus plan. This is a great opportunity to help your clients right-size their budgets. We encourage you to reach out to your account manager if you have any questions.
As long as they maintain the number of states that they hire in, they would be able to remain in their existing plan. However, if they remove a state and subsequently add it back, that would trigger a plan migration.
Regarding access to legacy plans, we don’t know when in 2023 or beyond we would deprecate the legacy lineup, and we’re not able to commit to a specific time frame at this point. But we will commit to provide ample advance notice to our partners to ensure a consistent and beneficial client experience.
All existing clients who joined before July 11, 2022 can maintain their legacy plan and price unless they add a new state on or after September 1, 2022 (for Starter partner clients) or February 1, 2023 (for Bronze/Silver/Gold partner clients). At that point, they will be required to move to the new Plus plan.
Communicating with existing clients
All current clients will remain on their current (“legacy”) tier unless they choose to change plans, or if their hiring circumstances change such that they add any new employees in new states after September 1, 2022 for our Starter partners or February 1, 2023 for our Bronze/Silver/Gold partners, which would necessitate an upgrade. (On average we see <3% of all our SMB customers experience a change like this each month).
Here is a sample email to get you started.
For customers that are billed directly by Gusto, they’ll be notified on July 11, 2022. We will not be communicating new pricing information with your firm-billed clients, understanding that accounting professionals have different practices for billing clients for their software.
Bringing new clients onto Gusto
We recognize that some of your new clients may be expecting to join Gusto with one of the legacy plans and that’s why any new accounts created and therefore are in the process of onboarding before July 11, 2022 will continue to have access to the legacy plans.
As long as you create an account for your client before July 11, 2022, your client will have access to the existing legacy plans.
Tiers and partner program status
Your firm tier status as of Aug 25, 2022 will be used to determine the new plan effective date for your clients. Changes to your firm’s status after Aug 25, 2022 will not affect that. If your firm is currently in the Starter tier and moves to Bronze before Aug 25, 2022, your existing clients will be granted the 5 months extended grace period.
No. The pricing and packaging changes will not affect your Partner Program status.
No. Silver and Gold partners will continue to receive VIP support for their team.