Gusto vs Deel

Setup and monthly fees

At Gusto, it’s easy to get started, and you won’t pay any fees until you run your first payroll. Our pricing is fully transparent, with monthly plans starting at $49/mo + $6/mo per person. Learn more about our product plans and current promotions.

Gusto Global payroll powered by Remote starts at $599 per employee per month. You can also pay international contractors in more than 120 countries around the world with no monthly fee per contractor.

Deel doesn’t offer transparent pricing for their US payroll service, and you’ll need to reach out to sales to get a quote. For their EOR service, they charge $599 per month per employee; they charge $29 per employee per month for global payroll through your own entity, or $49 per employee per month for international contractors.

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 11 minutes on average to process payroll, and you can even set up Payroll on AutoPilot to process your payroll without lifting a finger. You have the power to set up multiple pay rates and schedules, pay employees across multiple states, and we offer next-day direct deposit and unlimited payrolls every month at no extra cost.

Deel also offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to pay your team no matter where they call home. However Deel is focused on companies that operate internationally, and US-only payroll is not their core product offering.

Tax filings

Gusto automatically calculates and files payroll taxes every time you run payroll at no extra cost. Both W-2 forms for your employees and 1099 forms for your contractors are calculated and filed to the appropriate tax agencies right from the platform. Plus, we file end-of-year taxes.

Deel also handles all your federal, state, and local tax filings and payments.

Global payroll

Gusto offers both global payroll and international contractor payments. You can pay employees through our Employer-of-Record service, powered by Remote, and you can pay contractors through our international contractor add-on for no additional monthly fee per contractor.

Deel is a leader in the global payroll space, and they offer EOR services as well as international contractor payments. While their EOR service is priced the same as Gusto's, at $599 per employee per month, their international contractor service costs $49 per contractor per month, one of the highest fees in the market. This includes invoicing, expensing, and compliant local contracts in more than 150 countries.

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 38 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, HSAs, 401(k)s, 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.

Deel is in the process of rolling out their new benefits administration app, with global EOR clients gaining access in April of 2025 and US Payroll and PEO clients gaining access in fall of 2025. Benefits administration will be available to all Deel clients beginning in 2026. Deel Benefits Administration will come with similar perks to Gusto including retirement, disability, and employee self-service, however it will cost extra to add benefits administration to your US payroll plan.

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.

Deel also offers the ability for employees to self-manage their time off, payslips, and tax info, though it's unclear if they offer lifetime access once an employee leaves the company. Employees will be able to manage their own benefits once the Benefits Administration app is fully rolled out in 2026.

*Time tracking comes included with our Plus and Premium plans

Hiring and 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. Gusto's Plus and Premium plans include AI-assisted job postings, an applicant tracking system, and software and email provisioning.

Deel offers a similar suite of hiring and onboarding tools, including org charts, employee handbooks, and automated workflows to help make sure nothing slips through the cracks. Onboarding and offboarding are included in their basic HR package, but they do not have a native ATS, and integration is only available through the Workforce Planning add-on.

Time tracking

Gusto's Plus and Premium plans include access to powerful time tracking tools that automatically sync your team's hours and time off with payroll while providing robust, custom reporting to help you manage labor costs all while staying on top of compliance. Gusto has built-in scheduling, and we also offer Time Kiosk, a dedicated clock-in location for additional accountability and security. And of course, we integrate with other popular time tracking tools like Homebase, TSheets, and more.

Time & attendance tools are available with Deel's US payroll package, but the functionality is limited to clocking in and out, managing time off, basic reporting, and syncing hours to payroll. If you need scheduling tools or a centralized clock-in location, you'll need a third party integration to manage it.

Support team

All of Gusto’s products come with access to customer support via phone, email, and chat Monday through Friday. Our FAQ and Help Center are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Patriot also offers phone, email, and chat support.

Deel has an FAQ and knowledge center, as well as AI chatbot support. Deel also offers live chat, email, and phone support, but it’s unclear if you can reach a real human 24/7 or if you’ll be chatting with the bot instead.

Integration capabilities

Gusto integrates with nearly 150 of the most popular accounting, time tracking, point of sale (POS), business operations, and expense management software, including FreshBooks, Expensify, Intuit QuickBooks, Homebase, and Accelo. You can see a full list here.

Deel currently offers 68 out-of-the-box integrations with popular accounting, productivity, and business management software.