Gusto vs Patriot

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. Monthly fees are straightforward, starting at a base fee of $49, plus an additional $6 per employee per month. Learn more about our product plans and current promotions.

Patriot’s payroll software may seem like a steal starting at $17 per month, plus an additional $4 per employee or contractor per month, but this only includes their basic payroll product. You’ll be responsible for handling your own tax filings—arguably the most complex piece of the process. Their full service payroll that includes tax filings jumps to a base fee of $37 per month, but this still doesn’t include their full suite of tools. Their accounting software costs an additional $20 per month, bare bones HR software adds on $6 per month plus $2 per employee, and time tracking starts at $6 per month plus $2 per employee per month.

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.

Patriot payroll is also a cloud-based system that can be accessed anywhere. While they do help you run payroll, they don’t have an automated payroll option for salaried employees, and you’ll be responsible for handling it each pay period. They do offer unlimited payroll runs as well as four-day and two-day direct deposit for qualifying customers, but they lack the power to handle wage garnishment, insurance payments, or child support.

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.

To access tax filing with Patriot, you’ll need to upgrade to their full-service package.

	Gusto	Patriot
Unlimited Payrolls
File 1099’s

Run payroll in multiple states

We go wherever you go. Gusto can be used compliantly anywhere in the United States. Multiple locations across several states are seamlessly managed through our platform.

While Patriot Payroll lets you pay employees in multiple states, you'll need to sign up for their Full Service plan in order to access tax filings. And you'll need to pay an extra $12 per month for each state you run payroll.

Employee benefits

We know you want to give your employees the best. That’s why Gusto provides leadingmedical, 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.

Patriot has no built-in benefits offerings or benefits administration, and they don’t integrate with any benefits providers. 401(k) deductions can be manually added to paychecks, however they don’t send money to externally managed programs. They do offer pay-as-you-go workers’ comp through NEXT insurance.

Signup costs

With Gusto, there are no administration fees to enroll in workers’ comp or health benefits – you’ll only pay the premiums. Also, there are no set up fees for 401(k) retirement plans. Learn more about pricing for benefits.

Patriot does not offer any traditional benefits, and they do not charge additional fees for workers’ comp integration.

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.

Patriot 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.

*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.

Patriot doesn’t offer any hiring or onboarding tools, and their HR add-on is more focused on document storage and org chart management than people-first tools.

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 also offers Time Kiosk, a dedicated on-site 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 as an add-on to Patriot’s basic and full-service payroll plans, but the functionality is limited to clocking in and out, managing time off, basic reporting, and syncing hours to payroll.

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.

Integration capabilities

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

Patriot has very limited integrations to offer. They integrate with their own native accounting software, as well as Quickbooks.