Gusto vs Paycom

Setup and monthly fees

At Gusto, it’s easy to get started, there are no setup fees, and you won’t pay a cent 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. 

Paycom doesn’t offer any upfront pricing information, and their user-reported setup fees ranged from $500 for 15 employees up to $1,200 for 40 employees. In order to get a quote for your business, you’ll need to walk through a demo with a representative. Once your base price is established based on the different modules your business needs, you can expect to be charged an additional $4–$6 per employee per paycheck.

In addition, many Paycom users have reported a long implementation process along with a large learning curve to understand the not-so-intuitive software.

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 two-day direct deposit and unlimited payrolls every month at no extra cost, as well as next-day pay on Plus and Premium plans. 

Paycom charges per employee per paycheck, so you’re paying extra every time you run payroll. Direct deposit, paper paychecks, and prepaid debit cards are included. 

Accounting

Gusto integrates with more than a dozen popular accounting platforms including Quickbooks, Xero, and Freshbooks to make syncing up the general ledger a breeze. Gusto also allows you to easily export your payroll general ledger reports.

Paycom supports GL exports, but they don’t offer integrations with any accounting software. Which means you’ll be responsible for manually uploading the reports into your bookkeeping software with each payroll. 

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, year-end tax filings are included with all of our plans.

Paycom will handle payroll taxes every time you run payroll, but year-end tax filings such as 1099s and W-2s cost extra, and payroll taxes will increase your base price through their “payroll tax management” module.

Run payroll in multiple states

We go wherever you go. Gusto can be used compliantly anywhere in the United States. We handle new-hire reporting and tax filings in all 50 states, and multi-state filing comes included with both our Plus and Premium plans.

Paycom also handles tax filings for employees in multiple states as part of their “payroll tax management” module. 

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.

Paycom offers benefits administration along with 401(k) reporting and payment integrations with your existing provider. They do not offer workers’ comp, and they do not have flexible low-cost and no-cost benefits packages available. 

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 setup fees for 401(k) retirement plans. Learn more about pricing for benefits.

It’s unclear how Paycom charges for benefits administration, but it is likely an add-on calculated as part of the initial onboarding process.

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.

Paycom offers an innovative employee self-service system known as Beti that allows employees to manually review their own paychecks before they’re approved. Their employee self-service portal also offers the ability for employees to self-manage their time off, benefits, documents, and tax info, as well as complete employee training, track mileage, and clock in and out. But once an employee leaves, they’ll need to contact your HR department directly to access any documents they need. 

*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 a built-in applicant tracking system, team directories and org charts, background checks through Checkr, custom employee handbooks, and onboarding checklists. Gusto’s full suite of hiring and onboarding tools come included with Plus and Premium plans, but basic onboarding tools, e-signing, online offer letters, and a secure document vault come included with all Gusto plans. 

Paycom is an HR-focused platform, and their hiring tools also include an applicant tracking system, onboarding checklists and workflows, background checks, e-signing, learning management, and secure document storage.

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 module with Paycom and include clocking in and out, labor allocation and staffing reports, managing time off, and syncing hours to payroll. They also support biometric clock-ins and geofencing, multiple clock-in locations, custom shift rules, and dedicated clock-in devices. Paycom does not support any time-tracking integrations. 

Support team

All of Gusto’s products come with access to our friendly 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. Gusto also offers access to dedicated HR specialists, as well as a dedicated customer success manager for customers on the Premium plan.

Paycom provides a dedicated service representative who can be reached through their Client Action Center. Getting basic questions answered without reaching out can be difficult, however, as their FAQ page is limited to a handful of basic login and data privacy questions.

Integration capabilities

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

Paycom doesn’t offer any out-of-the box integrations with popular expense or accounting software. They do integrate with Google Calendar and Outlook for interview scheduling, as well as a handful of shift scheduling platforms. Otherwise, they offer support for custom API integrations.