Gusto vs Wave

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

With Wave, businesses in states where tax services are available pay a base fee of $40 per month and an additional $6 per month for every employee or independent contractor, but this is only available in 14 states at the moment. Businesses in states without tax services pay a cheaper base fee of $20 per month but the same per-employee rate of $6 per month for every employee or independent contractor.

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.

Wave doesn’t have the power to set up multiple rates and schedules, they have limited functionality for more complex payroll needs such as wage garnishments, and it’s difficult to run an extra payroll when you need to.

Tax Filings

Gusto automatically calculates and files 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.

While Wave can file W-2s in the 14 states they support (AZ, CA, FL, GA, IL, IN, MN, NY, NC, TN, TX, VA, WA, and WI), they do not offer 1099 filing. They will, however, generate a 1099 for any contractors you pay that you can file yourself.

In any other states, they can help you generate the tax forms you need to file, but filing and paying the necessary taxes is up to you.

Run payroll in multiple states

We go wherever you go. With Gusto, you can run payroll in all 50 states. Got employees working in multiple locations across several states? Our plus and premium plans have got you covered.

While you can pay employees in any state with Wave, they don’t offer support for paying employees in multiple locations across state lines.

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 worker’s 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.

With Gusto, benefits administration is always included, and the only costs are the premiums for the plan you choose. Also, there are no set up fees for 401(k) retirement plans.

While Wave does offer worker’s comp, they don’t have any support for traditional benefits. You can add deductions for benefits through Wave, but you’ll need to purchase and manage your benefits plan separately.

Employee self-service

Gusto’s self-onboarding makes adding new team members a breeze while confidential information stays confidential. 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.

Wave also offers the ability for employees to self-manage their W-2s, banking, and contact info, but it’s unclear if that access extends after an employee leaves your company.

Hiring & onboarding

Gusto offers a full suite of tools to help you hire, onboard, and retain your team, including team directories and org charts, and 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.

As a payroll- and accounting-focused platform, Wave doesn’t offer any HR tools or support.

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.

Wave doesn’t offer any time-tracking, PTO, or team management support.

Support team

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.

Wave also offers email and live chat Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time. But they don’t provide onboarding support, and their company has a customer score of just 1.2 out of 5 stars with the Better Business Bureau.

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.

Wave has their own built-in accounting software that can connect to your bank account and to your payroll, but they don’t offer any software integrations.