Gusto Review (2026)Base Plus $6 to $22 an Employee
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The base-plus-per-employee model is transparent but adds up, and Gusto is US-only — excellent for straightforward US payroll and benefits, but not the pick for international teams or complex multi-entity HR. Throughout this review we weigh it against ADP.
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Pricing (2026)
✓ Pricing re-verified 5 Sep 2026
Read in a browser on gusto.com/pricing on 5 September 2026; the page blocks plain fetches. Simple is $49 a month plus $6 per person for single-state payroll, Plus $80 plus $12 per person with multi-state payroll, next-day pay and time tracking, and Premium $180 plus $22 per person with a dedicated service advisor and HR experts. Contractor Only is $35 a month plus $6 per contractor, with the base fee waived in the current promotion.
Frequently asked questions
What does Gusto cost?
Read in a browser on gusto.com/pricing on 5 September 2026 (the page blocks plain fetches): Simple is $49 a month plus $6 per person, Plus $80 plus $12, Premium $180 plus $22, and Contractor Only $35 plus $6 per contractor, with the base fee waived in the promotion running that day.
How does the price scale with headcount?
Faster than the base fee suggests. On Simple, twenty employees adds $120 a month to a $49 base; on Premium the same headcount adds $440 to $180. The per-employee component is what you are really buying, so compare providers on that number rather than on the monthly base.
Is it usable outside the US?
For US payroll only, by itself. For employees in other countries Gusto has referred new customers to Remote's employer-of-record service since 1 May 2026 (from about $599 per employee a month; Remote runs onboarding, payroll and support), while customers who joined earlier keep the integrated Gusto + Remote experience. If most of your team is abroad, compare employer-of-record services directly instead.
What should I weigh before buying Financial Operations software?
The bar here is higher than features. Check who actually holds the money and under what licence, whether client funds are segregated, what audit trail and permission controls you get, and how support behaves when something goes wrong mid-transaction. Anything touching payments should be able to answer those in writing; if it cannot, that is your answer.
Is this a hands-on review of Gusto?
This is a researched assessment, not a hands-on test — where we've used a tool ourselves, we say so explicitly. We name what each tool is good and bad at, and we earn a commission only if you sign up, at no cost to you.
- Buyer reviews on G2, Capterra and Trustpilot, read August 2026.
- Gusto’s own published pricing page.
- A dated screenshot of that pricing page, kept on this site as the receipt.
Others in this category
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This is our researched assessment — not a paid placement. The “Visit” links on this page are affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you, and it never changes our take. How we review →