Gusto Review (2026): Payroll from $49 plus $6 a Person

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Short answer: Gusto is a good pick for a US company that wants payroll and payroll taxes handled in one product. It is a poor pick if the employees work outside the United States. On 5 November 2026 the team plans were Simple at $49 a month plus $6 a person, Plus at $80 plus $12, and Premium at $180 plus $22. There is no free plan on that page. Billing is month to month.

Too long; didn't read

• Best for: a US employer that wants payroll runs, tax filings, and basic time off in one login.
• Skip it if: the people you pay as employees are outside the United States. Contractor payments abroad are a separate add-on, not full payroll.
• Price: $49 + $6 a person, $80 + $12, or $180 + $22. Eight people is $97, $176, or $356 a month. Checked 5 November 2026.
• Biggest plus: every plan includes unlimited payroll runs, and US contractors are billed only in months you actually pay them.
• Biggest minus: a second state, time tracking, and next-day pay are not on Simple. Plus is where those three sit.

How this review was made

We read gusto.com/product/pricing on 5 November 2026, including the plan cards, the add-on list, and the pricing FAQ. We did not open an account or run a payroll. The prices below are from that page. The opinion of who should buy is ours, not a test result.

Gusto at a glance

Source: gusto.com/product/pricing on 5 November 2026, on the Pay My Team view. A separate Pay Myself path is linked for an S corp owner paying themselves. That page did not print a Solo price, so this review does not quote one.

What you actually do in it

Gusto runs payroll for a US employer, calculates the payroll taxes, and files and pays those taxes. The pricing FAQ names W-2, 1099, 940, 941, and 8974 among the forms. Employees can see pay stubs and tax forms in their own account. We did not open one, so this is the pricing page, not a session.

Health, dental, and vision can sit in the same system. If Gusto is the broker, the page says you pay the insurance premium and no Gusto administration fee. Keeping your own broker is $6 a month per eligible employee.

US contractors are charged the plan's per-person rate, and only in a month you pay them. Paying a contractor in another country has no monthly per-contractor fee. The add-on list prices a payment to a US bank account at $5, and says the exchange rate can vary.

The same FAQ names accounting connections including QuickBooks, Xero, Aplos, ZipBooks, Autobooks, and FreshBooks, plus Expensify, Hubstaff, Clover, and Homebase. We did not connect any of them. Gusto says more than 500,000 businesses use it. That number is theirs. We did not audit it.

If the job is staff records rather than US payroll, that is a different product. HiBob does not print a public price. If the employees are in more than one country, Papaya Global is the closer brief, and its pricing page did not load on 3 November 2026, so this site does not quote a Papaya fee. If you already have payroll and only need a time clock, Time Doctor is the smaller job. Gusto puts time tracking on Plus, or on a $6 per person add-on to Simple.

How much does Gusto cost?

The bill is a base fee plus a fee for each person. Eight people, all in one state:

• Simple: $49 + (8 × $6) = $97 a month.
• Plus: $80 + (8 × $12) = $176 a month.
• Premium: $180 + (8 × $22) = $356 a month.

Ten people is $109, $200, or $400. Five people is $79, $140, or $290. You are charged for active employees. A US contractor is billed only in a month you pay them.

Simple does not include time tracking or next-day pay. Next-day pay on Simple is $15 a month plus $3 a person, so eight people adds $39 and the Simple bill becomes $136. Time tracking on Simple is $6 a person after a try-it-free line, so eight people adds $48. Buying both add-ons puts Simple at $184, which is $8 more than Plus at $176, and Plus already includes both. A second state is not an add-on on the Simple card. Multi-state payroll is on Plus.

Same-day pay is $90 per payroll and instant pay is $100 per payroll on Simple and Plus. Both are included on Premium. Priority phone and chat support is $30 a month plus $3 a person on Simple and Plus. Premium includes a named account partner instead. Business compliance is $85 a month per state on an annual contract, and it is included on Premium.

The FAQ says there is no long-term contract. You can cancel any time. An upgrade starts immediately. A downgrade starts on the first of the next month. We did not cancel an account.

Pros and cons

Who should use it, and who should skip it

Use Simple if everyone you employ is in one state and you can wait on the standard pay timeline. At eight people that is $97 a month, and basic PTO is already on that card.

Use Plus if you pay people in more than one state, or you want time tracking and next-day pay in the base price. At eight people Plus is $176. Bolting both of those add-ons onto Simple is $184, so Plus is the cheaper of those two routes.

Use Premium if you want the named support partner, the compliance tools, and same-day or instant pay included. At eight people that is $356. Same-day and instant stay per-payroll fees on the cheaper plans.

Skip it if your employees are outside the United States. Skip it if you only needed a price for the Pay Myself path. That path is linked on the pricing page, and this review does not quote it.

Is Gusto worth it?

For a US team in one state, Simple is the plan that matches the card: payroll, tax filings, and basic PTO at $49 plus $6 a person. Plus is the plan that matches a second state, a time clock, or next-day pay. Premium is a different product at more than double the Plus base, and it is worth pricing only if you would otherwise buy same-day pay, compliance, and the named support partner as extras. We did not run a payroll in it, so this is a reading of the price cards, not a test of how fast a tax filing goes through.

See Gusto pricing