Gusto Pricing 2026: Plans, Per-Employee Cost & Hidden Fees

Gusto pricing ranges from $49 to $180 per month as a base fee, plus $6 to $22 per employee depending on the plan you choose. For a 10-person team, that works out to $109–$400 per month — or $1,308–$4,800 per year. Gusto closed its Contractor-only plan to new customers on October 1, 2026; you now pay US contractors inside any plan, at that plan's per-person rate and only in months you pay them.

But the sticker price doesn't tell the full story. Add-ons like time tracking, faster pay and priority support, plus the jump to Plus that multi-state payroll requires, can push your real cost significantly higher. This guide breaks down every Gusto plan, exposes the hidden fees, and shows you what you'll actually pay at different team sizes.

Gusto Pricing Overview (2026)

Gusto structures its pricing around a monthly base fee plus a per-employee charge. Every plan includes unlimited payroll runs, tax filings and payments, US contractor payments, and phone and chat support during business hours. The difference between tiers comes down to multi-state payroll, time tools, HR depth, compliance help and customer service access.

Here's the quick summary:

Worth noting: some older guides still quote the Simple plan at $40 a month. Gusto's pricing page now lists $49. If you're budgeting based on older pricing info, recalculate — the numbers have changed.

Gusto also repackaged its plans on October 1, 2026, without changing prices. Existing customers get the new features automatically, and anyone who signs up from that date gets the new packaging. Simple gained basic time off, expense reimbursements and new hire check-ins. Plus gained custom time off policies and contractor invoice upload. Premium now includes HR Resources, Gusto Business Compliance, and same-day and instant pay. On the same date the Contractor-only plan closed to new customers (existing customers keep it), and broker integration became a paid add-on for new Premium customers.

There's no free plan. Account setup is free and there's no long-term contract: Gusto bills month to month, and you can switch plans or cancel anytime.

Gusto Plans Compared: Simple vs Plus vs Premium

Choosing the right Gusto plan depends on two things: how many states you operate in and how much HR functionality you need beyond payroll. Here's how the three main plans stack up.

Gusto Simple Plan — $49/mo + $6/employee

The Simple plan covers the basics. You get full-service single-state payroll, W-2 and 1099 filings, new hire reporting, and employee self-service. It also includes basic time off policies and holiday pay, plus basic onboarding tools: employee self-onboarding, offer letter templates and new hire check-ins.

The catch? It only works for teams in a single state. The moment you hire someone across state lines, you'll need to upgrade. Time tracking, scheduling and custom time off policies aren't included either. On Simple, time tracking and scheduling come with the Time & Attendance Plus add-on ($6 per person per month after a free trial), custom time off policies are an add-on too, and next-day pay costs $15/month plus $3 per person.

Best for: Teams under 15 people, all in one state, who just need payroll to work.

Gusto Plus Plan — $80/mo + $12/employee

The Plus plan is where most growing companies land. It adds multi-state payroll, unlimited next-day pay, time tracking and scheduling, custom time off policies, job postings and an applicant tracking system, an org chart, custom onboarding checklists, performance and compensation management, and contractor invoice upload.

For a 25-person team, the Plus plan costs $380/month ($4,560/year). That's a significant jump from Simple, but you're getting substantially more HR infrastructure.

Best for: Multi-state teams of 15–50 who need custom time off policies, time tracking and basic performance management.

Gusto Premium Plan — $180/mo + $22/employee

The Premium plan targets companies with complex compliance needs. You get everything in Plus, plus Premium Account Support (a named Premium Account Partner who knows your account), HR Resources (an employee handbook, Ask an HR Expert, an HR document generator and HR law updates), Gusto Business Compliance (state tax registrations, compliance alerts, registered agent and annual reports), same-day and instant pay, labor cost allocation, and payroll migration and account setup.

At 50 employees, this plan costs $1,280/month — $15,360/year. That's serious money, and it puts Gusto squarely in enterprise HR territory pricing-wise. For teams this size, it's worth comparing against platforms like Rippling or BambooHR to see if you're getting comparable value.

Best for: Companies with 50+ employees, multi-state complexity, and a need for dedicated support.

What Each Plan Includes

Not every Gusto feature is available on every plan. This matters because some features you'd expect — like time tracking or custom time off policies — require upgrading or paying extra.

Upgrading changes the whole bill, not just the feature you needed. A 30-person team moving from Simple ($229/month) to Plus ($440/month) nearly doubles its monthly cost. The lesson: read the feature matrix before committing.

If your team needs time tracking and scheduling, compare two routes: Simple plus the Time & Attendance Plus add-on, or Plus. For a 10-person team in one state, Simple with the add-on is $169/month and Plus is $200/month, but Plus also brings next-day pay, multi-state payroll, hiring and performance tools.

Hidden Costs and Add-Ons to Watch For

The per-employee pricing on Gusto's site looks clean. But the add-ons sit further down the pricing page, below the plan cards, and they can add a lot to your monthly bill.

State tax registration. When you start paying someone in a new state, you have to register for that state's payroll taxes. On Simple and Plus, Gusto's state tax registration service is an add-on priced by state. If you're hiring across 5+ states, these fees stack up fast. Gusto Business Compliance, which covers state registrations, compliance alerts, a registered agent and annual reports, costs $85 per month per state on an annual contract on Simple and Plus, and is included in Premium.

Benefits administration. Gusto's licensed brokers offer health insurance with no Gusto administration fee, but the premiums are billed separately and vary significantly by location and plan type. Gusto acts as a broker, not an insurer. Other benefits carry their own fees: HSAs are $2.50 per participant per month, FSAs and commuter benefits $4 per participant per month ($20 minimum), plus one $200 annual service charge for these accounts. Workers' compensation starts at $14/month, and 401(k) pricing varies by provider.

Time and attendance add-ons. On the Simple plan, Time & Attendance Plus costs $6 per person per month after a free trial. That's the same per-employee cost as the base plan itself — effectively doubling your spend per head.

Health insurance broker integration. If you keep your own broker for plans Gusto can't support directly, connecting them costs $6 per eligible employee per month. It's a paid add-on on Simple and Plus, and since October 1, 2026 it's a paid add-on on Premium too for new customers; Premium customers from before that date keep it included.

Faster pay and support. Next-day pay on Simple costs $15/month plus $3 per person. Same-day pay ($90 per payroll) and instant pay ($100 per payroll) are add-ons on Simple and Plus and included in Premium. Priority support costs $30/month plus $3 per person on Simple and Plus.

International contractor payments. Gusto's global contractor payments add-on pays contractors in more than 120 countries with no monthly per-contractor fee, but Gusto charges a service fee and a foreign exchange fee on each payment. Gusto's own payroll still covers US employees only.

The U.S. Department of Labor provides compliance guidelines that can help you understand which payroll features are legally required for your situation — useful context when deciding which Gusto add-ons are truly necessary versus nice-to-have.

Gusto Pricing Calculator: Real Cost for Your Team Size

Abstract pricing doesn't help much. Here's what Gusto actually costs per employee at real team sizes — a much clearer picture of the gusto cost per employee.

10-Person Team

25-Person Team

50-Person Team

A pattern emerges: the per-employee cost drops as your team grows because the base fee spreads across more people. But even at 50 employees, Gusto's Plus plan costs over $8,000 per year — and that's before add-ons.

Use our total compensation calculator to see how payroll software costs fit into your overall employee spend. It helps put these numbers in context alongside salary, benefits, and taxes.

Gusto Pros and Cons

Gusto's price makes more sense once you know where its strengths are. In short: payroll is where Gusto shines, and the HR tools are thinner.

Pros

• Payroll mostly runs itself. Every plan includes unlimited payroll runs, automatic tax filings and payments, and Payroll on AutoPilot, which runs payroll on your schedule when pay doesn't change from one period to the next.
• Contractors are built in. Every plan pays US contractors alongside W-2 employees, and the global contractor payments add-on covers contractors in more than 120 countries.
• Benefits connect to payroll. Gusto's licensed brokers help you choose medical, dental and vision plans. You pay the premiums, with no Gusto administration fee, and deductions flow into payroll. Its 401(k) is powered by Guideline, which Gusto now owns.
• Former employees can help themselves. People who leave keep access to their Gusto account as long as a personal email is on their profile, so they can download old pay stubs and W-2s without asking you.
• No contract. Account setup is free, and you can switch plans or cancel anytime.

Cons

• Costs rise with every hire. The per-person fee applies to everyone you pay. A 50-person team on Plus pays $8,160 a year before add-ons (more in When Gusto Gets Expensive).
• Some basics cost extra on Simple. Time tracking, scheduling and next-day pay are all add-ons on the entry plan. Next-day pay is $15/month plus $3 per person. Priority support is an add-on on Simple and Plus.
• HR is the lighter half. Performance and compensation management, the org chart, custom onboarding checklists and the applicant tracking system start at Plus. The employee handbook and access to HR experts are Premium only. Even on the top plan, the HR tools cover the basics rather than matching the depth of the payroll engine, so teams that run regular review cycles or want detailed people analytics may still need a second tool.
• Payroll is US only. Gusto pays employees in the US. To hire employees in other countries, Gusto now refers new customers to Remote's employer-of-record service, and Remote handles their onboarding, payroll and support.

Who Gusto Is Best For

Gusto fits best if you are:

• A US small business where getting payroll right is the main job
• A team that pays both W-2 employees and 1099 contractors
• A founder who wants health benefits and a 401(k) set up in the same tool as payroll
• A team that cares more about payroll accuracy than about HR depth

Look elsewhere if you have employees outside the US, if payroll already runs somewhere else (see Paying for Payroll You Don't Run? below), or if performance management and people data matter as much to you as payroll.

Gusto vs Competitors: Price Comparison Table

How does gusto payroll pricing compare to other popular HR and payroll platforms? Here's a side-by-side look at annual costs for a 25-person team.

The pricing models differ more than the totals suggest. Gusto and Rippling charge per person, so every new hire raises your bill. BambooHR charges a flat monthly rate up to 25 employees and per person after that, and its HR price doesn't include payroll. Compare costs at the headcount you expect next year, not just today's.

For a deeper dive into how Gusto stacks up against specific competitors, check out our comparisons: BambooHR vs Gusto and the Gusto alternatives below. Also worth reviewing is our best HR software for small business roundup for a broader view.

When Gusto Gets Expensive (and What to Do About It)

Gusto works beautifully for a 5-person team in one state running basic payroll. But costs escalate quickly in three specific scenarios.

Scenario 1: Multi-state hiring. The moment you hire across state lines, you're forced off the Simple plan. That's an immediate jump from $6 to $12 per employee per month, plus state registration fees. A 20-person distributed team goes from $169/month to $320/month overnight.

Scenario 2: Adding HR features piecemeal. Need time tracking? That's extra on Simple. Custom time off policies? An add-on or Plus. Performance reviews or an applicant tracking system? Plus. Each feature you add pushes you toward the next tier, and Gusto's tier structure means you pay for everything in that tier — even features you don't use.

Scenario 3: Rapid growth. Per-employee pricing is a tax on success. Hire 10 people in a quarter and your Gusto bill jumps by $60–$220 per month depending on your plan. Over a year, that's $720–$2,640 in additional cost — just for the software, not the people. According to Forbes, this scaling cost is a common pain point for growing companies using per-seat payroll platforms.

What to do about it: If you're hitting any of these triggers, price out what you actually use. If you need payroll in more states, run your real headcount through the cost tables above and compare Plus with the alternatives below. If you mostly want the HR features and payroll already runs somewhere else, read Paying for Payroll You Don't Run? before you upgrade.

Paying for Payroll You Don't Run?

All three Gusto plans are built around payroll. The base fee and the per-person fee pay for payroll runs, tax filings and payments, and the HR tools come on top. You pay for that payroll whether or not you use it, which matters when payroll already happens somewhere else:

• Your accountant runs it. Many small companies have their accountant or bookkeeper run payroll and file payroll taxes. Paying for Gusto as well means paying twice for the same job.
• You already use another payroll provider, such as ADP RUN or Paychex. Switching just to get Gusto's HR tools rarely pays off. Our ADP pricing guide covers what RUN costs.
• Part of your team is outside the US. Gusto's payroll covers US employees only, so a team with employees abroad ends up running a second system anyway.

In those cases, the useful question is what you need for the HR side: time off, people records, hiring and reviews. Tiny Team's HR module covers time off and leave policies, a team calendar, hiring with a careers page, self and manager performance reviews, and private people records with pay history and per-person files. It doesn't run payroll, taxes or benefits, so it sits next to whichever payroll provider you already use. HR is a one-time payment for your whole organization, with no subscription and no per-seat fees, and it has its own free trial (see current prices).

Best Gusto Alternatives for Budget-Conscious Teams

If Gusto's per-seat pricing doesn't work for your budget, these alternatives offer different pricing models worth considering.

Rippling — Starts at $8/employee/month with a modular approach. You pick the features you need and pay only for those. Good flexibility, but costs add up quickly once you stack modules. See our full Rippling pricing breakdown.

BambooHR — A flat $250/month on the Core plan for companies with 25 or fewer employees, then from about $10 per employee per month; payroll is an add-on for US employees. Strong HR features with a focus on employee experience, onboarding, and performance management. Less focused on payroll than Gusto. Read our BambooHR pricing analysis for details.

Paychex Flex — Starts around $39/month + $5/employee. Good for very small teams needing basic payroll with optional HR add-ons. Limited in HR features compared to Gusto's Plus tier.

Justworks — A payroll-only plan at $8 per employee per month plus a $50 base fee, or PEO plans from $79 per employee per month (PEO Basic) and $124 with health benefits (PEO Plus). The PEO plans include payroll, benefits, and compliance, but you're effectively co-employing your team, which isn't right for everyone.

Which Gusto Alternative Is Right for You?

Start with one question: do you need another payroll tool, or only the HR side?

• Choose Rippling if you want payroll, HR and IT in one system, including setting up laptops and app accounts when someone joins.
• Choose Paychex Flex or ADP RUN if you just want payroll from a large provider and would add HR features later. Our Paychex vs ADP comparison walks through the differences.
• Choose Justworks if you'd rather hand payroll, benefits and compliance to a PEO and are comfortable with co-employment. See our Justworks review.
• Choose BambooHR if you have a dedicated HR person who needs polished onboarding, performance reviews and reporting, and you're fine with paying per employee as you grow. Our BambooHR review has the details.
• Choose HiBob if you have 100+ employees and an HR team that wants engagement and workforce analytics. HiBob quotes prices on request; our HiBob review covers what to expect.
• Choose Zoho People if you already use Zoho apps and want a low per-user price. Payroll is a separate Zoho product.
• Keep your payroll and add an HR tool if payroll is already handled (by your accountant, ADP or another provider) and your small team needs time off, hiring, performance reviews and people records. See Paying for Payroll You Don't Run? above.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Gusto cost per month?

Gusto's monthly cost depends on your plan and team size. The Simple plan starts at $49/month plus $6 per employee. The Plus plan is $80/month plus $12 per employee. The Premium plan runs $180/month plus $22 per employee. For a 10-person team, expect $109–$400 per month before add-ons.

Does Gusto offer a free plan or free trial?

Gusto does not offer a free plan, and its pricing page doesn't advertise a free trial of payroll. Account setup is free, there's no long-term contract, and you can switch plans or cancel anytime. The Time & Attendance Plus add-on on Simple can be tried free before its per-person fee starts.

What's the cheapest Gusto plan for a small team?

For W-2 employees, the Simple plan at $49/month + $6/employee is the entry point. A 5-person team pays $79/month ($948/year) on Simple. The Contractor-only plan closed to new customers on October 1, 2026, so if you only pay contractors, you now pay them inside a regular plan: Gusto bills each US contractor at the plan's per-person rate, and only in months you pay them. Solopreneurs paying themselves through an S corp can use Gusto Solo, also $49/month + $6/person.

How does Gusto pricing compare to BambooHR?

BambooHR charges a flat $250/month on its Core plan for companies with 25 or fewer employees ($425 on Pro, $650 on Elite), then from about $10 per employee per month above 25 people. Payroll is an extra add-on for US employees. Gusto's Plus plan (the most comparable tier) costs $80/month base plus $12 per employee and includes payroll. For a 10-person team, Gusto Plus ($200/month) costs less than BambooHR Core ($250/month); at 25 people, Gusto Plus ($380/month) costs more than BambooHR Core before you add BambooHR's payroll. See our full BambooHR vs Gusto comparison.

Is Gusto worth the price for startups?

For seed-stage startups under 10 employees in one state, Gusto's Simple plan is competitive and easy to set up. But if you're growing quickly or hiring remotely across states, you'll need Plus, and the per-employee fee grows with every hire. Run your expected headcount through the cost tables above and compare the alternatives before you upgrade.

What hidden fees should I know about with Gusto?

The main extra costs are state tax registration (priced by state), Time & Attendance Plus on the Simple plan ($6 per person per month), next-day pay on Simple ($15/month plus $3 per person), same-day pay ($90 per payroll) or instant pay ($100 per payroll) on Simple and Plus, priority support ($30/month plus $3 per person), broker integration ($6 per eligible employee per month), Gusto Business Compliance ($85 per month per state on an annual contract) and per-payment fees for global contractors. Health insurance premiums are billed separately, but Gusto charges no administration fee for plans it brokers. Always request a full cost estimate for your specific situation before committing.

Can I use Gusto just for HR without payroll?

Not really. Simple, Plus and Premium all include payroll, and you pay the base fee and per-person fee whether or not you run payroll in Gusto. If payroll already happens elsewhere and you only need HR tools such as time off, people records and hiring, an HR-first tool that works alongside your existing payroll provider is usually the better buy.

Do I need payroll software if I have an accountant?

Not necessarily. If your accountant or bookkeeper already runs payroll and files your payroll taxes, or you use a payroll service such as ADP RUN or OnPay, paying for Gusto as well duplicates that cost. Ask your accountant which system they use and what it files for you. What you may still need is a tool for the HR side: time off, people records and hiring.