Mixed feelings running a simple payroll is quick and fairly easy. About 1/2 my customer service chats have been helpful, but the other 1/2, not so much. Some of them can be a little snarky and condesc... See more
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Created with AI, based on recent reviews
Written by the company
Trusted by 500,000+ businesses and their teams.
Gusto was designed and engineered to make payroll, benefits, and HR easier
for small and medium sized businesses.
- Automatic payroll tax
filing
- Compliance support
- Easy benefits integrations
-
Hiring and onboarding tools
- Access to HR experts
Gusto is the people platform. We make it easy to manage your growing team, all in one place.
Running a business goes beyond payroll. Gusto also offers affordable health benefits options and even free financial benefits to help employees save and manage their money. Plus, 401(k)s, and 529 College Savings.
Favorite software? We integrate with that.
We sync with your favorite tools — QuickBooks, Xero, T Sheets, Homebase, Clover, Shopify, Expensify, and many more.
Plans start at just $49/month.
No matter your business size or goals we have a plan for you. Transparent pricing. Flexible features. No hidden fees.
525 20th Street, 94107, San Francisco, United States
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Replied to 98% of negative reviews
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Absolutely the worst system and company to work for with payroll. Sales reps lied about easy setup, being able to transfer data, and providing a dedicated account rep. The tech support system is atrocious: they cannot look up your account without a special code, your phone number, your name, your email, your entity name, your entity d/b/a name, mailing address, EIN, last 4 of bank number, and what type of entity you are (no joke, you need ALL OF IT just so they can look you up). You need to verify every time you call in even if they hang up or accidentally disconnect. Have spent over half a day trying to get ahold of someone that is not a base rep and they still have not been able to do so. Have multiple support tickets open that are unresolved with zero follow up. They have representatives assigned to US accounts and payroll taxes but the reps 1) don't live in the US and 2) are not even trained on US tax identities and basic information.
If you don't want your payroll run and want to be ignored forever, Gusto is the system for you. If you are a sane person that wants to process payroll, have an actual tech support team with who you hire on, have a customer support team for who you hire on, and not die of old age waiting for someone to fix issues, literally go with any other system out there. In fact, payroll would be faster to process if you just used an abacus and both arms tied behind your back.

Reply from Gusto
If I could give zero stars I would. I have had a horrible experience with Gusto. All I can say is stay far away and choose another payroll processor. They really messed up a payroll situation with me and I'm now having to spend a lot of money paying an accountant to fix the mess. Gusto supervisors were completely not helpful, and even more so, were the cause of the issue in the first place. They don't care about their customers and honestly, what they're doing should be criminal.

Reply from Gusto
As a whole what you see is what you get with Gusto. However their heat and eat is another matter, they charge extra on top of the already inflated meal prices for these ping meals and then send out substandard overcooked food that I personally wouldn't choose in a supermarket.
As usual their customer service is beyond poor and when they should be offering compensation they instead offer partial refund for something inedible.

Reply from Gusto
Gusto has some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Their system prevents you from correcting your own payroll, forcing you to contact customer support. Then, when you finally reach someone, they are unable to help.
Their customer support is entirely offshore in my experience, and the representatives seem to have no authority or ability to resolve even basic payroll issues. I was told I needed to upload a SELFIE just to get assistance correcting payroll!
I spent over an HOUR trying to reach a supervisor. They delayed and transferred me until they could conveniently tell me their office was "closed." Representative repeatedly promise someone will get back to you "as soon as possible," and then NEVER follow through. So you're forced to start the entire ridiculous process all over again.
The most frustrating part is that Gusto creates the problem in the first place. Their system restricts your ability to manage and correct your own payroll, yet they provide no effective customer support to resolve the issues their system creates.
As a business owner, I need a payroll company that actually supports the businesses paying for its services. Instead, Gusto seems focused entirely on collecting fees while putting virtually no effort into customer support or accountability.
Gusto is happy to take your money, but when you actually need help, you're on your own. Absolutely terrible service.

Reply from Gusto
WE WERE A PARTY OF FIVE, EVERYONE HAS BEEN SICK. WE ARE GUESSING FOOD POISONING... SERVICE AND FOOD QUALITY, TERRIBLE! THEY SURVE PARMASION IN A PLASTIC CONTAINER.. SAVE YOUR MONEY IT'S NO GOOD.

Reply from Gusto
On September 30 posted a review about the poor Customerservice at Gusto. I mean the worst you can imagine. I’m seeing a response three days ago. I still do not have a scheduled call with gusto. I do not know why it is so difficult to schedule a phone call. I am unwilling to call the general customer service number. I have done that twice. The first time I awarded the mission after 55 minutes of still being verified. The second time the Csr insisted over and over that I was not a customer. Even though I was currently logged on. I will not go through that again. I specifically asked that this be escalated and a phone call be scheduled. That has not happened.

Reply from Gusto
This Birmingham Italian Restaurant is situated on the corner of the Grand Hotel and looks very inviting, aess does the menu, but after that, it just lets you down.
I had a pizza, and fries, but the fries were as thin as rakes, not very tasty, and looked uninviting.
The pizza I had, was large, very thin base with 'bubbly' full of air edging, so looked good. The very thin looking tomato sauce was actually opaque, and tasteless. At £2 a topping, I had red peppers, which amounted to four thin pieces, plus red onions, of which I couldn't see any.
I could buy a plain pizza from Tesco. add my own toppings, at a much lower cost, and it would have beaten this one, hands down! The pizza was £13.75 before any toppings!
I did have a lager beer and a large glass of red wine, which I thought were just average, but pricey.
When it came to the bill, there was a service charge of £6.34, which I wasn't made aware of, plus a tip included of £4.25, again which I didn't know about!, plus a discretionary service charge of 12.5% 'will be added to your bill'.
I thought, ''when is it going to end'', and was very annoyed. I found out that the waiter only received 25% of the tip too!
The whole experience was unsatisfactory and expensive, just a complete rip off, so be warned. I will never cross their door entrance ever again.
Now you know!!!

Reply from Gusto
This is my third complaint about this company. Phone and chat support have produced repeated assurances, but no verified resolution.
I have received contradictory guidance about an employer change, a promised specialist follow-up did not happen, and reporting items for an employee’s former location still appear after I was told they had been removed. An escalation case was shown as closed while the underlying employer-change issue remained unresolved.
These matters affect payroll and tax reporting. Conflicting answers leave me uncertain about what has been completed and what still requires action. Repeatedly asking the customer to explain the same problem is not effective follow-through.
I expect a qualified person to own these issues through completion, clearly identify any remaining requirements and confirm in writing when each problem has actually been resolved.

Reply from Gusto
I'm surprised to see the low reviews for Gusto as I have not had the experience others seem to be having.
I've used Gusto for two businesses now: a brick-and-mortar pet service business with ~8 employees and my solopreneur biz operations business.
In both cases, the platform has been a saving grace in making payroll, payroll tax, and unemployment insurance compliance easy and giving me one less convoluted business process to worry about. I've never had any issues with payroll, with my taxes being paid appropriately and on time.
I have not used any of their other services like benefits or time tracking. I have had to interact with customer service once - a couple years back - and the interaction was good and my issue was resolved.
I don't have the pet service business anymore but I've been a Gusto user collectively for ~6 years and I'm very happy with the platform.

Reply from Gusto
Full of broken promises, poor communication, and complete incompetence.
My payroll taxes were filed incorrectly, and their mistakes have cost me thousands of dollars in penalties, interest, and fees. Despite repeatedly reaching out for help, I have spent three weeks chasing emails and requesting answers, only to be met with silence and no meaningful response.
The most frustrating part is that nobody seems to understand what was done wrong or how to fix it. There is a complete lack of accountability, professionalism, and urgency when dealing with serious payroll tax issues that can have major financial consequences for a business.
This has been an absolute nightmare from start to finish and easily the worst experience I have ever had with a payroll provider. I would strongly advise any business owner to think twice before trusting them with payroll tax filings and compliance.

Reply from Gusto
Horrific. They will block your payroll after the submission deadline siting insufficient funds and then refuse to correct their error. They also can't provide any documentation to support their position.
Edit to add - I have been emailing back and forth with my open ticket and all they do is repeat that they cannot provide any documentation, and again, were unwilling to waive the fee when they declined a payroll with 8 minutes left to get in touch with support since it was after a deadline. You have been unhelpful and unable to provide any documentation to support your claims. If you use a third party, you're still responsible to retaining documentation - ESPECIALLY when it is payroll related.

Reply from Gusto
My experience with Gusto has been great. Customer service, how they file my taxes and complete all of the extra paperwork that we don't have time for. 10/10!

Reply from Gusto
Please do your research before switching to Gusto. I wish I had.
Gusto made a significant mistake during our onboarding process, and months later, the issue is still unresolved. Despite repeatedly reaching out for help, the support has been virtually nonexistent, with no real ownership or resolution.
When a payroll company creates an issue during onboarding that affects your business, you should be able to trust them to fix it. That has not been our experience.
Switching payroll companies is a huge undertaking, and I genuinely regret making this move. Read the recent reviews and know exactly what you’re signing up for.

Reply from Gusto
Went back on to have a look after years not ordering, saw a discount code and thought why not, added meals to my basket saw not discount code applies came out of it,for me to received that £60 had come out my bank, when i never pressed proceed and why is my bank details on there system ,rang them up nothing they can do cant cancel and refund me in full,20% discount offered what an awful company no compassion for the customer at all. Please be aware when LOOKING as you will be buying meal and not knowing you have done.

Reply from Gusto
If it’s possible to give one star to a company, that’s what I would give gusto since their buyout. I had several good experiences for years with gusto and referred plenty of people. Since they got bought out, the quality of customer care is beyond poor. It takes at least five calls to get anything taken care of. Run as look at another company. Gusto is no longer worth your time or your money.
Update: I was never contacted via phone, this response makes me furious. I worked directly with the insurance company to resolve the issue and sent pics of the poor response from Gusto to get the enrollment escalated. Gusto, prior to responding, you should check your facts and spend the time resolving the situation.

Reply from Gusto
If Gusto makes a mistake then the onus is on you to correct the problem. An error led to Gusto not paying State Unemployment taxes. Gusto owned up to the error. Gusto policy is to not pay overdue taxes even though Gusto is at fault. Now I have to do the leg work on my on with no help from Gusto. I can make mistakes on my on with this kind of support plus I don’t pay for their incompetence and extremely poor customer service. It’s not exactly what happens, it’s how you take care of it. Currently looking for another payroll provider.

Reply from Gusto
The follow through is terrible. I have 2 issues that they won't resolve, one is a tax issue. They promise to take care of it but don't!.

Reply from Gusto
My daughter is a college student who also works part-time. She doesn't have much money. She was a victim of an online scam. She attempted to order something for $20 from a fake website (buildershowe.com) and they stole $700.00 from her. Her employer uses Gusto. Never ever use Gusto to order anything online! They do not protect their customers at all. Deal with Gusto at your own risk. It's not like dealing with Visa or a bank. Gusto has zero scam protection despite what they might say and terrible customer service with limited hours.
Update: Gusto has now "elected to close" her "Cash account" they are victimizing the victim of fraud for a second time. They're not just changing out her card numbers. They would rather close her account than protect her from scammers
My Daughter never chose Gusto, it was her employer. This is a big mess, and now it's causing problems for her getting paid in the future.

Reply from Gusto
Bait and switch ad. Terrible cancellation process.

Reply from Gusto
Gusto overpromised, repeatedly mishandled our benefits, and has been painfully slow to fix the problems.
When I bought my business, Gusto assured me that transferring payroll and benefits would be straightforward. The reality was months of delays after closing, poor communication, and incorrect guidance on multiple occasions. The service we received did not match what Gusto represented it could deliver.
During the transition, Gusto added temporary benefit deductions and told me they would be removed once the new coverage was in place. They were not removed as promised, resulting in duplicate benefit deductions from employees' paychecks.
Then we discovered that our dental coverage had been canceled, with vision coverage also left unresolved. I have spent more than a week escalating this without a meaningful resolution or a clear timeline. In the meantime, my company is paying employees' dental expenses out of pocket.
Mistakes happen. What is unacceptable is a pattern of mistakes followed by slow responses and no one taking effective ownership of the solution. I hired Gusto to make payroll and benefits easier. Instead, I have spent months chasing corrections to problems Gusto was supposed to prevent.
I want Gusto to restore dental and vision coverage or provide immediate replacement options for my approval.

Reply from Gusto
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