4 Best Gusto Competitors: Which HR Alternative Suits You the Best?
Our team has conducted comprehensive research on Gusto competitors and alternatives so you can make an informed choice. Discover the key features, pricing, and customer support of various payroll platforms to understand their pros and cons. Whether you’re a small or midsize business, finding the right software solutions is crucial for optimal payroll management.
While Gusto is a popular choice, several alternatives provide affordable options that align with distinct business needs. A solid alternative can deliver the streamlined efficiency and reliability necessary for effective payroll and HR operations.
What Is Gusto?
Gusto is a popular cloud-based HR and payroll software platform designed to help small and medium-sized businesses manage their HR, benefits, and payroll needs.
It provides features such as
- Payroll
- Employee Benefits
- Hiring & Onboarding
- Talent Management
- Time & Attendance
- Insights & Reporting
Gusto is relatively easy to navigate, and suitable for teams with 10 or more employees. It offers robust employee management tools, making it an ideal solution for managing full-time employees, hourly employees, and salaried employees alike. Additionally, its built-in compliance features simplify the complexities of employee onboarding, ensuring that businesses stay up-to-date with regulatory requirements.
Pricing
Gusto’s pricing model offers three distinct plans Simple, Plus, and Premium. The Premium plan is typically an enterprise solution for those who need to scale their HR software.
The Simple plan starts at $40 / per month plus an additional $6 / per month / per user and includes the basic features like:
- Basic hiring and onboarding tools
- Gusto-brokered health insurance administration
- Employee financial benefits
- Employee profiles and self-service
- Integrations for accounting, time tracking, expense management, and more
- and more
The Plus plan offers “comprehensive payroll, benefits, and HR tools” and starts at $80 / per month plus $12 / per month / per user. It builds on Gusto’s capabilities by expanding the scope of employee onboarding and enhancing employee management tools for businesses handling full-time employees, hourly employees, and salaried employees.
To get priority support and HR resources, you’ll have to pay an additional $8 / per month / per user, and for the Time Kiosk, $4 / per month / per user. These features, combined with built-in compliance, ensure that managing diverse employee types is both efficient and legally compliant.
As you can see, Gusto can get quite expensive, especially with additional costs like Benefits administration fees and extra cost per feature. So what are the best alternatives?
Best Gusto Competitors
1. Sloneek
The top alternative to Gusto on our list rightfully claims its spot due to its transparent and cost-effective pricing, excellent customer support, and a wide array of inclusive HR features.
But, instead of just taking our word for it, check out the evidence. On G2, this HR software boasts a stellar 4.8 out of 5 stars from plenty of happy customers.
Features
Sloneek offers a long list of features that are split into their two plans described in more detail below.
They’re developed to solve the majority of your HR needs, saving you hours of mundane work.
All features cover core HR needs like an all-in-one solution, advanced HR suite, and intuitive interface on a single platform, enhancing employee self-service and improving the overall employee experience, including shift scheduling, workflows for time, job postings, and a user-friendly interface.
- Employee performance
- Documents & e-sign
- Time Tracking
- Engagement
- Performance management
- HR automation
- Whistleblowing
- Holding structure
Sloneek is designed with growing businesses in mind, offering a wide range of robust tools that support attendance tracking, shift scheduling, document storage, and workflows for time off tracking. Its suite of time tracking features is tailored to both shift-based businesses and mid-sized businesses aiming to streamline repetitive tasks and improve employee relations.
As you can see, there’s a lot to consider, so what’s the price tag for Sloneek?
Pricing
Even though the pricing is not available on the website anymore, Sloneek stands out as one of the most cost-effective HR tools available, offering transparent pricing with no hidden payments thanks to a single payment per user with no extra cost per location or project cost. No add-ons are needed, compared to Gusto.
You can explore the features by trying their Essential plan for free, which includes an AI assistant, employee records, attendance system, approval of absences, activity and time tracking, document management, contract signing, trust box, and reporting.
| ✅PROS | ❌CONS |
| Affordable prices with live demo and 2-week trial | Solely HR-related features |
| Entire recruitment covered in one system | Room for improvement |
| Great support | |
| Fast deployment process |
2. Rippling
Rippling is another contestant on our list that makes a solid Gusto competitor.
Similar to Sloneek, they also have nice customer reviews, but this option could get a bit more pricey.
Features
Rippling stands out with its robust international capabilities, making it an excellent choice for businesses managing international employees and handling international contractor payments.
It provides seamless integration with global payroll processes and offers powerful workforce management tools aimed at enhancing employee satisfaction through employee happiness surveys, real-time analytics, and advanced reporting. Rippling also excels in talent acquisition through its integrated payroll system, streamlining operations and ensuring your workforce is managed efficiently across borders.
- US Payroll
- Recruiting
- Global Payroll
- Headcount Planning & Comp Bands
- Time & Attendance
- Learning Management
- Benefits
- Pulse
- PEO Services
Please keep in mind some of the features like Payrolls or Benefits are more suitable for US users.
Pricing
As claimed on their website, Rippling starts at $8 / per month / per user, which already makes it a more expensive HR solution compared to Sloneek and Gusto.
Although Rippling offers a customizable solution, business owners should be aware of additional costs tied to certain advanced features and services like contractor management services or tax filing guarantee. Pricing options vary depending on business size and the number of employees per month, with potential extra cost for features like company directories or benefits administration fees.
| ✅PROS | ❌CONS |
| Customizable platform | US-centric features |
| Complexity |
3. BambooHR
BambooHR is another considerable Gusto competitor, but their pricing is, unfortunately, not available anymore as they switched to custom quotes.
Features
BambooHR’s features cover all the basics, similar to what we’ve seen with previous Gusto competitors. However, their availability depends largely on your choice of plan and add-ons. It offers a self-service onboarding and an employee portal designed to boost employee engagement for micro-businesses, all wrapped in an intuitive user interface.
Pricing
To get the price you need to ask for a custom quote based on what features you need. So, as usual, this could make the solution more expensive than those with transparent pricing like in the case of Gusto or Sloneek.
| ✅PROS | ❌CONS |
| User-friendly experience | Lack of features |
| Pricing | Customer support oriented towards the US |
| Hidden costs with ad-ons |
4. Workday
Workday is one of the more comprehensive global solutions that’s also more expensive compared to our Gusto competitors.
TIP: Take a look at our detailed comparison of Workday and its competitors.
Features
Workday has probably the longest list of features and offers platforms for other departments as well, but they all come with a price.
Its suite of tools includes robust reporting options and custom reporting options that aid talent development and strategic decision-making, making it an all-in-one platform with effective time tracking tools.
Workday stands out with a suite of applications designed to support midsize companies through comprehensive platform capabilities, including real-time analytics, advanced reporting, workforce analytics, and employee happiness surveys. These standout features help human resources professionals manage compliance, employee training, and tax documents more efficiently.
Pricing
You’re required to ask for a custom quote to learn more about their pricing – and you already know what that means.
Some users on the Internet report plans starting at $99 / per user / per month, but this highly depends on the features you need and the terms you agree to.
| ✅PROS | ❌CONS |
| Comprehensive global solution | Pricing |
| Too complex to use |
Conclusion
In conclusion, exploring Gusto alternatives reveals a variety of options suited to diverse business requirements:
Sloneek stands out as a cost-effective, advanced HR tool ideal for teams of 10+ employees, emphasizing a unified platform for human capital management with effective third-party integrations and time-tracking tools.
Rippling offers a customizable HR and payroll solution tailored to startups, addressing both smaller and larger businesses with robust employee scheduling capabilities.
BambooHR provides a user-friendly experience, best for US-based human resources professionals.
Workday is a comprehensive choice for larger businesses needing a suite of applications and robust tools for extensive human resource solutions.
These platforms boast standout features, with many offering a range of applications designed for human resources, time-tracking, and payroll. Depending on individual needs, businesses can find an affordable solution within these Gusto competitors. We hope this guide aids you in selecting the best fit for your organization. If interested, give Sloneek a try for an effective unified platform—no strings attached!
Whether you run a micro-business or a company with teams across borders, choosing a solid solution with affordable pricing and robust options is essential. From project cost estimation to managing job postings and applicant tracking, these tools offer a single payment model or range of prices depending on the business setup. Don’t forget to check the platform’s star rating or aggregated rating for better decision-making
