Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll is one of the few payroll comparisons you can do with published numbers, because both list their prices. The short answer: Gusto is cheaper at the bottom and middle if you pay everyone in one state. QuickBooks is cheaper once you add a state, if you need next-day deposit on the cheapest plan, or if you’re buying the top tier. If you already keep your books in QuickBooks Online, both work with it. QuickBooks is the native option, and Gusto syncs a journal entry for each payroll.
Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll: the published prices
Intuit now sells payroll as QuickBooks Workforce, in three tiers. Workforce Payroll costs $50 a month plus $7 per employee, Premium $88 plus $13, and Elite $134 plus $17, according to its pricing page and disclosures. The headline “50% off for 3 months” applies to the base fee only, so we use list prices.
Gusto’s pricing page lists Simple at $49 plus $6 per person, Plus at $80 plus $12, and Premium at $180 plus $22. Setup is free and there’s no contract.
The tiers roughly pair up as Simple with Workforce Payroll, Plus with Premium, and Premium with Elite. The features don’t match exactly, so check the scenarios below.
Gusto payroll vs QuickBooks Payroll: cost at 5, 15 and 40 employees
These are monthly list prices for a single state, before taxes and add-ons. Each figure is the base fee plus headcount times the per-employee fee.
| Tier pair | Employees | Gusto | QuickBooks | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple vs Workforce Payroll | 5 | $49 + 5 × $6 = $79 | $50 + 5 × $7 = $85 | Gusto $6 less |
| 15 | $49 + 15 × $6 = $139 | $50 + 15 × $7 = $155 | Gusto $16 less | |
| 40 | $49 + 40 × $6 = $289 | $50 + 40 × $7 = $330 | Gusto $41 less | |
| Plus vs Premium | 5 | $80 + 5 × $12 = $140 | $88 + 5 × $13 = $153 | Gusto $13 less |
| 15 | $80 + 15 × $12 = $260 | $88 + 15 × $13 = $283 | Gusto $23 less | |
| 40 | $80 + 40 × $12 = $560 | $88 + 40 × $13 = $608 | Gusto $48 less | |
| Premium vs Elite | 5 | $180 + 5 × $22 = $290 | $134 + 5 × $17 = $219 | QuickBooks $71 less |
| 15 | $180 + 15 × $22 = $510 | $134 + 15 × $17 = $389 | QuickBooks $121 less | |
| 40 | $180 + 40 × $22 = $1,060 | $134 + 40 × $17 = $814 | QuickBooks $246 less |
Over a year, at 40 employees, the entry-tier gap is $492 in Gusto’s favor ($41 × 12). The top-tier gap is $2,952 in QuickBooks’ favor ($246 × 12).
In our view, the entry-tier difference is small enough that features should decide it. The top-tier difference is large enough to matter on its own.
Three scenarios that change the answer
You pay employees in a second state
This is the biggest swing in the comparison. Gusto Simple covers payroll in one state only, so one remote hire in another state moves you to Plus. QuickBooks includes one state and charges $12 a month for each additional state on Workforce Payroll and Premium. Its disclosures don’t list that fee for Elite (disclosures).
With two states:
- 5 employees: QuickBooks Workforce Payroll costs $85 + $12 = $97. Gusto Plus costs $140.
- 15 employees: QuickBooks costs $155 + $12 = $167. Gusto costs $260.
- 40 employees: QuickBooks costs $330 + $12 = $342. Gusto costs $560.
To be fair to Gusto, Plus includes time tracking and next-day pay, and Workforce Payroll doesn’t include time tracking. If you’d buy time tracking anyway, the gap narrows. Even so, a multi-state business that only needs payroll pays far less with QuickBooks.
You want next-day direct deposit
QuickBooks includes next-day direct deposit on its cheapest tier, if you run payroll by 5:00 PM (pricing). Gusto charges for it on Simple, at $15 a month plus $3 per person:
- 5 employees: Gusto costs $79 + $15 + $15 = $109, against $85 on QuickBooks.
- 15 employees: Gusto costs $139 + $15 + $45 = $199, against $155.
- 40 employees: Gusto costs $289 + $15 + $120 = $424, against $330.
At 5 people, Gusto Simple with next-day pay ($109) is still cheaper than moving to Plus ($140). For same-day pay, QuickBooks Premium and Elite offer it for employees if you run by 7:00 AM PT. Gusto includes unlimited same-day and instant pay on Premium, subject to eligibility, and charges $90 per payroll for same-day on Simple and Plus.
You need more than payroll
- Time tracking: included in Gusto Plus and QuickBooks Premium (QuickBooks Time Premium).
- Tax penalty protection: QuickBooks Elite reimburses payroll tax penalties and interest up to $25,000 a year. Conditions include keeping automated taxes on and sending Intuit the notice within 15 days of its date (disclosures).
- Benefits: QuickBooks benefits administration requires 20 or more employees. Gusto offers health insurance with no Gusto admin fee, so you pay premiums only (Gusto pricing).
- Contractors: Gusto bills US contractors at the per-person rate only in months they’re paid. Intuit’s disclosures bill contractor direct deposits at the tier rate ($7, $13 or $17). QuickBooks also sells a separate Contractor Payments plan at $25 a month, including 20 contractors, plus $2 for each additional contractor (Intuit). Gusto closed its contractor-only plan to new customers on October 1, 2026.
The QuickBooks Online question
This often decides the choice in practice.
QuickBooks Workforce is sold as part of QuickBooks. The main pricing page leads with payroll-plus-accounting bundles such as Workforce Payroll with Simple Start. It notes that if you already have QuickBooks Online, you can add payroll at any time. You cancel payroll from within QuickBooks settings. We couldn’t confirm a payroll-only purchase without QuickBooks Online accounting, or its price. If you don’t use QBO, ask Intuit for the all-in monthly figure before assuming $50 is the whole bill.
Gusto connects to QuickBooks Online. According to Gusto’s help center, each payroll creates a detailed journal entry in QBO. Gusto pulls your chart of accounts, you map each payroll category to an account, and entries can be grouped by employee, department, job or project. Auto-sync is optional. There are some limits:
- Every Gusto category must be mapped, or syncs fail. New earnings types or deductions need a mapping, or a default mapping.
- Gusto doesn’t support more than one QuickBooks class per journal entry.
- Re-syncing an entry you’ve already reconciled means un-reconciling it first.
Gusto also lists a QuickBooks Desktop integration.
Our view: if your bookkeeper works in QBO every day and you want payroll inside the same login, QuickBooks is simpler. If you use Xero or another ledger, or no accounting software yet, Gusto avoids any question of paying for QuickBooks accounting you don’t need.
Contract fine print and price changes
Both are month-to-month, and neither refunds a partial month.
- Gusto bills the full month if you cancel after the 5th or after running payroll that month, and its fees aren’t prorated (Terms of Service §19). It must give 30 days’ notice of fee changes (§10) (terms). Optional filings after you leave cost $100 for federal forms, $100 per state and $5 per W-2 or 1099.
- QuickBooks cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period with no pro-rated refund. Intuit charges $150 to prepare year-end filings or W-2s after you cancel, and payroll data stays accessible for a year (Intuit help). Its disclosures say pricing is “subject to change without notice”. A June 2026 Intuit Community thread complains about an Elite per-worker increase.
On paper, Gusto’s 30-day notice gives you more warning before a price change.
Complaints on both sides
- Gusto. Reviewers on Capterra and Trustpilot frequently describe slow or scripted support and difficulty escalating. Some say costs rise with headcount. Capterra: 4.6 out of 5 from 4,233 reviews.
- QuickBooks. Capterra reviewers mention long holds, transfers and agents without much payroll-tax knowledge, plus frequent price increases. Some report calculation errors in pre-tax deductions that needed manual correction. Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 from 997 reviews.
In our reading, the support complaints are similar for both, so we don’t treat support as a deciding factor.
If neither price works for a very small team, our free payroll software guide covers what’s actually free and what the cheapest full-service plans cost.
Bottom line
- One state, payroll only, standard deposit timing: Gusto Simple. It’s cheaper at every headcount in our table, by $6 to $41 a month.
- Two or more states, payroll only: QuickBooks Workforce Payroll at $12 per extra state, unless you also want Gusto Plus’s time tracking.
- You’d buy the top tier: QuickBooks Elite costs less than Gusto Premium at every size and adds penalty protection. Gusto Premium’s case is HR guidance and included compliance services.
- Your books are already in QBO and you want one login: QuickBooks. If you want Gusto’s terms, the QBO sync covers the accounting side.
For QuickBooks’ full fee list, see QuickBooks Payroll pricing. If you’re weighing Gusto against a quote-only vendor, see Gusto vs ADP. Before moving mid-year, read switching payroll providers. How we verify prices is on our methodology page.