Gusto vs Square Payroll

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Our analysts compared Gusto vs Square Payroll based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Payroll Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

Gusto is a web-based payroll system for medium-sized organizations. It handles benefits, compliance, direct deposit, employee self-service, employee management, payment processing and taxes. Using automation, calculators and other administrative and HR modules, users can streamline the entire process of paying employees. It integrates with other technologies to offer expanded services such as accounting, bookkeeping, POS, time tracking and other business operations. In addition to filing taxes, it scans the laws of over 50 states to ensure accurate state and federal payments, helping organizations avoid penalties.
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Based in the cloud, Square Payroll is suited for businesses of all sizes. Integrating with the well-known POS solution from the same company offers features that assist with processing pay, filing taxes, employee self-service and more. The support staff helps users with implementation, whether they need help with their first implementation or simply just assistance migrating data from an old interface. Its capabilities also provide time tracking, invoice creation, appointment scheduling, direct deposit and more.
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$40 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$35 Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

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Product Insights

  • Flexible and Easier to Use: Guides admins through set-up and features a user-friendly interface. Let employees account for unexpected expenses, up to 40% of their paycheck, by automatically taking the amount out of their next check.
  • More Cost-Effective: Take advantage of a one-month free trial before full implementation. Subscribe on a monthly basis or based on a price quote, depending on the business’s needs.
  • Better Compliance: Check for updated tax law ensures that the proper documents are filed on time and follow the most recent legislation. Help users keep in compliance with ACA, ERISA and HIPAA standards. Record tests to comply with nondiscrimination policies from the IRS or benefits programs such as FSAs.
  • Timer Saver: Cut down on busy work and manual data entry to save valuable employee hours in payroll processing and tax filing. Manage and complete administrative work by accessing premade job templates, HR guides, live harassment prevention webinars, fitness tests, handbooks, best practices, manuals and more.
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  • Synchronized Systems: Fully synchronize the payroll solution with other Square systems, including partners that offer timecard solutions. Automatically calculate employee hours to run payroll.
  • Payroll On-The-Go: Run payroll directly from any internet-connected device with the mobile app. Creates a quick and seamless process that gets employees paid expediently, while administers don’t have to spend time tediously inputting data.
  • Affordable Small Businesses Payroll: Offers two pricing models, one of which is specifically designed to meet the needs of businesses that rely on contractors. The monthly subscription fee starts as low as $34 monthly for companies with standard employees. Hire contractors and spend only $5 monthly per contractor or employee.
  • Manageable Processes: Run payroll with only necessary employee information. Customize pay periods while employees can create their accounts, making the setup process quick and straightforward.
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  • Payroll Processing: Automatically calculate employee checks and file taxes while using online faxing, filing and signing technologies.
    • Payroll Reports: Send money out weekly, bi-weekly, twice a month or monthly. Calculate an employee’s gross pay before taxes by simply entering the amount they should receive. Figure out overtime pay for hourly workers whether they have one or multiple pay rates. Leverage other payroll capabilities such as calculating unlimited and off-cycle payrolls, employee reimbursements, bonuses and more.
    • Automated Taxes: Calculate, file and pay all payroll taxes per local and federal legislation through direct deposit. Generate and send 940, 941, 1099, 8974 and W-2 forms for full-time employees and independent contractors. Manage deductions, garnishments and send child support in all states except for South Carolina. Make adjustments, get support and enter claims for the Federal R&D Tax Credit, FLSA minimum wage requirements and the FICA Tip Credit tax.
    • E-Signatures: Sign and file important documents and forms such as W-2’s, 1099s, 940s, 941s and 8974s. Make it easier to get everyone’s ducks in a row, even when separated by thousands of miles.
    • Leave Tracking: Set up and monitor vacation time, time off and sick time. Choose federal holidays or create other holidays for organizations that accommodate different faiths, locations or cultures.
  • Benefits: Make the necessary deductions automatically for medical insurance, 401(K) contributions and more. Give employees dental, medical and vision insurance and help them find the appropriate plan. Provide other benefits such as 529 (college) savings, commuter perks, disability insurance, FSAs, HSAs, life insurance and workers’ compensation.
  • Wallet: Manage banking accounts, emergency funds, paychecks and savings. Create as many as five saving goals, which deduct funds automatically from the correlating spending accounts — transfer funds from savings to spending easily. Put paychecks in different accounts and let workers see checks and the specifics of deductions, hours and taxes. Give access to paystubs, the Wallet app and W-2s.
  • Worker Management: Give workers digital paystubs accessible by the payday email, account or Wallet app. Let employees send money to charities, organize workers into departments and set policies for PTO and sick leave. Customize and assign various permissions to ensure users can access the appropriate content but not sensitive data.
  • Self-Service: Let employees complete tasks like adding dependents, picking out plans and scheduling changes to plans based on personal details. Let them retain access to specific account information after termination to cut down on unnecessary content. Organize reports based on teams or departments and let workers sign essential documents like I-9s and W-4s.
  • New Employees: Report new hires to the government automatically. Send out onboarding papers before new staff members start so they can fill out bank details, contact information and W-4s. Use an onboarding to-do list for tasks like adding employees to the payroll, background checks, filling out an employee’s I-9, setting up benefits and signing forms.
  • Directory: Create an address book of employees with profile pictures and contact information. Give new workers org charts to see where they fit in the organization. Organize fun facts, t-shirt or merch orders, birthdays and communal coffee dates.
  • Calendar Sync: Track deadlines, birthdays and employee anniversaries and sync with other calendars in iCalendar, Google, and Outlook.
  • Integrations: Uses closed APIs. Integrate with platforms like Accelo, Asana, Box, Clover, Dropbox, Expensify, FreshBooks, Github, G Suite, Homebase, Microsoft 365, QuickBooks Online, Receipt Bank, Slack, SpotOn, TSheets, Veryfi, When I Work, Xero, Ximble, Zoom and more. Contact the vendor for custom connections.
  • Reporting and Analytics: Generate and download reports for benefits, payment history, bank transactions, PTO, contract work, tax payments and more
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  • Automatic Payroll: Import employee hours and overtime and calculate salaries to process each pay period automatically. Handles multiple pay rates and does all off-cycle and unlimited bonus runs for no extra charge. Customizes scheduling for payment. Process payroll by 8:00 p.m. PT, so employees get their direct deposit on payday.
  • Employee Self-Service: Have employees create their account, set up direct deposit, fill out necessary forms and even clock in for their shifts. Provide them with 24/7 access to these features to make changes as needed through the mobile app.
  • Tax Filing: Ensure compliance with Square Payroll’s tax functions. Manage W2s and automatically calculates and files tax withholdings, payments, and filings at the local, state and federal level. Supports post-tax deductions and reimbursements. Files federal and state taxes quarterly and files and sends out W-2s and 1099-MISC forms at the end of the year. Includes forms such as form 940, form 941, form 944 and W-3s.
  • Reporting: Provides new hire reports, quarterly reports and sales reports to provide real-time analysis and make more informed decisions about the business. Send reports to key stakeholders.
  • Team Management: Set schedules, track hours, customize access for different groups and provide employee onboarding. Comes in one of two versions, team management and team plus. Team management includes reporting for time cards, time clocks, scheduling for shifts, break tracking and overtime reporting. Team plus has broader functionality such as early break prevention, report for break violations, preventing early clock-ins from break, notes on timecards, many wage rates, unlimited permissions and more.
  • Compliance: Updates automatically to ensure users stay abreast of changes to tax laws and stay in compliance with payment best practices. Save time and money by obeying regulations.
  • Benefits Management: Customize and manage benefits packages while the integrated benefits management functionality enables the system to calculate and make deductions automatically when running payroll. Provides workers’ comp through AP Intego.
  • Integrations: Integrates with QuickBooks Online for users who want to include accounting and can function with any other Square product.
  • Time Tracking: Synchronize Square Payroll with the vendor’s Point of Sale app at no additional cost to allow employees to clock in for their shift directly at the register. Employees can then import timecards, or synchronize with a variety of other popular time tracking systems. Managers can also enter employee hours manually. Tracks sick leave, PTO and overtime. Use customizable user permissions to manage it effectively.
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Product Ranking

#7

among all
Payroll Software

#21

among all
Payroll Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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Square Payroll
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Benefits Management Dashboard And Reporting Expense Management Mobile Capabilities Payroll And Tax Management Platform Capabilities Security And Compliance Time And Attendance Management 95 40 90 54 89 87 80 63 0 25 50 75 100
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 2802 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 1069 reviews
93%
of users recommend this product

Gusto has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 93% when considering 2802 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

93%
of users recommend this product

Square Payroll has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 93% when considering 1069 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.2 (23)
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4.3 (305)
4.4 (23)
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4.66 (571)
4.7 (2474)
4.6 (471)
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4.5 (4)

Awards

Gusto stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Square Payroll stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Easy to Use: Just under 70% of all reviewers found this product easy to use with 10% specifically praising the design.
Great Conflict Resolution: The customer service was noted for being helpful, knowledgeable and excellent at resolving errors.
Helpful Features: Around 40% of reviewers said they appreciated the functionality, particularly praising the tax system, deductions, payroll processing and multiple payment options.
Appropriate Pricing: Over 30% of users felt that the price was well worth the system.
Good for Small Business: This was called a good choice for small businesses in over 10% of reviews.
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Simple UI: Over 90% of users who discussed the ease-of-use were impressed by the system.
Affordable: Reviewers felt the pricing was appropriate and affordable in more than 90% of comments that discussed it.
Efficient Payroll Processing: More than 90% of users who discussed payroll processing felt it worked well.
Highly Recommended: In reviews that discussed recommending the service, over 80% said they’d advise other businesses to use it.
Filing Taxes and Reports: More than 80% of comments that discussed filing taxes and year-end reporting were happy with its capabilities.
Adequate Functionality: Users liked the features and felt they worked well in over 80% of reviews that talked about it.
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Issues with Certain Functionality: While around 40% felt the solution worked well, another 40% reported issues, especially with the time tracking and integration features.
Slow/Pushy Customer Support: Around 10% of users reported negative experiences with customer service. Of them around 50% felt the staff was pushy and trying to upsell them and 50% felt they had to wait too long for answers or couldn't get in touch with them online.
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Limited Customization Options: Over 70% of reviews that talked about customization said the options were inadequate.
No Employee Discounts: Businesses had trouble giving employees discounts in over 70% of comments that discussed it.
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Gusto is a well-reviewed payroll solution which many users enjoy for its good design and easy-to-use features. It’s UI and payroll processing abilities in particular make it a popular choice for automating payroll. Many also feel it handles benefits and PTO well. Some say it's an affordable choice given what it does while others note that it’s on the pricey side. The time tracking features aren’t universally loved. Users are split on the integration abilities with around 10% satisfied and around 10% dissatisfied. All in all, it appears to be a good solution for small and medium-sized businesses looking to streamline their payroll. Keep an eye on the price and, as always, demo extensively before buying.

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Square Payroll is an online payment, time and attendance and POS system. Users like it best because it’s easy to use with an intuitive design that can be adopted quickly. They felt the pricing was fair and were especially pleased with its efficient processing of payment. Many users said they’d recommend it to other businesses similar to their own and were happy with its ability to create and file sales, quarterly and new hire reports. Lastly, they were pleased with its features, specifically its easy sign-in, reporting, time tracking and tax calculating. On the con side, customization options were minimal as it’s a reasonably straightforward system. Many companies that use the solution are restaurants that either want to give employees discounts on food or pay with money from their upcoming paycheck. They were displeased with its inability to allow this. Overall, this solution is excellent for small businesses, especially retail and food service. Larger companies should look elsewhere.

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