Gusto vs Paylocity

A detailed comparison of Gusto and Paylocity. See how they stack up on features, pricing, and user ratings.

At a Glance

Gusto Paylocity
Rating 4.5/5 4.4/5
Starting Price $40/mo N/A
Free Trial No No
Free Plan No No
Features 9 9
Best For SMB Mid-Market

Gusto

Cloud-based payroll and HR platform for small businesses handling payroll processing, benefits administration, time tracking, hiring, and compliance in one system.

Rating 4.5/5
Best for SMB
Free trial No
Free plan No
Visit Gusto →

Paylocity

Cloud HCM and payroll platform for mid-sized organisations with modern social collaboration tools, on-demand pay, expense management, and workforce analytics capabilities.

Rating 4.4/5
Best for Mid-Market
Free trial No
Free plan No
Visit Paylocity →

Feature Comparison

Feature Gusto Paylocity
Workflow Automation
Reporting Dashboard
EEO/OFCCP Compliance
GDPR Compliance
API Access
HRIS Integration
Slack Integration
Zapier Integration
Mobile App

Pricing Comparison

Gusto

Simple $40/mo
Plus $80/mo
Premium Custom

Paylocity

Platform Custom

Integrations

Both tools integrate with

Google Calendar Microsoft 365 Outlook Outlook Calendar Salesforce Slack Zapier

Only Gusto

Gmail Google Workspace QuickBooks Xero

Only Paylocity

Azure AD Microsoft Teams Okta

Pros & Cons

Gusto

Pros

  • +Best-in-class payroll for small businesses
  • +Very easy to set up and use
  • +Transparent, affordable pricing
  • +Excellent employee self-service portal

Cons

  • -Limited to US-based companies (mostly)
  • -HR features less deep than dedicated HRIS tools
  • -Reporting not as robust as enterprise solutions
  • -Not ideal for companies over 200 employees

Paylocity

Pros

  • +Modern HR platform with strong payroll
  • +Community and social features for employees
  • +Good mobile app experience
  • +Data insights and workforce analytics

Cons

  • -Pricing not transparent
  • -Better suited for mid-market than SMB
  • -Some features feel like add-ons rather than core
  • -Implementation timeline can be long

Which Should You Choose?

Choose Gusto if:

  • • Your company is SMB size
  • • Higher user ratings matter to you (4.5 vs 4.4)
  • • Best-in-class payroll for small businesses
Visit Gusto

Choose Paylocity if:

  • • Your company is Mid-Market size
  • • Modern HR platform with strong payroll
Visit Paylocity

How we evaluate tools

Our ratings combine verified user reviews from G2 and Capterra with hands-on feature analysis. Pricing is checked against official sources. We may earn a commission through affiliate links, but this never influences our rankings or recommendations. Read our full methodology.