Payroll and HR That Actually Sync for 100-500 Teams

Sponsored Feature

Gusto: Unified Payroll and HR That Scales With Growing Teams

The Challenge

For companies crossing the 100-employee threshold, payroll and HR administration stops being something a founder can manage in spare moments. The complexity multiplies—multi-state tax compliance, benefits administration across different plans, time tracking that actually syncs with payroll, and onboarding processes that don't require a dedicated coordinator for each new hire. What worked with a handful of employees becomes a liability as headcount grows.

The traditional answer has been to either hire dedicated HR staff earlier than budget allows, outsource to a PEO and surrender some control, or cobble together multiple point solutions that never quite talk to each other. Mid-market companies—those in the 100-500 employee range—often find themselves caught between tools designed for tiny startups and enterprise systems that require six-figure implementations. They need something that handles complexity without creating it.

How Gusto Approaches It

Gusto built its reputation on simplifying payroll for small businesses, but the platform has evolved into what the company calls a "people platform"—a unified system handling payroll, benefits, hiring, onboarding, and compliance from a single interface. The architecture assumes that these functions shouldn't live in separate systems requiring manual reconciliation. When an employee's time tracking data flows directly into payroll calculations, which automatically adjust for their specific tax jurisdictions and benefit deductions, the administrative overhead drops significantly.

The payroll engine handles the technical complexity that trips up growing companies. Multi-state compliance is built into the core product, with Gusto managing tax registrations and filings across jurisdictions. This matters increasingly as remote work spreads teams across state lines. The platform includes unlimited payroll runs and automatic tax filing at every tier—features some competitors charge extra for or gate behind premium plans. For companies running payroll for employees in a dozen states, this removes a genuine operational headache.

Beyond payroll, Gusto consolidates benefits enrollment, workers' compensation, retirement plans, and time-off management. Employees access a self-service portal for pay stubs, benefits selections, and time-off requests, reducing the back-and-forth that consumes HR bandwidth. The recently launched Gusto Money adds embedded financial services—payroll advances for cash flow timing issues, invoicing, and bill pay—recognizing that for many businesses, workforce management and financial management are inseparable concerns.

Integration architecture reflects how mid-market companies actually operate. Gusto connects with major accounting platforms like QuickBooks and Xero, applicant tracking systems like Greenhouse, and productivity tools including Slack and HubSpot. For companies with specific technical requirements, a documented REST API and developer portal enable custom integrations. The mobile applications let managers approve time-off requests or run payroll remotely, while employees can clock in, view paystubs, and access their benefits information from their phones.

Who It's Built For

Gusto's sweet spot is U.S.-based companies that have outgrown manual processes but don't need—or want to pay for—enterprise HR systems designed for organizations with thousands of employees. The platform serves over 400,000 businesses, with particular density in technology, professional services, and service-economy sectors like restaurants and fitness businesses. Companies like Upwork, FreshBooks, and inDinero use the platform, suggesting it handles the needs of growth-stage organizations with distributed workforces.

The signals that a company is ready for Gusto typically include expanding beyond a single state, adding benefits packages that need coordination, or finding that the current payroll solution creates more work than it eliminates. Companies hiring international contractors will find Gusto handles those payments in local currencies, though full international employee payroll isn't yet available—a consideration for companies with substantial non-U.S. workforce needs.

What Customers Are Saying

Review data across platforms shows consistent patterns. Gusto holds a 4.6-star rating on G2 from over 7,200 reviews, with similar scores on Capterra. Users frequently cite the interface as the primary differentiator—one reviewer noted finding Gusto "super user friendly" and described it as a "one-stop shop" for HR needs. The consolidation benefit appears repeatedly: "Nice to have everything all in one, ease of use and value for cost," as one customer put it. Another emphasized the automation value: "Gusto made it so we could almost put our payroll on autopilot. Tax filings, onboarding, benefits—all centralized and automated."

Customer success stories provide specific metrics. Rise Marketing, a staffing agency, used Gusto's multi-state tax registration and contractor payment features to scale operations, citing 125% client growth enabled by the hiring flexibility. Little Fish Accounting leveraged Gusto's People Advisory certification program to expand their service offerings, doubling their client base by offering outsourced payroll and HR support. The critique that surfaces in reviews—limited customization for organizations with highly unusual payroll requirements—is worth noting for companies with complex, non-standard compensation structures.

Getting Started

Gusto's pricing uses a base monthly fee plus per-employee costs, with no long-term contracts required. Entry-tier plans start around $49 monthly plus $6 per employee, while mid-tier options with additional HR features run approximately $80 plus $12 per employee. The company emphasizes low-friction onboarding—no setup fees, no credit card required to try the platform, and a free trial that extends until the first actual payroll run. Implementation is largely self-service, with most companies completing setup in weeks rather than months. Higher-tier plans include more dedicated support and faster response times.

Key Takeaway

Gusto makes sense for mid-market companies that want unified payroll, benefits, and HR administration without the implementation complexity or cost structure of enterprise systems. The platform handles the multi-state compliance and benefits coordination that trip up growing companies, while maintaining the usability that made it popular with smaller organizations. For HR teams spending too much time reconciling systems that should already talk to each other, Gusto offers a genuinely integrated alternative.

Learn more at gusto.com