Gusto Pricing (2026): Plans, Per-Person Fees and What Payroll Really Costs a Startup
Gusto costs $49 a month plus $6 per person on Simple, $80 plus $12 on Plus and $180 plus $22 on Premium, month to month with no contract. Simple only covers payroll in one state, so the day a startup hires its first person in a second state it needs Plus. For a 3-person pre-seed team in one state that is $804 a year; for a 12-person seed team in two states it is $2,688 a year on Plus. Both are small next to what you pay the government: employer payroll taxes for that seed team come to about $114,650 a year. Gusto suits US-only startups that want simple, self-serve payroll. It is a weaker fit if you need to employ people abroad: since May 1, 2026 Gusto refers new customers to Remote for that.
Gusto pricing (2026)
| Plan | Price (monthly / billed yearly) | For / limits |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | $49/mo + $6/mo per person | Run basic payroll in one state: unlimited payrolls, tax filings and payments, basic PTO and holiday pay; Single state only (support.gusto.com: 'Simple covers one state; Plus and above cover multiple states') |
| Plus | $80/mo + $12/mo per person | Multi-state payroll, time tracking and scheduling, unlimited next-day pay, contractor invoice management, workforce cost reports |
| Premium | $180/mo + $22/mo per person | Named advisor (Premium Account Support), HR guidance and tools, Gusto Business Compliance, unlimited same-day and instant pay, project-based costing |
| Solo | $49/mo + $6/mo per person | Owner-only businesses (no W-2 employees besides the owner), S corp self-pay |
| Contractor Only (legacy) | Closed to new customers | |
| Add-on: Global contractor payments | No monthly per-contractor fee; $5 per payment to a US bank account; local-currency payouts 1.5%-2% (or 1%-1.5% per another section of the same article), USD to local bank 0.75%-1.5% min $15 max $100; FX markup built into the rate, not disclosed | support.gusto.com/article/106622337100000; requires at least one US employee on non-contractor plans |
| Add-on: State tax registration | Pricing varies by state | Done via Middesk; price shown in-app before ordering |
| Add-on: Gusto Business Compliance | $85/mo per state, annual contract | Included in Premium |
| Add-on: Next-day pay | $15/mo + $3/mo per person | Simple only; included in Plus and Premium |
| Add-on: Same-day pay | $90 per payroll | Included in Premium |
| Add-on: Instant pay | $100 per payroll | Included in Premium |
| Add-on: Time & Attendance Plus | Free trial, then $6/mo per person | Simple plan |
| Add-on: Priority Support | $30/mo + $3/mo per person | Simple and Plus |
| Add-on: Remote I-9 | $20/submission | Included on Premium |
| Add-on: E-Verify | $5/submission on top of Remote I-9 | Included on Premium |
| Add-on: Health insurance with Gusto as broker | Premiums only, no admin fee | |
| Add-on: Broker integration | $6/mo per eligible employee | |
| Add-on: Workers' compensation | Starting at $14/mo | Through NEXT Insurance |
| Add-on: HSA | $2.50/mo per participant | One $200 annual service charge covers HSA/FSA/DCFSA/commuter |
| Add-on: FSA / Dependent care FSA / Commuter | $4/mo per participant each, $20/mo minimum | |
| Add-on: R&D tax credits | 15% of identified credits | |
| Add-on: Gusto Money Plus | $19/mo | |
| Add-on: International employees (EOR) | New customers since May 1, 2026 are referred to Remote; Gusto help center states 'as low as $599 per employee per month' | support.gusto.com/article/231027160926237 |
Prices verified on gusto.com/product/pricing on October 13, 2026.
Gusto bills monthly for onboarded, active employees "regardless of how often they are paid"; US contractors are billed at the plan's per-person rate only in months you pay them. Upgrades apply at once, downgrades from the first of the next month, and setup is free. Source: gusto.com/product/pricing and Gusto's help center.
What changed, with dates
- Simple rose from $40 to $49 a month in spring 2025 (web archive captures show $40 on February 20, 2025 and $49 on April 10, 2025). The $6 per-person fee did not change.
- Contractor Only is closed. Gusto's October plan notice says that from October 1, 2026 the plan is no longer offered to new customers, who now pay contractors inside Simple, Plus or Premium; existing Contractor Only customers keep their plan. Its plans article now lists it as a legacy plan, no longer offered. The $35 + $6 plan was still on the pricing page on September 10, 2026 and gone by October 5.
- No more Gusto EOR for new customers. Since May 1, 2026, Gusto "refers customers directly to Remote" to employ people outside the US. Existing customers keep the integrated Gusto and Remote setup.
- Premium has a list price ($180 + $22) since August 2024; before that it was "contact us".
What it costs at pre-seed, seed and Series A
Annual software fees for a US-only team, next to the employer costs it carries whichever tool you pick.
| Pre-seed: 3 people, 1 state | Seed: 12 people, 2 states | Series A: 40 people, 2 states | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gusto Simple | $804 | Not allowed (one state only) | Not allowed |
| Gusto Plus | $1,392 | $2,688 | $6,720 |
| Gusto Premium | $2,952 | $5,328 | $12,720 |
| Justworks Payroll | $888 | $1,752 | $4,440 |
| OnPay | $804 | $1,452 | $3,468 |
| Rippling (from) | $1,128 | $3,072 | $9,120 |
| US employer payroll taxes | $26,421 | $114,650 | $431,753 |
| Health cover + workers' comp | $24,942 | $99,768 | $332,560 |
| Gusto fee in runway days (cheapest allowed plan) | 1.4 days | 1.6 days | 1.4 days |
Our payroll cost model, vendor prices read October 13, 2026. Salaries $110K / $120K / $135K; pre-seed all in California, seed 10 California + 2 Texas, Series A 32 California + 8 New York. 2026 Social Security, Medicare, FUTA (California credit reduction at 1.5%) and new-employer state unemployment rates; health = KFF average employer share of single cover ($7,885). Runway assumes $500K / $3M / $12M cash and $10K / $50K / $250K MRR.
Read it this way: the Gusto fee is about a day and a half of runway at every stage, and the plan choice moves that by up to four days. Employer taxes and benefits are 60 to more than 100 times larger. The line that does move runway is hiring abroad. With one person in Germany at pre-seed, an EOR at $599 a month adds $7,188 a year, about 15 days of runway; four people abroad at seed add $28,752, about 25 days. Gusto no longer sells that service to new customers, so you would pay Remote directly. Run your own team through the payroll cost calculator.
What each plan includes (the parts that change cost)
- Simple: unlimited payroll runs, tax filings and payments, basic PTO, in one state only. Next-day pay costs $15/mo + $3 per person extra.
- Plus: multi-state payroll, time tracking and scheduling, unlimited next-day pay, contractor invoice management, workforce cost reports.
- Premium: a named account advisor, HR guidance, Gusto Business Compliance (sold separately at $85/mo per state on an annual contract), unlimited same-day and instant pay, Remote I-9 and E-Verify included.
Add-ons and hidden costs
- Payroll speed: same-day pay $90 per payroll and instant pay $100 per payroll, unless you are on Premium.
- State setup: registering for state tax accounts through Gusto is priced "varies by state" and shown in the app before you order. No ranking page we read puts a number on it.
- Support: Priority Support is $30/mo + $3 per person on Simple and Plus.
- Benefits: health insurance through Gusto as broker has no admin fee; bringing your own broker costs $6 per eligible employee a month.
- Paying people abroad: international contractor payments have no monthly fee but a per-payment fee. Gusto's own help article gives two ranges for local-currency payouts, "1.5%-2%" in one section and "1%-1.5%" with a $15 minimum under $1,000 in another, and says rates include "fees (some shown, some hidden), and any markups". We could not tell which range applies.
Discounts: Gusto's sales team runs a price match for new customers with a competitor quote, as a percentage off for up to one year. Mercury and Ramp both list "3 months free" Gusto perks for their customers.
What buyers complain about
Gusto's Trustpilot score was 1.9 from 2,534 reviews when we read it on October 13, 2026, and the one-star reviews are mostly about tax filings, not price. One US reviewer (October 2, 2026), after payroll taxes were filed incorrectly: "their mistakes have cost me thousands of dollars in penalties, interest, and fees." Another (September 22, 2026): "Gusto policy is to not pay overdue taxes even though Gusto is at fault." Treat it as the failure mode to ask about, not a rate.
Not hands-on tested yet: we have not run a live account on Gusto. Prices and terms come from Gusto's published pricing page and help center, read on October 13, 2026.
Alternatives at a glance
- Justworks Payroll: $50/mo + $8 per employee, multi-state included, so cheaper than Gusto Plus once you are in two states. Its PEO plans are a different product. See Justworks pricing and Gusto vs Justworks.
- Rippling: no price on its pricing page; its own pages say from $8 per user plus a base fee. See Gusto vs Rippling.
- OnPay: $49 + $6 per worker with multi-state included. More in Gusto alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Gusto cost per employee?
$6 a month on Simple, $12 on Plus and $22 on Premium, on top of the $49, $80 or $180 base fee. With the base fee spread over the team, Plus works out to about $19 per person a month at 12 people and $14 at 40.
Does Gusto charge per payroll run?
No. All plans include unlimited payroll runs and you pay for active employees, not runs. Faster runs are the exception: same-day ($90) and instant pay ($100) are charged per payroll below Premium.
Is there a Gusto free trial or free plan?
There is no free plan and no time-limited trial on the pricing page. Account setup is free and there is an interactive demo.
Can Gusto pay international employees?
Not directly for new customers. Since May 1, 2026 Gusto refers them to Remote, which offers Gusto customers "$100 off monthly employer of record plans" for the first year. Gusto's help center still says "as low as $599 per employee per month"; Remote's page has shown both $599 and $699 this year. International contractors can still be paid through Gusto.
Does Gusto charge extra for contractors?
US contractors cost the plan's per-person fee in months you pay them. The Contractor Only plan closed to new customers on October 1, 2026, so a contractor-only company now needs a full plan or another tool.
Related: payroll and EOR costs for startups, SaaS headcount planning and cash runway. If you are planning the hires behind these numbers, the headcount calculator shows what each one does to burn.