OnPay and Gusto are both powerful, full-service payroll management providers. So how do you choose between them? Their pricing, benefits and reviews all line up similarly, so it really comes down to the exact features your small business requires. Let’s take a closer look at the differences between OnPay vs. Gusto so you can decide which one would work best for your HR team.
Featured Partners
1
OnPay
Yes
Yes
$40 per month + $6 per user
2
SurePayroll
Yes
Yes
$29.99/mo plus $5 per employee
3
Gusto
Yes
Yes
$40 per month plus $6 per user
4
Rippling
Yes
Yes
$35 per month + $8 per user
5
Justworks
Yes
Yes
$50/month + $8/user
OnPay vs. Gusto: At a Glance
Both OnPay and Gusto offer complete HR solutions, but we’ll focus strictly on payroll features for this comparison. Their payroll services offer benefits administration and garnishments, making your life much simpler. They also provide multi-state support, forms for both W-2 employees and 1099 contractors and mobile payroll apps.
OnPay lets you complete unlimited monthly pay runs and manages all the tax filings you’ll need come end of year. You can pay your employees with direct deposit, debit card or check depending on their preferences. It’s easy to set different pay schedules or pay rates for individual employees, making it a good choice if you have a complicated pay structure.
With Gusto, you’ll also get automatically filed payroll taxes, as well as robust reporting and a slew of integrations for time tracking, expense management and more. Where Gusto excels is its ability for global payroll, which isn’t something OnPay offers. This makes Gusto a must-have if you employ international employees.
OnPay
Starting price per month
$40 plus $6 per person
Number of integrations
11
Free trial
30 days
$40 plus $6 per person
11
30 days
OnPay is loaded with features at one low price, meaning you don’t have to compare plans or features. You’ll get unlimited monthly pay runs and all your tax filings included at the end of the year—including Form 941 and Form 940. It’s also possible to run custom payroll reports filtered by employee type, location, department and more. And if you manage employees who need to track hours, OnPay integrates with time-tracking software at no cost.
OnPay is also available in all 50 states, optimized for mobile pay runs and includes an employee self-service platform so you can spend less time answering questions.
Learn more: Read our OnPay review.
- One affordable plan
- Time tracking included
- Six levels of permissions
- No global payroll
- Fewer industry-specific tools
- Fewer integrations
Gusto
Starting price per month
$40 plus $6 per person
Number of integrations
191
Free trial
Not available
$40 plus $6 per person
191
Not available
Gusto provides free account setup, and there’s no long-term contract, so you can switch platforms any time you’d like. In addition to filing your taxes for you, Gusto can also help you register in new states for tax purposes. You can also pay employees with different pay rates and schedules, which can come in handy for jobs with overtime or tiered pay structures. We like how Gusto has an autopilot payroll feature that can take over for you if you’re busy with other tasks.
Combined payroll and time-off reports and integrations for accounting, time tracking, expense management and more round out this extremely useful platform.
Learn more: Read our Gusto review.
- Global payroll
- Automated payroll option
- Next-day direct deposit
- No free trial
- Can get expensive
- No time tracking on base plan
How OnPay and Gusto Stack Up
The best way to compare OnPay vs. Gusto is to take a side-by-side look at what each has to offer.
| - | OnPay | Gusto |
|---|---|---|
|
Starting Price Per Month
|
$40 plus $6 per person
|
$40 plus $6 per person
|
|
Time Tracking
|
Yes
|
Only on Plus and Premium plans
|
|
Unlimited Pay Runs
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Mobile Payroll
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
International Payroll
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Industry-Specific Payroll Services
|
Restaurants, farms and agriculture, nonprofits, churches
|
Construction, healthcare, restaurants, trucking, churches, nonprofits, dentists, cannabis-related businesses, hospitality, retail, manufacturing, nanny, law firm, real estate, staffing and recruitment, professional services
|
|
Benefits Integration
|
Health and dental insurance, 401(k), life, vision, disability and more
|
Health and dental insurance, 401(k), life, vision, disability and more
|
|
Payroll Reporting
|
Payroll register, earnings summary, payroll summary, employee summary, PPP loan forgiveness
|
Payroll history, bank transactions, contractor payments, paid time off, tax payments
|
|
Free Tax Filing
|
Federal, local, state
|
Federal, local, state
|
|
Customer Support
|
Phone, live chat, support tickets, help center
|
Phone, live chat, email, help center, learning academy
|
|
Learn More
|
||
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Read Reviews
|
International Payroll
Gusto’s global payroll feature lets you hire employees in over 75 countries. You can pay them in their local currency as well as make sure you’re compliant with all local employment and tax laws.
Unfortunately, OnPay doesn’t have global payroll capabilities. But it does allow you to hire employees in all 50 states.
Industry-Specific Payroll Services
Certain industries have different pay scales and pay laws that can be difficult to track. For example, restaurants hiring tipped employees have to calculate both wages and tip splits. Luckily, both of these solutions can handle a wide variety of professions.
Gusto has the upper hand here, as it has specific solutions for a larger number of industries. However, OnPay offers support for farms and agriculture, which Gusto doesn’t offer. OnPay will even file Form 943 on your behalf, and you’ll only be charged for active workers, not seasonal ones.
Benefits Integration
Both Gusto and OnPay offer a wide range of typical employer benefits. They each act as a broker for most major providers and then automatically deduct premiums from payroll. If you already have a health insurance plan you’d like to keep, Gusto can integrate it into your new payroll system. To simplify things if you’re looking for a quote, OnPay can automatically pull your employee census data.
Payroll Reports
Payroll reports help you stay compliant with local and federal regulations, and luckily, both OnPay and Gusto have good reporting. OnPay’s custom reporting tool lets you curate over 50 data points, or you can use its dozens of pre-built reports to keep things simple. Gusto offers a similar feature that can help you identify hidden tax credits, track workforce costs and even send out employee surveys.
Customer Support
Customer support is pretty similar between the two companies. OnPay is available between 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, while Gusto operates between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. You can reach either through phone, live chat or email/support tickets.
Cost of OnPay vs. Gusto
OnPay keeps things simple with only one plan. You’ll pay $40 plus $6 per person per month. That includes everything we’ve already mentioned. Overall, we’d say OnPay is a better deal compared to Gusto in terms of pricing.
Gusto offers three main plans plus a freelancer plan. Here’s how they stack up:
- Simple plan: Costs $40 plus $6 per person per month. It includes all the basics you’ll need to run payroll, including full-service single-state payroll, reporting and integrations for time tracking and expense management.
- Plus plan: Costs $80 plus $12 per person per month. It adds on multi-state payroll, next-day direct deposit and additional HR tools including performance reviews and hiring tools.
- Premium plan: Has exclusive pricing catered to your organization. With it, you’ll get a dedicated customer success manager, access to certified HR experts and full-service payroll migration and account setup.
- Contractor Only plan, which costs $35 plus $6 per person per month. You can make unlimited contractor payments across all 50 states and send out 1099-NECs at the end of the year, but you don’t get any backup withholding.
Customer Reviews and Reputation
Both Gusto and OnPay have very good reviews from customers. On Trustpilot, they have 2.9 stars and 4.3 stars, respectively. Reviewers on G2 rate them even higher at 4.5 stars and 4.8 stars, respectively.
Overall, customers praise Gusto for being easy to use, having great support and helping their businesses stay compliant. The only downsides some reviewers mentioned are that tax issues can take a while to resolve and the pricing is a bit high.
Customers of OnPay love its great user interface, timely customer service and straightforward pricing. Some drawbacks customers noted were a lack of instructional materials and the lack of automated payroll.
Top OnPay and Gusto Alternatives
Unsurprisingly, OnPay and Gusto top our list of the best payroll services. However, you might not be sold on either one. If that’s the case, consider one of these alternatives to see if it better meets your needs.
| - | Mobile Payroll App | Contractor Payments | Benefits Administration | Starting Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes, extra cost
|
$79 plus $4 per employee
|
|
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
$39 plus $5 per employee
|
|
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes, extra cost
|
$59 per employee
|
OnPay vs. Gusto: Which Is Better for Your Business?
In the battle between OnPay vs. Gusto, both come out on top. They’re highly efficient software that can work well for a variety of businesses. That said, we do have a few recommendations on which company might be better for you.
OnPay is best for:
- Businesses looking for a transparent, affordable solution
- Farm or agriculture businesses who need help with tax filing
- Businesses with a lot of hourly workers or contractors
Gusto is best for:
- Businesses with employees across the globe
- Businesses that want to use automated payroll
- Businesses in a certain niche with specific payment rules
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the main difference between OnPay and Gusto payroll?
OnPay and Gusto are very similar, but the main difference is the number of plans offered. OnPay only has one plan, while Gusto has three separate plans. Also, Gusto includes some additional HR features outside of payroll that OnPay doesn’t.
What are the main advantages of Gusto’s payroll?
Gusto offers global payments, automatic payroll and unlimited payroll runs for no extra charge. It also offers several industry-specific payroll structures to help businesses with more complicated wages.
What are the main advantages of OnPay’s payroll?
OnPay offers unlimited payroll runs and handles all of your tax filings and payments, including Form 941 quarterly and Form 940. It also lets you set six levels of permissions so you can control exactly who sees sensitive payroll and HR data.
