Payroll + HR · United States

Gusto pricing: what it actually costs per employee at 5, 10, 25 and 50

What the vendor publishes

Setup fee: not stated in the vendor's published documentation (checked 2026-09-27).

Free trial: not stated in the vendor's published documentation (checked 2026-09-27).

Minimum contract: not stated in the vendor's published documentation (checked 2026-09-27).

What that works out at per employee

Vendors quote a per-employee fee and a base fee separately. What you actually pay per employee is both of them divided by your headcount, so the smaller your team, the further the real figure sits above the advertised one. This table is Gusto's published prices put through that division.

Columns are employee counts. Scroll sideways on a phone.

No other adjustment is applied. We do not add estimated tax-filing fees, discounts, or promotional pricing. The full method is at Method.

Where the base fee stops mattering

On Simple, the $49 base fee is 62% of the monthly bill at 5 employees and 14% at 50. That is the whole of why the effective figure falls as a team grows: the fee does not change, the number of people carrying it does.

Who this suits, and who it does not

• If price is the only thing you are deciding on, Gusto is the cheapest published option we hold for payroll + hr in this market at 10 employees.
• If your headcount is under 5, the base fee of $49 dominates the bill. Check the per-employee column at your actual size before comparing anything.
• If you are not ready to decide, wait. Published prices change without notice and the figures here are only as current as 2026-09-27. Confirm on the vendor's own page before you sign.

Where each figure comes from

Every figure above is either a number Gusto publishes or a gap it leaves. Field by field: what we hold, which of the vendor's own pages it was read from, the day it was read, and the vendor's wording where we have it. Nothing in this table comes from a third party, and no blank is filled with an estimate.

Where to check this yourself

Go to Gusto and open its pricing page. Everything above comes from https://gusto.com/pricing, read on 2026-09-27.

Related

• Gusto compared with Paycor
• Gusto compared with Homebase
• Alternatives to Gusto
• Why payroll costs more than the advertised per-employee fee
• Put your own headcount against Gusto in the calculator
• What payroll software costs, and where the money goes
• Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll: $55 against $94.50 at one employee, $39.50 to $89 apart at every size
• Gusto vs OnPay: both $49 + $6, so the $0 gap comes down to multi-state, year-end forms and a free first month
• Gusto vs Patriot Software: no headcount where Gusto is cheaper, $13 to $232 a month apart
• Gusto vs Square Payroll: $14 a month apart at every headcount, $35 apart on contractor plans
• Gusto vs SurePayroll: level at 20 employees ($169 each), Gusto cheaper from 21
• Gusto vs Roll by ADP: $39 + $5 with three months free against $49 + $6, a $507 gap in year one at 10 employees
• Justworks PEO vs Gusto: $79 per employee against $49 + $6, a $681 a month gap at 10 employees
• Deel US Payroll vs Gusto: $29 per employee is below $49 + $6 only at 1 or 2 employees, and the $29 was off the page on 2026-10-03
• Gusto vs ADP RUN: $109 a month at 10 employees on one side, \"Get pricing\" on the other, and the six items a quote has to answer
• Gusto vs Paychex pricing: Paychex Flex publishes no price; the one Paychex-owned figure, SurePayroll at $29 + $7, is below Gusto's $49 + $6 up to 19 employees and meets it at 20
• Gusto vs Rippling pricing: Rippling withdrew its $8 starting price on 2026-09-06; Gusto's three tiers are published, from $55 at 1 employee to $2,380 at 100