Last updated: October 2026

Gusto pricing: what you actually pay in 2026

Gusto costs $49 per month plus $6 per employee on the cheapest plan.

That is the Simple plan. It covers single state payroll, automatic tax filing, direct deposit, basic PTO tracking, and employee self service. For a company with five employees, you are looking at $79 per month. For ten employees, $109.

Prices as Gusto published them on 18 September 2026.

The $49 plus $6 number only tells part of the story.

Gusto plans compared

Gusto lists three plans for W2 employees under its Pay My Team tab. The Simple plan at $49 per month plus $6 per employee handles single state payroll. The Plus plan at $80 per month plus $12 per employee adds multi state payroll, next day pay, and time tracking. The Premium plan at $180 per month plus $22 per employee adds a dedicated service advisor, certified HR experts, priority support, and payroll migration.

Read the plan tables rather than the marketing copy. Gusto's product description says the platform can be used compliantly anywhere in the country, and its plan tables say multi state payroll is a Plus and Premium feature. The table is what your account is entitled to.

Contractor Only, and the promotional rate on it

Gusto lists Contractor Only at $35 per month plus $6 per contractor. A promotion on its pricing page, read on 18 September 2026, gives a discounted base price of $0 per month for the first six months, with terms applying. The $6 per contractor fee is not discounted. Gusto describes the plan as being for contractor only businesses who have not hired W2 employees yet, and lists domestic contractor payments, four day pay, and Form 1099 creation and filings as the features.

Treat the $0 as a rate that expires. Gusto's own pricing page states the discounted base price runs for the first six months, so the number to plan around from month seven is the $35 list price plus $6 per contractor. One further constraint sits in a footnote on the add on page: every add on except global contractor payments is unavailable on Contractor Only.

The Solo plan sits on a separate tab

Gusto lists a fifth plan, Solo, under a Pay Myself tab rather than alongside the other four. Solo is $49 per month plus $6 per person, the same headline rate as Simple. The difference is the feature set rather than the price.

Gusto describes it as being for solopreneurs needing payroll, S corp compliance support, and the option to pay contractors. The published S corp features are compliant self pay with automatic tax filing, a reasonable salary calculator, and S corp election and compliance. The solopreneur platform adds a Solo 401(k), health benefits, bill pay and invoicing, and contractor payments. A solopreneur paying only themselves is at $55 per month.

The upgrade trigger that changes your bill

You move from Simple to Plus the moment you hire someone in a second state, because Gusto's plan tables put multi state payroll on Plus and Premium. That one hire takes your per employee cost from $6 to $12 and your base fee from $49 to $80, a difference of $31.

Work the arithmetic at 15 employees. Simple is $49 plus 15 at $6, which is $139. Plus for 16 people is $80 plus 16 at $12, which is $272. The difference is $133 against a starting bill of $139, so the increase is 96%. Both inputs are Gusto's published rates and the subtraction is one any reader can repeat.

Next day pay moves with the same upgrade. It is a standard feature on Plus and Premium, and on Simple it is a paid add on at $15 per month plus $3 per person.

What the add ons cost

Gusto publishes a price for most of its add ons, which is unusual enough to be worth using. The pay speed options are Next Day pay at $15 per month plus $3 per person on Simple, Same Day pay at $90 per payroll, and Instant pay at $100 per payroll.

On the people side, Time and Attendance Plus is a free trial and then $6 per month per person, available with Simple and included on Plus and Premium. Performance is $3 per month per person on the same footing. Priority Support is $30 per month plus $3 per person and is available on Simple and Plus, included on Premium. HR Resources is $50 per month plus $5 per person, also Simple and Plus. Priority Support and Performance both carry a $3 per person component and they are separate products, so read the line items rather than assuming one covers the other.

Benefits administration is priced per participant. An HSA is $2.50 per month per participant with no minimum. An FSA, a dependent care FSA, and commuter benefits are each $4 per month per participant with a $20 per month minimum. One $200 annual service charge covers all four of those account types together rather than each separately.

The rest of the published list: health insurance broker integration at $6 per month per eligible employee, workers compensation starting at $14 per month, Gusto Money Plus at $19 per month, global contractor payments at $5 per payment to US bank accounts with no monthly per contractor fee across more than 120 countries, and R and D tax credits at 15% of the credits identified.

Two add ons carry no published number. State tax registration is listed as pricing varies by state, and 401(k) as pricing varies by 401(k) integration. Ask for both in writing before you sign, because they are the two that scale with how many states and plans you run. Gusto also notes that Premium customers may receive discounts and waived fees on add ons, without publishing what those are worth.

Total cost at 5, 15, and 50 employees

A company with 5 employees on the Simple plan pays $49 plus $30, totaling $79 per month or $948 per year. Add Time and Attendance Plus at $6 per person and the monthly figure becomes $109, or $1,308 a year.

A company with 15 employees on the Plus plan pays $80 plus $180, totaling $260 per month or $3,120 per year. Time tracking is already included at that tier. Add health insurance broker integration at $6 per employee and your monthly cost rises to $350, or $4,200 annually. Broker integration is included at no extra cost on Premium.

At 50 employees, Plus runs $80 plus $600, totaling $680 per month or $8,160 per year. Premium runs $180 plus $1,100, totaling $1,280 per month or $15,360 per year. The per person fee does not taper. Employee number 50 costs the same $12 per month as employee number 1, so the line is straight and you can extend it yourself.

Gusto publishes no headcount cap on any plan and no public enterprise tier. ADP publishes no rate at all at the same employee count. The ADP pricing breakdown covers what you can and cannot establish before a quote.

What is included at no extra charge

Setup is free, and Gusto states that no fees are charged until your first payroll runs. Billing is month to month with no long term contract and you can cancel at any time. Payroll runs are unlimited rather than metered.

W2 and 1099 filing is included on every plan along with year end filings, and employees keep lifetime access to their W2s after they leave. Health, dental and vision administration is free once a plan is selected, so you pay the premiums and no Gusto administration fee on top. Support runs by phone, email and chat Monday through Friday, with the Help Center available at any hour.

US contractors are billed at your plan's per person rate and only in the months you actually pay them, which matters if your contractor count moves around.

Is Gusto worth the price?

Gusto is unusual among payroll platforms in publishing a rate you can check before you speak to anyone.

The tradeoff is that the published simplicity thins out as you add requirements. Every tier boundary is also an add on boundary, so the honest way to price Gusto is to list the features you need, mark which tier includes each one, and price the add ons for the gaps.

Read the full Gusto review for the feature detail, or start with Gusto alternatives if you have already decided to switch.

Frequently asked questions

This is not legal or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional for your specific situation.