Gusto vs ADP vs QuickBooks Payroll
An honest side-by-side of price, features, support and ease of use, with a clear verdict for small businesses.
Written guide
Gusto vs ADP vs QuickBooks
Gusto, ADP, or QuickBooks. If you're picking payroll for a small business in 2026, these are the three names you'll keep running into. In this review I'll compare them on price, features, ease of use, and who each one is really built for, so you can pick the right one the first time.
What we'll compare
Here's the plan. First, the price you'll actually pay with a real team size. Then features and ease of use. Then my verdict on who should pick which one. Stick around to the end, because if you go with Gusto there's a hundred-dollar bonus link in the description.
Quick disclosure
Quick disclosure: I run payroll for my own business on Gusto, and the Gusto link in the description is my referral link. I'll stick to published prices and features, and I'll tell you where the others win.
Round 1: Price
Round one: price. All three charge a monthly base fee plus a fee for every person you pay. Here's what each one publishes as of October 2026.
Gusto Simple: $49/mo + $6/person
Gusto starts with the Simple plan at forty-nine dollars a month plus six dollars per person. That already includes full-service payroll, unlimited pay runs, and federal, state, and local tax filings.
Gusto plans
The Plus plan is eighty dollars plus twelve per person, and adds next-day direct deposit and payroll in multiple states. Premium is one eighty plus twenty-two, and adds a named advisor, premium support, and HR guidance.
QuickBooks Workforce
QuickBooks renamed its payroll to QuickBooks Workforce. The entry plan is fifty dollars a month plus seven per person. Premium is eighty-eight plus thirteen, and Elite is one thirty-four plus seventeen. Those are list prices; QuickBooks often runs a discount on the base fee for the first few months.
ADP RUN
ADP is different. ADP RUN, their small business payroll, doesn't publish prices at all. You request a quote, and a sales rep follows up. Reviewers commonly report the starter plan beginning somewhere around seventy-nine dollars a month plus about four per person, but ADP doesn't confirm that, and your quote may be different.
Example: 5 employees
Let's make it real. Say you pay five people. Gusto Simple comes to seventy-nine dollars a month. QuickBooks' entry plan comes to eighty-five. ADP, you'd have to call and find out.
Example: 10 employees
At ten people, Gusto is one hundred nine dollars a month, and QuickBooks is one hundred twenty. Because Gusto charges less per person, the gap gets bigger every time you hire.
Mid-tier, 10 people
Same story one tier up. Gusto Plus for ten people is two hundred dollars a month, versus two eighteen for QuickBooks Premium.
Round 1 winner: Gusto
Round one goes to Gusto. It has the lowest published price of the three, and you can see exactly what you'll pay before you ever talk to anyone.
Round 2: Features
Round two: features. Let's look at what you actually get on the starter plan, because that's where most small businesses begin.
All three handle the basics
The good news: all three cover the basics. They calculate and file your payroll taxes, pay your team by direct deposit, and handle year-end W-2s and new hire reporting.
Gusto: everything on the Pay page
Where Gusto stands out is how much is built in from day one. From the Pay page, you can pay employees and contractors, run an off-cycle payroll for a bonus, or fix a payroll mistake, all on the starter plan.
Payroll on AutoPilot
Gusto also has AutoPilot, so payroll for salaried employees can run on its own every pay day.
Self-onboarding for new hires
Hiring is a big one. In Gusto, you add a person and they get an email to enter their own details, sign their W-4 and I-9, and set up direct deposit. Offer letters are built in too.
Every signed form in one place
Every signed document lands in one place, so when your accountant or the state asks for something, it's two clicks away.
QuickBooks strengths
Now, where QuickBooks wins. If you already keep your books in QuickBooks Online, payroll lives in the same login and drops straight into your accounting. Its Premium plan offers same-day direct deposit, and Elite adds tax penalty protection.
Gusto connects too
That said, Gusto connects to QuickBooks Online and Xero, so using QuickBooks for your books doesn't lock you into QuickBooks for payroll. And if you need same-day pay, Gusto's Premium plan has it too, plus instant pay.
ADP strengths
And where ADP wins. ADP is one of the biggest payroll companies in the world. If you expect to grow into hundreds of employees, or you want a long menu of add-ons like HR outsourcing and insurance services, ADP can scale with you.
The catch with ADP
The catch is that with ADP, a lot of those features are add-ons, priced through your quote. For a business with one to twenty employees, that can mean paying more and spending more time on calls.
Round 2 winner: Gusto
For a small business, round two goes to Gusto: the most included on the starter plan, and the best hiring and onboarding tools of the three.
Round 3: Ease of use
Round three: ease of use. This matters more than people think, because you'll be in this software every single pay period.
One clean menu
Gusto's dashboard is one clean menu: People, Pay, Reports, Taxes, Time, Benefits, Documents, and Money. Even if you've never run payroll before, it's easy to find your way around.
Tax status at a glance
The Taxes page shows which accounts are set up, what's already been filed, and your next deadline, in plain English.
Reports your accountant needs
And the reports your accountant asks for, like the payroll journal, are right there, ready to download.
Signing up
Signing up is easiest with Gusto: you can start online and set things up at your own pace. QuickBooks is also online. ADP usually starts with a quote request and a sales call.
Round 3 winner: Gusto
Round three goes to Gusto as well: the cleanest dashboard and the fastest self-serve setup.
Round 4: The extras
Round four: the extras that matter once you have a real team. Contractors, time tracking, benefits, and mobile apps.
Contractors on every plan
Paying contractors is included on every Gusto plan. Gusto collects their W-9, pays them by direct deposit, and files their 1099s at year end. With the global add-on, you can pay contractors in more than one hundred twenty countries, with no monthly per-contractor fee.
Time tracking: included on Plus
Time tracking and scheduling come included on Gusto Plus. Employees clock in from their phone, and hours sync straight into payroll, so you're not retyping timesheets. On the Simple plan, it's an add-on.
Health insurance & 401(k)
For benefits, Gusto lets you offer health insurance and 401k plans, and the deductions come out of payroll automatically, so there's nothing to calculate by hand.
Mobile apps on every plan
Every Gusto plan includes a mobile app for you and a separate app for your employees. Your team can see their pay stubs and W-2s, and update their own info, without texting you for it.
QuickBooks & ADP extras
To be fair, QuickBooks and ADP offer time tracking, benefits, and contractor payments too. The difference is that on QuickBooks some of it depends on your tier, and on ADP many of these are add-ons that show up in your quote.
Round 4 winner: Gusto
Round four goes to Gusto: contractors on every plan, clear add-on pricing, and apps for you and your team.
Round 5: Year-end & switching
Round five: year-end forms and switching providers. This is where people get nervous, so let's walk through it.
W-2s & 1099s, filed for you
At year end, all three file your W-2s and 1099s for you. With Gusto, your employees and contractors can also download their forms from their own login, so you're not emailing PDFs every January.
Switching to Gusto
Switching to Gusto is low risk. There are no contracts, account setup is free, and you can switch or cancel anytime. If you switch in the middle of the year, setup asks for your earlier payroll totals, so your W-2s still come out right.
Pro tip: when to switch
Pro tip: no matter which provider you pick, the cleanest time to switch is the start of a new quarter, and January first is the easiest of all. It keeps your quarterly tax filings simple.
Just paying yourself?
And if you're a one-person S corp that just needs to pay yourself the right way, Gusto has a Solo plan built for exactly that.
Round 5 winner: Gusto
Round five goes to Gusto: no contracts, free setup, and year-end forms your team can grab themselves.
Round 6: Support
Round six: support. All three offer customer support. Gusto supports every plan, and Premium adds a named advisor and premium account support. QuickBooks adds more expert help on its higher tiers. And ADP is huge, so many owners like having a dedicated rep. Honestly, this round is close to a tie.
Final score
So the final score: Gusto wins five of six rounds, and support is close to a tie.
Who should pick what?
So, who should pick what? Here's my honest verdict.
Pick QuickBooks if…
Pick QuickBooks if you already run everything in QuickBooks Online, you want books and payroll in one login, and paying a bit more per person doesn't bother you.
Pick ADP if…
Pick ADP if you're planning for hundreds of employees, you'd rather work with a sales rep, or you need a big menu of add-on services.
Pick Gusto if…
And pick Gusto if you're a small business with anywhere from one to fifty people, you want clear pricing with no sales calls, and you want payroll, hiring, and taxes in one simple place. For most small businesses, that's Gusto, and it's what I use.
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If you go with Gusto, use the link in the description. You'll get a hundred dollars after you run your first payroll. Terms apply.
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