Gusto pricing by plan: Gusto's price page, Sep 2026
Simple, at $109 a month for 10 people, is the cheapest Gusto plan for a single-state W-2 team. Plus, at $200, is the entry price for multi-state payroll.
Gusto’s published pricing page, checked 28 September 2026, lists four plans for paying a team. For 10 people, the monthly bill runs from $60 on Contractor Only during its promotion to $400 on Premium.1 Simple costs $49 a month plus $6 per person, or $109 for 10. Plus costs $80 plus $12 per person, or $200. Premium costs $180 plus $22 per person, or $400.1 All figures are US dollars as Gusto lists them.
The per-person fee does most of the work. At 10 people it’s more than half of every plan’s monthly bill.
TL;DR
- A 10-employee business in one state pays $109 a month on Simple, the cheapest Gusto plan that runs W-2 payroll.
- Staff in a second state rule Simple out. Plus, at $200 for 10, is the entry price for multi-state payroll.
- Premium’s extra $200 over Plus pays for itself when a 10-person team would otherwise buy priority support, broker integration and at least one same-day payroll a month.
- Contractor Only drops its $35 base fee to $0 for the first six months. The $6 per-contractor fee stays, so 10 contractors cost $60, then $95.
- Buying Plus-level features as add-ons on Simple costs more than Plus: $214 against $200 for 10.
How this ranking was built
The ranking uses one source: the Pay My Team tab of Gusto’s pricing page at gusto.com/product/pricing, captured on 28 September 2026 at 15:21 AEST. The method follows our published research standard.
- Fields: each plan’s listed base fee (“/mo”) and per-person fee (“per person”), in US dollars per month, exactly as shown.
- Ranked value: monthly cost for 10 people, calculated as base fee plus 10 times the per-person fee.
- Inclusion: every plan on the Pay My Team tab. That gives four plans: Contractor Only, Simple, Plus and Premium.
- Split: Contractor Only appears twice, once at its promotional base fee and once at its standard base fee. Four plans become five rows.
- Exclusions: add-ons, which the page prices separately, and the Gusto Solo plan on the separate Pay Myself tab, which the capture didn’t price.
- Tax: the page shows no tax line. The figures are list prices, not quotes.
| Rank | Plan | Base fee (USD/mo) | Per-person fee (USD/mo) | Monthly cost for 10 people (USD) | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Contractor Only, first 6 months | 0 | 6 | 60 | Businesses with no W-2 employees |
| 2 | Contractor Only, standard | 35 | 6 | 95 | Businesses with no W-2 employees |
| 3 | Simple | 49 | 6 | 109 | Single-state payroll |
| 4 | Plus | 80 | 12 | 200 | Multi-state payroll |
| 5 | Premium | 180 | 22 | 400 | Multi-state payroll with dedicated support |
What does each Gusto plan add?
Each Gusto plan adds a layer to the one below it: Simple adds W-2 payroll to contractor payments, Plus adds multi-state payroll and faster pay, and Premium adds dedicated human support and same-day pay.1 The base fee rises from $0 or $35 to $180, and the per-person fee from $6 to $22.1
Contractor Only is “for contractor-only businesses who haven’t hired W-2 employees yet.” Its listed features are domestic contractor payments, 4 day pay and Form 1099 creation and filings.1
Simple is for “single-state payroll, reports and basic support.” It includes unlimited payrolls per month, tax filings and payments, basic PTO policies and holiday pay, payroll approvals, Payroll on AutoPilot®, multiple pay rates and schedules, and domestic contractor payments. Expenses and reimbursements come as an add-on.1
Plus adds multi-state payroll, next-day pay and time tracking. The comparison table also gives it expenses and reimbursements, workforce cost reports and unlimited custom earning types.1
Premium adds a Dedicated Service Advisor, access to certified HR experts, performance and compensation management, custom reports, priority support, and payroll migration and account setup. The comparison table adds unlimited custom admin roles, same-day pay and instant pay.1
Support is where the plans split most sharply. Simple and Plus get Basic Support: 24/7 access to the online Help Center, plus phone or chat during business hours. Premium gets Priority Support and a Dedicated Service Advisor.1
What does Gusto cost for a team of 10?
A 10-person team pays $109 a month on Simple, $200 on Plus and $400 on Premium at Gusto’s listed prices.1 Over 12 months that’s $1,308, $2,400 and $4,800. Spread across the team, it works out at $10.90, $20 and $40 per person per month.
The per-person fee sets the slope. Each extra person adds $6 on Simple, $12 on Plus and $22 on Premium.1 Because Plus carries both the higher base and the higher per-person fee, Simple never becomes the dearer plan as a team grows. The gap between them widens by $6 with every hire.
Gusto charges only for active employees, and the monthly price rises as people are added.1 US contractors are billed at the plan’s per-person fee, but only in months when they’re paid.1 A team of eight employees and two contractors paid in the same month therefore costs the same as a team of 10 employees. In a month when the contractors aren’t paid, it costs the eight-person price: $97 on Simple.
How does the contractor-only promotion work?
Gusto’s contractor-only promotion cuts the Contractor Only base fee from $35 a month to $0 for the first six months, while the $6 per-person fee stays in place.1 The pricing page marks it “LIMITED TIME OFFER” and its footnote reads: “Get a discounted base price of $0/mo for the first 6 months.”1
For 10 contractors, that’s $60 a month for six months and $95 a month after. The first year costs $930, against $1,140 at the standard price. The whole saving is the waived base fee: six months at $35, or $210.
The plan’s limits matter more than the discount. The page says Contractor Only doesn’t include “Back-up withholding or other contractor withholding required by state agencies”. It also excludes plan add-ons, apart from global contractor payments.1 It suits businesses that haven’t hired W-2 employees yet, so the first W-2 hire means moving to Simple or above.
The footnote links to separate promotional terms that set the offer’s conditions. Confirm the current terms before signing up.
Which add-ons change the monthly bill?
Most Gusto add-ons are priced per person or per payroll, so they scale with the team the way the plans do.1 For a 10-person team on the plans where each is offered:
| Add-on | Listed price | Cost for 10 people | Offered on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Next-day pay | $15/mo + 3/mo per person | $45/mo | Simple (included in Plus and Premium) |
| Time & Attendance Plus | $6/mo per person after a free trial | $60/mo | Simple |
| Priority Support | $30/mo + $3/mo per person | $60/mo | Simple and Plus |
| Performance | $3/mo per person | $30/mo | Simple |
| Health insurance broker integration | $6/mo per eligible employee | $60/mo if all 10 are eligible | Free on Premium |
| Same-day pay | $90 per payroll | $90 per run | Simple and Plus (included in Premium) |
| Instant pay | $100 per payroll | $100 per run | Simple and Plus (included in Premium) |
The next-day pay line reads “$15/mo + 3/mo per person” on the page; the $45 figure reads the 3 as dollars.
Other charges don’t depend on headcount. Gusto Money Plus costs $19 a month on all plans. Workers’ compensation starts at $14 a month. One $200 annual service charge covers HSAs, FSAs, dependent care FSAs and commuter benefits, with per-participant fees on top.1 R&D tax credits cost 15% of the credits identified. State tax registration is priced by state on every plan.1 Health insurance through Gusto as broker carries no administration fee; the business pays only the premiums.1
When does upgrading beat buying add-ons?
Glamdring Research’s arithmetic from Gusto’s listed prices shows that, for a 10-person team, upgrading is cheaper than rebuilding the next plan from add-ons in two common cases.1 Simple plus next-day pay and Time & Attendance Plus costs $214 a month, against $200 for Plus. Plus with priority support, broker integration for 10 eligible employees and one same-day payroll a month costs $410, against $400 for Premium.
Simple to Plus. $109 plus $45 for next-day pay plus $60 for Time & Attendance Plus gives $214. Plus includes next-day pay and lists time tracking, and adds multi-state payroll on top.1 The page doesn’t say that Time & Attendance Plus and the time tracking in Plus are the same feature set, so compare the two feature lists before relying on the $14 difference. Without time tracking, Simple with next-day pay costs $154, and Simple stays cheaper.
Plus to Premium. $200 plus $60 for priority support plus $60 for broker integration gives $320. One same-day payroll at $90 takes it to $410.1 Premium includes all three, along with instant pay, the Dedicated Service Advisor and certified HR experts.1 A team that needs priority support and broker integration but never runs same-day payroll pays $80 less on Plus.
The decision changes with headcount. Broker integration and priority support both carry per-person fees, so the add-on route gets dearer as the team grows. Premium’s per-person fee grows faster too, by $10 a head over Plus. Use the team’s real headcount and payroll calendar to test it.
Why do other published Gusto prices differ?
Other published Gusto prices differ mainly because they drop the per-person fee or ignore the contractor promotion. The base and per-person fees themselves match across the sources checked here.1
G2’s listing, supplied by Gusto, shows Simple “Starting at $49.00 Per Month”, Plus at $80.00 and Premium at $180.00.2 Those are base fees only. For 10 people the real Simple bill is more than double the headline figure.
Gusto’s own buying guide, dated 10 March 2026, lists the same three plans at the same base and per-person fees as the pricing page. It adds that Gusto is “Free until you run your first payroll”.3
The pricing page contradicts itself on Contractor Only. Its plan card shows the $0 promotional base fee, while its own FAQ still quotes the plan “for $35/mo + $6/mo per contractor.”1 Both are correct: one is the promotional price and the other is the standard one.
What the ranking cannot tell you
The ranking shows list prices for plan fees. It doesn’t show the full bill for a real business.
- Add-ons: state tax registration, 401(k) integrations and the expenses add-on on Simple have no fixed listed price.1
- Gusto Solo: the plan for owners paying themselves as an S corp sits on a separate tab and isn’t priced here.1
- Promotion terms: the eligibility rules and end date sit in separate promotional terms that this ranking doesn’t reproduce.
- Tax: the page shows no tax line, so tax treatment isn’t included.
- Negotiated prices: these are list prices. Accountant partners, for example, get separate Gusto pricing.1
Confirm the current price on Gusto’s page before committing. A change to that page, or the end of the contractor-only promotion, is the trigger for this ranking’s next update.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gusto cheaper than ADP?
ADP’s RUN pricing page published no price when captured on 28 September 2026, so there’s no listed ADP figure to compare against Gusto’s $109 for 10 people on Simple.4 Gusto’s own buying guide puts ADP RUN at “around $79/month + $4 per employee”, with custom quotes required. That’s Gusto’s figure for a competitor, not ADP’s published price.3
What is the cheapest payroll software to use?
Among payroll software prices published on vendor pricing pages captured on 28 September 2026, Gusto Simple was the cheapest for 10 US employees at $109 a month.1 Justworks Payroll came next at $50 a month plus $8 per person, or $130.5 PEO plans listed higher per-head prices: Justworks PEO Basic at $79 per employee per month and Deel’s US PEO at $125, or $790 and $1,250 for 10.5,6 Rippling sells on custom quote, and ADP, Paylocity, TriNet and HiBob showed no price on their captured pages.7,4,8,9,10 That comparison covers only those vendors; more comparisons sit in our published research library.
What are the downsides of Gusto payroll?
The main cost-side limits sit in the plan rules. Simple handles payroll in a single state. Simple and Plus include only Basic Support, with phone and chat during business hours. Same-day and instant pay cost $90 and $100 per payroll below Premium.1 Contractor Only excludes back-up withholding required by state agencies.1
Do I have to sign a contract with Gusto?
No. Gusto is month-to-month, account setup is free and a plan can be cancelled at any time.1 Upgrades take effect immediately. Downgrades start at the next billing period, on the first of the month.1
How does Gusto bill for contractors on an employee plan?
US contractors on Simple, Plus or Premium are billed at that plan’s per-person fee, and only in months when they’re paid.1 On Simple, a contractor paid in a given month adds $6 to that month’s bill. Global contractor payments carry no monthly per-contractor fee; Gusto charges a service and foreign exchange fee per payment.1
Sources checked
Company-owned pages establish what a company says. They do not prove a market conclusion. Each source is dated so readers can judge each claim.
