Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll: which costs less and fits better

How the two compare

Gusto entry

$49 + $6/personPayroll only

QuickBooks entry

$88 + $6.50/employeeIncludes QuickBooks Online Simple Start

Extra state

Gusto Plus vs +$12/moGusto Simple is single-state

Contractors only

QuickBooks $25/mo for 20Gusto has no contractor-only plan listed

Intuit now sells QuickBooks Payroll as QuickBooks Workforce, and each plan bundles payroll with a QuickBooks Online accounting tier. Gusto sells payroll on its own. That bundling is the main thing to price out: if you already pay for QuickBooks Online, part of the QuickBooks Payroll fee covers software you have. Gusto's help center has an article on integrating Gusto with QuickBooks Online (found in a search on October 17, 2026; we could not read its details), so using both together is an option to ask about. Full fee lists are on our Gusto pricing and QuickBooks Payroll pricing pages.

Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll side by side

From each company's pricing page, terms and help center, read October 16, 2026. Scores follow our scoring method.

Cost for 5, 10 and 25 employees

Adjustments that change the answer:

• Promo pricing. QuickBooks takes 50% off the base fee for 3 months, not the per-employee fee. At 10 employees on Simple Start, year one is 3 x ($44 + $65) = $327 plus 9 x $153 = $1,377, so $1,704. Gusto Simple for the same year is 12 x $109 = $1,308.
• A second state. QuickBooks adds $12 a month per extra state, so 10 employees in two states on Simple Start is $153 + $12 = $165. Gusto needs Plus for a second state: $200. Here QuickBooks is cheaper, but you must enroll in the new state yourself; Gusto offers to register for you.
• Contractors only. QuickBooks Contractor Payments is $25 a month including 20 contractors, then $2 each. Gusto lists no contractor-only plan, so 10 contractors on Simple would cost $49 + (10 x $6) = $109. Our contractor payroll guide compares more options.
• Next-day pay. Gusto Simple charges $15 a month plus $3 per person for it; Plus includes it.

For the employer taxes these fees sit on top of, see payroll cost per employee and the employee cost calculator.

Tax penalty protection: who covers what

• Gusto covers penalties "directly arising from" its failure to remit taxes on time, on every plan. It does not name interest, and you must forward the agency notice at least 30 days before the response date.
• QuickBooks offers Tax Penalty Protection only on Workforce Elite, a plan with no published price. It pays penalties and interest up to $25,000 a year, and you must email the full notice to Intuit within 15 days of the notice date. It excludes the tax itself, errors before your first Elite payroll, misclassification and accounts on billing hold. We found no guarantee on the other QuickBooks plans.

So on the plans most small businesses buy, Gusto's promise is broader. QuickBooks only pulls ahead if you pay for Elite.

Choose Gusto if

• You only need payroll, or you keep your books in software other than QuickBooks.
• You want a tax penalty promise without buying the top tier.
• You hire in new states and want the registrations done for you.
• You want to keep read-only access to old forms after leaving, rather than one year of data.

Choose QuickBooks Payroll if

• You need QuickBooks Online accounting anyway and want payroll posting to the same ledger.
• You pay mostly contractors: $25 a month covers 20.
• You have staff in two or three states and are fine registering each one yourself at $12 a month per extra state.
• You want penalties and interest covered and will pay for Workforce Elite.

Switching between Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll

Either way you carry over employee records, pay rates, deductions, year-to-date pay and tax totals, and your tax account numbers. Your QuickBooks Online books stay put if you move payroll to Gusto; only the payroll subscription ends.

QuickBooks Payroll to Gusto

• Cancel from Settings, Subscriptions and billing. The form cannot be edited once sent, and service ends at the end of the billing period with no prorated refund.
• Keep the bank account open: full-service tax liabilities are paid at cancellation.
• Download W-2s and reports first. Intuit keeps payroll data for one year, but its help page says "W2's require an active subscription," and it charges $150 to prepare year-end forms after you cancel. A QuickBooks Community thread (February 12, 2026) shows owners hunting for W-2s after stopping mid-year.

Gusto to QuickBooks Payroll

• Cancel after your final Gusto payroll and before the 5th of the month to avoid paying a full extra month.
• If Gusto files your final returns, it charges $100 federal, $100 per state and $5 per W-2 or 1099.
• Enroll in each state's electronic services before your first QuickBooks payroll there; Intuit does not do it for you.

Complaints on record

Gusto

• Penalties left to the customer after Gusto tax mistakes (Trustpilot, October 2 and September 22, 2026).
• W-2s and reports held after leaving (September 17, 2026); hard to cancel (June 3, 2026).
• Errors when employees moved states (June 10, 2026).

Source: Gusto on Trustpilot (1.9 from 2,535 reviews; G2 4.6 from 13,492; seen October 16, 2026).

QuickBooks Payroll

• Repeated price increases: one owner's payroll for 15 to 20 employees went from $1,566 in 2022 to $2,210 in 2025, with per-employee charges added from November 2025 (QuickBooks Community, April 2026 reply).
• The worker charge up "OVER 50% per employee" (Community thread, June 25, 2026).
• Desktop users pushed onto subscriptions and priced out (Community thread).

QuickBooks Workforce rates 4.4 from 511 reviews on G2. Its Trustpilot score, 1.1 from 1,550 reviews, covers all Intuit US products, not just payroll (seen October 16, 2026).

Where to go next

Comparing QuickBooks against a bigger provider? Read ADP vs QuickBooks Payroll. If you are leaving Intuit, the QuickBooks Payroll alternatives page prices the options; if you are leaving Gusto, see Gusto alternatives. Other Gusto matchups: OnPay vs Gusto and Gusto vs ADP. Every provider ranked by score: best payroll software.