Employ
RecruitGusto vs Justworks
The world of work has changed in the post-pandemic era. Many people have realized that they don’t need to come into the office to work and are demanding remote or at least hybrid working conditions.
Employers may actually save costs by letting employees work remotely but also worry about monitoring productivity and quality of output. Teams are becoming increasingly spread out across different states and even all over the world, and this introduces new challenges to HR departments that are tasked with managing workers internationally.
Luckily, however, there are an increasing number of tools out there to help make this possible, and in this review, we’ll be looking at two online management platforms designed to do just that.
What You’ll Discover:
- In-Depth Feature Analysis: A thorough breakdown of the features and usability of both platforms.
- Pricing Comparison: A detailed look at the costs associated with each service to assist with effective budgeting.
- Pros and Cons: Unbiased assessments of the strengths and limitations of Gusto and Justworks.
We’re going to compare two HR service providers, Gusto and Justworks, examining each in detail individually to determine which one is a better choice for different use cases. Our aim is to give you the information you need to make an informed choice about which service provider best meets your organization’s specific needs.
Gusto vs Justworks Overview
Feature | Gusto | Justworks | Explanation |
User Reviews | G2: 4.5/5 Trustradius: 8.4/10 | G2: 4.6/5 Trustradius: 7.1/10 | Gusto’s reviews are very good, while Justworks’ are somewhat mixed. |
Pricing | $399 (India and Philippines) or $599 (other countries) /international employee per month; $35 base fee + $6/ contractor per month | $599/international employee per month; $39/ contractor per month | Both providers are quite up-front about their basic prices, posting them publicly on their websites. |
User-friendliness | Excellent | Excellent | Both Gusto and Justworks have excellent reviews for ease of setup and use. |
Customer Support | 24/5 live chat (and phone support in the US) | 24/7 live chat and phone support | Gusto has live support just 24/5, while Justworks offers live chat or phone support all the time with its EOR and PEO packages. |
Integrations | Excellent | Good | Gusto has integrations with nearly 200 apps. Justworks currently integrates with just eight other apps. |
Data security | Excellent | Excellent | Gusto is HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant. Justworks is compliant with SOC 1&2 controls. |
International hiring (EOR) | Good | Very Good | Gusto helps with hiring employees in nine countries and contractors in 120+. Justworks enables the hiring of employees in 100+ countries and contractors in 40+. |
Recruitment | Good | Good | Gusto doesn’t recruit on its own but integrates with its related Gusto Recruiting job board. Justworks doesn’t perform direct recruiting but does include an ATS. |
Benefits administration | Excellent | Excellent | Both platforms help clients provide extensive benefits like health insurance and pensions for their employees. |
Payroll | Very Good | Very Good | Both providers offer comprehensive payroll services in the US and manage payments for contractors and international employees. |
Gusto Overview
Launched in 2012, Gusto began life as a contractor management solution, helping US companies hire and pay independent contractors across all 50 states. Since that time, it has expanded these services to enable clients to hire contractors internationally in over 120 countries. This provider also offers international employee hiring by partnering with the EOR service Remote. As an Employer of Record, it helps organizations hire full-time employees (FTEs) in countries where they don’t have their own entities. At present, this service is limited to just nine countries. As an EOR, Gusto manages all aspects of HR for its clients’ international employees, ensuring they’re treated in compliance with all applicable local tax and labor regulations.
In the US, Gusto also works as a PEO or Professional Employment Organization. In this capacity, it takes on the responsibility of managing its clients’ employees and performing all related HR functions. These include hiring support and onboarding, payroll, benefits administration, talent management, paid time off (PTO) scheduling, and more. It also files employment taxes on behalf of its clients and manages reporting to state and federal bodies.
Gusto works with partner providers to let employers offer mandatory and optional benefits to their employees. Its benefits packages include health, medical, vision, and dental insurance, worker’s compensation, health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible savings accounts (FSAs), as well as 401(k) retirement savings. Clients can also integrate their existing brokers and plans into the Gusto platform.
Little by little, Gusto has added enough features to its platform that it can be used as a standalone HRMS (human resources management system). This cloud-based online platform automates payroll and tax calculations, administers PTO and benefits, manages performance reviews and team development, and much more. If clients don’t need full PEO or EOR services, they can still use the platform for payroll or benefits admin services independently and at a lower cost.
Gusto Pros and Cons
From its start as a contractor management service, Gusto now offers payroll, benefits, PEO, and EOR services. Its specific advantages and disadvantages are:
- Pros
Extensive administration tools
The Gusto platform is comprehensive and includes time and attendance tracking, payroll entry, PTO management, tax calculation and filing, check and W-2 printing and delivery, and direct deposit management. Gusto offers three tiers of service for its platform with more expensive tiers including more admin tools.
User-friendly interface
Users rate Gusto as easy to set up and administer. Its user interface (UI) is clean and simple and makes it easy for new users to learn how to manage the platform effectively.
Mobile app
Gusto provides a mobile app, Gusto Wallet, for iOS and Android devices. This helps employees to conveniently manage their profiles, edit tax elections, and view their payslips.
Benefits packages
Gusto provides extensive benefits options, including pensions and health, dental, vision, and disability insurance at competitive rates.
- Cons
Limited international hiring
While many EOR providers enable hiring in well over 100 countries, Gusto only supports nine. This is quite limited, even though it enables contractors to be hired in over 120 countries.
Limited support
While other competitors offer 24/7 support, Gusto’s live support is only available 24/5. This means that organizations working on weekends may have to wait for their concerns to be addressed.
Justworks Overview
Justworks was founded in the same year as Gusto, 2012, but began its journey as a PEO in the US. Like Gusto, however, it has grown since then and expanded into a robust and multifaceted HR service provider. It now offers payroll and PEO services in all 50 states but has also expanded its services globally to help clients effectively manage their workforces. As a PEO, Justworks is IRS-certified and holds Employer Services Assurance Corporation (ESAC) accreditation which reflects its high level of compliance and good financial management.
As an EOR, Justworks lets clients hire FTEs in over 100 countries around the world and also manage and pay contractors in over 40. With a network of a few owned entities and many third-party partners, it works to manage hiring and international employment in accordance with the laws of each nation where employees and contractors live. While it doesn’t offer active recruiting services, Justworks provides an applicant tracking system (ATS) to help clients manage their own recruiting functions. It then manages contract preparation, hiring, onboarding, payroll, taxes and deductions, PTO, benefits administration, and offboarding on behalf of its clients.
Clients can also use the Justworks platform just to manage their payroll function with multi-state payroll calculations and tax filings in all 50 states. Justworks maintains compliance with state and federal employment and tax laws to protect its clients from penalties.
Finally, Justworks provides benefits like medical, dental, and vision insurance, mental health coverage, HSAs, FSAs, 401(K) plans, and more. These mandatory and optional benefits allow employers to both stay compliant and sweeten their compensation packages to attract top talent to work for them.
Justworks Pros and Cons
Justworks is a payroll, PEO, and EOR provider offering comprehensive services. The particular advantages and disadvantages of working with this provider include:
- Pros
Extensive administration tools
The Justworks platform includes extensive features like time and attendance tracking, tax calculations, paid time off (PTO), onboarding, offboarding, e-signature collection, payroll management, benefits administration, and many more.
Mobile app
Justworks includes a mobile app for use with iOS and Android devices. This app helps employees access their pay stubs, request paid time off, and view their insurance cards conveniently.
Benefits packages
Justworks offers an extensive range of mandatory and optional benefits packages that are compliant in all 50 states. In addition to the mandatory benefits and social security contributions that Justworks already administers, many benefits can also be added for international employees.
- Cons
Limited integrations
While some competitors offer hundreds of out-of-the-box software integrations, Justworks has just eight to help clients integrate their financial and HR software.
Limited global reach
Many competitors offer EOR hiring in over 150-180 countries and contractor hiring in the same. Justworks is somewhat limited by enabling employee hiring in just over 100 countries and contractor hiring in just over 40.
Head-to-Head Comparison: Gusto vs Justworks Features
We’ve just seen what each provider offers and their individual strengths and weaknesses. It’s time to compare them to see which one might be a better choice for your organization’s different use cases.
Now that we’ve had the chance to examine each provider individually, it’s time to compare them to see where each one shines. We’ll compare them against different criteria to show you which service provider is a better choice for specific uses.
User-friendly platform: It’s a tie
Both of these platforms have clean and simple UIs that are easy to administer. Users rate both as excellent for ease of setup and administration and while Justworks’ ratings are slightly higher, we think it’s too close to call.
Resources: It’s a tie
Gusto offers lots of resources, including various calculators for tax calculation, business planning, and payroll calculation in different states, a useful blog, and research and data publications. Justworks answers back with a blog, e-books and small business guides, global hiring guides, and workplace management videos. We view these resources as quite equal.
Integration with other software: Gusto Wins
Hubspot, Zendesk, Cloudflare, and Dropbox to help smooth workflows. Justworks offers integration with only eight apps. While these include popular software solutions like Quickbooks, Xero, Greenhouse, Lever, and JazzHR, it’s simply not on the same level as Gusto.
International hiring: Justworks Wins
Gusto, through its partner, Remote, offers EOR services in just nine countries. While it offers contractor management services in over 120 countries, this is still very limited for organizations looking to form global teams. With employee hiring in over 100 countries and contractor hiring in over 40, Justworks does better. It also promises more contractor-hire countries in the near future.
PEO Solution: Gusto Wins
With Gusto’s Premium service tier ($135/month + $16.50/person per month), you can get dedicated support from a customer success manager and access to licensed HR experts who help you maintain compliance with state and federal laws.
Justworks charges a lot more for its top-tier PEO Plus service ($109/employee per month) and doesn’t give the same amount of hands-on service.
Employee Benefits: It’s a tie
Both employers provide extensive health and financial benefits options in the US and for international employees. They let clients choose their packages or incorporate their current brokers into their platforms. Both offer various packages for benefits administration within their payroll, PEO, or EOR services.
Payroll Management: It’s a tie
Both platforms help clients manage payroll easily. They focus on US compliance and are highly effective at generating payslips and automatically calculating taxes. Both offer payroll-only packages at a similar price, with time-tracking as an extra add-on.
Our Verdict: Gusto vs Justworks
Rather than attempting to select an overall winner, the goal of this review was to examine the strengths and weaknesses of these two service providers for different uses. We recommend the following for these providers.
When to choose Gusto
Gusto is a comprehensive and highly integratable platform that can act as a small or medium-sized business’s (SMBs) main HRMS. It’s a good choice when the business wants to use a PEO to manage its distributed team in the US or wishes to hire contractors in many countries around the world.
When to choose Justworks
Justworks is an effective PEO and payroll provider for SMBs in the US. It’s also a good choice for organizations that want the flexibility of hiring full-time employees around the world.