Gusto vs OnPay

Pick up to 4 tools and see their free plans, entry prices, platforms and limits in one table. Every fact comes from each vendor's own pages, checked 7 November 2026.

Compared on	Gusto From $49/mo Visit Remove	OnPay From $49/mo Visit Remove
What it is	US payroll, benefits and HR for small businesses	US small-business payroll with a base fee plus a per-worker fee, and add-on HR, time tracking and benefits
Free plan	No	No
Cheapest paid plan	$49/mo (Simple)Gusto pricing	$49/mo (Payroll Essentials)OnPay pricing
What it covers	$49 a month base fee plus $6 a month per person paid; payroll in one state.	Base fee only; add $6 per worker per month. For example, a 10-worker business would pay $49 plus 10 x $6 = $109 a month. The footer of the pricing page says 'Pricing starts at $55 per month', which does not match the $49 base.
Free trial	None stated	A 'Get one month free' link appears on the pricing page; its terms are not shown there
Platforms	Web	Web
Integrations (vendor's figure)	Not stated	Integrations with accounting, 401(k) and HR tools; no partner names or count were readable
Open source	No	No
Good for	US small businesses paying employees and contractors Teams that want payroll, benefits and basic HR from one provider Businesses adding employees in a second state	Small US businesses that want payroll with phone support Franchises and multi-state employers Accounting firms running payroll for clients
Watch out for	Every plan adds a per-person fee on top of the base fee, so cost grows with headcount The Simple plan covers payroll in one state; multi-state payroll starts on Plus Same-day pay ($90 per payroll) and instant pay ($100 per payroll) cost extra below Premium	Priced as a base fee plus a per-worker fee, so cost grows with headcount US payroll only; no international payroll is described Prices for compliance resources and live HR support are not listed
Made by	Gusto, Inc.	OnPay

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

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