Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll vs ADP RUN: US payroll pricing, tax filing and limits
Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll publish their US payroll prices, while ADP asks every small business to request a quote for RUN Powered by ADP. On the vendors' own pricing pages, checked on November 15, 2026, Gusto Simple starts at $49 per month plus $6 per person, QuickBooks Workforce Payroll is listed at $50 plus $7 per employee, and ADP shows four RUN packages with a "Get Pricing" button and no dollar figures. All three calculate, file and pay payroll taxes on the employer's behalf, so the decision for a US controller or owner usually turns on three narrower points: which plan includes multi-state payroll and faster direct deposit, how per-person fees scale with headcount and contractors, and which extras are billed separately.
The headline prices also hide different structures. Gusto charges per active employee and bills US contractors at the same per-person rate only in months they are paid. QuickBooks prices each Workforce tier with a base fee and a per-employee fee and currently advertises 50% off the base fee for three months. ADP states that RUN uses per-employee pricing, that extra off-cycle runs raise fees, and that W-2 and 1099 forms carry an additional fee.
For an eight-person, single-state company paying employees by standard direct deposit, the list-price arithmetic gives $1,164 a year on Gusto Simple and $1,272 on QuickBooks Workforce Payroll, a gap of $108 before any promotion. Once the business needs next-day pay, multi-state payroll or time tracking, the ranking changes, and the worked example below shows by how much.
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GUSTO, QUICKBOOKS PAYROLL AND ADP RUN PLANS AND US LIST PRICES.
The table collects the plan names and prices exactly as each vendor publishes them. Gusto states that its plans are month-to-month and can be cancelled at any time, that upgrades take effect immediately and that downgrades take effect at the start of the next billing period. QuickBooks lists the three Workforce tiers with their promotional and regular prices. ADP lists the RUN packages for businesses with 1 to 49 employees and states that no long-term contract is required.
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Vendor | Plan | Base per month | Per person per month |
Gusto | Simple | $49 | $6 |
Gusto | Plus | $80 | $12 |
Gusto | Premium | $180 | $22 |
QuickBooks | Workforce Payroll | $50 | $7 |
QuickBooks | Workforce Premium | $88 | $13 |
QuickBooks | Workforce Elite | $134 | $17 |
ADP | RUN Essential, Enhanced, Complete, HR Pro | Quote only | Quote only |
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QuickBooks shows each tier at 50% off the base fee for three months ($25, $44 and $67 per month), with the per-employee fee unchanged during the offer. The footnotes behind that promotion were not visible on the pricing page, so the precise eligibility terms should be confirmed during signup. ADP advertises up to six months of free payroll for businesses that switch before November 26, subject to its own terms and conditions.
Readers who are still choosing an accounting system can compare the general ledger side in our QuickBooks Online vs Xero comparison of AI bookkeeping, plan limits and US pricing, since payroll journal entries flow into whichever ledger the business runs.
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PAYROLL TAX FILING, DIRECT DEPOSIT AND MULTI-STATE SUPPORT BY PLAN.
Every plan in the comparison includes full-service payroll tax handling. Gusto's pricing FAQ says it files federal, state and local payroll tax forms on the customer's behalf. QuickBooks describes all three Workforce tiers as calculating, filing and paying payroll taxes. ADP states that RUN can file federal, state and local payroll taxes with proper authorization. The differences appear in deposit speed, state coverage and year-end forms.
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Feature | Gusto | QuickBooks Workforce | ADP RUN |
Payroll tax filing | All plans | All tiers | All packages, with authorization |
Multi-state payroll | Plus and above | Not stated on pricing page | Multi-jurisdiction payroll in Essential |
Next-day deposit | Plus; add-on on Simple | Workforce Payroll | Not stated |
Same-day deposit | Premium; $90 per payroll add-on otherwise | Premium and Elite | Not stated |
1099 e-filing | Not tied to a plan on pricing page | Unlimited 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC | Extra fee for W-2 and 1099 forms |
Tax penalty protection | Not listed on pricing page | Elite, up to $25,000 a year | Not stated |
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On Gusto, the Simple plan is single-state payroll, and state tax registration is priced by state. Plus adds multi-state payroll and unlimited next-day pay. Simple customers can buy next-day direct deposit as an add-on at $15 per month plus $3 per person, and same-day pay is a $90-per-payroll add-on on Simple and Plus, subject to eligibility criteria. Gusto notes that same-day and instant pay advances are originated by Pathward, N.A. through its partner Clair.
On QuickBooks, Workforce Payroll offers next-day direct deposit when payroll is run by 5:00 PM, and Workforce Premium and Elite offer same-day deposit when payroll is run by 7:00 AM. Workforce Elite adds tax penalty protection that covers IRS penalties and interest up to $25,000 a year, subject to terms. The pricing page does not state multi-state coverage for any tier, so a business with employees in more than one state should confirm it with Intuit before signing up.
On ADP, the Essential Payroll package already lists new-hire reporting, W-2 and 1099 forms, tax filing, a general ledger interface and multi-jurisdiction payroll. The Enhanced package adds State Unemployment Insurance management, a garnishment payment service, job costing, labor law poster compliance and electronic Form I-9. Because ADP also says W-2 and 1099 forms carry an additional fee, the year-end cost of a RUN contract depends on the quote rather than on the package name.
Businesses that pay many independent contractors should collect W-9 data before year-end regardless of provider; our W-9 and 1099 eligibility tracker built in Excel shows one way to organize it.
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AI FEATURES IN GUSTO, QUICKBOOKS WORKFORCE AND RUN POWERED BY ADP.
All three vendors now market AI features inside payroll, with different scopes. QuickBooks lists Intuit Intelligence on every Workforce tier, described as tracking hours, scanning for anomalies and preparing payroll. On the Workforce Premium page, Intuit says the payroll AI collects time and attendance data from employees, spots inconsistencies, texts the administrator updates, and drafts a payroll for review; admins can run payroll by text and employees can submit time by SMS or through the Workforce app. Premium adds an expert review of the payroll setup, and Elite adds an expert who sets up payroll for the customer.
Gusto documents Gus, an AI assistant for employers and employees on the web and in the mobile app. Gusto's help center says Gus answers payroll, benefits, time tracking and employee management questions, gives step-by-step guidance drawn from the help center with links to the source articles, and accepts file and photo uploads in the mobile app. The same page warns that Gus can make mistakes and tells users to read the linked source before acting on anything about pay, taxes or employment law. Gusto also offers a plugin for ChatGPT that can help prepare payrolls, apply bonuses or tips, fix timesheets and flag items blocking a run, with owners required to review and approve anything that affects payroll before it runs.
ADP's RUN product page describes AI-enabled error flagging that highlights potential mistakes before payroll is submitted, and salary benchmarking insights. The packages page lists the ADP Assist virtual assistant, a payroll inspector and smart timesheet import in the Essential package. ADP does not publish further detail on what each AI feature checks.
Across the three vendors, the documented AI features prepare drafts, flag anomalies and answer questions. None of the vendors describes them as replacing the approval of a payroll run, and Gusto states explicitly that owner approval is required before payroll changes take effect.
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WORKED EXAMPLE: ANNUAL PAYROLL SOFTWARE COST AT 8 AND 20 EMPLOYEES.
The example below uses an illustrative company and the published list prices only. Taxes, benefits, background checks and state registration fees are excluded, and ADP is left out of the arithmetic because it does not publish prices. Every figure was computed in Python from the formula base fee plus per-person fee times headcount, multiplied by 12.
Scenario A is a single-state company with 8 employees. Scenario B is the same company two years later with 20 employees in two states, a need for time tracking, and three US contractors who are each paid in 4 months of the year.
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Scenario and plan | Monthly cost | Annual cost |
A: Gusto Simple, 8 employees | $97 | $1,164 |
A: Gusto Simple plus next-day add-on | $136 | $1,632 |
A: Gusto Plus, 8 employees | $176 | $2,112 |
A: QuickBooks Workforce Payroll, 8 employees | $106 | $1,272 |
A: QuickBooks Workforce Premium, 8 employees | $192 | $2,304 |
B: Gusto Plus, 20 employees | $320 | $3,840 |
B: Gusto Plus with 3 contractors | n/a | $3,984 |
B: QuickBooks Workforce Premium, 20 employees | $348 | $4,176 |
B: QuickBooks Workforce Elite, 20 employees | $474 | $5,688 |
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In Scenario A, Gusto Simple is the cheapest plan at list price, but adding next-day deposit to Simple costs $39 a month for 8 people, which takes the annual total to $1,632 and above QuickBooks Workforce Payroll at $1,272, where next-day deposit is included. With the QuickBooks promotion of 50% off the base fee for three months, the first-year cost of Workforce Payroll falls by $75 to $1,197.
In Scenario B, the multi-state requirement rules out Gusto Simple. Gusto Plus costs $3,840 a year for 20 employees, and the three contractors add $144 (3 contractors at $12 for 4 months each), for $3,984. QuickBooks Workforce Premium, which includes time tracking and same-day deposit, comes to $4,176, and Workforce Elite, which adds tax penalty protection and a personal HR advisor, comes to $5,688.
The same calculation in Excel takes one formula per plan. With the base fee in B2, the per-person fee in C2 and headcount in D2:
=(B2+C2*D2)*12To check an AI assistant's version of the comparison, give it the price table and ask for the same output, then compare its totals with the table above:
Using the plan table in A1:C7 (plan, base fee per month, fee per person per month),
build a cost comparison for 8 and for 20 employees. Show monthly and annual cost
per plan, add a column for cost per employee per month, and do not apply any
promotional discount. List every assumption in a separate notes column.The correct results for 8 employees are $12.12 per employee per month on Gusto Simple and $13.25 on QuickBooks Workforce Payroll; for 20 employees they fall to $8.45 and $9.50. An assistant that applies the QuickBooks discount to the per-employee fee, or that charges Gusto contractor fees for all 12 months, will produce higher figures than the published terms support.
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WHAT TO VERIFY BEFORE SWITCHING PAYROLL PROVIDERS.
A switch in the middle of a calendar year means the new provider must carry year-to-date wages and tax deposits for every employee, so the cutover date affects year-end W-2 accuracy more than the monthly fee does. Many finance teams prefer a quarter-start or January 1 cutover for that reason. The following checks come from the gaps in the published pricing pages.
1. Get written confirmation of multi-state coverage on QuickBooks Workforce tiers, since the pricing page does not state it.
2. Ask ADP for an itemized RUN quote that separates the base fee, per-employee fee, W-2 and 1099 fees, and any off-cycle run charges.
3. Read the promotion terms on QuickBooks and ADP before comparing first-year costs, and model the regular price for year two.
4. Price state tax registration on Gusto Simple and the $85-per-month-per-state Business Compliance add-on if the business is expanding into new states.
5. Confirm how each provider posts payroll to the general ledger and which accounting systems it connects with.
The payroll journal itself does not change with the provider. Gross wages, employer taxes, withholdings and benefit deductions still need to reach the right liability accounts, as covered in our explainer on payroll liabilities for salaries, taxes, deductions and employer contributions. Paid time off is a separate accrual question, discussed in PTO accrual under ASC 710 and IAS 19.
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CHOOSING BETWEEN GUSTO, QUICKBOOKS PAYROLL AND ADP RUN IN 2026.
Gusto Simple has the lowest published entry price for a single-state employer that can accept standard direct deposit, and Gusto Plus is the published option for multi-state payroll with next-day pay included. QuickBooks Workforce Payroll costs slightly more at list price but includes next-day deposit, and the Premium and Elite tiers add same-day deposit, broader HR tools and, on Elite, tax penalty protection up to $25,000 a year. Both vendors publish enough detail to model costs in a spreadsheet before talking to sales.
ADP RUN has the broadest package list for businesses with 1 to 49 employees, including SUI management, garnishment payments and job costing from the Enhanced package, but its cost can only be compared once a quote is in hand, and W-2 and 1099 forms are billed separately. QuickBooks multi-state coverage, ADP's AI feature scope and the terms of both promotions are not disclosed on the pages reviewed and should be confirmed in writing before a contract or a mid-year cutover.
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