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Gusto vs QuickBooks comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Gusto
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (23rd), Talent Management (38th)
QuickBooks
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Billing Software (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Gusto and QuickBooks aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Gusto is designed for Benefits Administration and holds a mindshare of 0.7%, down 0.8% compared to last year.
QuickBooks, on the other hand, focuses on Billing Software, holds 9.5% mindshare, up 6.2% since last year.
Benefits Administration
Billing Software
 

Featured Reviews

Mimi Evans - PeerSpot reviewer
Simple to use solution that offers a lot; gives employees the option to get cash advances
I think it's great that it syncs with QuickBooks Online and any payroll software that syncs with QuickBooks Online is great. My issue with their syncing was that every single account for a deduction went to a liability account, but not a lot of businesses run that way. As of September, they did not have the ability for me to put an employee's deduction for benefits in anything but a liability account; which made it not difficult, but added a manual step to the syncing of the entering of our payroll between Gusto and QuickBooks Online. I would also like for the tech support to be more responsive. Gusto also advertises their health benefits, but they don't do a good job of explaining why it's a better option to go through them. I think there's more communication that could be done on that. I also think that there are some HR benefits that they could be offering to these lower plans, without having to go to the Premium Plan. I think that that's something that they should consider in the future.
Dana Bakker - PeerSpot reviewer
Though the solution has great reporting capabilities, search functionality is an area in the product that needs improvement
The search functionality in the solution has shortcomings that can be improved in almost every area of the solution. The improvement of the solution's search functionality, particularly when it comes to the company's expense side where you have a bunch of different invoices from one company, can make it hard for a person to find an invoice that person wants to find because it doesn't necessarily let you filter by a specific amount or by a specific document number. The fact that the product doesn't necessarily allow for filtering is a pain when you want to dive deep into looking for something when you have a lot of invoices. For the size of my organization, QuickBooks is useful for what it does. I don't think any additional features are needed in the solution.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I appreciated the templates that they offered for new hires and onboarding."
"I like the payroll part. We also use documents and forms whenever we hire, such as a new hire form for each state, and we like that as well."
"One of the aspects I appreciate the most is its remarkable user-friendliness."
"Gives me the ability to do deep dives into accounting research."
"There are valuable security features including software access security (login password), data backup (getting all transactions and data from the previous bookkeeper), and an audit trail that is available when changes are questioned."
"QuickBooks Online Payroll offers a range of online customizations and advanced features."
"They have, "Let's walk you through it," introductions, to show you how to use it."
"The most valuable feature of QuickBooks Desktop is its ability to import into QuickBooks Online files easily."
"It is user-friendly, making it accessible for business owners who often handle their own bookkeeping."
"they even thought about different industries, so that if you're in a service industry, if you're in a retail industry, or you're in construction, they have set up some of the initial out-of-the-box setups, so that you have something that looks kind of like your industry. So for me, I'm an accountant consulting. I do not need an Account called "Dental Equipment." It's flexible to fit your industry."
 

Cons

"In the beginning, their support was top-notch. And then around the beginning of 2022, and end of 2021, their support tanked. We used to get responses in the beginning within one to two business days, and towards the end, we were getting responses in one to two business weeks."
"Their enrollment e-signature, enrollment forms, and other documents need a lot of work. Once we fill in the information, we cannot go back and change any of that. It's a time-taking process. If there is any mistake in the document and if we need to go and change a specific field in the form, it's not possible. We have to redo the entire form."
"As of right now, you cannot edit secondary lists in a batch feature."
"The main issue we are facing is related to licensing and the need to review invoices and product-wise details for international clients."
"We would like to have data conversion and upload applications included, without having to pay separately for them."
"While the data protection is commendable, there is room for improvement in the dashboard."
"It would be beneficial to enhance inventory and manufacturing features, as it currently depends on third-party applications like Fishbowl Inventory to address these specific needs."
"In terms of expansion, we stopped using QuickBooks POS at some point because you can’t scale. We couldn’t scale to more than 32 locations when the business grew. The scalability, support and price could be improved."
"The solution's import function can be quite complex and not as smooth. Importing data is a more complex process compared to the straightforward export feature."
"The only concern that I've always had, and it's been a consistent issue that I've heard from others, which is when a file is exported from QuickBooks Desktop and imported into QuickBooks Online, there are accounts that are inactivated or deleted and duplicated. I don't know if it's a bug in the system or what it is, but there's the chart of accounts and the issue is always in the chart of accounts."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Regarding pricing, QuickBooks needs to make its point-of-sale system more affordable to onboard more small businesses. Many retail stores need a retail ERP, and QuickBooks POS is a good option. The pricing is a barrier for some businesses. If QuickBooks offered a more affordable package, it would be easier for businesses to choose QuickBooks POS and get the benefits of a retail ERP. It also gives you discounts."
"They're trying to catch up with more expensive platforms, so they switched to a subscription model, which makes it even more expensive."
"The tool's pricing is extremely reasonable."
"QuickBooks is an amazingly priced solution since it's a very cheap product, making it so good for small organizations since you can get a lot out of it without paying a large amount."
"The pricing is considered reasonable and reflects the value provided, falling neither in the extremely expensive nor very cheap category."
"It is relatively expensive."
"The price point is higher because you are paying for a whole year in advance. They recently moved to subscription pricing."
"When I first started, the only other options were the very expensive programs. QuickBooks Desktop you can find anywhere between $200 and $300 on Amazon or Costco."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Wholesaler/Distributor
8%
Computer Software Company
23%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about QuickBooks Desktop?
One of the aspects I appreciate the most is its remarkable user-friendliness.
What needs improvement with QuickBooks Desktop?
The solution's import function can be quite complex and not as smooth. Importing data is a more complex process compared to the straightforward export feature.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

ZenPayroll
No data available
 

Overview

 

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