Gusto VS BambooHR: Which One Do You Actually Need?

The Fundamental Difference

Gusto was built as a payroll platform and added HR features over time. Payroll is its core strength—automatic tax calculations, filings, and a beautiful employee experience.

BambooHR was built as an HR platform and added payroll later (as an add-on). Core HR, onboarding, and the employee database are its strengths.

This isn't about which is "better"—it's about what your business needs most.

When Gusto Wins

Payroll Excellence

If payroll is your primary pain point, Gusto is the answer. It handles:

• Federal, state, and local tax calculations automatically
• Tax form filing (W-2s, 1099s, quarterly filings)
• Direct deposit with 2-4 day processing
• Contractor payments in the same system
• AutoPilot for fully automated payroll runs

BambooHR has payroll, but it's an add-on that costs extra and isn't as polished as Gusto's core offering.

Benefits Integration

Gusto shines for benefits administration:

• Health, dental, vision through major carriers
• 401(k) via Guideline partnership
• HSA, FSA, commuter benefits
• Workers' comp

Everything flows through one system. Employees enroll, premiums deduct automatically, and you don't chase paperwork.

Smaller Teams (Under 50)

Gusto's pricing works well for small teams. A 20-person company pays about $160/month on the Simple plan. That includes payroll, tax filing, and basic HR.

BambooHR starts making sense around 25+ employees where its HRIS features justify the cost.

When BambooHR Wins

Onboarding & Employee Experience

BambooHR's onboarding is in a different league:

• Pre-boarding before day one (paperwork, welcome messages)
• Automated task assignments for IT, managers, buddies
• New hire portal with videos, org chart, team intros
• Offboarding workflows for departures

Gusto has onboarding, but it's focused on the paperwork (I-9, W-4, direct deposit). BambooHR creates an actual experience.

Applicant Tracking

BambooHR includes a capable ATS:

• Job posting to multiple boards
• Candidate pipeline management
• Interview scheduling
• Offer letters
• Seamless conversion to employee record

Gusto doesn't have real recruiting features. If you're hiring frequently, you'd need a separate ATS with Gusto.

Core HR & Reporting

BambooHR is stronger for:

• Employee database with custom fields
• Org charts (auto-generated, always current)
• PTO policies and tracking
• Performance management (add-on)
• Custom reports and analytics

If you need to answer questions like "What's our headcount by department?" or "Who's been here over 2 years?"—BambooHR makes this easy.

Growing Teams (50-500)

BambooHR scales better for mid-size companies. The per-employee pricing becomes more economical at scale, and the HRIS features become essential as you add HR complexity.

Pricing Deep Dive

Gusto Costs

• Simple: $40/mo base + $6/employee
• Plus: $80/mo base + $12/employee
• Premium: Custom (est. $15-20/employee)

20 employees on Simple: $40 + $120 = $160/month
50 employees on Plus: $80 + $600 = $680/month

BambooHR Costs (Estimated)

BambooHR doesn't publish pricing, which is frustrating. Based on our research:

• Essentials: ~$6-8/employee (core HR only)
• Advantage: ~$8-12/employee (adds ATS, onboarding)
• Payroll add-on: ~$4-6/employee additional

50 employees on Advantage + Payroll: ~$600-900/month

Cost Comparison

At 50 employees, costs are roughly similar. The difference is what you get:

• Gusto $680/mo: Excellent payroll, good benefits, basic HR
• BambooHR $750/mo: Excellent HRIS, good ATS/onboarding, add-on payroll

Can You Use Both?

Yes, and some companies do. BambooHR integrates with Gusto, so you can use:

• BambooHR for HRIS, onboarding, ATS, performance
• Gusto for payroll, benefits, tax filing

This gives you best-in-class for both—but doubles your software cost. Only makes sense if you have budget and genuinely need both platforms' strengths.

The Bottom Line