Gusto
Self-serve payroll, benefits, and HR platform for small businesses, with published per-tier pricing and an embedded payroll API.
Last verified:
Gusto is a people platform built for small and growing businesses that combines payroll, benefits administration, and HR tools in a single self-serve product. Founded in 2011 (originally as ZenPayroll) and headquartered in San Francisco, Gusto has grown to serve more than 500,000 businesses and reached a $9.3B valuation by mid-2025. Beyond its core SMB product, Gusto offers Gusto Embedded, a developer-facing payroll API with self-serve sandbox access, official SDKs in multiple languages, and a beta MCP server for AI coding assistants.
Pricing
| Tier | Price | Key features |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | $6/monthly | Single-state payroll, Unlimited payroll runs, Federal & state tax filings, Basic PTO tracking |
| Plus | $12/monthly | Multi-state payroll, Next-day direct deposit, Time tracking, Everything in Simple |
| Premium | $22/monthly | Dedicated Service Advisor, Certified HR experts, Performance & compensation management, Custom reports, Priority support |
| Pay Myself (Contractor Only) | $6/monthly | Domestic contractor payments, 4-day pay, 1099 filing |
Source: https://gusto.com/product/pricing
Agent-readiness
- Discoverability
- 80/100
- Machine-readable content
- 85/100
- Programmatic access
- 85/100
- MCP / agent support
- 75/100
- Self-serve transactability
- 85/100
- Transparency
- 75/100
Security & compliance
- SSO / SAML
- Not publicly documented
- Encryption at rest
- Yes
- Encryption in transit
- Yes
- Audit log
- Not publicly documented
- Pentest report
- Not publicly documented
"Not publicly documented" means Crail found no public evidence either way — not a confirmed absence. See our methodology. Trust center: https://gusto.com/security.
FAQ
Does Gusto have a free tier?
No — Gusto does not offer a free tier as of 2026-07-26.
Can you buy Gusto without talking to sales?
Yes, Gusto can be purchased self-serve without a sales call.
Does Gusto have an official MCP (Model Context Protocol) server?
Yes, Gusto publishes an official MCP server (https://docs.gusto.com/embedded-payroll/docs/dev-assistant-mcp).
What compliance certifications does Gusto hold?
Gusto holds: SOC 1, SOC 2, HIPAA.
Reviews
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Methodology & disclosure
Data verified via agent crawled, last checked 2026-07-26. Agent-readiness methodology version crail-ar-v0.1. No vendor payment influences these scores — see our methodology page.