Gusto vs Payroll4Free

Two payroll & HR tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Compare	GustoGusto	Payroll4FreePayroll4Free.com
In one line	Payroll, benefits, and onboarding for small teams	Free payroll software for teams of 9 or fewer
Starting price	From $49/mo + $7/person	Free
Six-person team	$91/mo	$0/mo
Plans	Simple $49/mo + $7 per person; Plus $99/mo + $12 per person; Premium $179/mo + $22 per person; no yearly price shown	Free for 9 or fewer people paid no more than once a month (ad-supported); filled-out tax forms incur a small fee; optional Payroll Tax Service and Direct Deposit Service at unpublished prices
Pricing model	Paid	Free
Free trial	—	—
Users	Per person	Up to 9 paid
Both connect to	No shared connections on record.
Also connects to	QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks, Homebase Scheduling, Jobber, Connecteam, Buddy Punch, When I Work +4 more	None in our catalog
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people	Just me · 2–10 people
Available in	US	US
Phone support	Not looked up yet	Every plan
Live chat	Plans not stated	None listed
Support hours	Not published	Not published
Incidents posted	0 incidents posted on Gusto's status page, which covers all Gusto products and regions, in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026. Status page	We found no public status page for Payroll4Free.com.
Capterra score	4.6 / 5 from 4,230 reviews	3.1 / 5 from 13 reviews (few reviews)
Trustpilot score	1.9 / 5 from 2,550 reviews	2.2 / 5 from 8 reviews (few reviews)
Fit: Retail shop	90	58
Fit: Restaurant or café	88	55
Fit: Service business	92	60
Fit: Agency or studio	92	45
Fit: Trades or contractor	85	60
Fit: Online store	85	45
Why people pick it	All 50 states, automatic filings Benefits on the same platform Contractor-only plan at $35/mo	Free for small teams W-2 and 1099 workers
Where it falls short	Multi-state needs the Plus tier Support can be slow at quarter end	You file payroll taxes yourself unless you pay Ads in the software
	Visit Gusto ↗	Visit Payroll4Free ↗

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. How we calculate prices

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