Gusto vs Wave Payroll

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

Compare	GustoGusto	Wave PayrollWave Financial
In one line	Payroll, benefits, and onboarding for small teams	Payroll add-on for Wave accounting users
Starting price	From $49/mo + $7/person	From $40/mo + $6/person
Six-person team	$91/mo	$76/mo
Plans	Simple $49/mo + $7 per person; Plus $99/mo + $12 per person; Premium $179/mo + $22 per person; no yearly price shown	$40/mo + $6 per employee + $6 per contractor paid; tax service in all 50 states; Canada $25 CAD + $6 (not Quebec); does not file 1099s
Pricing model	Paid	Free trial
Free trial	—	30 days
Users	Per person	No minimum
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	Wave
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people	Just me · 2–10 people
Available in	US	US · CA
Phone support	Not looked up yet	None listed
Live chat	Plans not stated	Every plan
Support hours	Not published	Live chat: Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern
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	5 incidents posted on Wave Financial's status page, which covers all Wave Financial products and regions, in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 1 marked major or critical by Wave Financial. Status page
Capterra score	4.6 / 5 from 4,230 reviews	Not listed
Trustpilot score	1.9 / 5 from 2,550 reviews	Not listed
Fit: Retail shop	90	65
Fit: Restaurant or café	88	60
Fit: Service business	92	80
Fit: Agency or studio	92	65
Fit: Trades or contractor	85	72
Fit: Online store	85	50
Why people pick it	All 50 states, automatic filings Benefits on the same platform Contractor-only plan at $35/mo	One price in all 50 states Posts straight into Wave accounting
Where it falls short	Multi-state needs the Plus tier Support can be slow at quarter end	$40 base is a lot for one or two people Does not file 1099s for you
	Visit Gusto ↗	Visit Wave Payroll ↗

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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