OnPay vs Gusto: which payroll service fits your team

OnPay vs Gusto at a glance

Entry price

$49 + $6 for bothOnPay Payroll Essentials, Gusto Simple

Second state

OnPay: includedGusto: Plus at $80 + $12/person

To cancel

OnPay: 30 days' written noticeGusto: online, immediate

G2 rating

4.8 vs 4.6419 vs 13,492 reviews, Oct 16, 2026

For a single-state business with no extras, the payroll bill is identical. The choice turns on where your people work, which add-ons you need and how much the exit process matters to you. Read our OnPay review for its full terms and our Gusto pricing breakdown for every Gusto add-on.

Side-by-side comparison

Everything here comes from each company's pricing page, terms of service or help center, read October 16, 2026. Scores follow our scoring method; affiliate status is not part of it.

What each costs for 5, 10 and 25 employees

How to read it:

• One state, payroll only: a tie at every size.
• Two or more states: OnPay stays at $109 for 10 people; Gusto moves to Plus at $200. Even with OnPay's HR and Time Tracking add-on, the closest match to Gusto Plus, OnPay is $170.
• Registration: Gusto's higher price buys state registration help (Middesk, one-time, or $85 per state per month through Business Compliance). OnPay does not say it registers accounts for you.
• Year-end forms: OnPay includes W-2s, 1099s and federal, state and local filings with no add-on cost listed.
• Promos: OnPay's footer links to "Get one month free," with no terms shown. Gusto lists no promotion or free trial for its base plans.

Add the employer taxes with our payroll cost guide or run your state in the employee cost calculator.

Tax guarantee and leaving: the fine print

Tax errors. OnPay's terms (Sec. 2) reimburse penalties caused by its "negligent error or omission" on payroll taxes and set no notice deadline; that promise sits outside the six-month fee cap on its other liability. Gusto's terms (Sec. 11) cover penalties "directly arising from" a failure to remit on time, but you must forward the notice at least 30 days before the agency's response date. Neither names interest for its own errors.

Canceling. OnPay requires 30 days' prior written notice, and one Trustpilot reviewer (June 4, 2026) found no way to cancel online. Its terms do not say how long you keep access to W-2s and reports. Gusto cancels online with immediate effect, bills a full month if you cancel after the 5th or after a payroll, and keeps read-only admin access to forms with no end date stated.

Choose OnPay if

• Your staff work in more than one state and you want one flat rate for all of them.
• You want help moving from your current provider: OnPay lists free data migration and no implementation fees.
• You want HR tools priced as small add-ons rather than a plan upgrade.
• You do not mind giving 30 days' written notice if you leave.

Choose Gusto if

• You want Gusto to open new state tax accounts for you.
• You want to cancel online without a notice period.
• You pay overseas contractors; Gusto offers global contractor payments at $5 per payment.
• You want published support hours: chat and callbacks weekdays 5am to 5pm PT and weekend chat.

Switching between OnPay and Gusto

Both run full-service payroll with the same core data: employee records, pay rates, deductions, year-to-date totals and tax account numbers. Moving that data is routine; the dates and paperwork are where problems start.

• Gusto to OnPay: OnPay offers free data migration. Run your final Gusto payroll, then cancel before the 5th of the month. Download W-2s, payroll registers and tax filings; if Gusto files your final returns it charges $100 federal, $100 per state and $5 per form.
• OnPay to Gusto: send written notice 30 days ahead and keep a copy. Export every report and W-2 before the end date, since OnPay's terms do not promise access afterward. Gusto can register any new states while you set up.

Documented complaints

OnPay

• Corrected W-2s taking about five months (Trustpilot, September 23, 2026), and another reviewer waiting since May 2025 for an amended W-2 (September 2, 2026).
• Ticket replies taking three to four months (August 14, 2026).
• No online cancellation (June 4, 2026).

On the other side, reviewers who switched from ADP (about 70 employees) and from QuickBooks and Gusto praised "no hidden fees or surprises" (May 4 and May 23, 2026). Source: OnPay on Trustpilot, 3.8 from 311 reviews; G2 4.8 from 419 (seen October 16, 2026).

Gusto

• Tax mistakes with penalties left to the customer (Trustpilot, October 2 and September 22, 2026).
• Errors after employees moved states (June 10 and October 6, 2026), the case OnPay's flat multi-state pricing targets.
• W-2s and reports held after leaving (September 17, 2026).

Source: Gusto on Trustpilot, 1.9 from 2,535 reviews; G2 4.6 from 13,492 (seen October 16, 2026). Price rises have pushed Gusto users toward OnPay before: a 2017 Hacker News comment said "Gusto recently doubled their prices so we are looking at OnPay."

More comparisons

Other Gusto matchups: Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll, Gusto vs ADP and Gusto vs Rippling. For a wider list, see Gusto alternatives and best payroll software, ranked by score.

The two-point score gap comes from exit terms and support. OnPay scores higher on tax coverage (15 of 20 against 14), features (12 of 20 against 10) and documented complaints (5 of 10 against 1, helped by a 3.8 Trustpilot score against Gusto's 1.9). Gusto scores higher on contract and exit terms (12 of 15 against 7, because OnPay needs written notice and has no records clause) and support access (9 of 10 against 5, because Gusto publishes its hours). Both score 23 of 25 on price.