Gusto vs Workday comparison

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Gusto

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Workday and Gusto are competing in HR and payroll solutions. Gusto's user-friendly design is preferred for smaller organizations, while Workday's integration capabilities favor larger enterprises.

Features: Workday offers robust analytics, extensive integration options, and advanced reporting tools. Gusto provides payroll management, benefits administration, and a seamless interface tailored for ease of use.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Gusto is known for straightforward implementation and responsive customer service, easing onboarding for smaller organizations. Workday, with its complex features, requires detailed deployment, benefiting those needing custom configurations.

Pricing and ROI: Gusto attracts small businesses with lower initial costs and transparent pricing, offering quick ROI via affordable monthly fees. Workday's tiered pricing model and higher upfront costs align with its comprehensive capabilities, yielding potential higher ROI for companies with complex needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Gusto vs. Workday Report (Updated: June 2026).

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Gusto vs. Workday

June 2026

Helped 900,644 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Gusto

Ranking in Benefits Administration

10th

Ranking in Talent Management

13th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Workday

Ranking in Benefits Administration

1st

Ranking in Talent Management

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud HCM (2nd), Talent Acquisition (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Benefits Administration category, the mindshare of Gusto is 1.8%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday is 9.0%, down from 19.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Benefits Administration Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Workday	9.0%
Gusto	1.8%
Other	89.2%

Benefits Administration

Featured Reviews

Phil Strazzulla

Founder at SelectSoftware Reviews

Provides time-saving solutions for small business payrolls

I would say, relative to another payroll solution, running payroll with Gusto probably costs half the price and saves us 5 to 10 hours a month. I would say Gusto is a really good payroll solution for small businesses. Running payroll with Gusto costs half the price and saves us 5 to 10 hours a month. My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. I was not offered a gift card or incentive for this review. I rated Gusto 9 out of 10 because of some customer support issues that kept it from being a 10.

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Eslam Abo Elnaga

Senior people and systems analyst at B_labs & Mylo

Has improved HR process efficiency through intuitive workflows and responsive support

There is something that could be improved in Workday, specifically in the time tracking module. While I am not working on Workday now, I was a regional HRIS working for Egypt, Malta, India, and China. I mention these countries to relate to high population countries and companies. In our company, we use assigned work schedules for our teams. Because we work with the time tracking module, we need to assign shifts. In the manufacturing industry, we might need to change shifts every day or week. Manufacturing teams are huge, approximately 50 to 200 people in one team. If this team has one leader, the leader needs to assign a work schedule for each person individually. While there is mass upload functionality where we can load shifts for all people or specific groups, we need to select multiple people and assign them to a schedule from the interface itself. I have requested this functionality many times. When extracting business processes awaiting actions report, I can select different processes in one box, hit okay, and the report comes up. However, the same functionality does not work for work schedule assigning. If implemented, it would help many people in companies with high populations and big teams.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I appreciated the templates that they offered for new hires and onboarding."

"I think the most value I have gotten from Gusto has been the interface, as it's very simple to use and it's very easy to understand."

"We used QuickBooks before Gusto; we switched because Gusto is much easier, and it also is used for payroll as an HR IT solution with multiple uses."

"Gusto is a really good payroll solution for small businesses."

"I like the payroll part. We also use documents and forms whenever we hire, such as a new hire form for each state, and we like that as well."

"Workday beats them all; in my opinion, they are leaps and bounds above the competition, and part of the reason is that it is built with modern technology and has no legacy coding in it at all."

"The scalability is amazing."

"It helps the users to enroll for the benefits automatically and update their life events without the involvement of HR individuals or back-office staff. It enables a person to take action on their own. It reduces the administrative burden on HR and puts the ownership on the person that is going through the life event, whether it is having a child, taking a leave of absence, or something else. There are easy ways to integrate Workday with your common benefits. At least in the USA, it can be integrated with common benefits providers such as Fidelity, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, etc. It has got a connector that is able to connect with the vendor or the third party to which you are trying to send the eligibility file. It basically allows us to automate or set up the tool, and the integration with the provider is a lot quicker than competing tools. When it comes to reporting on just eligibility and SLSA, it is a lot more user-intuitive. Depending on the purpose of what you are doing, you can grant security rights or roles, for example, you can control whether someone is a benefits administrator doing an independent audit. Workday makes it very easy to do that. It significantly simplifies the reporting process."

"It's intuitive, a very usable tool and it's easy to find the data you're looking for."

"It's easy to set up."

"The solution is stable."

"With Workday being a cloud application and SaaS model, the upgrade process is no more a nightmare; it gets updated overnight."

"Between risk reduction, audit reduction and knowing that in many ways we can stop thinking about HR as an issue to solve, we have seen great value."

More Workday pros

Cons

"The integration is not so good."

"My experience with Gusto's customer support sometimes shows they're not responsive, and they have definitely made mistakes in the past."

"In the beginning, their support was top-notch. And then around the beginning of 2022, and end of 2021, their support tanked. We used to get responses in the beginning within one to two business days, and towards the end, we were getting responses in one to two business weeks."

"Their enrollment e-signature, enrollment forms, and other documents need a lot of work."

"Their enrollment e-signature, enrollment forms, and other documents need a lot of work. Once we fill in the information, we cannot go back and change any of that. It's a time-taking process. If there is any mistake in the document and if we need to go and change a specific field in the form, it's not possible. We have to redo the entire form."

"Workday does not support many Korean language features. So, it will be great if they have some development on the Korean language side – then it will be really powerful in our market."

"It is good that much of the development is based on community input but often that can lead to details being ignored and small, nagging issues are ignored."

"There are other enhancements that go untended that have been languishing for years."

"In addition to the lost data, the solution is slow to pull up information and I am not sure if this is due to the botched implementation or if it is the solution itself."

"It is very unique as compared to other tools in terms of the employee master data and how it is organized. That's why sometimes the information needs to sit in two different systems because, in Workday, it is organized differently. This issue is not related to benefits. It is more or so related to how you categorize employees. I don't think this is a problem that could be solved. Workday is aware of this. It is one of those kinds of situations that you just got to live with."

"In terms of reporting, we have to rely on a consultant to do the report customization. The most important thing is to be able to do your own reporting, which it can't do. We rely so much on our consultant to customize reports for us."

"They could improve the product areas such as enhancing the interview scheduling module to support more flexible online assessments within the platform."

"The solution has some features missing when you put them in the test studio or Confluence Studio. I would like the tool’s coding to be easier to understand and automated. Most of the coding these days is automated. Any query given can pull the answer directly which can make the solution easier to understand."

More Workday cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"You have the license fee per module, and then you have a kind of annual training fee, which is a kind of add-on. I wouldn't say it is exhaustive; it is minor. Licensing is pretty transparent for most of the part."

"With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."

"Workday is moderately priced - I'd rate its pricing three out of five."

"Workday is an expensive solution."

"It is on a yearly basis."

"It has an annual subscription rate, but I'm not sure how it will work."

"By and large, Workday is expensive. It is based on the headcount. I'd probably rate it a three or four out of five in terms of pricing. It'd be like buying a Mercedes or a high-end car. It's expensive, but there's a specific value that you're getting with additional features and things of that nature. Using that metaphor, Workday probably tends to be more of a luxury. There are others like ADP that can do your payroll, your time off, and other things, but they don't do it as well."

"The pricing is good from an HR perspective, although management gets upset after spending $500,000 a year, every year."

More Workday pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

University

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	43

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Gusto?

I wish Gusto's customer support was better for improvements. My experience with Gusto's customer support sometimes shows they're not responsive, and they have definitely made mistakes in the past.

What advice do you have for others considering Gusto?

What is your primary use case for Gusto?

Our main use case for Gusto is for payroll, and we pay our US employees through it. Gusto helps with our payroll process because we use it for tax filings and benefits.

What are the biggest differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud and SAP SuccessFactors?

Differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud,w and SAP SuccessFactors:w Oracle: "simple interface and deep customization to suit the purpose." SAP: Multiple functionalities that increase process effi...

How easy is to maintain Workday, Oracle Cloud, and SuccessFactors?

I implemented Workday in 2024 and without having previous Workday experience, it was very challenging. I spent most of 2025 putting out fires and cleaning up the business processes that came with l...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workday?

If you go with the launch implementation approach, the solution is generally not very expensive. If you want to add more features to your subscription, Workday becomes expensive. The solution is fl...

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Product Reports

Download Gusto product report

Benefits Administration

June 2026

Download Workday product report

May 2026

Also Known As

ZenPayroll

No data available

Overview

Gusto offers comprehensive payroll, benefits, and HR tools designed to simplify business operations for small to medium-sized enterprises. Known for its intuitive platform, Gusto facilitates the seamless management of crucial business functions.

Gusto provides a streamlined platform enabling employers to handle critical HR tasks effectively. It incorporates payroll processing, benefits management, and HR services into a unified interface, making it a valuable asset for businesses looking to optimize workforce administration. Its ease of use is frequently highlighted in reviews, with many users appreciating the reduction in administrative burden. Gusto supports businesses by automating intricate processes, reducing errors, and providing insights through smart reports. With a focus on efficiency and simplicity, Gusto addresses key business administration needs, aiding in maintaining compliance and boosting productivity.

What are Gusto's Most Important Features?

Payroll Processing: Automates pay runs, including taxes, filings, and reporting.
Benefits Management: Easy management of health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
HR Tools: Offers onboarding, time tracking, and organizational insights.
Gusto Wallet: Employee financial tools enhancing payroll experience.

What Benefits or ROI Should Users Look For?

Time Savings: Simplifies and accelerates payroll and benefits tasks.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces overhead through automation and online tools.
Compliance Assurance: Provides updates and guidance on regulatory adherence.
Employee Satisfaction: Facilitates better benefits and payroll management leading to higher morale.

In industries such as tech startups and boutique firms, Gusto's implementation streamlines HR requirements, supporting agile business models. Many have found that it integrates seamlessly, allowing them to focus on core objectives without being bogged down by administrative complexities. Service-oriented and creative industries particularly benefit from its flexible and user-friendly approach, offering the needed adaptability in dynamic environments.

Gusto

Workday provides a cloud-based platform offering robust human capital management features, emphasizing security, user-friendliness, and operational efficiency through workflow automation.

Workday is utilized by organizations for human capital management, supporting everything from employee recruitment to retirement, payroll processing, and performance tracking. It centralizes HR operations to increase efficiency and manage employee data effectively. Its business process framework allows for drag-and-drop functionality, which along with real-time reporting, enriches the user experience. Workday's modules cover talent, compensation, benefits, and learning, enhancing the workforce management approach. Though integration with external systems can be complex, its usability and flexible configuration support adaptability. Users seek enhancements in customization, reporting, interface usability, and speed, particularly in financial, timekeeping, and payroll modules. Expanding automation, API connectors, language support, and introducing country and industry-specific modules would significantly boost its capabilities. Pricing remains a concern among users.

What are Workday's most important features?

Security: Ensures data protection with robust measures.
User-Friendliness: Intuitive design for ease of use.
Centralized Data Management: Consolidates employee information in one platform.
Real-Time Reporting: Delivers up-to-the-minute insights for decision-making.
Workflow Automation: Streamlines processes to reduce manual tasks.

What benefits should be evaluated when considering Workday?

Operational Efficiency: Automation streamlines HR processes and reduces redundancies.
Enhanced Usability: Integrated modules improve user interaction and efficiency.
Scalability: Adaptable configurations meet diverse business requirements.
Integration Capabilities: Connections with other systems bolster functionality.

Workday is implemented in a range of industries, including finance, healthcare, and technology, offering specialized HR management solutions tailored to each sector's unique requirements. These implementations improve workforce management and align HR strategies with organizational goals, showcasing its adaptability across different business landscapes.

Sample Customers

Farmgirl Flowers, Bevel, Pooch Pals, ALL MAVEN

AAA, Allied Global, Avago Technologies Limited, Aviva, Cardinal Health, CareFusion, Chiquita Brands International, Equifax, Flextronics, HP, Life Time Fitness, McKee Foods, MGM Resorts International, Sanofi, ServiceSource International, Symantec, TripAdvisor, Yahoo!