Voucher / Vendor Tier

Cheapest Gusto plan in 2026

Gusto Simple at $49 base plus $6 per employee is the cheapest published Gusto tier. This page is the honest accounting of what Simple gives you, what it does not, and the single headcount number that forces you onto Gusto Plus whether you wanted to or not.

Quick Answer

Gusto Simple, $49 + $6 per employee, single state only. Includes federal and state tax filing, year-end W-2s and 1099s, direct deposit, and a self-serve employee portal. The upgrade trap is multi-state. If you hire one person in a second state, you are forced to Plus at $80 + $12 per employee, which is the most common reason small businesses overspend on Gusto.

True monthly cost at common headcounts

Numbers below assume single-state employees, no add-on services, no off-cycle runs. Source: the Gusto pricing page as of June 2026. Verify on the vendor pricing page before buying.

Employees	Simple / mo	Simple / yr	Plus / mo (if forced)
1	$55	$660	$92
3	$67	$804	$116
5	$79	$948	$140
10	$109	$1,308	$200
15	$139	$1,668	$260
25	$199	$2,388	$380

The Plus column is what you pay if you trigger the multi-state requirement. The jump is roughly 1.7x to 2x at every headcount, which is the most expensive moment in a Gusto customer's first year.

What you get

Everything Gusto Simple includes at $49 + $6

Gusto Simple is one of the few cheap payroll plans that bundles tax filing and year-end forms into the base price. That is the headline reason small businesses keep landing on it despite cheaper sticker competitors. Here is the unedited inclusion list as of June 2026.

Federal and state tax filing. Federal 941, 940, 944, state unemployment, state income withholding. Gusto files and pays on your behalf.
Year-end W-2 and 1099-NEC. No per-form fee. Year-end forms are part of the monthly fee, not a separate January charge.
Direct deposit. Standard 4-day deposit included. Next-day and same-day deposit require the Plus tier.
Unlimited payroll runs. Off-cycle bonuses, corrections, terminations cost nothing extra.
New-hire reporting. Automatic to the state agency in your home state.
Self-service employee portal. Employees access pay stubs, W-2s, and tax documents.
Workers comp integration. Pay-as-you-go workers comp via NEXT or AP Intego, billed separately by the carrier.
Health benefits broker. Optional integration with health insurance brokers, no Gusto fee for the broker connection itself.

The honest summary is that Simple includes essentially everything a single-state SMB needs to run compliant payroll. The cheapness is real. The trap is what is not in the list, and that list is one item long.

What forces an upgrade

The single rule that pushes you to Gusto Plus

Gusto Simple supports payroll for employees in one state only. The home state of the company is the only state Simple will file in. The moment you have a single employee living and working in a second state, Simple will refuse to run payroll for that person, and the only path forward inside Gusto is the Plus tier at $80 + $12 per employee.

This catches more small businesses than any other Gusto pricing rule. The pattern is almost always the same: an early-stage company hires a remote worker, the worker happens to live across a state line, the founder discovers at first payroll that the bill has roughly doubled. The multi-state requirement is not a feature toggle, it is a tax-filing requirement, because each state has its own unemployment and income withholding registration.

If you know you will hire across state lines, OnPay at $49 + $6 per employee with multi-state included is the cheaper Gusto-alternative path. The pricing is identical to Simple but the multi-state restriction is not there. See the OnPay tier page.

Comparison

Gusto Simple versus the obvious cheaper alternatives

The three providers that consistently show up next to Gusto Simple in cheapest-payroll searches are Patriot, OnPay, and SurePayroll. Here is the head-to-head at the cohort headcount Gusto wins and loses at.

Crossover at 1-2 EE

Patriot Basic + Tax wins

Patriot Basic at $17 + $4 per employee plus the $30 tax-filing add-on is $51 at one employee and $55 at two. Gusto Simple is $55 and $61. Patriot keeps the edge, and Patriot Full Service at $37 + $5 stays cheaper than Gusto Simple from there on.

Tied at 3-5 EE

OnPay matches dollar for dollar

OnPay flat tier at $49 + $6 is the same price as Gusto Simple. OnPay wins on multi-state inclusion. Gusto wins on UX polish and benefits broker integrations.

5+ EE single state

Patriot Full Service wins

Patriot Full Service at $37 + $5 includes tax filing. At 5 employees that is $62 versus Gusto Simple at $79. The $17 a month gap compounds to $204 a year. Patriot's tradeoff is less polished UX and per-form W-2 charges at year-end ($25 per W-2 form set).

For the full head-to-head, see the Gusto vs Patriot crossover analysis or the ranked-by-cheapest provider table.

Trade-offs

Honest trade-offs of choosing Gusto Simple as the cheapest option

Gusto Simple is not the absolute cheapest payroll plan you can buy. Patriot Basic at $17 base, SurePayroll at $29 base, and Wave at $40 base all sit below it on sticker, and Patriot Full Service at $37 + $5 beats Gusto Simple on done-for-you-tax total cost. So the question is whether Gusto's polish and benefits integrations are worth paying a premium over the cheaper alternatives for your business.

If you are a confident finance owner with one or two employees in a single state and you do not mind filing your own state unemployment and federal 941 each quarter, Patriot Basic without the tax add-on is genuinely cheaper at $17 + $4 per employee. If you do want tax filing handled, Patriot Full Service at $37 + $5 still undercuts Gusto Simple at every headcount, so Gusto's case rests on its UX and benefits integrations rather than on price.

The second trade-off is the inability to add features incrementally. If you need next-day direct deposit, you are not paying $10 a month for that one feature, you are jumping all of Plus at double the price. Gusto's tier design rewards businesses that grow into Plus features as a bundle and penalises businesses that need one or two of those features in isolation.

The third trade-off is that Gusto's pricing changes more often than its competitors. The Simple base rose from $40 to $49 in 2026, and per-employee fees on Plus and Premium have moved more than once in two years. If long-term price stability matters, the OnPay flat-tier structure is a cleaner alternative.

Decision tree

When Gusto Simple is the right cheapest answer

Walk through these four questions in order. The first one that hits no means Gusto Simple is not the cheapest answer for your business.

Do all employees live and work in one state? If no, the multi-state requirement forces Plus and the cheap label is gone. OnPay is cheaper.
Do you want tax filing handled for you? If no, Patriot Basic without the tax add-on is cheaper. If yes, keep going.
Is your headcount under 10? If yes, Gusto Simple is competitive. Above 10, the per-employee fee adds up faster than the OnPay flat tier and Patriot Full Service.
Do you value polished employee onboarding and a self-serve portal? If yes, Gusto Simple is genuinely worth the premium. If you are willing to trade UX for about $204 a year saved at five employees, Patriot Full Service is the cheaper answer.

Four yeses means Gusto Simple is the cheapest answer for your business. Any no points you at a specific cheaper alternative.

FAQ

Common questions about the cheapest Gusto plan

What is the cheapest Gusto plan?

Gusto Simple at $49 per month plus $6 per employee is the cheapest Gusto plan as of 2026. Tax filing, W-2s, and 1099s are included at no extra charge.

Does Gusto Simple include multi-state payroll?

No. Gusto Simple supports payroll in one state only. The moment you hire an employee in a second state, you have to upgrade to Gusto Plus at $80 base plus $12 per employee. This is the single biggest forced upgrade trigger.

How much does Gusto cost for 5 employees?

Gusto Simple at 5 employees is $49 + (5 x $6) = $79 per month, or $948 per year, with tax filing and year-end W-2s included.

Is Gusto cheaper than Patriot?

No. Patriot is cheaper at typical small-business headcounts since Gusto Simple rose to $49 + $6. Patriot Full Service at $37 + $5 includes tax filing and undercuts Gusto Simple at every count: $52 versus $67 at three employees, $62 versus $79 at five. Patriot's tradeoff is rougher UX and a $25 per W-2 form charge at year-end that Gusto includes.

Does Gusto have a free plan?

No. Gusto has no free tier for W-2 payroll, and the contractor-only plan is no longer free either. Gusto Contractor-Only is now $35 per month base plus $6 per contractor, so there is no zero-cost Gusto path. If you need free contractor payments, Square Payroll at $6 per contractor with no base fee is the cheaper option.

What are Gusto's year-end fees?

Gusto includes W-2 and 1099 filing in the monthly fee. There is no separate year-end charge. This is a meaningful advantage versus Patriot ($25 per W-2 form set) and Paychex (year-end charge typically $7 per W-2).