What is a PEO and why does Justworks cost more per employee?

A PEO co-employs your staff for payroll tax, benefits and compliance purposes while you run the day-to-day work. Justworks' PEO fee bundles payroll, HR support, compliance and access to its benefits programs, which is why it is priced per employee at $79 or $124 a month instead of a small base fee. Health insurance premiums are billed on top.

Can I switch from Gusto to Rippling or Justworks mid-year?

Yes, all three handle mid-year moves, but you need year-to-date payroll history transferred so W-2s are correct. Plan the cutover at the start of a quarter, reconcile the last payroll on the old system against the first on the new one, and avoid switching in December, when year-end filings get messy across two systems.

Does Gusto handle 401(k) plans?

Yes, through integrations with 401(k) providers rather than its own plan. Gusto says pricing varies by the provider you choose. Justworks includes 401(k) access on its Payroll and PEO plans. Rippling also supports 401(k) through partners. In every case, check the provider's own fees, not just the payroll tool's.

How should payroll feed my cash flow forecast?

Payroll is usually the largest recurring outflow in a service or software business. Put each pay date, employer taxes and benefits premiums into your weekly cash forecast as separate lines, and update headcount changes the day an offer is signed. A missed payroll date in the forecast is the most common cause of surprise cash shortfalls we see.

Gusto vs Justworks vs Rippling 2026: Payroll Compared

Q: Which is best for paying international contractors?

Gusto offers global contractor payments in more than 120 countries as an add-on. Justworks charges $39 per paid international contractor a month in more than 60 countries and offers EOR at $599 per employee. Rippling lists global contractor and EOR products but quotes them. For a large international team, compare a dedicated EOR provider too.

Gusto vs Justworks vs Rippling: the short version

This comparison is for US founders and finance leads choosing a payroll and HR platform for a team of roughly 5 to 500 people. The decision turns on three questions: how many states you employ people in, whether you want a PEO to handle benefits and compliance, and whether you want HR, payroll and IT access managed from one system.

Our default answer: Gusto for small teams that want clean, cheap payroll; Justworks when benefits quality and outsourced HR compliance matter more than the per-employee fee; Rippling when you are hiring fast across states or countries and want one employee record that also controls devices and app access.

Best for	Pick
1–30 employees, one or two states	Gusto Simple or Plus
Small team that wants a PEO for benefits and HR	Justworks PEO
50+ employees, fast hiring, multi-state	Rippling
Device, identity and app access tied to HR	Rippling
Hourly staff with time tracking and tips	Gusto Plus or Justworks
International contractors as a side need	Gusto add-on or Justworks add-on

Side-by-side comparison

All three run US multi-state payroll, file payroll taxes and produce W-2s and 1099s. The differences are in the model and in what is bundled.

Feature	Gusto	Justworks	Rippling
Model	Payroll + HR software, benefits via Gusto brokers	PEO (co-employment) or payroll-only plan	Modular HR, payroll, IT and spend platform
Entry price	$49/mo + $6 per person (Simple)	$50/mo + $8 per employee (Payroll)	From $8 per employee/mo + base fee
PEO option	No	Yes, $79 or $124 per employee	Yes, quoted
Multi-state payroll	Plus and Premium	All plans	Yes
Time tracking	Plus and Premium, add-on on Simple	$8 per employee add-on	Module, quoted
Health insurance	Gusto brokers, or integrate your own broker	Included in PEO Plus administration	Available, quoted
International	Global contractor payments in 120+ countries (add-on)	Contractors in 60+ countries ($39/mo each), EOR $599	Global contractors and EOR, quoted
Device and app management	No	No	Yes (Device Management, Identity & Access)
Published pricing	Full	Full	Starting price only

Pricing in 2026

Gusto and Justworks publish full price lists; Rippling publishes only a starting point and quotes the rest.

Plan	Gusto	Justworks	Rippling
Entry	Simple: $49/mo + $6 per person	Payroll: $50/mo + $8 per employee	From $8 per employee/mo + base fee
Mid	Plus: $80/mo + $12 per person	PEO Basic: $79 per employee, no base fee	Modules priced per employee, quoted
Top	Premium: $180/mo + $22 per person	PEO Plus: $124 per employee, no base fee	Quoted
Contracts	No contracts, cancel any time	No implementation fee	Quoted per product mix

Prices have moved since spring 2026. Gusto Simple now lists at $49 a month (older comparisons show $40), and Gusto Premium has a published price instead of "custom". Justworks PEO Basic is now $79 per employee and PEO Plus $124, up from the $59 and $99–$109 that many 2025 articles still quote.

What a 10- and 30-person team pays

A worked example using list prices, before benefits premiums and add-ons:

Team	Gusto Plus	Justworks Payroll	Justworks PEO Basic	Justworks PEO Plus
10 employees	$80 + $120 = $200/mo	$50 + $80 = $130/mo	$790/mo	$1,240/mo
30 employees	$80 + $360 = $440/mo	$50 + $240 = $290/mo	$2,370/mo	$3,720/mo

The PEO looks four to six times more expensive on this table. That is not the full picture. The PEO fee includes HR consulting, compliance support and benefits administration that a payroll-only plan leaves to you, a broker or an HR hire. The real comparison is total employment cost: software fee plus health premiums plus workers' comp plus the HR time you would otherwise spend. Get a Justworks benefits quote and a broker quote for the same census before you decide.

Feature analysis

Payroll engine and multi-state

All three handle federal, state and local payroll tax filings. The trap is Gusto Simple: it covers payroll in one state only. Multi-state payroll starts on Gusto Plus. Justworks includes multi-state payroll on every plan, and Rippling supports it as part of its payroll product. Registering for state payroll taxes is a separate step; Gusto sells state tax registration as an add-on priced by state.

Benefits and health insurance

This is where Justworks earns its fee. PEO Plus includes medical, dental and vision administration, HSA and FSA accounts, and mental health and fertility benefits. Because a PEO co-employs your staff, a small company can access benefit programs that are normally priced for larger groups. Whether that is cheaper for you depends on your location and the age mix of your team, so treat it as a quote to obtain, not a promise.

Gusto works through its own licensed brokers, with no Gusto admin fee on health plans bought that way. If you keep an outside broker, Gusto charges $6 per eligible employee a month to integrate the plan. Rippling offers benefits administration as a quoted module.

HR, onboarding and compliance

Gusto covers onboarding, PTO and basic HR on every plan, and adds HR guidance, compliance tools and a named advisor on Premium. Justworks bundles 24/7 support and HR consulting into its PEO plans, with dedicated HR consulting at $30 per employee a month as an add-on. Rippling treats HR as the core system and lets you add payroll, benefits, time and IT around it.

IT and app management

Rippling is the only one of the three that manages devices, identity and app access. Its pricing page lists Device Management, Identity & Access and Inventory Management as separate products. For a distributed team, linking account provisioning to the hire and termination date in HR is a real control: access is removed the day someone leaves. Gusto and Justworks have nothing equivalent.

Contractors and international

Gusto includes domestic contractor payments on every plan and sells global contractor payments in more than 120 countries as an add-on, with no monthly per-contractor fee. Justworks charges $8 per paid US contractor and $39 per paid international contractor a month, in more than 60 countries, and offers EOR at $599 per employee a month. Rippling lists contractor, contractor-of-record and EOR products, all quoted.

Accounting integration and close

All three post payroll to the general ledger through accounting integrations. What matters for the close is mapping: wages, employer taxes, benefits and reimbursements should land in separate accounts and by department. Test the journal entry on a real payroll before go-live, not after the first month-end.

Who should use which

Under 15 employees in one state: Gusto Simple. Cheapest, fast to set up, and you can upgrade when you hire in a second state.

15–50 employees, two or more states: Gusto Plus if you are happy managing benefits with a broker. Justworks PEO if you want benefits and HR compliance handled for you and the total-cost comparison works.

Small team in a high-cost benefits market: Get a Justworks PEO Plus quote alongside a broker quote. The decision is usually made on premiums, not on the platform fee.

50–500 employees, hiring fast: Rippling. The value is one employee record driving payroll, benefits, devices and app access, plus multi-entity and international options as you grow. Budget for a longer implementation than Gusto.

Hourly or shift-based teams: Gusto Plus (time tracking and scheduling included) or Justworks with the time tracking add-on.

US team plus a few international contractors: Gusto or Justworks add-ons are enough. A large international headcount deserves a dedicated EOR comparison.

Our take as fractional CFOs

Payroll is usually the largest line in a service or software company's cost base, so the platform choice matters less than the controls around it. Three things we check with every client.

First, the state footprint. The most common payroll problem we find is a company on a single-state plan with an employee in a second state and no payroll registration there. That creates tax notices and penalties months later. Upgrade the plan and register the state the day the offer letter is signed.

Second, fully loaded cost per employee. Founders compare $6 per person with $124 per person and stop there. The number that matters for unit economics is fully loaded cost: salary, employer taxes, benefits premiums, workers' comp and platform fees. We build that per role and use it in pricing, hiring plans and unit economics work. A PEO that costs more per head but cuts premiums can lower the fully loaded number.

Third, the cash calendar. Payroll dates, employer tax payments and benefits premiums are fixed outflows that do not move when revenue slips. They belong in a weekly forecast as separate lines. If you do not have one, start with our 13-week cash flow forecast template or see how we run cash forecasting for clients.

For reporting, ask whichever platform you pick to post payroll by department. That one setting turns payroll from a single expense line into a cost-by-team view that makes management reporting useful. If you are also choosing banking and spend tools, our Brex vs Mercury vs Ramp comparison covers the other half of the stack.

Next step

If you want a second opinion on your payroll setup, fully loaded headcount cost or hiring plan, book a free CFO diagnostic call. Not sure you need a CFO yet? Read when to hire a CFO.