21 categories · RankedGusto
Gusto is an online HR service that covers payroll, benefits and other HR tasks, aimed at small businesses · gusto.com ↗
15 more
Leads at small business. Ranked 63 of 63 for enterprise buyers.
The standing depends on who is buying. Every model is asked the same questions for each company size.
Ranked first. Next is Patriot Payroll at 23%.
Rippling is first at 29%. 0 of 14 models made it the first choice when asked directly.
ADP is first at 26%.
Why models recommend it
“Gusto leads on user experience and integrated benefits (health insurance, 401(k), workers' comp). Best if you want payroll and HR in one place.”Kimi K2 · Comparative question · first choice
“Under 50 employees (US-based): Look into modern, full-service, transparently-priced platforms like Gusto, OnPay, or Patriot Payroll.”Gemini 3.5 Flash · Negative question · first choice
“Gusto and SixFifty are frequently highlighted as the best value, with Gusto being especially popular for its ease of use and all-in-one approach”Mistral Small · Budget-constrained question · first choice
“Choose Gusto if you have under 50 domestic US employees and want a modern, affordable, easy-to-use platform with solid basic HR.”Gemini 3.5 Flash · Comparative question · first choice
What gives them pause
“Tax deposit failures: Multiple users report Gusto making late payroll tax deposits, resulting in IRS penalties”Kimi K2 · Negative question · warning
“Users report frequent failures in paying payroll taxes and lackluster customer support, making it a risky choice”Mistral Small · Negative question · warning
“Complaints include unexpected fees, continuing memberships, and downtime where employees aren't paid”Claude Haiku 4.5 · Negative question · warning
“Gusto (Be Cautious, Especially for Payroll/Tax Compliance) ... $8,000 IRS penalty example”DeepSeek V4 Flash · Negative question · warning
Also on the shortlist
The products named in the same answers as Gusto, over the 855 answers that named it, and how often each was the first choice instead.
| Product | Named together | Picked instead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 522 | 71 | Compare → | |
| 424 | 78 | Compare → | |
| 168 | 7 | Compare → | |
| 145 | 34 | Compare → | |
| 113 | 10 | View → | |
| 96 | 2 | Compare → | |
| 92 | 0 | View → | |
| 88 | 4 | Compare → | |
| 83 | 6 | Compare → | |
| 83 | 0 | View → |
What the models named instead of Gusto →
A side-by-side page exists where both products are among a category's top eight.
At a glance
Stated on Gusto's own site, not checked by Gane.
- For
- small businesses
- Price stated
- You’ll pay nothing ‘til you’re ready to run payroll.
- Free plan or trial
- Create free account
- Certifications
- SOC 1, SOC 2
- Hosting
- AWS region US-West-2 (Oregon), AWS region US-East-1 (Virginia)
- Customers named
- Magnolia Café, Mason’s Creamery, Forge Fire, Big Monocle
How this is measured
Fourteen AI models from 12 labs are asked the same buying questions six ways, for three company sizes. Standings refresh every edition.
Gane sells AI visibility software. No company can pay to change a result.
Read the method →Sources returned with these answers
Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted. These counts come from 742 of the 855 answers that named Gusto and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
1,365 of the 1,537 domain citations in answers naming Gusto came from a third party's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
By model
| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 15 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 14 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 5 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 28 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| Grok 4.20 | 3 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 24 |
| Mistral Small | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 12 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 1 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 18 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 13 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 6 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 22 |
| Kimi K2 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 16 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 2 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 17 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 17 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 2 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 15 |
What it publishes
| Kind | Pages | Last 90 days | 2025-10 to 2026-09 | Latest | Categories named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glossary or explainer | 12 | undated | |||
| Comparison | 10 | undated | |||
| Template or tool | 4 | undated | |||
| Webinar or virtual event | 1 | undated | |||
| Report or ebook | 1 | undated |
How it is countedHide how it is counted
Every page gusto.com exposes, subdomains included. Kind is read from the address and title. The last 90 days, the latest date and the twelve months count pages by when they were published, from the site's feeds, a date in the address, or the page's own publication date, read from up to a hundred of its most recently changed pages; a page that says only when it last changed is counted in its kind but not in when, so the recent counts are a floor, and a kind none of whose pages gives a publication date reads undated. An event counts as online when its address or title says so (webinar, on demand, virtual or online summit); a conference, summit, trade show, expo or roadshow that does not say so is counted as a conference or event, which on a vendor's site is mostly in person. Read September 29, 2026.