Gusto

Gusto is a payroll, benefits and HR platform for US small and mid-sized businesses, used by more than 500,000 businesses according to its own pricing page. It launched in 2011 as ZenPayroll and is known in the SMB segment for design quality and customer experience relative to legacy payroll providers. The platform covers payroll, benefits administration, time tracking, hiring and onboarding, performance management and compliance in one product, with Gus AI as an integrated assistant for payroll and HR questions. Gusto publishes a first-party MCP server. Its own guidance describes a spec-compliant MCP server that works with any MCP client, plus pre-built Claude, ChatGPT and Slack connectors, letting an approved AI assistant interact with a customer's own Gusto data. A separate Gusto CLI targets shell-based agents and automation, and Gusto Embedded offers a developer-assistant MCP over the API reference for teams building on the platform. Gusto MCP also appears as an entry in Gusto's own integrations directory. The integrations directory covers accounting with QuickBooks, Xero and FreshBooks, and hiring with Ashby, Greenhouse, Lever, JazzHR and Checkr. Time and scheduling run through 7shifts, Deputy, Homebase and When I Work, commerce through Clover and Shopify, and financial benefits through Betterment and Guideline. General tools include Slack, Google Workspace, Asana, Box, Expensify and Trainual. Claude and ChatGPT are listed directly in that directory. Pricing is fully public in USD and billed monthly with no long-term contract. Simple is 49 dollars a month plus 6 dollars per person for single-state payroll, unlimited payroll runs, tax filings and basic PTO. Plus is 80 dollars a month plus 12 dollars per person and adds multi-state payroll, next-day pay and time tracking. Premium is 180 dollars a month plus 22 dollars per person and adds a dedicated Service Advisor, certified HR expert access, performance and compensation management, custom reports and priority support. A Contractor Only plan for businesses with no W-2 employees lists a 35 dollar monthly base plus 6 dollars per person, currently promoted at a 0 dollar base for the first six months. A Gusto Solo plan covers S-corp owners paying themselves. What the platform fee does not buy is significant. Health insurance, workers compensation, life and disability, HSAs and FSAs, 401(k), R&D tax credits, state tax registration, priority support and HR Resources are all separately priced add-ons. Add-ons other than global contractor payments are unavailable on the Contractor Only plan. Next-day pay, instant pay and same-day pay each carry their own fees. Gusto has no international W-2 payroll and no employer-of-record product, so companies hiring employees abroad need Deel, Remote or Rippling Global. Gusto does, however, support global contractor payments in more than 120 countries as an add-on across every plan. Q3 2026 state: Gusto publishes a spec-compliant MCP server with Claude, ChatGPT and Slack connectors. Gus AI answers payroll, HR and compliance questions for employers and employees. Its security page states Gusto maintains SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports updated annually, without naming a report type, and that it follows HIPAA guidelines to safeguard protected health information. Gusto's privacy policy states it does not permit third-party AI and large language model providers to use personal information to train, fine-tune or improve their models.