Gusto vs. TriNet (Formerly Zenefits) — Which Is the Best Payroll Software?

TriNet offers several pricing options. However, their pricing is somewhat confusing due to the amount of products the company offers. Overall, Gusto’s pricing is more accessible for teams with several employees. To access TriNet’s payroll services, you will need to either purchase an add-on at $6 per user per month or subscribe to their Zen plan at $27 per user, per month billed annually. 

Gusto boasts more features included in their packages than TriNet. For comparable features, you will need to opt for one of their more expensive offerings or purchase add-ons that are priced per user per month. Additionally, TriNet does not offer contractor payments, whereas Gusto does. 

While both services offer add-ons, Gusto is far more customizable, with extensive features available to add to any plan and tailor your software to your business’s needs. TriNet does offer four add-ons including payroll, benefits administration, recruiting, and advisory services, however. 

On both platforms, completing payroll is as easy as a few clicks. Both Gusto and TriNet automatically calculate and file all relevant taxes with every payroll run, which makes paying employees quick and easy. 

TriNet and Gusto offer a comparable suite of tools for employee onboarding, hiring, and retention. However, applicant tracking is only available through the TriNet Hire platform if you would like that additional feature. 

Great customer support is a key consideration when choosing any business software. Both Gusto and TriNet offer comprehensive customer service support via phone, email, and chat Monday through Friday. 

Gusto is used by entrepreneurs who:

• Run businesses of varying sizes 
• Need more than just basic employee management tools 
• Prefer a user-friendly interface 

Here are some verified Gusto reviews (from TrustRadius) by customers who used this software to help their business:

“Gusto worked well for our food truck business with several part-time employees. Gusto is also set up for much larger businesses with many employees. As a small business owner, paying someone to run payroll each week was out of the question, yet spending hours and hours trying to do it yourself was impossible. Gusto made it a simple process from the setup to filing the necessary taxes. It was as simple as entering the number of hours each employee worked and hitting 'Submit'.”

"Gusto is great for the small business owner who wants to spend less time on payroll and more time running their small business. It is easy to use and easy to run each week and hiring or dismissing an employee is an absolute breeze. The customer support staff are incredibly helpful and it integrates easily with QuickBooks Online to help my bookkeeping and accounting sync together with my payroll each week. Highly recommend Gusto for anyone looking for an easy payroll and onboarding solution for their employees regardless of their team size.”

“I think for its cost, Gusto is excellent for businesses our size (11-50), but I can see this being scalable beyond that size even. We plan to use it beyond that threshold at least. Small business payroll and HR software are serviced well by Gusto.”

TriNet is used by entrepreneurs who:

• Have small teams or an existing HR department
• Require only basic employee management services
• Are looking for a PEO rather than just an HR or payroll tool 

Here are some verified TriNet reviews (from TrustRadius) by customers who used this software to help their business:

"As a smaller organization TriNet has been a great move. It has saved us a LOT of time managing personnel, timesheets, vacation/sick time off; provides historical records and tracking; ensures we're in compliance with all employment laws, for each state we [employ] people. They provide great support and do their best to assist as quickly as possible."

"TriNet is great for a small company that needs access to HR professionals but doesn't have the budget for an internal HR department."

"They are well suited for larger firms that have people working within their accounting and HR department. Working with a small business, like ours, they lacked the attention we need along with being price-sensitive to that. We kind of felt like second-class situations as our tenure increased with them, hence the switch to Just Works 2 months ago."

Both Gusto and TriNet boast a variety of packages for customers to choose from and customize with additional add-ons. But how do they stack up against each other in terms of features included in the price of each package?

Simple ($40/month + $6/month/user)

Notable Features:

• Full-service single-state payroll, including W-2s and 1099s
• Self-service and employee profiles 
• Gusto-brokered health insurance administration 
• Employee financial benefits 

Plus ($80/month + $12/month/user)

Notable Features:

• Full-service multi-state payroll, including W-2s and 1099s
• Workforce costing and reports 
• Employee surveys, insights, and performance reviews 
• Next-day direct deposit 

Premium (Custom pricing)

Notable Features:

• Dedicated customer success manager 
• HR resource center 
• Compliance alerts 
• R&D tax credit discount 

Contractor Only ($6/month/contractor)

Notable Features:

• Unlimited contractor payments across all 50 states 
• Four-day direct deposit 
• New hire reporting in required states 
• 1099-NECs at the end of the year 

Essentials ($10/month/user)

Notable Features:

• Automated onboarding
• Employee management features
• Time off tracking 
• Analytics dashboard 

Growth ($20/month/user)

Notable Features:

• Performance management features
• Compensation management features 
• Configurable people analytics 

Zen ($33/month/user)

Notable Features:

• Payroll services 
• People Hub for employee and admin communication 
• Employee engagement surveys 

Overall, Gusto is the better payroll software solution for a wider variety of businesses. While TriNet does offer some strong features and decent customer reviews, Gusto offers more features for the price, as well as a customizable payroll and HR platform unrivaled by TriNet. 

Gusto’s payroll service boasts helpful features and integrations with several packages to choose from to suit your business size and needs. Try it today.