Gusto alternative
The Gusto Alternative for HR That Needs an Owner
Gusto is built around running payroll, and it does that well. Leave policies, onboarding steps, and who may see a salary are where small teams end up improvising. Managed Zoho People puts employee records, onboarding, attendance, leave, timesheets, and reviews into one system that we configure and run. We build your accrual rules into it, test them on real cases, and connect approved time to whichever payroll you use.
With Cascadia you get
- Leave rules built and tested
- Onboarding with an owner per task
- Approved time reaches payroll
- Roles set on purpose
- Your account, your data
- Linked to Recruit, CRM, and Analytics
Cascadia vs Gusto at a Glance
Three Questions That Decide It
Is Running Payroll Your Main Need?
Do Leave Rules Go Beyond Basic PTO?
Who Decides Who Sees Salaries?
Side by Side
| Gusto | Cascadia | |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll and tax filing | Unlimited payrolls with tax filings and payments (October 2026) | ×We connect to payroll, we do not run it |
| How you are billed | –Base fee plus a rate per person (October 2026) | –Monthly plan, Zoho license billed by Zoho |
| Time tracking | –Starts at Plus (October 2026) | Attendance and timesheets configured |
| Multi-state | –Plus or Premium needed (October 2026) | Rules per location built and tested |
| Leave policy design | –Basic PTO on Simple (October 2026) | Accruals and caps tested before launch |
| Permissions | –HR guidance on Premium (October 2026) | Managers see their own team only |
| Support | –Priority Support is an add-on (October 2026) | One team that knows your setup |
| Link to CRM and Analytics | ×Not part of the plans | Recruit, CRM, and Analytics wired in |
Payroll and Tax Filing
How You Are Billed
Time Tracking
Multi-State
Leave Policy Design
Permissions
Support
Link to CRM and Analytics
Inside the Monthly Management Fee
Gusto charges for payroll features tier by tier. Our fee covers the HR configuration work in the list below, and your Zoho license is billed by Zoho on top.
- Document Management & Signatures
- Policy Acknowledgment Tracking
- Access Control & Data Privacy
- Audit Trails & Recordkeeping
- Payroll & Books Integration
- CRM, Recruit & Analytics Integration
- Outside Tool Connections
- Monthly Review & HR Reporting
- Employee Records & Org Structure
- Onboarding Workflows
What Gusto Leaves to You
A payroll tool can be perfectly correct and still sit on top of a spreadsheet of leave balances. These are the places we pick up.
Leave Math Gets Written Down
Gusto Simple covers basic PTO policies, and time tracking starts at Plus. Neither one writes your accrual schedule for you. We turn the handbook into rules, then run real scenarios through them before a balance appears.
Permissions Are a Design Task
Premium adds HR guidance and tools, but deciding that a manager sees only their own team is still a call somebody has to make. We make it, restrict compensation and medical fields, and write the model down.
Payroll Stays Where It Is
You do not have to leave Gusto to use us. If payroll is happy where it is, we configure Zoho People for the HR side and map the approved hours so nobody retypes them.
A Straight Answer When Gusto Wins
If you have one location, no real HR backlog, and want payroll done by Friday, Simple does that for about $199 a month at 25 people. We will say so on the first call.
Who Should Read This Comparison
Teams paying for Gusto Plus mainly to get time tracking
Plus costs $80 a month plus $12 per person (October 2026). If the real need is attendance and leave rather than payroll features, that fee may buy less than you think.
Owners Who Approve Every Leave Request Personally
Rules and approval chains built into the system let managers decide without you, and the exceptions still reach you.
Employers adding a second state or a first hourly crew
Shift patterns, check in by web or mobile, and regularization for missed punches are configured once and then run by themselves.
Choose Gusto if
- You need payroll run and taxes filed this week
- Basic PTO and one location cover your rules
- You want payment features such as same-day pay
Choose Cascadia if
- Payroll is handled and HR needs an owner
- Leave rules and permissions keep being wrong
- Your CRM and books already live in Zoho
How We Add HR to a Team Using Gusto
Nothing about your payroll has to move. We work around it first and decide later whether it should change.
- 1
Read the Handbook Against the Setup
We compare your written leave, holiday, and onboarding policies with what Gusto and your spreadsheets actually do today. The gaps get listed before anything is built.
- 2
Load the People and Their History
Employee records, leave balances, and signed documents are mapped into Zoho People. We check them against your own records so no one starts at zero.
- 3
Build the Rules and Test Them
Accruals, caps, approval chains, and onboarding steps go in. We run awkward cases such as a mid year hire or a part time switch before employees see a number.
- 4
Connect Payroll and Keep Watching
Approved time and leave are mapped to your payroll. We check the mapping every cycle and send a monthly summary of anything open.
How Gusto Works
Gusto Plans and Add-Ons
Gusto charges a monthly base fee plus a rate per person on every plan. Every figure below was read from their own pages in October 2026.
Taken from Gusto pricing and Gusto plan changes from October. Checked October 2026.
What Clients Say About Working with Cascadia
“I’ve always dreaded website management, but Cascadia has done an incredible job with my WordPress site, making it one less thing for me to worry about.”
“I’ve worked with Cascadia for several years now. They are always ready to help in any way I ask and can implement my ideas with ease. A company that values their clients!”
“Cascadia has been great to work with! We recently needed some updates, and Cascadia was quick to get them completed! We highly recommend Cascadia Web Services.”
“Cascadia is very responsive and we’re happy with them as our primary IT vendor.”
“They do great work, been using for years. Prompt responses to requests.”
Weighing Gusto Against Zoho People?
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Gusto Alternative Questions
What Gusto charges, what it leaves to you, and how our HR service sits next to it.
See Managed Zoho PeopleStill have a question?
What does Gusto cost for a 25 person company?
On Simple it is $49 plus 25 times $6, or $199 a month. Plus comes to $380 and Premium to $730, using the rates Gusto lists (October 2026). Add-ons such as Priority Support or state compliance sit on top of those totals.
Is Gusto an HR system or a payroll system?
Its center is payroll. Time tracking, scheduling, and HR guidance appear as you move up from Simple (October 2026). Zoho People is the reverse, an HR system first, with payroll connected rather than run.
Can we keep Gusto for payroll and use Zoho People for HR?
Yes, and it is a common setup. We map approved hours and leave from People to the payroll you keep, then check that mapping each cycle. Gusto stays where it is until you decide otherwise.
Why does a second state cost so much more on Gusto?
Multi-state payroll starts at Plus, which moves everyone from $6 to $12 per person plus a higher base fee (October 2026). That makes one remote hire a plan change for the whole company.
Does Gusto handle contractors?
Gusto says its Contractor Only plan is closed to new customers from October 1, 2026, with contractor payments handled inside each plan (October 2026). Zoho People tracks contractors as records, but payment stays with your payroll or books.
What is the Gusto Premium plan actually adding?
Premium Account Support, HR guidance and tools, Business Compliance, unlimited same-day and instant pay, and project-based rules (October 2026). It does not add a person who builds your leave policy into the software, which is the gap we fill.
How do Gusto add-ons change the bill?
Priority Support is $30 a month plus $3 per person, HR Resources is $50 plus $5 per person, and Business Compliance is $85 a month per state on an annual contract (October 2026). For 25 people, Priority Support alone adds $105 a month.
What happens to our history if we move off spreadsheets and Gusto?
We load employee records, leave balances, and signed documents into Zoho People and check them against your sources. Balances come across rather than restarting at zero.
Will Zoho People handle our leave policies?
In our experience yes, including accrual schedules, carryover caps, waiting periods, and different rules per location or group. We test them on real cases, such as a mid year hire, before anyone sees a balance.
Can managers approve leave from a phone?
Yes. Zoho People has iOS and Android apps where employees request leave and check balances, and managers approve in the same app. We set what the mobile view shows.
Who sees salaries and medical information?
Only the people you name. We configure roles so managers see their own team, restrict compensation and sensitive fields, and write the permission model down so the next admin can read it.
How long does setup take?
With clean employee data, expect the core system running in two to four weeks: records, org structure, leave, and attendance first, then onboarding. Complicated rules or messy sources extend that.
Does Zoho People work for hourly and shift staff?
Yes. We configure shifts and rotations, choose the check in method that fits the work, and build regularization so a missed punch becomes a request. Approved hours then flow to payroll without retyping.
Is the data ours if we stop using Cascadia?
Yes. Everything lives in a Zoho subscription registered to your company, so there is no export to negotiate if you leave.
When should we stay on Gusto?
Stay if payroll is the whole job, you operate in one state, and basic PTO matches your handbook. At that point the Simple plan is hard to beat for a small team.