Encarmo vs Gusto: which platform
is right for your business?
Gusto is the leading payroll and HR platform for US small businesses — rated #1 on G2 with a 4.6/5 score from over 4,000 reviews, trusted by 500,000+ businesses. It does payroll exceptionally well. What it doesn’t do is accounting, CRM, or inventory — so businesses that need those alongside payroll end up paying for 3–5 separate tools on top of it.
The real question isn’t which tool has better payroll. It’s whether your business needs payroll software — or a platform that runs the whole operation.
The 15-second verdict
Payroll and HR are genuinely all you need. 2–50 employees, US-based, comfortable running accounting and CRM in separate tools.
You’re running 3+ tools already (payroll, accounting, CRM…) and want them on one platform with one login and shared data.
What is Gusto?
A dedicated payroll & hr platform platform built to solve specific operational needs.
Gusto automates payroll calculations, tax filings, direct deposits, and W-2/1099 forms. Benefits administration, onboarding, and time tracking are available on higher tiers.
For accounting, Gusto connects to QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks, and Sage via integration — but these are separate subscriptions you manage and pay for independently. For CRM, inventory management, or scheduling, Gusto has no native capability; those functions require additional tools.
What is Encarmo?
A modular business management platform that combines payroll, accounting, CRM, HR, invoicing, scheduling, reporting, and analytics in one connected system.
The core difference: where Gusto performs a single operational task and connects to other tools via integrations, Encarmo runs those functions natively in the same platform — with shared data, unified reporting, and one login.
Start with only the modules you need. Add more as your business grows.
| Accounting (base — required) | $15/user/mo |
| Billing & Invoicing | +$8/user/mo |
| Sales & CRM | +$10/user/mo |
| Inventory Management | +$12/user/mo |
| HR Management | +$14/user/mo |
| Payroll (add-on to HR) | +$6/user/mo |
| Calendar & Scheduling | +$5/user/mo |
Annual pricing saves 17% (2 months free) on all bundles.
Who is comparing Gusto vs Encarmo?
Two types of businesses arrive at this comparison — and the right answer depends heavily on which one you are.
Payroll-first businesses
Currently using or evaluating Gusto as their primary tool. Payroll and HR are the main concern. They may already have accounting software and are not looking to replace it.
Scaling businesses running too many tools
They need payroll but also need accounting, CRM, and reporting to actually talk to each other. They’re paying for Gusto + QuickBooks + HubSpot + something else, running manual exports between them, and looking for a way out of the stack.
Feature comparison
Every core capability, side by side.
| Feature | Encarmo | Gusto |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll processing | Yes | Yes — core strength |
| Automated tax filing | Yes | Yes — all 50 states |
| Employee self-service | Yes | Yes |
| HR management | Yes | Yes |
| Benefits administration | Yes | Yes — health, 401(k), HSA, FSA |
| Employee onboarding | Yes | Yes — strong feature |
| Time tracking | Yes | Plus/Premium or add-on |
| Accounting | Yes — native | Requires QuickBooks/Xero |
| Billing & invoicing | Yes — native | No |
| CRM | Yes — native | No |
| Inventory management | Yes — native | No |
| Scheduling | Yes — native | No |
| Business analytics | Cross-functional | Payroll/HR reports only |
| 3rd-party integrations | Yes | 180+ apps |
| US-only payroll | No | Yes — US employees only |
| Implementation time | Days | 2–4 weeks |
Encarmo vs Gusto: Payroll
Best-in-class for US businesses. AutoPilot runs payroll automatically on schedule. Tax filings, W-2s, and 1099s are handled without manual intervention. Unlimited payroll runs are included on every plan. Direct deposit takes 2–4 days on Simple, next-day on Plus/Premium.
Handles payroll as part of its broader platform. The difference is what happens around payroll: when you run payroll in Encarmo, your accounting entries update automatically, your HR records stay in sync, and your scheduling data feeds directly into time calculations. No export. No separate login.
Encarmo vs Gusto: Accounting
Gusto does not include accounting. It integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks, and Sage — meaning you need a separate subscription (QuickBooks Online starts at ~$35/month; Xero at ~$20/month), a separate login, and a sync that requires monitoring.
Includes accounting natively: general ledger, bank reconciliation, financial statements, and multi-currency — at $15/user/month as the base module.
Encarmo vs Gusto: CRM & customer management
Has no CRM. Businesses using Gusto for payroll typically also use HubSpot, Pipedrive, or Salesforce for customer management. These don’t connect to Gusto natively — commission data from closed deals, for example, requires manual entry into payroll adjustments.
Includes CRM natively: pipeline, contacts, deals, quotes, and lead tracking — all sharing the same database as HR and finance data. Sales commissions can feed directly into payroll without manual transfers.
Encarmo vs Gusto: Reporting & visibility
Provides payroll reports, tax filing summaries, workforce costing (Plus/Premium), and basic HR analytics. These are payroll-and-HR-scoped — they tell you what you spent on people, not how that relates to revenue, customers, or profitability.
Reporting spans the full business: revenue vs. payroll costs, customer acquisition vs. headcount, inventory turnover vs. cash flow. Because accounting, CRM, and HR data share one system, the reports connect what most platforms keep separate.
Encarmo vs Gusto: pricing comparison
The honest comparison depends on which modules your business actually needs.
Payroll only, 10 employees
Payroll + Accounting, 10 employees
Payroll + Accounting + CRM + Billing, 15 employees
The real cost of a disconnected stack
The visible cost is the subscriptions.
The invisible cost is real.
When a growing business runs separate point solutions for each department, subscriptions are only part of the bill.
- 01Manual data re-entry between systems — sales closed in CRM, accounting entries after payroll runs.
- 02Errors and discrepancies caused by duplicate data entry.
- 03Time and engineering resources spent troubleshooting broken integrations.
- 04No single unified source of truth for financial & operational reporting.
Encarmo was built to eliminate that overhead. Whether that trade-off makes sense depends on your team size, the number of tools you currently run, and how much time you spend on cross-system administration.
Pros and cons
Gusto
- Best-in-class payroll for US businesses — rated #1 by G2 (4.6/5, 4,000+ reviews)
- AutoPilot payroll — runs automatically, requires almost no manual intervention
- Strong benefits administration — health insurance, 401(k), HSA, FSA, workers’ comp
- Clean, fast onboarding — most teams are running payroll within a day
- 180+ integrations — connects to accounting, time tracking, and HR tools
- Trusted by 500,000+ US businesses
- US employees only — international hires require Gusto Global at additional cost
- No native accounting — requires a separate QuickBooks, Xero, or FreshBooks subscription
- No CRM — customer management requires a separate tool
- No inventory management or scheduling
- Costs add up with add-ons — time tracking, priority support, and HR resources are paid extras on lower plans
- Limited beyond payroll and HR — not designed to run the full business
Encarmo
- One platform for payroll, accounting, CRM, billing, HR, and scheduling
- Modular pricing — pay only for the modules you actually use
- Data flows natively between modules — no syncs, no exports, no integrations to maintain
- Cross-functional reporting — connect payroll costs to revenue and customer data
- Faster to implement than enterprise ERP alternatives — days, not months
- Higher per-user cost than Gusto when payroll is your only need
- Newer platform — fewer third-party integrations than Gusto’s 180+ app ecosystem
- May be more functionality than very small teams (under 5 employees) require
Who should choose which?
Choose Gusto if
- Payroll and HR are your primary software need
- You are a US-based business (Gusto does not support international W-2 employees on standard plans)
- You are comfortable running accounting, CRM, and other functions in separate tools
- You have 2–50 employees and want a clean, focused payroll experience
- You value a long-established platform with a proven track record (launched 2011, 500,000+ customers)
Choose Encarmo if
- You are currently running 3+ separate business tools and spending time managing the gaps between them
- You need payroll to connect directly to your accounting and CRM data
- You want modular pricing — start with accounting or billing, add payroll and HR when ready
- You are a growing team (10–50 employees) where operational complexity is increasing faster than headcount
- You want a single platform for financial and operational reporting, not just HR reporting
Side-by-side summary
| Encarmo | Gusto | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary strength | Full business platform | Payroll and HR |
| Accounting | Native | Integration required |
| CRM | Native | Not available |
| Billing & invoicing | Native | Not available |
| Inventory | Native | Not available |
| Scheduling | Native | Not available |
| Payroll | Yes | Yes — more specialized |
| Benefits admin | Yes | Yes — stronger |
| Onboarding | Yes | Yes — stronger |
| 3rd-party integrations | Yes | 180+ apps |
| Pricing model | Modular (pay per module) | Tiered plans + add-ons |
| Starting price | $15/user/mo (Accounting only) | $49/mo base + $6/user |
| G2 rating | — | 4.6/5 (4,000+ reviews) |
| Best for | Growing teams needing one platform | Payroll-focused US businesses |
Questions people ask us
Straight answers on pricing, migration, and where each platform fits.
Visit the help centerIs Encarmo a Gusto alternative?+
How does Encarmo pricing work?+
Does Encarmo include payroll?+
What does Gusto cost in 2026?+
Can Gusto replace accounting software?+
How long does Encarmo take to implement?+
Which platform is better for a 20-person business running multiple tools?+
Ready to replace Gusto
with a unified system?
Start free today, import your data in minutes, and see why 2,400+ businesses run on Encarmo.