Gusto HR vs ClickUp

(April 2025)

Gusto-HR-vs-ClickUp

Table of Contents

Our Verdict
Gusto HR vs ClickUp Our Verdict

The king is Gusto HR anytime you need a comprehensive HR management solution. It offers a robust suite of features, including payroll processing, benefits administration, time tracking, and compliance management.

However, if you focus more on project management and task organization, ClickUp is the champion here. You enjoy a flexible and customizable platform with features like task boards, Gantt charts, and integrations with various tools.

Why Choose Gusto HR
Gusto-HR-standout-features

Who Gusto HR Is Best For

Choose Gusto HR if you’re someone who:

  • Loves simple, intuitive software.
  • Needs an all-in-one HR, payroll, and benefits solution.
  • Values strong customer support.
  • Wants to automate HR tasks to save time.
  • Appreciates transparent, affordable pricing.
  • Requires compliance assistance and resources.
  • Operates a small to medium-sized business.

Who Gusto HR Isn't Best For

Consider other alternatives if you’re an individual who:

  • Requires advanced, enterprise-level HR features.
  • Wants highly customizable workflows.
  • Needs specialized industry-specific tools.
  • Expects integration with niche or less common software.
  • Prefers direct, dedicated account management.
Why Choose ClickUp
Why-Choose-ClickUp

Who Is ClickUp Best For

ClickUp is your  best choice if you’re someone who:

  • Loves highly customizable workflows.
  • Needs an all-in-one project management solution.
  • Values detailed task tracking and collaboration features.
  • Enjoys using multiple integrations with other tools.
  • Wants to manage both personal and professional projects in one platform.
  • Prioritizes having a wide range of views (list, board, Gantt, etc.).
  • Appreciates advanced automation and time tracking features.
  • Prefers flexibility in task management and organization.

Who ClickUp Isn't Best For

You’re not likely going to find ClickUp more useful if you’re someone who:

  • Prefers a very simple, minimalistic interface.
  • Needs a quick setup with minimal customization.
  • Wants a tool with a gentle learning curve.
  • Prioritizes a more specific, specialized project management tool.
  • Dislikes dealing with complex feature sets.
  • Cherishes speed and simplicity over extensive functionality.
Main Differences
Gusto HR ClickUp
Ideal For
If you run a small or mid-sized business, Gusto HR is ideal to fulfill all your needs. You can do a lot with it, including:
  • Accessing HR tools: From performance reviews to employee surveys, Gusto provides the tools you need to manage your team effectively. It’s a great way to keep your employees engaged and your business running smoothly.
  • Checking compliance: Keeping up with HR compliance can be a headache, especially with constantly changing laws. Gusto stays updated on federal, state, and local regulations and ensures you stay compliant and avoid costly penalties.
  • Tracking time: If you need to track employee hours, Gusto has built-in time tracking that integrates seamlessly with payroll. This ensures your employees receive payments for the exact hours they work, without any manual calculations.
  • Simplifying employee self-service: Empower your team with Gusto’s self-service portal, where they can access pay stubs, manage their benefits, and update personal information without needing to go through HR.
  • Completing payroll: If you’re tired of the hassle of payroll, Gusto automates the entire process and ensures you pay your employees accurately and on time. It handles everything from direct deposits to tax filings. Gusto HR simply makes your life easier.
  • Managing employee benefits: Offering benefits like health insurance, retirement plans, and more can be complex, but Gusto simplifies it. It helps you choose the right plans for your team and manages all the paperwork, so you don’t have to.
  • Onboarding: Gusto streamlines the onboarding process for new hires, from paperwork to setting up benefits, so your employees can hit the ground running. It makes the first days of a new hire smooth and stress-free.
When it comes to streamlining your workflow, think of ClickUp. It’s ideal for:
  • Customization: One of the strengths of ClickUp is its flexibility. You can customize the platform to suit your specific needs, whether by creating custom views, statuses, or fields. This makes ClickUp adaptable to any industry or workflow
  • Reporting and analytics: ClickUp provides robust reporting features that allow you to generate detailed reports on project performance, task completion, and team productivity. These insights help you make data-driven decisions, optimize processes, and improve overall efficiency.
  • Automation: If you want to save time on repetitive tasks, ClickUp’s automation features are a huge benefit. Set up custom workflows to automate routine processes, such as task assignments, notifications, and status updates. This allows you to focus more on high-priority tasks while ClickUp handles the rest.
  • Goal tracking: The software is ideal for setting and tracking goals. You can create clear objectives and link them to specific tasks or projects. It gives you a visual representation of progress. This feature helps keep you and your team aligned with the larger goals of your organization.
  • Time management: With built-in time tracking and calendar views, ClickUp helps you manage your time efficiently. You can track how much time you spend on each task, set time estimates, and even integrate with external calendars to keep your schedule organized. Think of the ease of managing deadlines and ensuring timely project delivery.
  • Document management: ClickUp is also great for storing and managing documents. You can create, edit, and store documents directly within the platform, keeping everything related to your project in one place. It supports rich text editing, which makes it easy to create detailed project plans, reports, and other necessary documentation.
  • Task management: Use ClickUp for organizing and tracking tasks. Whether you’re managing a small project or handling a complex operation, you can easily create, assign, and monitor tasks within the platform. You can break down larger projects into subtasks, set deadlines, and prioritize tasks, ensuring that everything stays on track.
  • Team collaboration: If you’re working with a team, ClickUp excels in keeping everyone connected. It allows for real-time collaboration, where team members can comment, share files, and discuss tasks directly within the app. This feature eliminates long email threads and keeps all project-related communication in one place.
Standout Features
  • Automated payroll
  • Benefits administration
  • Employee onboarding
  • Time tracking
  • Performance management
  • Compliance management
  • Talent acquisition
  • Employee engagement tools
  • Integrations with other HR tools
  • Mobile app access
  • Multiple task views
  • Customizable workflows
  • Task dependencies
  • Time tracking
  • Automations
  • Integrations
  • Dashboards
  • Whiteboards
  • Shared docs
  • Goals
Pricing
  • Simple: $40/month + $6/employee/month
  • Plus: $60/month + $9/employee/month
  • Premium: $135/month + $16.5/employee/month
  • Contractor Only: $0/month + $6/employee/month
  • Free: Best for personal use.
  • Unlimited: $7/user/month
  • Business: $12/user/month
  • Enterprise: Contact the sales team to get a quote.
Standout Features

Gusto HR Standout Features

Gusto-HR-Standout-Features

Gusto is a comprehensive HR platform that makes managing your workforce simpler and more efficient. Consider it for your:

Payroll processing

Gusto makes payroll a breeze. It automates the entire process, ensuring you pay your employees accurately and on time, every time. You can handle payroll for full-time, part-time, and contract workers, and Gusto even takes care of tax filings and year-end forms. This saves you a lot of time and reduces the risk of errors.

Employee benefits administration

Managing employee benefits can become complicated, but Gusto simplifies it. You can offer a range of benefits, from health insurance to retirement plans, and Gusto helps you set up and administer them. The platform integrates with various benefits providers. So it’s easy for you to provide competitive packages that attract and retain top talent.

Onboarding

Gusto streamlines the onboarding process for new hires. You can send offer letters, set up direct deposit, and manage paperwork all within the platform. This creates a smooth onboarding experience for new employees, helping them get up and running quickly without the usual hassle of paperwork.

Time tracking

The platform’s time tracking feature allows you to monitor employee hours directly within the platform. Employees can clock in and out, track breaks, and log overtime, all of which can be automatically synced with payroll. This feature ensures accurate timekeeping and simplifies payroll processing.

Compliance support

Staying compliant with labor laws and regulations is crucial, and Gusto helps you navigate this complex area. The platform provides automatic updates on changing laws, assists with tax filings, and offers compliance tools like I-9 and W-2 form management.

Employee self-service

The HR platform empowers your employees with a self-service portal where they can access their pay stubs, benefits information, and tax documents. They can also update personal information. This transparency and accessibility improve employee satisfaction.

HR tools and support

Beyond payroll and benefits, Gusto offers a suite of HR tools to help you manage your team effectively. You can track employee performance, manage PTO requests, and store important documents securely. Plus, Gusto provides HR experts who are available to offer advice and support whenever you need it.

Integrations

Gusto integrates seamlessly with other tools you might already be using, such as accounting software, time-tracking apps, and CRM systems. These integrations help you create a more cohesive and efficient workflow, minimizing the need for manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors.

ClickUp Standout Features

ClickUp-Standout-Features

ClickUp has several standout features that set it apart from other project management tools:

Customizable views

ClickUp lets you view your tasks in multiple ways—List, Board, Calendar, Gantt, and more. You can choose the view that works best for your workflow, giving you the flexibility to manage tasks the way you prefer.

Everything in one place

With ClickUp, you can manage tasks, docs, goals, chats, and even time tracking, all within one platform. This means there’s no need for multiple tools to keep track of your projects—you can do it all in one place.

Automation

Save time with ClickUp’s automation features. Create automated workflows that handle repetitive tasks like moving tasks between stages, assigning them to team members, or sending notifications. This lets you focus on what really matters.

Custom fields

Customize tasks to fit your specific needs by adding custom fields. Whether you need to track budgets, deadlines, or anything unique to your project, custom fields let you tailor ClickUp to your workflow.

Integrations

ClickUp integrates with over 1,000 tools, including Slack, Google Drive, and Trello. This makes it easy to connect all your existing tools and streamline your work processes without leaving ClickUp.

Goals and OKRs

You can set, track, and manage your goals and objectives directly in ClickUp. This feature allows you to break down big goals into smaller, actionable tasks, ensuring everyone on your team aligns and works towards the same objectives.

Time tracking

ClickUp’s built-in time tracking allows you to monitor how much time is spent on each task. This is ideal for managing billable hours, understanding where your team’s time goes, and optimizing productivity.

Collaboration tools

From comments and mentions to assigned comments and real-time editing in documents, ClickUp facilitates seamless team collaboration. You can keep all communication tied to the tasks they relate to, avoiding the chaos of scattered messages.

Templates

ClickUp offers a variety of templates for tasks, projects, and even entire workflows. Whether you’re managing a marketing campaign, software development, or personal tasks, you can get started quickly with a template that fits your needs.

Advanced reporting

Generate detailed reports on task completion, time tracking, and team performance with ClickUp’s advanced reporting features. This gives you actionable insights to improve your workflows and drive better results.

Pros and Cons of Gusto HR
Pros-and-Cons-of-Gusto-HR

Pros

  • Simplifies payroll processing.
  • Offers comprehensive benefits management.
  • Integrates with various accounting tools.
  • Provides employee self-service portal.
  • Automates tax filings.
  • Delivers easy-to-use interface.
  • Supports compliance with labor laws.
  • Customizes reports and workflows.

Cons

  • Limits features in lower-tier plans.
  • Charges extra for certain services.
  • Lacks advanced HR functionalities for large businesses.
  • Restricts international payroll capabilities.
  • Experiences occasional customer support delays.
  • Requires setup time for new users.
Pros and Cons of ClickUp
ClickUp-HR-Software

Pros

  • Customizes workflows and views extensively.
  • Integrates with a wide range of third-party tools.
  • Automates repetitive tasks with ease.
  • Manages everything in one platform, from tasks to documents.
  • Tracks time directly within the app.
  • Collaborates effectively with real-time comments and editing.
  • Sets and monitors goals and OKRs.
  • Accesses a variety of templates for quick setup.

Cons

  • Experiences a learning curve due to its many features.
  • Encounters occasional performance issues with large projects.
  • Deals with some features that may be too complex for small teams.
  • Finds that the mobile app lacks some functionality.
  • Requires more time to fully customize for specific needs.
Customer Reviews

Gusto doesn’t have a good standing when it comes to customer reviews. It has a poor rating of 2.4 out of 5-star based on 2,072 customer feedbacks on TrustPilot. ClickUp has an average rating of 2.8 stars out of 5 based on 287 customer reviews on TrustPilot. You can’t really say that one is better than the other in terms of review.

Competitors

BambooHR

BambooHR is a cloud-based human resources (HR) management software that streamline and simplify your HR processes. With BambooHR, you can effectively manage various HR tasks, including employee onboarding, offboarding, time off requests, performance reviews, and benefits administration.

The software offers a user-friendly interface, making it easy for you to navigate and access essential information. Additionally, BambooHR provides customizable features to accommodate the unique needs of your business, ensuring that your HR processes align with your specific requirements.

Rippling

Rippling is a versatile HR and payroll platform. It offers a comprehensive suite of features, including global payroll, benefits administration, time tracking, expense management, IT management, and employee onboarding/offboarding.

By centralizing these functions, Rippling helps you save time, reduce administrative burdens, and improve compliance.

Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, Rippling can simplify your HR processes, enhance your overall efficiency, and provide a centralized hub for managing your workforce.

Pro Tips
  • Define your core needs: Gusto is a comprehensive HR and payroll management tool, ideal for handling employee benefits, payroll, and compliance. ClickUp, on the other hand, is a project management and productivity tool that’s best for task management, collaboration, and workflow automation. Determine whether your priority is HR management or project management.
  • Evaluate usability and training needs: ClickUp is famous for its customization options and can be complex to set up initially, which can require training. Gusto is more straightforward, with a focus on user-friendly HR management. Consider your team’s tech-savviness and the time you can dedicate to onboarding.
  • Review pricing models: Both tools offer different pricing structures. Gusto has a tiered pricing model based on the services you need, while ClickUp offers a more flexible pricing plan based on team size and feature requirements. Compare the costs in the context of your budget and the features you need.
  • Consider integration capabilities: Evaluate how each tool integrates with your existing software. Gusto integrates well with accounting software like QuickBooks, while ClickUp offers integration with a wide range of productivity tools like Slack, Google Workspace, and more. Choose based on which integrations enhance your workflow.
  • Assess team size and growth plans: If you’re managing a small to mid-sized business and need to streamline HR tasks, Gusto is a great fit. For teams that are more project-focused, particularly in creative or tech industries, ClickUp offers flexibility in managing projects as your team grows.
Recap

Gusto is perfect if you’re looking for a solution to streamline payroll, manage employee benefits, and handle HR compliance. Adopt it if you prioritize HR tasks. ClickUp, on the other hand, shines as a project management tool, offering robust features for task management, team collaboration, and workflow automation, which is ideal if your focus is on enhancing productivity and project efficiency.

Consider your integration needs, team size, usability preferences, and budget to determine which tool best aligns with your goals.

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