Did you know that businesses in the U.S. spend an average of 120 hours a year managing payroll, bookkeeping, and expense tracking? For small to medium-sized businesses, that’s a significant loss of time and productivity. This time could be spent on growth, innovation, and customer relationships. Yet, the right financial software can drastically cut these inefficiencies and optimize processes.
In this comparison, we explore three industry-leading tools: Gusto, QuickBooks, and Ramp. Each platform is tailored to solve specific business pain points, including payroll compliance, HR management, accounting, modern spend management, and automation.
But how do you choose the one that fits your unique needs?
This Gusto vs QuickBooks vs Ramp comparison guide provides an in-depth look at how these platforms compare by focusing on their unique features, advantages, and potential drawbacks. By understanding the capabilities and use cases of these software, you’ll be better equipped to choose a solution that optimizes your financial operations.
Feature | Gusto | QuickBooks | Ramp |
Payroll Management | Payroll processing, tax filings, benefits management, employee self-service portal | Payroll processing, automatic tax calculations, direct deposit, pay stub generation | Payroll integration, tax compliance, employee payment automation |
Accounting And Bookkeeping | Basic accounting, expense tracking, reporting, and insights | Double-entry accounting, expense tracking, financial reports | Integrates with accounting software, real-time expense tracking, profit and loss reporting |
Tax Filing And Compliance | Federal and state tax filing, automated tax calculation | Self-employed tax filing, payroll tax management | Tax compliance assistance, sales tax reporting |
Time Tracking | Time tracking integrated with payroll | Timesheets, mobile time tracking, and Time Kiosk to track on-site attendance | No direct time tracking, but integrates with tools |
Expense Management | Track, remove, and report expenses | Expense reporting and approvals, integrates with expense management tools | Corporate card expense tracking, real-time expense tracking, and reporting |
Bank Integration | Bank account syncing | Syncs bank transactions and credit cards | Direct bank and card connection, US bank integration |
Pricing | Starts at $40/month plus $6/month/person | Starting at $35/month | Starting at $0/month/user |
Gusto HR software is a cloud-based payroll and human resource (HR) software designed to simplify workforce management for small to mid-sized businesses. Since its inception in 2012, Gusto has become a trusted partner for more than 300,000 businesses, which offers streamlined tools to manage payroll, employee benefits, and tax compliance.
While best known for its advanced payroll services, Gusto serves as a comprehensive platform for small businesses by integrating a suite of essential HR functionalities. These include employee onboarding, comprehensive benefits administration, and integrated time tracking. This makes it an ideal solution for businesses seeking a unified and scalable approach to managing their workforce.
Unique Features Of Gusto
Gusto Pros And Cons Of Gusto
Another user highlighted:
However, while Gusto has significantly improved its platform over the years by introducing several valuable features, some users have expressed concerns about its customer support.
One user noted:
Gusto As Compared To Alternatives
While QuickBooks provides a broad financial suite for bookkeeping, invoicing, and detailed financial reporting, Gusto is laser-focused on simplifying HR tasks. It excels at payroll automation, employee benefits management, and tax compliance, making HR processes effortless for businesses.
Unlike Ramp, which specializes in financial spend management and corporate card tracking, Gusto is built to optimize payroll, employee benefits, and tax filings. Ramp is great for managing expenses and cash flow, but when it comes to automating payroll and managing employee-related tasks, Gusto takes the lead.
QuickBooks, developed by Intuit, is a comprehensive accounting software that provides solutions for managing finances, payroll, and business operations. Known for its smooth integration with various financial tools, QuickBooks offers multiple features, including bookkeeping, invoicing, detailed financial reporting, and tax preparation.
For businesses looking for a complete financial ecosystem, it stands out as an advanced tool that simplifies accounting processes while ensuring accuracy in financial reporting. It is particularly useful for small- to medium-sized businesses that need a scalable, user-friendly platform to handle expense tracking and generate profit and loss statements.
QuickBooks also integrates well with third-party applications, which makes it ideal for businesses seeking to consolidate multiple functions into one platform.
Unique Features Of QuickBooks
Quickbooks Pros And Cons
QuickBooks Online (QBO) is often praised for its advanced audit log and its status as the industry standard in small business accounting software. Many users appreciate how easy it is to pull individual transaction audits without sifting through unnecessary data, which is a major improvement over the desktop version.
One user mentioned:
Additionally, QuickBooks has earned its place as a leader in the market, with a significant share of the small business accounting software space. Users frequently highlight its comprehensive features and reliability, which contribute to its widespread use.
As one user shared:
However, there are a few limitations to consider. Some users have pointed out that QuickBooks performance can be heavily impacted by internet connectivity, as there is no offline capability at this time.
One user noted:
QuickBooks As Compared To Alternatives
QuickBooks provides a comprehensive accounting suite that covers everything, including bookkeeping, invoicing, financial reporting, and tax filing. However, it lacks the advancements in employee-centric features found in Gusto, such as automated payroll, benefits management, and HR tools like employee onboarding.
Compared to Ramp, QuickBooks is more focused on financial management and accounting, while Ramp specializes in corporate card management, expense tracking, and spending analysis. Ramp’s strength lies in managing company expenses and cash flow, whereas QuickBooks offers a broader financial toolkit, ideal for businesses that need full accounting solutions alongside payroll processing.
Ramp is a spend management platform designed to optimize corporate expense management, provide real-time financial insights, and help businesses automate their finance operations. Unlike payroll-specific solutions, Ramp’s primary focus is on optimizing expense tracking, spending control, and cost reduction.
As a corporate card platform, it offers businesses unparalleled tools to enforce expense policies and save time and money through automation. Founded in 2019, Ramp has quickly gained traction among startups, mid-sized businesses, and enterprises.
It is known for innovative features like real-time expense tracking, unlimited virtual cards, automated receipt matching, and powerful reporting tools.
Unique Features Of Ramp
Ramp Pros And Cons
Ramp has garnered significant praise for its innovative approach to expense management, particularly with its physical and virtual cards. Users highlight the flexibility and creative control offered by the virtual cards, which makes spend deployment much easier than traditional card providers.
One user shared:
Additionally, Ramp’s automation features have impressed users, especially with its AI-powered receipt reconciliation and seamless workflow for expense reports.
One user mentioned:
However, some users have expressed concerns about Ramp’s HR team's response times. For example, one user shared:
Ramp As Compared To Alternatives
Ramp excels in spending management by offering features like corporate card management, expense tracking, and spend optimization. However, it lacks the comprehensive payroll and HR tools that platforms like Gusto provide, such as payroll automation, employee benefits management, and tax filings.
Compared to QuickBooks, Ramp is more focused on financial transactions and expense management rather than the full spectrum of accounting and financial reporting. QuickBooks, with its strong accounting features, handles everything from bookkeeping to tax filings and reporting. Ramp, on the other hand, specializes in helping businesses manage corporate spending, streamline expenses, and improve financial visibility.
In conclusion, choosing between Gusto vs QuickBooks vs Ramp ultimately depends on your specific business needs and priorities. Each of these platforms brings unique strengths to the table, whether you're looking for a comprehensive HR solution, smooth accounting integration, or advanced expense management features.
Gusto stands out for its all-in-one HR capabilities; QuickBooks, on the other hand, is ideal for those focused on simplified tax compliance and payroll management. Meanwhile, Ramp offers a modern, expense-management-focused solution with a strong emphasis on financial control and insights.
Each platform excels in its domain, so carefully consider your company's requirements and long-term growth plans to ensure you select the payroll solution that aligns best with your needs.