Payroll Costs 2026: ADP vs Gusto vs What You're Actually Paying

Written by Ben Carlson·21 May 2026·12 min read·ComparisonIntermediate

In this article

Gusto is now $49/month. ADP RUN starts at $79. Neither number is your real payroll cost.
What does payroll software actually cost a 10-person US small business in 2026?
Three moves smart operators are making right now
How AskBiz shows you your real per-employee cost — not just the platform fee
Warning signs your payroll costs are bleeding you right now
Your action plan for this week

Key Takeaways

Gusto's Simple plan is now $49/month plus $6 per employee; ADP RUN starts around $79/month plus $4 per employee — but neither number tells you your true payroll cost once you add FICA, FUTA, and state unemployment taxes. A 10-person team in Texas is running $3,200–$4,800/month in total employer payroll burden before you've paid a single vendor. Audit your payroll platform fees this week against actual headcount — most owners are on the wrong tier.

Gusto is now $49/month. ADP RUN starts at $79. Neither number is your real payroll cost.
What does payroll software actually cost a 10-person US small business in 2026?
Three moves smart operators are making right now
How AskBiz shows you your real per-employee cost — not just the platform fee
Warning signs your payroll costs are bleeding you right now

Gusto is now $49/month. ADP RUN starts at $79. Neither number is your real payroll cost.#

Gusto raised its Simple plan to $49/month plus $6 per employee in 2026. ADP RUN — its core small business product for teams of 1 to 49 — runs around $79/month plus $4 to $5 per employee based on reported estimates, since ADP still doesn't publish RUN pricing publicly. OnPay and Roll by ADP both sit at the $39–$40 base range with $5–$6 per head. Those are the software fees. They are not your payroll cost. Here's what the platforms don't put in the headline: every dollar of W-2 wages you run through Gusto or ADP also triggers federal employer obligations. FICA employer share is 7.65% on wages up to $176,100 in 2026. FUTA is 6% on the first $7,000 per employee, reduced to 0.6% if your state unemployment taxes are current — which most are. State unemployment tax (SUTA) rates vary by state and your claims history, but the national average sits around 2.7% on the first $10,000–$14,000 of wages depending on your state wage base. Run 10 employees at an average of $22/hour full-time and your gross annual payroll is roughly $457,600. Employer FICA alone adds $35,000. FUTA adds $420. SUTA at average rates adds another $2,700–$3,800. That's $38,000–$39,500 in payroll taxes before the software bill. The IRS collected $1.3 trillion in payroll taxes in fiscal 2025. Small businesses are the engine. And most owners cannot tell you what their true per-employee cost is — they quote the hourly rate and stop there. Know the difference between your gross wage expense, your employer tax burden, and your payroll platform fee. Those are three separate line items. Most QuickBooks P&Ls blur all three into one 'Payroll' account.

What does payroll software actually cost a 10-person US small business in 2026?#

Take a real scenario: a plumbing company in Columbus, Ohio with 10 W-2 employees — 8 technicians and 2 office staff. Average blended wage of $28/hour. That's roughly $582,400 in gross annual wages. On Gusto Simple: $49/month base plus $6 x 10 employees = $109/month, or $1,308/year in platform fees. Gusto Simple handles federal and state tax filing, direct deposit, and W-2s. It does not include time tracking or next-day direct deposit — those are Plus tier at $80/month plus $12 per employee, or $1,800/year. On ADP RUN: estimated $79/month base plus $4 x 10 = $119/month, or $1,428/year. ADP bundles in more HR compliance tools at the base tier, which matters in Ohio where Bureau of Workers' Compensation reporting is mandatory. On Paychex Flex: starts at $39/month plus $5 per employee — $89/month, $1,068/year — but Paychex is known for upselling compliance add-ons that push real costs higher. Now stack in employer taxes on $582,400 gross payroll: FICA employer share at 7.65% = $44,554. Ohio SUTA rate averages 2.7% on first $9,000 per employee = $2,430. FUTA = $420. Total employer tax burden: $47,404/year. Add platform fees. The Columbus plumber's real total payroll cost is $630,000+ annually — not the $582,400 on the job estimates. That 8.2% employer burden gap is exactly where margin compression hides. If your flat-rate service ticket pricing doesn't account for it, you're subsidising the customer.

Three moves smart operators are making right now#

**1. Reconcile your payroll platform tier against actual headcount today.** Gusto charges per active employee, not per payroll run. If you onboarded seasonal workers in Q1 and forgot to terminate them in the system, you are paying $6/head/month for zero labour. Log into Gusto or ADP, pull your active employee count, and cross it against your current roster. This takes 20 minutes. Operators catching even two phantom employees on Gusto Simple save $144/year — small, but it flags a process gap. **2. Separate your payroll tax liability account in QuickBooks before Q3 estimated taxes hit.** The IRS requires quarterly payroll tax deposits — 941 filings — for most employers. If you're using QuickBooks Payroll or running through Gusto, verify that employer FICA contributions are flowing into a dedicated liability account, not buried in your operating expenses. The IRS Trust Fund Recovery Penalty — personally assessed against responsible officers — starts at 100% of unpaid payroll taxes. This is not a fine you negotiate down. Set a calendar alert for July 31, the Q2 Form 941 deadline. **3. Model the cost of your next hire before you post the job.** Every W-2 hire at $50,000/year costs you roughly $53,825 in employer burden after FICA — and that's before benefits, workers' comp, or platform fees. Use the SBA's online cost-of-hiring calculator or build a simple Google Sheet: gross salary + 7.65% FICA + state SUTA rate + $6/month Gusto fee x 12. If the fully loaded cost of the hire doesn't fit inside your current gross margin structure, the hire is not yet profitable. Most small business owners learn this three months after making the offer.

How AskBiz shows you your real per-employee cost — not just the platform fee#

A Nashville HVAC owner with 14 employees opens AskBiz and types: 'What is my total cost per employee this quarter including payroll taxes and Gusto fees?' AskBiz pulls from her connected QuickBooks and Gusto account. The CFO Dashboard returns a breakdown in seconds: gross wages paid this quarter — $187,400. Employer FICA — $14,336. Tennessee has no state income tax but does have SUTA, flagged at $1,890. Gusto platform fees — $327 (14 employees x $6 plus $49 base x 3 months). Total employer payroll burden: $203,953. Real cost per employee per quarter: $14,568. She had been quoting service jobs based on a $13,200 per-employee quarterly assumption. That $1,368 gap per employee across 14 people is $19,152/year in unaccounted labour cost — roughly the margin on 38 standard HVAC tune-up visits she was effectively giving away. AskBiz's proactive alerts also flag when her payroll expense as a percentage of revenue moves more than 2% in either direction month over month, giving her a warning before a slow-season revenue dip turns into a cash flow problem. She gets that alert via SMS before she walks into the shop at 7am.

Warning signs your payroll costs are bleeding you right now#

Check these four things this week: **Your QuickBooks payroll expense as % of gross revenue is above 35%.** For service businesses, 28–32% is the healthy range. Above 35% and you're likely underpricing or overstaffed for current revenue. **You have not logged into your EFTPS account in 90+ days.** The IRS Electronic Federal Tax Payment System at eftps.gov shows your payroll tax deposit history. If Gusto or ADP is filing on your behalf, verify the deposits cleared. Processor errors happen. **Your Gusto or ADP invoice went up without a new hire.** Both platforms adjust per-employee fees when you cross tier thresholds or add features. A $20 unexplained bump in your monthly invoice means you've been auto-upgraded or have a ghost employee in the system. **You haven't received your Q2 Form 941 confirmation.** Q2 covers April through June. Filing deadline is July 31. If your payroll provider hasn't confirmed submission, call them before July 25 — not after.

Your action plan for this week#

**Before Friday:** Log into your payroll platform — Gusto, ADP, Paychex, or whoever you use — and export a headcount report. Compare every active employee record against your current roster. Terminate any inactive records. This takes 20 minutes and stops phantom billing immediately. **Set up once:** Create a separate QuickBooks liability account called 'Payroll Tax Withheld & Owed.' Map your 941 deposits and employer FICA contributions here. This gives you a real-time view of your IRS exposure every month — not a surprise at quarter-end. **Track monthly:** Your total employer payroll burden as a percentage of gross revenue. Pull it from QuickBooks or AskBiz on the first of every month. If it moves more than 2 percentage points in either direction without a corresponding revenue shift, something changed in your labour mix or pricing. Find it before your accountant finds it in March.

📊 By The Numbers

$49$6$79$4$5