Square Payroll vs. Gusto vs. Rippling: Payroll comparison 2025

For small and midsize businesses, choosing the right payroll software goes beyond the best combination of features. You need a tool that fits how you operate, whether that means managing a retail team or hiring contractors across the country.

Square Payroll and Gusto are two widely used options and popular with startups, retailers, and agencies alike. But between Square Payroll reviews touting it as the ideal no-fuss option and Gusto Payroll reviews insisting it’s the HR tool you didn’t know you needed, how do you even begin to evaluate the options? In this guide, we’ll walk through what each platform actually offers and the best use cases.

Quick comparison: Square Payroll vs. Gusto vs. Rippling at a glance

The best payroll software for your business depends on features. You need the right capabilities for the work you do and the team you run. The table below lays out how Rippling, Square Payroll, and Gusto perform across key functionalities.

Methodology: How we reviewed different payroll software

To find the best payroll software, we focused on features and functionality, assessing each tool based on key capabilities that matter to any business. Consistency means differences reflect actual differentiators. Our research focused on materials published by providers themselves, and included:

• Official product websites. We started with each provider’s official product page to verify features, service scope, and coverage. These reflect the most up-to-date, legally accurate description of what the product actually offers.

• Demos and documentation. When available, we reviewed official product walkthroughs, feature explainers, and setup guides to gauge how integrated (or manual) certain processes really are.

• Customer reviews and write-ups. We consulted review platforms and unpaid writeups but treated them like secondary sources. User feedback can surface recurring pain points or standout features, but isn’t always representative or recent.

Rippling editorial policy: Rippling puts our customers (and prospective customers!) first. The Rippling team is committed to providing information supported by product data, insights, and customer feedback to inform our content.

Features comparison: Square Payroll vs. Gusto vs. Rippling

Looking for the quick and dirty breakdown of what each platform can really do when it comes to payroll? How they handle automation, compliance, and different worker types? The table below gives you all the details on where Rippling, Square, and Gusto stand out — or don’t.

Payroll processing

Rippling

Rippling handles payroll for employees and contractors in a single, centralized location, automatically filing taxes and syncing data across HR and finance. You can even fix errors after payday and run unlimited off-cycle payments without extra steps. Good news for the nearly 32% of HR leaders who spend significant time on payroll.

Square Payroll

Square Payroll is a straightforward option for US-based teams already using Square POS. The payroll tool pulls in hours worked, calculates pay, and files taxes automatically, but only if you’ve committed to the Square ecosystem. It also stops short of handling anything outside the US.

Gusto 

Gusto offers automated time tracking and payroll for US teams, with an optional add-on to pay contractors abroad. It’s a reliable tool for domestic compliance, but doesn’t extend to full international payroll. 

Our verdict

Square offers simplicity, and Gusto includes a helpful HR layer. Still, Rippling goes further, handling domestic and global payroll, off-cycle runs, and last-minute edits in a single connected system.

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Tax filing and forms

Rippling

Rippling Payroll automates every level of payroll tax filing. All the forms, payments, and employee records that typically live in multiple locations? Rippling puts them all together in one place. The unified approach means you can build custom reports that cut across entities, departments, or countries without a separate export or reconciliation step.

Square Payroll

Square Payroll automatically calculates and files federal and state taxes and generates year-end forms for employees and contractors. It’s dependable for domestic payroll, but doesn’t extend to multi-state complexity or international reporting.

Gusto 

Gusto files and stores all required US payroll taxes automatically, so you have the required documentation at the ready in case of an audit. The tradeoff? Rigid reporting that doesn’t allow for easy customization, which makes it harder to manage payroll across entities or track costs by department as you grow. 

Our verdict

All three tools automate the basics, but Rippling offers broader coverage and flexibility. Square makes sense for local teams with simple tax needs, and Gusto covers US compliance well, but both struggle to deliver comprehensive support once you go global and start to operate across entities. 

Benefits administration

Rippling

Rippling prioritizes flexibility in benefits administration. Unlike other platforms that restrict you to a limited number of preferred carriers, Rippling’s benefits administration software gives you the option to partner with its network or invite your existing brokers. And regardless of provider, Rippling centralizes medical, dental, vision, 401(k), and FSA/HSA in one system with automated enrollment and benefit deductions that sync to payroll.

Square Payroll

If you already run operations through other Square products and need basic health and retirement options for a US team, Square’s partner offerings might fit the bill. Because benefits live outside the main payroll workflow, however, setup and management can feel disconnected, and there’s no global coverage.

Gusto 

Gusto offers a broad benefits catalog that covers health, dental, vision, retirement, and commuter plans — if you operate entirely in the US. Plans are also limited to Gusto’s partner network, and there’s no support for multi-entity or international benefits as you grow.

Our verdict

Square works for small US teams looking to tick the box for “benefits coverage.” Gusto goes further with a solid domestic benefits package, but locks you into a partner network that might not serve all your employees. Rippling is the only platform that handles the full range of benefits for a modern company while letting you choose your broker and manage coverage worldwide.

Hiring and onboarding

Rippling

Rippling automates the entire onboarding process from offer to day one, creating and sending offer letters, collecting e-signatures, and completing tax and compliance forms without manual input. And once your new hire enters the system, Rippling handles payroll, benefits, and software access.

Square Payroll

With Square Payroll, you’ll need to manage most of the onboarding yourself; this tool doesn’t include automated workflows, offer letters, or document management. Likewise, you’ll need to handle payroll setup manually, which can get cumbersome if you have more than a few employees. 

Gusto 

Gusto covers the HR paperwork of onboarding with offer letter templates and digital signatures, but doesn’t offer a fully automated setup. Instead, new employees self-serve their own tax forms and personal details through the platform. There’s no connection to IT or other systems, so you’ll need to handle provisioning separately.

Our verdict

Rippling stands out for treating onboarding as part of a broader employee launch that goes beyond HR admin. Once you’ve guided a new hire into the system via automated onboarding, everything else flows with zero intervention: payroll, benefits, even access to tools they’ll use. Gusto does well managing paperwork, but keeps setup separate, and Square payroll doesn’t cover the process at all.

Contractor payments

Rippling

If you want to manage contractors alongside employees without toggling between systems and workflows, Rippling is your payroll tool. You can pay in local currency, file 1099s automatically, and track both payments and time through a single dashboard.

Square Payroll

If your business runs on Square for payments and you only need to handle a few contractors in the US, Square can accommodate. Be aware, however, that commitment to the Square ecosystem doesn’t translate into automation. Contractors will need to import their hours from Square Teams, and payruns still need manual configuration.

Gusto 

Gusto’s workflow capably handles payments to US-based contractors, but may struggle if you’re working with multiple entities and contractors around the world. It’s a bolt-on feature, not a full contractor management system, and it shows.

Our verdict

Square and Gusto both stay surface-level when it comes to contractors, with hidden manual processing requirements and international limitations. Rippling gets the nod for tying contractor management directly into payroll and HR, eliminating the need for separate tools and additional workflows.

Time tracking

Rippling

Rippling’s built-in time tracking and attendance tool syncs directly with payroll, which means hours, overtime, and PTO flow automatically. Custom policies for shifts, approvals, and job codes make it adaptable for hourly and salaried teams. 

Square Payroll

If you’re using Square Teams and POS to manage hours and shifts, Square Payroll imports hours worked, tips, and breaks automatically. Otherwise, you’ll need to enter data manually. Likewise, if you work with salaried employees or remote workers, you’ll need a separate tool to handle time, attendance, and PTO tracking.

Gusto 

Employees can log hours, request PTO, and track time directly in Gusto. This information flows directly to payroll, reducing the need for manual adjustments. It’s convenient for small teams of salaried employees, but lacks the granular scheduling and compliance tools needed for hourly workforces. 

Our verdict

Rippling wins here because it doesn’t treat time tracking like a side feature. It’s built into payroll with automatic overtime, job codes, and policy enforcement that work across locations. Gusto and Square both struggle with mixed teams and skew toward either salaried or hourly workers. 

Square Payroll vs. Gusto vs. Rippling: Pricing

No one wants to think about the budget, but it plays a role in any business decision — including your choice of payroll software. 

Rippling

Rippling uses a modular pricing model, which means you pay only for the features you use. You’ll pay a flat monthly fee of $35 per month for the HRIS module, plus $10 per employee, per month for domestic payroll. 

Square Payroll

Square Payroll offers a contractor-only plan at $6 per contractor per month and no base fee. That’s a basic model, however. For a full-service plan capable of paying employees, you’ll pay $35 a month, plus $6 per person. 

Gusto

Gusto’s base pricing starts at $54 per month, plus $7 per user, and the contractor-only plan includes a base fee of $35 per month, plus $6 per contractor. 

Square Payroll vs. Gusto vs. Rippling: Reviews

While product documentation always gives you the best insight into how a platform works (or claims to work), it typically doesn’t reflect how real people experience the tool. To understand how each payroll platform performs in the wild, we analyzed ratings from two of the major independent software review sites.

Rippling users, unsurprisingly, appreciated the platform’s centralized approach with comments like, “My overall experience with Rippling has been very positive. It streamlined many of our HR and payroll processes, and having everything in one platform made our workflow more efficient,” and “Rippling renders many minor, repetitive tasks obsolete. It takes time to set up workflows, but once they are set up the way you like, they work like a charm, and you don't look back.”

Gusto and Square Payroll also garnered their share of praise, but users also expressed frustration with platform limitations. Square users struggled with customer support and the lack of HR features, while multiple Gusto reviews noted challenges with payroll tax calculations and payments.

Square Payroll vs. Gusto vs. Rippling: Pros and cons

Sometimes, you just need to see it laid out. After all the comparisons and feature tables, let’s cut to the chase: what each platform does well, and where it falls short. Here’s a quick look at the real pros and cons of Rippling, Square Payroll, and Gusto.

Rippling pros and cons

Rippling’s biggest strength lies in how deeply it connects with HR, IT, and finance. Everything runs on the same employee record, so data moves automatically across systems.

Rippling pros

• Unified HR, IT, and finance data

• Global payroll in over 100 countries 

• Automatic tax filing at the federal, state, and local level

• Built-in time tracking, onboarding, and benefits administration

• Edit or rerun payroll after submission without penalties

• Choose your own broker, or use Rippling’s network

Rippling cons

• Some features may be sold as add-ons

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Square Payroll pros and cons

Square Payroll offers simplicity. It’s an easy way to handle basic payroll if your business runs on Square POS and operates on an hourly or shift-based model. For businesses outside retail and service, however, the absence of basic features might prove too limiting.

Square Payroll pros

• Easy integration with Square POS and Square Team

• Automatic federal and state tax filings

• Direct deposit for employees and contractors

Square Payroll cons

• Designed only for US payroll

• No HR, onboarding, or compliance tools

• Time tracking limited to the Square ecosystem

• Minimal benefits

• Not suited for multi-location or growing teams

Gusto pros and cons

Gusto offers US companies a combined HR and payroll approach that works well for small teams and simple processes. Multi-entity setups, complex reporting, and anything outside the US can lead to headaches. 

Gusto pros

• US payroll with automatic federal and state filings

• Includes onboarding, e-signatures, and time tracking

• Health and retirement benefits integrated with payroll

Gusto cons

• US-only compliance and benefits coverage

• Limited customization for multi-entity and department-level reporting

• No IT or device provisioning

Rippling: A smarter alternative to Square Payroll and Gusto

If you want payroll so powerful it runs itself, you want Rippling. Rippling offers full-service payroll software with every feature we’ve discussed in this article so far, plus even more — it’s built on top of a single source of truth for employee data. That means your employee data isn’t tied to one specific app — it’s the same across payroll, time and attendance, onboarding, performance management, and any other apps you use within our unified platform. 

What does that mean for you and your team? For starters, you have a single source of truth for employee data, making it easier to automate tasks, eliminate duplicate effort, and generate holistic reports across modules. As a comprehensive, single-system solution for HR, payroll, spend, and IT, Rippling offers support to businesses of all sizes worldwide. Rippling’s integrated HCM removes barriers between key HR functions, including payroll, benefits management, headcount planning, and learning management, for a seamless experience.

With Rippling, you can:

• Pay employees and contractors in the same platform

• Manage time and attendance natively 

• Run unlimited off-cycle pay runs at no extra cost 

• Set up multiple pay schedules, pay rates, and pay types in just a few clicks 

• Add recurring reimbursements (like cell phone payments, gym memberships, etc.) that are automatically paid out every pay period, monthly, or at whatever interval you choose

• Automatically calculate prorated pay runs for new or promoted employees 

• Manage all currency conversions, including payroll adjustments 

• Automatically calculate overtime for every country 

• Make changes after submitting payroll

If you’re growing fast — or just want to stop stitching tools together, Rippling makes complex workforce management feel simple.

Frequently asked questions about Gusto vs. Square Payroll vs. Rippling