Gusto has no OnPay importer. Export payroll history and re-enter employee details; the entry price is identical, so this move is about features, not cost.
Quick verdict: Move to Gusto if you want more HR bundled into a single tier (Plus or Premium) rather than adding OnPay’s itemized add-ons one at a time, or prefer a more established brand.
Most buyers only budget for the new subscription. This estimates the hidden labor, data-cleanup, and retraining cost of actually making the switch.
Estimate assumes: 1 hour of data-mapping/cleaning labor per 2,000 records, a blended $75/hr ops rate, tiered migration & cleaning tooling fees, and 4 hours of retraining per seat at a $45/hr fully-loaded rate.
Plus and Premium add more HR features at once.
Larger user base and integration ecosystem.
Included from Plus, not a separate add-on.
Gusto’s bundled tiers can cost more than itemizing the same features on OnPay, and it offers no free trial, only free setup.
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1Gather payroll and tax records | Export year-to-date payroll reports, tax filings and employee records from the old provider. |
| 2Sign up for Gusto | Create your Gusto account and choose Simple, Plus or Premium based on the HR features you need. |
| 3Rebuild your pay schedule and deductions | Recreate your pay schedule, benefit deductions and any custom earnings or deduction types in the new tool. |
| 4Re-enter employee and contractor details | Add bank details, tax withholding elections and pay rates for each worker — sensitive data that never transfers automatically. |
| 5Run a parallel test payroll | Run one payroll cycle in the new tool alongside the old one to confirm the numbers match before fully switching. |
| 6Cancel the old plan | Once a real payroll cycle has run cleanly in the new tool, cancel the old subscription. |
What this path doesn’t do for you:
OnPay’s itemized add-on pricing has no direct Gusto equivalent — Gusto bundles HR depth into its Plus and Premium tiers rather than pricing each feature separately.
| Plan | OnPay | Gusto |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing basis | Flat base + per-worker | Flat base + per-person |
| Entry price | $49 base + $6/worker/mo | $49 base + $6/person/mo (Simple) |
| HR add-on | $15 base + $2/worker | From Plus ($80 + $12/person) |
| Time tracking add-on | $15 base + $4/worker | From Plus |
| Free trial | First month free | No, free setup only |
Prices checked on each vendor’s pricing page on September 23, 2026.
| Capability | OnPay | Gusto |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $49 + $6/worker | $49 + $6/person (Simple) |
| HR depth | Itemized add-ons | Bundled into Plus/Premium |
| Free trial | First month free | No, free setup only |
Going the other direction, or want the full comparison first?
Read the OnPay vs Gusto comparison Switching from Gusto to OnPay instead?No. Export payroll history and re-enter employee and tax details.
At the entry tier, no — both are $49 + $6/head. It depends which add-ons or bundled tier you actually need.
No, Gusto offers free account setup but not a free trial period the way OnPay does.
Payroll providers don’t transfer tax-filing history automatically. Export year-to-date payroll reports and prior W-2/1099 data, and time the switch around a quarter or year boundary where possible to keep filings clean.
Every pricing fact, rating, AI billing model and switching guide we hold on each tool, on one page, with the date each figure was last verified.
Prices on this page were recorded from each vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown at the top of the page. Vendors change pricing often — check the live source before you buy.
Every figure is also in our open dataset (JSON and CSV, CC BY 4.0), with its source page and verification date. See how we research pricing.
Plain-language guides: the steps, what to check before you buy, common mistakes, and every tool it takes with verified prices.
Verified prices costed for your team size, a check against your must-have requirements, the questions to settle before you sign, and a source for every figure. Print it, or paste it into an email to whoever approves the spend.
Built for the leader who owns the selection, answers for the spend, drives the rollout, and lives with the results. HelpCompare covers the whole decision, not just the first step.