Which one should I use to pay a contractor overseas?

Deel. Contractor management is $49 a month per contractor and covers a localised agreement, invoicing and payment in the currency they want. Gusto is built around domestic payroll for employees, not international contractor payments.

Which one should I use for my first real employee?

Gusto, if the hire is domestic: Simple is $49 a month plus $6 a person for single-state payroll, taxes and onboarding. Deel's equivalent, employer of record, is $599 a month per person, built for the specific case of an employee abroad rather than a routine domestic hire.

Does Gusto handle workers outside the United States?

Its payroll product is not described as covering international employment the way Deel's is. Deel offers employer of record across 130 or more countries specifically for that case, at $599 a month per person.

What is the real cost difference at five people?

It depends entirely on who those five people are. Five contractors through Deel's cheapest tier run $245 a month. Five domestic employees on Gusto's Simple plan run $79 a month. They are not solving the same problem, so the cheaper number is not the more relevant one on its own.

Deel vs Gusto Comparison 2026

Deel pays people abroad where you have no legal entity: $49 a month per contractor, rising to $599 a month per employee of record for somebody who is genuinely an employee in another country. Gusto runs payroll for a domestic employee: $49 a month plus $6 a person for single-state payroll. One handles the legal complexity of paying somebody in another country. The other handles tax filings for somebody on your own payroll at home.

Deel

Hire an editor abroad without a company there

Gusto

Payroll for the first person you hire

At a glance

Neither has a free tier.

Side by side

	Deel	Gusto
Starting price	From $49	From $49
Pricing model	Paid subscription	Paid subscription
Free tier	No	No
Billing	Monthly or annual	Monthly or annual
Free trial	Not stated	Not stated
API	Not stated	Not stated
Data export	Not stated

Deel

Hire an editor abroad without a company there

Deel is how a small team pays somebody in a country it has no legal presence in. Contractor agreements are localised, payments go out in the currency the person wants, and Deel will act as the employer of record when a contractor relationship is not the honest description of the work. The prices are per person per month and they climb steeply between products. Most creator businesses need the contractor tier and nothing above it.

Our note

Only the $49 contractor tier makes sense for most creator businesses, and the jump to $325 buys an insurance policy against misclassification rather than any new function. Get an opinion on whether your people are actually contractors before deciding which of those two numbers applies, because Deel's pricing assumes you already know.

Only on this side

Covers hiring & freelancers

More Deel alternatives Visit Deel

Gusto

Payroll for the first person you hire

Gusto is what a creator business turns to on the day an editor stops being a contractor and becomes an employee. It runs the payroll, files the taxes in the states you owe them, handles onboarding and offers benefits on top. The per-person fee is the number to watch: the base looks small and the headcount is what actually sets the bill. Contractor-only payments are cheaper than full payroll and sold separately.

Why people weigh these two

Gusto instead of Deel: Gusto starts at the same $49 for the same job of paying the people who work for you, framed as payroll for a first hire rather than contractor agreements across borders.
Deel instead of Gusto: Deel covers the hire Gusto cannot, an editor abroad employed without a local company, and starts at the same $49 a month.

Which one should you pick

Pick Deel once a creator business has an editor in one country and a designer in another, and the honest answer to whether they are really contractors has started to feel shaky. The $49-per-contractor tier covers most creator businesses; the jump to $325 for contractor of record is an insurance policy against misclassification, and $599 a month per employee of record is for somebody who is genuinely a full employee abroad.

Pick Gusto for the day a creator business makes its first real domestic hire: payroll, tax filings, onboarding and benefits in one place, from $49 a month plus $6 a person. Work the total at your actual headcount rather than the base price, since the per-person fee roughly doubles between Simple and Plus. Anybody paying only contractors should look at a dedicated contractor product instead, which is exactly what Deel's cheapest tier is.

Common questions

Which one should I use to pay a contractor overseas?: Deel. Contractor management is $49 a month per contractor and covers a localised agreement, invoicing and payment in the currency they want. Gusto is built around domestic payroll for employees, not international contractor payments.
Which one should I use for my first real employee?: Gusto, if the hire is domestic: Simple is $49 a month plus $6 a person for single-state payroll, taxes and onboarding. Deel's equivalent, employer of record, is $599 a month per person, built for the specific case of an employee abroad rather than a routine domestic hire.
Does Gusto handle workers outside the United States?: Its payroll product is not described as covering international employment the way Deel's is. Deel offers employer of record across 130 or more countries specifically for that case, at $599 a month per person.
What is the real cost difference at five people?: It depends entirely on who those five people are. Five contractors through Deel's cheapest tier run $245 a month. Five domestic employees on Gusto's Simple plan run $79 a month. They are not solving the same problem, so the cheaper number is not the more relevant one on its own.

Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.