Roll With Paid. vs Gusto
The mainstream platform, with a cannabis surcharge.
Gusto is the payroll platform most businesses have heard of, and it does serve cannabis operators. What it does not do is take the employer role off your business, and since January 2026 the cannabis support carries its own line on the invoice.
General-market payroll and HR platform, with a cannabis add-on
Payroll and HR software for every industry, with a cannabis compliance add-on. You operate it. Your business stays the legal employer.
Employer of record
The same operating tools, plus we become the W-2 employer and carry the coverage behind your team.
First, the thing people expect us to dodge
Gusto builds genuinely good software, and it is the most familiar name on this page for a reason. Onboarding, benefits administration, employee self-service and reporting are all strong, and their support is well regarded. We are not going to pretend otherwise. If what your business needs is a well-built platform to run yourself, Gusto is a reasonable place to land.
Where this comparison gets specific is the add-on. Gusto publishes that cannabis-related businesses joining on Simple or Plus from 20 January 2026 pay an $18 per employee per month CRB compliance add-on, and that Premium for CRBs includes it at an advertised $34 per person per month. That is transparent pricing and we respect it being published. It is also still a software subscription: it buys you tooling and compliance monitoring, not an employer.
The question a feature grid cannot answer
Three questions decide this, and none of them appear on a comparison chart:
- Whose federal employer identification number is on the payroll filing?
- Whose workers’ compensation policy takes the claim, at whose experience rating?
- Who is the named respondent when the state opens a wage investigation?
Side by side
| Item | Gusto | Roll With Paid. |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll and tax filing | Yes | Yes |
| Scheduling | Time tools, yes. Shift scheduling is not described on their cannabis page | Yes |
| Time and attendance | Yes | Yes |
| Hiring and onboarding | Yes, including applicant tracking | Yes |
| Reporting and dashboards | Yes | Yes |
| HR compliance support | HR tooling and advisers, plus CRB compliance monitoring under the add-on | Guidance, and we carry out the filings and notices ourselves |
| Named W-2 employer | Your business | Roll With Paid. |
| Workers’ compensation | Offered as a separate policy in your name, at your own experience mod | Included in our rate, on our policy |
| Unemployment insurance | Your account and your experience rating | Our account and our rating |
| Employment practices and general liability | Not described on their cannabis page | Included |
| Name on the employee paystub | Your business | Ours, which helps your crew with banks and landlords |
| Pricing model | Premium for CRBs advertised at $34 per person per month. Simple and Plus require an $18 per employee per month CRB compliance add-on for cannabis businesses joining on or after 20 January 2026 | A rate applied to gross wages by workers’ compensation class code, plus an optional flat HR retainer |
Gusto details reflect their published pages as of 11 September 2026. Their product and pricing change, so check their site for current terms. We have not reviewed their customer agreements and make no claims about them.
Compare the total, not the invoice line
A subscription or a service fee is a smaller number than a rate on gross wages. It is also a smaller thing. Put them side by side as written and you are comparing a tool to a tool plus insurance plus an employer.
To make it a fair comparison, add everything the other side leaves for you to buy and staff:
- Workers’ compensation premium, paid separately to a carrier at your own experience mod
- State unemployment tax at your own rate, where a bad layoff year follows your rate for years
- Employment practices liability and general liability coverage
- The hours your team spends running payroll, chasing onboarding paperwork and working the compliance calendar
- What one wrong workers’ compensation class code costs when it surfaces at audit
Because the software layer is genuinely comparable on both sides, it cancels out. What is left inside our rate is the coverage and the employer role. That is the actual purchase, and it is the only version of this comparison worth running.
What we are not going to claim
We would sell more by leaving this out. An operator who signs on a misunderstanding is an operator who is angry in eight months, so:
An employer of record is not blanket immunity
We absorb employment administration and statutory employer risk. We do not indemnify you for your own conduct. Discrimination, harassment and unsafe direction of work stay with the business that did them.
We do not solve 280E
Your tax position is yours. Clean payroll records substantiate it. We do not prepare returns and we do not advise on positions.
You will not be invisible to your team
Employees see a different name on the paystub, and they should hear it from you before they see it on a pay period.
Timing matters
Changing the employing entity partway through a year can restart wage bases absent successor treatment. We will walk through it with you rather than discover it together in March.
Gusto is not doing anything wrong. They sell what they say they sell. If that is what you need, buy it.
Common questions
We are already on Gusto. Does the new add-on apply to us?
Gusto states that existing cannabis customers on the Premium for CRBs plan see no change to plan or pricing, and that the add-on applies to cannabis businesses joining on or after 20 January 2026. Read their page and confirm with them directly, because this is their policy and it is theirs to change.
Gusto is cheaper per head. Why would we pay a rate on wages?
Because the two numbers buy different things. A per-person subscription does not include workers’ compensation, unemployment exposure at your own rating, or liability coverage, and it leaves your business as the employer on every filing. Add those to the subscription before comparing. We will build that comparison with your real census if you want it.
Will a mainstream provider drop us?
It happens in this industry, and it is worth asking any provider what their cannabis policy is and how much notice you would get. Gusto is explicit that it supports cannabis-related businesses, which is more than many mainstream platforms will say. We would rather you ask the question than assume.
Bring us your actual numbers
Not a demo of a dashboard. Your census, your class codes, your workers’ compensation premium, and whatever is currently held together with a spreadsheet. We will tell you what the real comparison looks like, including when the answer is that you should stay where you are.
Gusto is a trademark of its respective owner, is not affiliated with Roll With Paid., and does not endorse us. This comparison is based on information published on their site as of 11 September 2026 and on our own service description. Roll With Paid. is not a law firm or an accounting firm and does not provide legal or tax advice.