HR · checked 2026-10-13Can I vibecode Gusto?
NOT REALLY· don't bother
Gusto's price pays for taking on responsibility, not for screens. It moves wages and tax money through the banking system, files federal, state and local returns with each agency on your behalf and handles what comes back when something is wrong. A side project can compute a paycheck and print year-end totals, but you would still deposit every tax and file every form yourself, and a mistake costs penalties. Build the worksheet below to understand or double-check your payroll; keep a payroll service for the money and the filings.
$55/moprice
$660it costs you a year
multi-daybuild time
—people replaced it
What you need on hand.
DifficultyAdvanced · Real infrastructure or OAuth work.
TimeA weekend for the worksheet; deposits and filings stay manual every quarter
- Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
- Python 3.12WeasyPrint needs Pango installed for the PDF paystubs (brew install pango on macOS).
- This year's tax tablesIRS Publication 15-T and your state's employer withholding guide; both change every January.
- EFTPS and IRIS accessEFTPS sends its PIN by post and IRIS needs a Transmitter Control Code, so apply well before the first deadline.
- Your Gusto payroll historyPayroll Journal reports for the current year, so year-to-date totals start right.
Before you buildGusto has no free plan. If you only pay US contractors, the IRS IRIS portal files 1099-NEC forms for free; Payroll4Free runs small payrolls at no cost if you handle the tax deposits yourself.
- 1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
- 2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
- 3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.
The prompt
Build me a payroll worksheet for a small US company, covering the slice of Gusto I can run myself. Requirements: - Python 3.12 + FastAPI with Jinja2 pages on http://127.0.0.1:4900; SQLite through SQLModel at ./data/payroll.db. Money is Decimal, never float. - One employer in one state, up to 10 W-2 employees plus 1099 contractors; weekly, biweekly, semimonthly or monthly pay schedules. - Tax rules as YAML in ./rules/<year>/: the Publication 15-T percentage-method tables, Social Security and Medicare rates and wage base, FUTA, and my state's withholding and unemployment rates. Each number carries its source URL; refuse to run a payroll for a year with no rules file. - Pay run: hours or salary in; gross, pre-tax deductions, federal and state withholding, employee and employer FICA, FUTA, SUTA and net pay out, with every step of the math shown on screen. - Paystubs as PDF (WeasyPrint) in ./paystubs/YYYY/ with year-to-date totals. - Deposit calendar: from my schedule (monthly or semiweekly) list each federal deposit with due date and amount; I pay it in EFTPS and mark it paid. - Worksheets as CSV: Form 941 line totals per quarter, Form 940, W-2 boxes per employee and 1099-NEC totals per contractor, ready to type into the portals. - pytest: for a dozen sample wages, federal withholding matches the Pub 15-T wage bracket tables within $1. - No accounts, no telemetry, local-first. - Out of scope: moving money, direct deposit, e-filing with any agency, benefits, multi-state work and local taxes. - README: setup, updating the rules every January, and a plain warning that I stay responsible for every deposit and filing, so check the first payrolls with an accountant.
Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.
Then keep going
Next prompts, same folder.
The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Gusto.
Add bank reconciliation to the payroll worksheet in this folder. Requirements: - Import the business bank's CSV export (map columns once, then remember). - Match each net-pay payment and each tax deposit to the pay run or deposit it belongs to, by amount and a date window of five days. - List what's unmatched on both sides, and flag any federal deposit marked paid that never left the bank. - Out of scope: connecting to the bank directly. - Update the README.
Add a W-2 export to the payroll worksheet in this folder. Requirements: - Generate the year's W-2 data as an EFW2 file following the SSA's published specification for that tax year, with the RA, RE, RW, RT and RF records. - Print each employee's W-2 boxes as a PDF copy for them. - Validate the file with a built-in check of record lengths and totals, and tell me to run it through the SSA's AccuWage Online before uploading. - Update the README with the Business Services Online steps.
Add a 1099-NEC export to the payroll worksheet in this folder. Requirements: - Collect every contractor paid at or above that year's reporting threshold, read from the rules file (check the figure each year; it has changed). - Write the CSV in the IRIS Taxpayer Portal template format, and list any contractor missing a TIN or address before exporting. - Produce a PDF copy for each contractor. - Update the README with the IRIS upload steps.
What you lose
- Federal, state and local payroll taxes deposited and filed for you
- Direct deposit to your team's bank accounts
- Year-end W-2s and 1099s filed with the agencies
- Health insurance, 401(k) and workers' comp tied into payroll
- Help when a tax agency sends a notice
Why people still pay
Owners pay so payroll taxes go out and get filed on time without learning every form, and because one late or wrong filing can cost more in penalties than a year of the subscription. Benefits, workers' comp and the accounting sync in one place add to it. Complaints focus on support and on the jump in price when a second state or a missing feature pushes a company onto Plus.
Gusto or your own copy?
Over
Your usage
24h ×$/h
Gusto, 1 yr$660
Your own copy, 1 yr$10running + build session
You keep$650pays for itself in the first month
Estimate · Nothing to pay to run it, and EFTPS and IRIS are free. The real cost is your time each payday and quarter, plus penalties if a number is wrong; an accountant's review of the first quarter is money well spent. The build is token usage on your agent plan.
Take your data, then cancel.
1 · Take your data out of Gusto
- 1As an admin, open Reports in the left menu. If it isn't there, ask the primary admin for reporting permission.
- 2Run the Payroll Journal for each year you used Gusto and download it as CSV or Excel; it lists earnings, taxes, deductions and net pay by check date. Contractor payments and Agency payments are separate reports.
- 3Save the quarterly packages and other filed returns from the tax documents area, and a summary per payroll from Pay > Pay History > Download.
2 · Cancel Gusto
- 1Turn off Payroll on AutoPilot first: Pay > Settings > Pay Schedule > Edit next to AutoPilot.
- 2Wait until no payroll is in progress; a submitted payroll with a check date of today or later blocks cancelling.
- 3Click your company name (bottom left) > Plan & billing, then Cancel account under Gusto billing. Pick a reason and click Continue.
- 4Choose how the remaining taxes are handled. Switching to another provider skips this; otherwise Gusto files the rest for a fee, or you do it yourself.
- Billing runs a month behind: cancel after the 5th, or after running payroll that month, and you pay the whole month.
- After cancelling, admins can still view forms, reports and past payrolls, and employees can still see their paystubs.
- There is no pause. For a seasonal break, keep the account so filings continue.
- Benefits run through Gusto, an integrated 401(k) and workers' comp each need to be ended with their provider; contact Gusto before you cancel.
- Accounts with bank transactions usually can't be deleted, only cancelled.
The escape hatch
Don't feel like building it? These are already free.
Payroll4FreeFreeAd-supported online payroll, free for businesses paying 9 or fewer people a month; tax deposits and filings are yours unless you buy its paid tax service.they host it
WebVisit ↗IRS IRISFreeThe IRS's free portal for e-filing 1099-NEC and other information returns, up to 100 at a time by hand or CSV, once you have a Transmitter Control Code.they host it
WebVisit ↗EFTPSFreeThe Treasury's free system for federal payroll tax deposits; you enroll once and schedule each deposit yourself.they host it
WebVisit ↗
WebVisit ↗IRS IRISFreeThe IRS's free portal for e-filing 1099-NEC and other information returns, up to 100 at a time by hand or CSV, once you have a Transmitter Control Code.they host it
WebVisit ↗EFTPSFreeThe Treasury's free system for federal payroll tax deposits; you enroll once and schedule each deposit yourself.they host it
WebVisit ↗
The numbers
Gusto pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual, per month | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $49 | — | Payroll in one state, unlimited payroll runs, tax filings and payments, basic PTO and holiday pay. |
| Plus | $80 | — | Multi-state payroll, unlimited next-day pay, time tracking and scheduling, contractor invoices, workforce cost reports. |
| Premium | $180 | — | Named advisor, HR guidance, Business Compliance, unlimited same-day and instant pay. |
| Solo | $49 | — | For one owner paying themselves through an S corp, plus contractors. |
- Free tier
- No free plan. Account setup is free and there is no contract.
- Billing
- Month to month, billed in arrears; cancel anytime. Upgrades apply at once, downgrades from the next month. Only active employees are counted, and US contractors only in months you pay them.
- Hidden costs
- Hiring in a second state forces Plus. Add-ons: next-day pay on Simple $15/mo + $3 per person, same-day pay $90 and instant pay $100 per payroll, state tax registration priced by state, Business Compliance $85/mo per state, remote I-9 $20 per submission, broker integration $6 per employee a month, priority support $30/mo + $3 per person. If Gusto finishes your filings after you cancel: $100 federal, $100 per state and $5 per W-2 or 1099.
- Source
- gusto.com
Also on the list
Related apps
Not really. Owners pay so payroll taxes go out and get filed on time without learning every form, and because one late or wrong filing can cost more in penalties than a year of the subscription. Benefits, workers' comp and the accounting sync in one place add to it. Complaints focus on support and on the jump in price when a second state or a missing feature pushes a company onto Plus. The prompt on this page builds the closest honest substitute.
About $55 a month on the Simple, with one person on payroll plan, $660 a year (checked 2026-10-13).
Federal, state and local payroll taxes deposited and filed for you; Direct deposit to your team's bank accounts; Year-end W-2s and 1099s filed with the agencies; Health insurance, 401(k) and workers' comp tied into payroll; Help when a tax agency sends a notice. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.
Yes: Payroll4Free (free), IRS IRIS (free), EFTPS (free).