Switch to Gusto from Heartland Payroll (Now Auris)

Q: Can Gusto import my Heartland/Auris payroll history?

It isn't on Gusto's transfer-automation list. Enter earlier payrolls during setup, or start in January.

Dad’s short answer

Rebrand got you shopping? Gusto publishes its price and lets you run payroll yourself. Love your dedicated specialist? Stay with Auris.

Heartland Payroll is now Auris, after Acrisure bought it from Global Payments.⁷⁶
Auris prices by quote. Gusto publishes its plans.⁶¹
Auris wins on hand-holding: a dedicated payroll specialist who knows your account.⁶

Provider	Best for	Starting price
Gusto	Most small teams that want payroll taxes filed for them, in one state (Simple) or several (Plus)	Simple $49/mo + $6/person; Plus $80/mo + $12/person¹
Patriot Software	The lowest full-service price for teams of 2 or more	Full Service $37/mo + $5/worker; Basic $17 + $4 if you file taxes yourself⁸
QuickBooks Payroll	People already doing their books in QuickBooks	From $88/mo + $6.50/employee, bundled with Simple Start accounting⁹
Square Payroll	Shops and restaurants already on Square POS	$35/mo + $6/person; contractor-only $6/person¹⁰
OnPay	Teams in several states that want one flat rate	$49/mo + $6/person, multi-state included¹¹
Auris (formerly Heartland Payroll) you	Owners who want a dedicated payroll specialist checking each run	Quote only⁶

Starting list prices from each company’s pricing page, verified Oct 31, 2026. Add-ons and promos not included. Confirm on their site.

Start on Gusto’s website →

Goes through our referral page first. We earn a reward if you sign up; your price doesn’t change.

Who this is for

You run payroll on Heartland today. Gusto fits you if:

You want a published price.¹
You'd rather run payroll yourself in a few clicks. Gusto runs unlimited payrolls on every plan.²
Month-to-month, cancel anytime.¹
Gusto files federal, state and local payroll taxes and 1099s on every plan.²

Why Gusto, compared with Heartland

Dad story

Picture a café with 9 people.

The owner logs in to Heartland one morning.

The page now says Auris.⁶

Same payroll, new name, new login questions.

She checks Gusto's page. Simple: $49 plus $6 a person. $103.¹

Auris says: use the quote builder.⁶

A new name is a fine time to ask an old question: what am I paying?

(Made-up business. Real prices, checked Oct 31, 2026.)

List prices from each company's own site, read on Oct 31, 2026. Promos and quotes vary.

	Heartland Payroll (now Auris)	Gusto
Published pricing	Not published. Pricing depends on your business and service level; Auris points you to a quote builder. See current pricing.⁶	Simple $49/mo + $6/mo per person. Plus $80/mo + $12/mo per person. Premium $180/mo + $22/mo per person.¹ Month-to-month, cancel anytime.¹
What's included	Payroll with automated filings, a dedicated payroll specialist, human review before runs, and options from self-run to fully managed payroll.⁶	Unlimited payroll runs, including off-cycle. Automatic federal, state and local payroll tax filings, including W-2s, 1099s, Form 940 and Form 941.²
Contractor payments	Employee and contractor data in one system of record.⁶ Contractor pricing isn't on the page.	US contractors cost your plan's per-person rate, and only in months you pay them.¹ The contractor-only plan closed to new customers on Oct 1, 2026.³
State tax filings	Automated filings and proactive tax-change updates.⁶ Ask the quote to confirm your states and localities.	Simple covers one state. Plus and Premium cover multiple states.² Registering in a new state is an add-on; price varies by state.¹
Switching into Gusto	Not on Gusto's import list. Plan to enter earlier payrolls from Auris reports, or start in January.	Not on Gusto's transfer-automation list, so you enter earlier payrolls in setup: quarter-to-date totals for past quarters plus this quarter's pay stubs.⁴⁵

What happened: Acrisure bought Heartland Payroll Solutions from Global Payments, and the payroll business now operates as Auris.⁷⁶ Heartland card processing is a separate business; this page is only about payroll.

What Heartland customers complain about

We read recent public reviews on Oct 31, 2026 and kept only themes that came up more than once. These are our paraphrases, not quotes, and some reviews are from employees rather than owners. Your experience may be fine; if so, the fix is to stay.

Most complaints aren't about payroll. Heartland's review page is dominated by card-processing fee complaints. Don't judge the payroll by those.²³
Transition hiccups. A payroll customer reported that the account didn't carry over cleanly to Auris and had to call to regain access.²³
Phone-tree fatigue. Reviewers describe re-entering account details in the automated system, then again with a person.²³
Conflicting answers when passed between reps.²³

What it costs for your team

Change the numbers, or type in your last Heartland bill. Dad does the multiplication.

Your numbers

✓ Prices checked Oct 31, 2026

Current provider

What you pay now ($/mo, optional)

W-2 employees

Contractors paid / mo

States

List prices from each company’s own pricing page. Promos, add-ons and taxes not included. Quote-only providers show “quote only.” How we calculate

Start on Gusto’s website →

Goes through our referral page first. We earn a reward if you sign up; your price doesn’t change.

Where Heartland is genuinely better

A dedicated payroll specialist who already knows your account when you call.⁶
Fully managed option. Auris can run payroll operations for you, not just give you software.⁶
Human review and validation checks before each run.⁶
Tax-credit screening like WOTC built into hiring.⁶

Your Heartland-to-Gusto checklist

Do these in order. Grab a coffee. It's mostly downloading PDFs. Want to tick them off? Use the interactive switching checklist; it remembers your progress.

Company tax IDs. Your EIN, legal name exactly as the IRS has it, and whether you file Form 941 (quarterly) or 944. Pull your federal deposit schedule while you're in there.
State account numbers. State withholding account number, state unemployment (SUI) account number and current rate, and any local tax IDs. Heartland has these on file. Copy them before you cancel.
Year-to-date payroll. A YTD payroll register for every employee paid this year, including people who quit. Gross pay, taxable wages, withholding, deductions, check dates.
Prior quarter 941s and tax payments. Copies of every Form 941 and state quarterly return filed this year, plus proof of tax deposits. Gusto asks for YTD reports and documentation of this year's tax payments.²⁴
Employee W-4s and direct deposit. Each person's federal W-4 (and state form), pay rate, pay schedule, deductions, garnishments, PTO balances, and bank details.
Contractors. Names, W-9s, and what you've paid each one this year, so 1099s come out right.
Plan to type in earlier payrolls. Gusto asks for quarter-to-date totals from the last pay stub of each finished quarter, plus every pay stub from the current quarter. Include people who already left.⁵
Agree who files what. Only one provider can file a quarterly return for a given quarter. If both file, the second one gets rejected.²⁴ Get Heartland to confirm in writing which quarters it will file.
Run one payroll in Gusto, then cancel. Download every report and tax form from Heartland first. Once you lose access, those PDFs get hard to find.

Why the end of the year is the easiest time to switch

Gusto handles quarterly returns starting with the quarter of your first Gusto check date.²⁴ So the cleanest plan is a first Gusto payday in January 2027.

Heartland finishes 2026: the Q4 Form 941 and your 2026 W-2s. W-2s are due to employees and the SSA by February 1, 2027.²⁵ Get Heartland to confirm in writing that it's filing them.
Gusto starts 2027 with a clean slate. With a first check date in Q1, Gusto's list is just the pay stubs from the current quarter.⁵ Start in January and that's close to nothing.
Any other quarter works too. You'll just be entering more history.

If you sign up through our link by Jan 31, 2027 and run a paid payroll, Gusto's referral terms say you get a $100 Visa gift card. We get a referral reward too.²⁶

FAQ: Heartland to Gusto

Is Heartland Payroll the same as Auris?

Yes. Acrisure acquired Heartland Payroll Solutions from Global Payments, and Heartland's payroll page now presents Auris.⁷⁶

How much does Auris payroll cost?

It's quote-based. Use the Auris quote builder, get the number in writing, and compare it with Gusto's published plans.

Can Gusto import my Heartland/Auris payroll history?

It isn't on Gusto's transfer-automation list.⁴ Enter earlier payrolls during setup, or start in January.

I use Heartland for card processing too. Does that change anything?

Payroll and card processing are separate. Moving payroll doesn't move your card processing. Check your processing agreement on its own.

Sources, checked Oct 31, 2026

Every number on this page comes from one of these pages. Prices change; if a vendor updates its page, theirs wins.