--- title: Guideline Reviews meta_title: 'Guideline Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 1156 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Guideline works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.5 review_count: 1156 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-18' parent_category: name: HR url: https://www.g2.com/categories/hr --- # Guideline Reviews **Vendor:** Gusto **Category:** [401(k) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/401-k) **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 1,156 ## About Guideline Guideline 401(k) is now part of Gusto. We provide a modern, integrated 401(k) experience for businesses and their teams. As part of the Gusto ecosystem, Guideline offers streamlined retirement solutions designed to simplify plan management, administration, and compliance. Employees receive a user-friendly experience to enroll and manage their financial future. Our mission is to help companies effortlessly offer a powerful retirement benefit their team can truly appreciate. For informational purposes only. Should not be considered investment or tax advice ## Guideline Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users find the **ease of use** of Guideline exceptional, allowing quick adoption and smooth implementation for teams. (144 reviews) - Users find the **easy setup** of Guideline intuitive and accessible, simplifying the onboarding process for their teams. (106 reviews) - Users appreciate the **helpful customer support** from Guideline, making interactions smooth and issue resolution prompt. (70 reviews) - Users appreciate the **seamless integration** with QuickBooks, making payroll management easy and user-friendly. (70 reviews) - Users commend the **ease of use** in 401k Management, highlighting its simple setup and integration with payroll systems. (59 reviews) - Payroll Integration (54 reviews) - Simple (50 reviews) - Affordable (49 reviews) - Automation (42 reviews) - Integrations (40 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find the **limited investment options** of Guideline disappointing, especially the lack of cryptocurrency exposure. (16 reviews) - Users feel that **limited options** for investment customization restrict their ability to tailor portfolios effectively. (15 reviews) - Users find **limited customization options** for reporting and plan configurations, impacting detailed requirements and flexibility. (13 reviews) - Users express frustration with **poor customer support** , experiencing delays and difficulty in getting timely assistance. (13 reviews) - Users feel there is **inadequate guidance** for investment decisions, leaving teams without necessary support and control. (11 reviews) - Users find **difficulty understanding** Guideline's processes and policies, leading to frustrating experiences and financial impacts. (10 reviews) - Users find the product **expensive** , considering the cost could be lower and is more than alternatives. (10 reviews) - Users are frustrated by the **ongoing price increases** that significantly raise the monthly cost of Guideline. (10 reviews) - High Fees (9 reviews) - Payroll Issues (9 reviews) ## Guideline Reviews ### 1. Great 401K Option for Small Businesses **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stacey N. | Managing Partner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 25, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline, specifically when used in conjunction with Gusto, is a great seamless tool for 401K contributions. This has been a much easier process to maintain than other 401K solutions I've worked with. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** The only "downside" I've experienced with Guideline was when I encountered a client who had gotten behind on their payments and tried to wire money in order to get caught back up. Guideline is unable to take wires but only normal ACH transfers. It was inconvenient but we were able to work through it. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline offers a seamless solution for 401K contributions the checks that go along with that. It's a much easier process than most 401K companies I've worked with for small businesses. ### 2. User-Friendly Experience with Helpful Support **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 11, 2026 **What do you like best about Guideline?** User friendly, support service, low fee, integration **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Limited investment options, some hiccups when Guideline was acquired by Gusto. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Easy administration of the company's 401k plan. ### 3. Great 401K Products **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Raquel A. | President, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 25, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** We signed up for the 401K platform in October 2024. The ease of set-up from the company level was a "10". From an employee standpoint, great communication, easy to follow instructions from inception from an employee level very easy instructions. Very glad we choose Guideline for the company and our employees peace of mind. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Nothing has been a great experience. Would highly recommend. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Have not had any issues. ### 4. Exceptional Value and User Friendly **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Blake A. | Operations Manager, Partner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 29, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** It's super easy for me and my employees to use. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** not as configurable as I'd like. Example 1 Would like to provide profit sharing only to a specific employees like owners vs. having to distribute profits to all plan participants using one of the available profit sharing formulas. Example 2 Would like to have the option to add key employees to a profit share plan with specific payout structures per employee (example - our firm pays out X% of net income each year to specific employees whereby they can withdraw one-third of the balance each year starting in three years. In other words a sticky incentive that might help us retain key staff. Also, would like to invest in Vanguard Funds. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Allows me to offer an affordable 401k plan that's easy to use. ### 5. A 401K Provider I so far trust! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brian G. | Owner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 29, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline has been my 401K provider the last 2 years. In between I have switched to another one and noticed the level of professionalism and care I was leaving behind. I was able to switch back to Guideline and have not received any off putting comments about me wanting to leave prior. Customer Service can be reached when needed and they respond within a reasonable amount of time. Their fees are also reasonable for a very small employer like myself. Their dashboard is easy to understand and use. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** So far none. Since I nor my employees are retired yet, we haven't taken any withdrawals, so I don't know if this will be a smooth process. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline lets me stand out amongst other employers in my industry, since I can offer 401K benefits. ### 6. Simple and Affordable **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Eddie E. | Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Great customer service (call center super helpful), simple setup, and an affordable option for small businesses **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I wish there were an option to view the gains of each employee from the admin view as opposed to an overall company outlook. This could help in conveying the value of a retirement plan to some employees. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline is solving the affordability and ease of use issue when setting up a 401K plan/ ### 7. User-friendly for HR **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nicole C. | Chief Executive Officer & HR Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** It is very easy to set up and integrate with Gusto. 401k is not my area of specialty so I appreciate it being as straightforward as possible. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** One of my clients did not move forward due to some of the plan stipulations, but I don't think that necessarily is a downside, just not a fit for that particular client. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Easy payroll integration, easy to set up first time 401k accounts. ### 8. Great Experience **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Goods | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 25, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** The set up for my small business was easy and seamless. The customer service was helpful and quick with resolving any issues **What do you dislike about Guideline?** No downsides so far. We are still new to using it but it has synced with Quickbooks seamlessly. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** We were using Illinois Secure Choice prior to guideline but they had so many problems with sending out emails, enrolling or unenrolling employees as well as not deducting contributions from our bank account in a timely manner. This resolved all of our issues and made my job so much easier. ### 9. Easy Integration and Low Fees, But Reporting Needs Improvement **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Joon C. | COO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** The platform offers low fees and is extremely straightforward to integrate and set up. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** The account interface is missing several important features, particularly when it comes to comprehensive reporting capabilities. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** It allowed us to offer a 401k plan without the high fees, making it easier for us to attract more people. ### 10. Takes the pain out of the process **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Michael C. | President, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 29, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** The ease of which it takes to setup an account, the low fees and access to account information. The process is easy to implement as I set my allocation based on my preferences and then they allocate to the appropriate buckets. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** There isn't much to dislike, possibly access to specific stocks but I understand how complex this would get and the fees wouldn't justify the additional utility. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Solving the 401k process for my employees. The process to transfer the funds out of the account was managable for employees no longer with us. ### 11. Easy to administer a 401(k) for people who know nothing about 401(k) programs **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jody C. | Bookkeeper, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 31, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** I used Guideline to set up a brand new 401(k) program, and in another company I used it to transfer a program over from Paychex. In both instances, I was very pleased with the quick, intelligent customer support. It is also a much lower pricepoint than other services we researched. And finally, we are pleased in the ways they have directed our investments. We are currently finishing up with Q1 of 2025 and most of our participants have not lost anything in the market downturn. A very positive experience in pretty much every way. Our Guideline accounts sync with Gusto which has also been helpful. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** The only bad experience I have had is that when we transferred the existing program over to Guideline, we missed about six months of contributions. That was our fault entirely, but what I didn't like is that we received inconsistent information from Guideline regarding how much money our make-up contribution would require. I am still not sure on the laws surrounding that or if the makeup contribution was accurate. Overall I would say, if you have the opportunity to start your 401(k) with Guideline, you'l have a MUCH better experience than if you try to transfer an active one. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** All our employees have their own log-in to Guideline where they can monitor their accounts, change their contribution rates, handle their own cash-outs, etc. It has greatly reduced the administrative burden from other services we use. ### 12. Seamless Representatives! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** jona . | Office Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 24, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** I am a new user to Guideline. In my almost 2 years of using this platform, I have learned so much! It is easy to log on and make changes to my employee's. When I have questions, I can always count on my representative Marjorie to assist with pleasure! **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I have yet to find anything negative to say about using Guideline! We love it here! **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am able to provide my team with a plan they can feel confident in. With Guideline, employees can enroll, view, and update their account all online, all in one place, leaving me free for my many other tasks as Office Manager. ### 13. Simple, reliable, and compliant 401(k) solution for growing companies **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 27, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline makes it extremely easy to administer a 401(k) plan without the usual complexity. The platform integrates seamlessly with payroll, so contributions and deductions run automatically with very little manual oversight. The dashboard is intuitive, and employees can enroll and manage their retirement savings without needing constant HR involvement. I also appreciate the transparency in fees, which are clearly communicated and far more affordable compared to traditional providers. For HR administrators, it saves valuable time and gives peace of mind knowing compliance testing and filings are handled. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** While the platform covers the essentials very well, reporting capabilities could be expanded, sometimes I need more flexibility in customizing or exporting data for audits or leadership requests.These are relatively minor issues compared to the overall benefits, but improvements here would make the experience even stronger. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline has eliminated the administrative burden of managing a 401(k) plan. Before, coordinating contributions, compliance testing, and filings required significant time and often external support. Now, everything is automated and integrated with payroll, reducing errors and ensuring compliance. It also makes retirement benefits accessible to employees at all levels by keeping costs low and the enrollment process simple. This helps us attract and retain talent by offering a competitive benefit without adding complexity to our HR operations. ### 14. Easy **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Melvin A. | CEO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 27, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** At MJ Residential Homes LLC, we’ve had a great experience using Guideline for our employee retirement plans. The setup process was straightforward and user-friendly, making it easy to get our 401(k) plan up and running quickly. Managing employee contributions is simple and automated, which saves us time and ensures accuracy. Guideline has provided excellent support and a seamless platform that aligns well with our business needs. We highly recommend them to any small business looking for an efficient and reliable retirement plan provider. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Nothing, everything is great so far. Guideline has been great **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline has simplified the retirement plan process for MJ Residential Homes LLC by offering an easy setup, automated employee contributions, and affordable pricing. Their user-friendly platform eliminates the complexity and high costs typically associated with 401(k) plans, while also empowering our employees to manage their retirement savings confidently. It’s a reliable, efficient solution that supports both our business operations and our team’s financial future. ### 15. SO EASY!!! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Amanda P. | Financial Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline makes offering retirement products to my clients so easy. Admin of these benefits afterwards is also incredibly intuitive and user friendly. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I honestly cannot think of an innovation needed or a quality of Guideline that I have a suggestion to improve. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline makes explaining retirement benefits and enrolling employees easy. Guideline allows me to use it's resources and services to explain retirement options to my clients in a way that is easy to understand and more importantly- easy for my clients and their employees to understand. This eliminates my clients feeling as if they are making uninformed decisions or not really understanding the elections that they make. Seeing it explained by Guideline makes them feel confident that they are making informed decisions. ### 16. Guideline **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Eric R. | Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 26, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Ease and flexibility and its interface with Quickbooks is awesome. Its ultra simple to setup and work going forward as well. Support is awesome. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I wish the portfolio choices could be more tailored and expanded. Individual participant fees are a bit high and we wish our employer could pay that fee and not the employees. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Having an easy to use and moderately robust 401K program has lowered turnover rates and employee satisfaction surveys. **Official Response from Guideline Team:** > Hey Eric, Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. We’re happy to hear about the ease of use with our product and the positive support you’ve received! Our investment committee meets regularly to review and assess the investment menu. We’re always looking for ways to improve our offerings, and your feedback helps guide our efforts in these matters. Regarding pricing, we’re constantly striving to keep our costs as manageable as possible while still providing the high-quality service you expect. If your employer is interested in discussing different fee options with our team, or if you have any additional comments, please feel free to reach out to us at clients@guideline.com. We’re happy to help! ### 17. Easy to set up and administer 401k plan **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Medical Devices | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 21, 2026 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Ease of use and simple to understand interface for admins and users. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Not many downsides. More integrations with other systems are always helpful to have. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Setting up an affordable, low-cost, 401k program for our team members. ### 18. Streamlined Onboarding with Affordable Pricing **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ethan L. **Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** I really appreciate Guideline's seamless and straightforward onboarding process, which saves us a lot of resources. Their affordability is a major plus, and it feels like they genuinely consider their clients' needs. I also admire their hands-on and approachable team who answer questions quickly. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I think the variety of 401(k) lenders or offers that Guideline has is somewhat limited. I feel they need to open up a bit more by offering more diverse options from various companies or routes. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** I find the product streamlines the onboarding process, saving resources when onboarding full-time employees for benefits. It's also super affordable, considerate of client needs, and eliminates the traditional pains of quick integration. ### 19. Couldn't offer a 401K to my team without Guideline **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Warehousing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline has made it possible for our company to provide important retirement benefits to both part and full time employees. They help set it up and manage the program with the peace of mind that we are compliant and giving a great benefit to our team. It's also great that it integrates with our payroll platform, Gusto. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** We are completly satisfied! I can not think of anything else that we need right now. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Workload. We are a small company with no Human Resources department. We have a bookkeeper who can easily manage the withdrawals and payments with ease. ### 20. Great solution for a small non-profit **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** marci s. | Executive DIrector, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** We are using Guideline for our retirement benefits. It was easy to set up. We had a lot of questions in setting up a benefits plan for our small nonprofit, and the customer service was very helpful. Once we moved into actively paying benefits, it has been easy to make changes to the plan at both the individual and group levels. We also changed payroll providers and that transition was seamless. I highly recommend Guideline! **What do you dislike about Guideline?** We are very happy with Guideline - nothing to report here **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline is helping us with implementing a retirement plan for our employees, managing all aspects of the plan. Individual employees can select their own choices, and our benefits matching plan is working well ### 21. Easy for Admins, Handy App for Teams **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Caitlin C. | Director of Human Resources & Payroll, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline was super simple for me to use as the plan administrator. Has an app for the team which was a nice feature. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Getting ahold of support was difficult at times. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline used to work with our payroll provider but recently partnered with Gusto so we can no longer use their service. ### 22. Easy to Set Up and Run a Pan **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brian T. | President, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Integration with payroll and the automation of processes like auto enrollment. Easy to use and the structured process of setting up a new plan. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Size of investment menu and customization of using different fund families. Lack of marketing materials for onboarding participants. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline is providing an affordable solution for small business to offer a 401(k) plan to their employees. ### 23. Guideline Has Your Back **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Construction | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** There are several things I really like about Guideline, and it's hard to say what I like best. Here's where I think they excel: ease of setup; integration with our payroll provider; quality customer support; ease of use; reporting and filing on our behalf. Our company has been very happy with the returns and are very comfortable in Guideline's hands! **What do you dislike about Guideline?** There's no downside that we've found as yet, and we've been with them for a few years now. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline provided an easy (undaunting, non-scary) way for us to set up and integrate a 401k Savings program for our employees. We have 100% participation and are very proud of that! ### 24. Effortless Integration with Accounting Software, Completely Satisfied **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alise B. | Office Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** The ease of connection with the accounting software. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I do not have anything I do not like. I am very satisfied with the program **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are able to have retirement solution with little to no additional cost to the company. ### 25. 401(K) **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lori B. | Administrative Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 04, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline customer service is one of the best. Very easy to contact right from the begining and even a year later. The implementation process was very efficient. Was very heistant of transfering the 401(K), because of previous company and how difficult they were to work with. Employees are very satisfied with Guideline and how easy it is to navigate their account. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Have been with Guideline for a year and do not have any complaints. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have not encountered any problems. ### 26. How Guidleine 401(k) stacks up for small businesses **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sarah R. | Administrative Assistant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline makes setting up and managing a 401(k) simple, affordable, and transparent. It automates administration, handles compliance and integrated seamlessly with payroll, making it an ideal solution for small and growing businesses. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Nothing, it is great. I do not have anything to dislike. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Helping guide me through a payroll change, and setting up new employees. ### 27. Admin Tasks Made Easy **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brian R. | Vice President of Finance And Operations, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 07, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Using Guideline as an admin is easier than the past 401k providers I've used in the past. Guideline's dashboard is easy to navigate and see all the pending tasks for admins. Guideline's seamless integration to our payroll provider automates tasks for admins and contribution changes from employees. Guideline really is the top of the class. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Some initial issues creating logins as an admin since my SSN was tied to a prior employer using Guideline. Took a little work to solve that issue..... **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Automation of 401k administration for IRS compliance and payroll integration. ### 28. Reliable, User-Friendly, and a Strong Partner for Our Retirement Plans **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jerry W. | Licensed Marriage And Family Therapist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 26, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline has taken the stress and complexity out of managing retirement benefits, allowing us to focus more on our clients and less on paperwork. I highly recommend Guideline to any small business looking for a reliable and efficient 401(k) solution. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** The only area I’d like to see improved is the user interface. The layout and design aren’t as intuitive or polished as I’d prefer, making navigation a bit cumbersome at times. An updated, more modern GUI would further streamline the experience **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline simplifies the complexity of offering a 401(k) plan for a small practice. It handles much of the compliance, record‑keeping, and fiduciary responsibilities that can overwhelm smaller businesses. This allows us to focus more on serving our clients and staff, knowing that our retirement benefits are being managed reliably and efficiently ### 29. Fantastic Service Provider **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Printing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** responsiveness to questions and online access to all info and materials we need for our small business. I like that even for a small business there is still full access and same level of service that you'd expect from being a larger company. Employees have been happy, was able to have assistance from actual people when we had a rollover issue that needed to be resolved. I appreciated how responsive the team at Guideline was and was able to find a solution. We really like how Guideline integrates with our payroll software. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Can't really think of anything other than when they reply to emails you can't see the chain, but I'm sure that's a compliance thing. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** easily able to manage all employees 401k's, employees have access to make changes with running everything through the Admin. Seamlessly connects to our payroll software, employees have access to loan, and Guideline handles all of our filings. ### 30. Very user friendly **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Construction | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** I love how user-friendly it is. Everything just syncs up and I hardly have to think about it. I also really appreciate how easy it is to get ahold of somebody. Every time I or one of my employees reach out, the response is almost immediate. And as a company, I like having one representative that I can reach out to who knows our account. When we had ADP, we had so many representatives it made it very difficult to reach out for help. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Majority of our employees are in a union which makes them ineligible for 401K benefits through the company, I really really wish there was a way where I could mark somebody as ineligible instead of having to reach out to guideline every time we get a new hire. I also wish that if an employee was marked ineligible it didnt still show up on their employee profile. I always have to delete it, even though it shows 0, it causes employees to be confused and reach out to me if they see it on their paystub. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** It automatically syncs with QuickBooks, which eliminates a lot of user error we have experienced in the past. ADP completely left us hanging with our 5500 filing, but guideline was on top of it and made it so easy. ### 31. New Business **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consulting | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 24, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline was very easy to use from day one. The staff was knowledgeable and available to answer all of our new business questions. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** We had some initial confusion about the amounts that were being pulled from our account after implementing our plan. It took a week or so to get into contact with the right support team to answer our questions. But once we did, they answered them fully and were very helpful **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline is allowing us to provide top tier benefits to our employees as a new start-up business. ### 32. Perfect for our buisness **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Peter F. | Managing Partner, Project Architect, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Setting up a retirement plan was simple and seamless with our Quickbooks workflow. Automatic withdrawls during payroll have been very helpful. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I hadn't heard of Guildline before so I had to do consideralbe research to make sure it was right for us. Iformation was a bit hard to find but overall it seemed like a good fit. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** It offers our employees benifits with easy access. ### 33. Guideline for 401k **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dana I. | Office Manager/Human Resources Manager, Medical Devices, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 22, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** It is super easy to use because it is integrated with my payroll system. It is easy to find reports on contributions and my monthly statements. Fees are very reasonable. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I have not experienced anything negative about my work with Guideline. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** The product integrates with my payroll system and my bank to efficiently make the employees' contributions as well as the company contribution. ### 34. Guideline as a Servie **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Entertainment | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Their customer service team is wonderful. They are always helpful and knowledgeable. The implementation was smooth and seamless. Luckily, Guideline integrates with our payroll provider, so there was zero legwork required by our company or HR department. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Nothing to date. My experience with Guideline both as an administrator and participant has been great! **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** No business problems, per se. But, the ability to set up and operate a retirement platform for our company and team has certainly made us competitive and attractive when it comes to talent. ### 35. Guideline Review **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sara G. | Operations and HR Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Everyone is so quick to help! Whenever I reach out someone gets back to me fairly quickly and helps resolve any issues and answers any questions I have. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** There is nothing I dislike about it. Guideline is pretty great. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline is our one stop shop for retirement and 401K. Makes it very easy for me to use with our company's employees. ### 36. Guideline is Easy to Use, Affordable, and has great options **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ian K. | CFO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 27, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** good investment options, easy UI, very affordable **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Getting support for questions isn't always the easiest. Reports don't exist for everything you need (like plan cash from unvested employees who leave) **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline offers easy to use 401k administration, especially with its integration with Gusto. The process was very easy. ### 37. Easy and effective platform **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** René V. | CFO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 19, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Customer service is very diligent and also the withdraw breakdown is informative enough to understand the charges and where the money is going to. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** It should be great if they can handle multi companies in the same portal **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Easy way to provide 401k to my employees ### 38. Start Up Companies with Guideline **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Erick I. | Owner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 18, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** It’s such an easy enrollment and user experience especially for a startup companies like mine. It is also easy to navigate, invest and move funds. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Nothing that I can think of. Maybe fees can be adjusted for smaller staff headcount? **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Simple investments and 402K for employees ### 39. Great Experience, easy to use **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lewis H. | Chief Operating Officer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 26, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Easy to use. As a small business owner there are many things i have to take care of and this was actually the easiest. In terms of setting up, and ongoing. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Nothing, i havent used it for so long only a few months but so far so good. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** taking care of 401Ks for the team. We are a small business across Europe, Australia and USA. It can really be another pain point from an admin side so good to have one thing less to worry about. ### 40. Haven't used long, but so far seems good. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Traci H. | COO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Easy integration with Quickbooks Online. Was very simple to set up for employees. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** So far, I have not encountered anything, but the service is still free. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are a small business and was hard to offer and manage a 401K. This has solved that problem. ### 41. 401k **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Amy A. | CEO/Owner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 29, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** They are incredibly helpful and it was so easy to set up our 401k for our company. Great customer service. Super easy to change what you contribute. It was easily integrated to our HR/Payroll system. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I have not really found anything yet that I dislike **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is easily integrated with our payroll system and it I don't even have to think about what I need to do for it. ### 42. Simple, straightforward 401k provider **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Amber S. | Operations Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 24, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline has been super simple and straightforward to set up and maintain. I received good support when onboarding, and I've received helpful advice when I've run into issues or scenarios that I don't know how to handle. The help center has great articles too. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I have a small number of employees and generally very straightforward contributions so I can't speak to how more complex situations might unfold or what it's like to manage a much larger number of employees. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Administering a 401k plan for my employees. **Official Response from Guideline Team:** > Hey Amber, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We're excited to hear about your positive experience with us! Here at Guideline, we’re committed to providing our customers with excellent service–if you have any questions surrounding your 401(k), please don’t hesitate to reach out at clients@guideline.com. We’d be happy to help! ### 43. Great service and low employer responsibility **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** I thought offering my employees a 401k would mean a lot of extra work for my small business. Luckily I found Guideline and they take care of everything! **What do you dislike about Guideline?** The only downside is not finding it sooner! **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** I wasn't sure how or what to offer my employees but Guideline offered great customer service and the transition was seamless. ### 44. Simple and easy to use **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ben A. | Business Operations Lead, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 06, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Ease of use and customer portal is very simple, I have no problems findings my way around and getting a clear picture of our plan. For the price it seems to be a great offering. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I don't have any specific things to highlight that I do not like. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Helping me to set up and manage my company's 401k plan with little to no administrative work ### 45. easy to operate 401(k) solution for folks with zero knowledge about 401(k) **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jody C. | Bookkeeper, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 01, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** The communication from Guideline has always been pretty darn clear. Whether I am contacting them for support or just reading through the informational emails they send me, I ALWAYS feel more confident and settled that our program is compliant and that there is nothing to worry about, than I did with our previous provider. I am primarily a bookkeeper with some admin and HR heaped on my plate due to the small size of the business I work for, and I have enjoyed that I can work with Guideline without having to become an expert in a whole other field. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** It was difficult to transfer to Guideline from Paychex. I was told that it would be so seamless and effortless and that turned out just to be a sales pitch. But once we got up and running, it has been seamless. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are a very small sized business and able to offer a 401(k) benefit to both full- and part-time employees in a way that suits our budget. ### 46. Great for small businesses **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** McKenzie D. | Chief Operating Officer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 25, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Guideline makes it easy to offer a hands-off 401(k) with various levels of personalization for small businesses with a diverse employee group. We love how simple it is for our employees to set up their portfolios, but from the administration side, we rarely have to touch it. Implementation and enrollment is easy and automated. Their customer support has been great, and the reports they provide are easy to understand and helpful to our business operations. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Guideline may not be the best fit for companies that are transitioning or used to more formal, robust 401(k) options in the marketplace. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are a small business that was looking to offer 401(k) as a benefit to our employees for the first time. We don't have a lot of time for implementation and enrollment, so the fact that Guideline automates nearly everything is a huge benefit for us. ### 47. Effortless 401(k) Management for My Small Business **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** C C. | COO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 22, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** I was up and running in minutes, so I didn’t have to carve out a ton of administrative time up front. Now I spend less than 30 minutes a month on filings, record keeping, and compliance —Guideline takes care of it all behind the scenes. The flat monthly fee is refreshingly straightforward, with no surprise charges or hidden costs, and syncing with our Gusto payroll happens automatically, saving me even more time. My team actually uses the intuitive dashboard and mobile app, and Guideline’s friendly, responsive support feels like an extension of our small-business family. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Honestly, I haven’t run into any significant downsides so far. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline takes the paperwork off my plate—handling filings, compliance tests and recordkeeping—replaces surprise fees with one flat monthly rate, and turns employee enrollment into a few clicks via Gusto integration and an intuitive dashboard. ### 48. Great option for small businesses without a huge administrative burden! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kristi M. | Controller, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** Everything was so easy from start to finish. The dashboard makes it easy to see where you are in the process and makes tasks easy. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** All good so far, we are three months in. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline takes all of the administrative work over and keeps your tasks minimal which makes it easier to run our small business. ### 49. Simple setup and integration with Gusto **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Isaac H. | Owner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** I like the simple set up and integration with Gusto payroll software. This helps us provide excellent benefits to our employees that doesn't cost us a bunch of time to implement. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** Downside is the cost per employee and lack of advice for investing. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** This helps us offer a 401(k) program to our employees with minimal effort. ### 50. Positive Experience Using Guideline **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer & Network Security | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Guideline?** I feel like that with Guideline it was almost like "set it up" and forget it. Guideline does all the work, and it frees me up to take care of other tasks. **What do you dislike about Guideline?** I wish Guideline would give employees a tutorial on how much money they should contribute and the advantages of pre tax vs Roth. **What problems is Guideline solving and how is that benefiting you?** Guideline sends the onboarding when the employee is eligible. I don't need to keep track of the employees eligibility Guideline automatically sends it for me. ## Guideline Discussions - [Would you possibly make monthly statements available as a feature?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/50689-would-you-possibly-make-monthly-statements-available-as-a-feature) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Can I use this for myself as the owner?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/46542-can-i-use-this-for-myself-as-the-owner) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What is Guideline used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-guideline-used-for) - 1 comment - [View Guideline pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/guideline/reviews?page=2§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-18+09%3A56%3A38+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=06f52500-777c-4524-a1d7-e4b0d8a5832d&secure%5Btoken%5D=025368b289ee988e229fb4a717178904ebc521ab27054ccebe281bd0e9154f69&format=llm_user) ## Guideline Integrations - [Gusto](https://www.g2.com/products/gusto/reviews) ## Guideline Features **Onboarding** - Administrators - Employees **Dashboard** - Balances - Investments - Personal Information **Compliance** - IRS - Tax Benefits **Administration** - Monitoring - Reporting **Generative AI** - AI Image-to-Text ## Top Guideline Alternatives - [Human Interest](https://www.g2.com/products/human-interest/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (2,398 reviews) - [Betterment at Work](https://www.g2.com/products/betterment-at-work/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (617 reviews) - [401GO](https://www.g2.com/products/401go/reviews) - 4.8/5.0 (151 reviews)