Gusto doubles ARPC by product attach
Gusto vs Mercury
The important shift is that Gusto is no longer growing mainly by adding more tiny businesses, it is making each existing customer worth much more by turning payroll into the hub for benefits, retirement, and compliance. In 2022, Gusto had 200K SMB customers and $260M of revenue. By 2025, it reached 500K plus customers and $975M of revenue, which implies revenue per customer rose from roughly $1.3K to about $2.0K, with the page describing a 2x ARPC gain driven by more product attach across the base.
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The mechanics are straightforward. A business starts with payroll, then adds health benefits, 401(k), time tracking, invoicing, and business compliance. Each add on plugs into the same employee and wage data, so setup is easier than stitching together separate vendors, and Gusto can charge more without needing a new customer.
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This is the same playbook payroll platforms have used for years, because payroll is the system of record for who works at the company, how much they earn, and when they get paid. That makes adjacent products unusually sticky, especially products like 401(k), where Guideline charged employers a flat platform fee plus $8 per employee per month and a small asset fee before Gusto acquired it.
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The contrast with Mercury is that Mercury makes money mostly from deposits, card usage, and banking workflows, while Gusto makes more money by selling more software and services into the employer workflow. Mercury reached $650M annualized revenue by September 2025, but its revenue is more tied to rates and balances, while Gusto can raise customer value through attach inside payroll.
From here, the path is for payroll to keep absorbing more of the SMB back office. If Gusto keeps lifting attach across its 500K plus customer base, growth can come less from raw customer adds and more from becoming the default place where a small business runs every people and compliance task tied to payroll.