BambooHR vs Gusto: A Year-End Review 2025 (And What This Means for 2026)

This signals a meaningful expansion in who BambooHR can serve. Historically, BambooHR focused on small to mid-sized U.S.-based teams. With EOR, it can now support companies that already have international employees — or are considering expanding abroad — without requiring a separate global employment platform.

That said, many platforms already offer more native global employment capabilities. On its own, this addition isn't a decisive differentiator, but it does remove a previous limitation for teams that otherwise like BambooHR.

EOR is inherently compliance-heavy. It's important to understand exactly what BambooHR (via Remote) will handle versus what remains your responsibility — including employment agreements, local benefits, terminations, and ongoing compliance obligations. Pricing, country coverage, and support depth will matter more than the announcement itself.

This is a significant feature addition that broadens BambooHR's fit for companies with international employees. It's not a reason by itself to switch platforms, but for teams already considering BambooHR, it could be the missing piece.

For a deeper look at when EoR makes sense for your team, see our guide: When an Employer of Record (EoR) Makes Sense (10 Real-World Scenarios).

This signals a broader push toward supporting international teams — especially companies already using Xero for accounting. For businesses operating in (or expanding into) these regions, the integration reduces duplicate data entry and keeps HR and payroll systems aligned.

It also reflects BambooHR's preference for partner-led global expansion rather than building native payroll infrastructure in every country — a pragmatic approach for its SMB audience.

An integration is not the same as native global payroll. Coverage is limited to specific countries, and functionality depends on Xero's payroll capabilities in each region. Teams should understand where BambooHR's responsibility ends and where Xero's begins, particularly around filings, compliance nuances, and support escalation.

The Xero integration meaningfully expands BambooHR's reach for select international markets. It's not a full global payroll solution, but it removes friction for teams already using Xero and reinforces BambooHR's broader global direction.

Much of BambooHR's AI progress shows up in its support and usability layer. The introduction of Ask BambooHR, an AI-powered assistant with access to Help Center content, aims to reduce friction when navigating benefits, PTO, org charts, and common HR questions.

BambooHR has historically received strong customer service feedback, and this additional layer of assistance could meaningfully improve day-to-day experience if it proves reliable and accurate.

For most teams, the real benefit isn't that these tools are AI-powered — it's that they reduce manual work and make previously hard-to-access data usable inside the platform. The value depends less on the AI label and more on accuracy, trust, and usability.

BambooHR’s 2025 “AI-enhanced” updates are best understood as usability and data access improvements, not a fundamental shift in how the platform works. While the AI framing may be louder than the underlying change, features like Ask BambooHR can still meaningfully reduce friction for day-to-day HR tasks if they prove accurate and reliable. The real value here comes from better access to information, not from AI itself.

This reflects a clear strategic shift. Gusto is trying to absorb more compliance risk at the product level rather than leaving customers to discover issues after something breaks.

This will matter most for small teams without dedicated HR or legal support, particularly those operating in high-enforcement states where compliance gaps tend to surface first. Coverage is limited, and compliance tooling only earns trust once it's proven across audits and enforcement scenarios. For now, this is something to watch closely, not rely on blindly.

Promising, but early. This is a clear signal that Gusto is investing in proactive compliance support, but until coverage expands beyond initial states and proves reliable in real enforcement scenarios, it shouldn’t be a deciding factor on its own.

These features matter most when things go wrong. For lean teams, protecting payroll timing can be more valuable than almost any HR feature.

For more mature teams with strong cash reserves or strict finance controls, these tools may never be used, but for lean or fast-growing companies, they can meaningfully reduce operational risk. These are safety nets, not substitutes for financial discipline, but the intent matters.

One of Gusto’s most practically impactful 2025 investments. These tools won’t matter for every company, but they meaningfully reduce payroll risk during the moments when operational mistakes are most costly.

This treats solopreneurs as a first-class customer, and is one of the clearest signals in 2025 that Gusto is investing earlier in the business lifecycle. Many HRIS platforms treat very small companies as an afterthought — or as future customers they don’t need to design for yet. Gusto Solo does the opposite, treating solopreneurs as a first-class customer while still creating a clean path into the broader platform as the business grows.

Intentionally narrow. Valuable for founders thinking ahead, irrelevant for most teams with employees.

One of the clearest signals in 2025 that Gusto is investing earlier in the business lifecycle. While it won’t matter to most established teams, it meaningfully improves the starting point — and long-term path — for solopreneurs who expect to grow.