Review (August 2025)

Guideline's full-service 401(k) plans make it easier and more affordable to offer your employees the retirement benefits they deserve.

1M

Estimated Revenue

372.84k

Website Visitors

1.4/5

Trustpilot Score

What do we know about Guideline?

Estimated Revenue (2020)

$1M

Total Funding

$139M

Total Employees

210

Founded

2015

Industry

Financial Services

Last Funding Date

Series D Jul 2020

Location

San Mateo, United States

About

Guideline:

Social Links

Alexa Ranking: 14037

What is Guideline's Revenue?

Guideline's estimated revenue for 2024 is $1M.

What does Guideline do?

Guideline. Helping people save for a better future. Guideline is the only 401(k) provider that doesn't charge participants any fees on investments, regardless of the value of their assets or retirement account balance. And for employers, Guideline charges a low, flat rate fee per participant, in contrast to the asset-based fee model predominant in the industry. By offering a full-stack solution that automates plan administration and compliance, the Guideline team is combatting what's unfortunately become the retirement industry status quo -- legacy providers have put profit over the interests of employees, abandoning the goal of the program in the first place: to give employees the opportunity to save as much as possible for retirement.

What are the monthly traffic metrics for Guideline?

6/mo Traffic Growth

-26.30%

All Time Traffic Growth

Create Free Account

Monthly Hits

373k

Time on Site

5.3Mins

Bounce Rate

21%

How fast is Guideline growing?

Guideline has grown by -19.8% in the last 6 months according to SimilarWeb.

How do people interact with Guideline?

Last month, Guideline received 373k visitors who spent an average of 5.3 minutes on the website and visited 7.0 different pages per session. Overall, 21% of people bounce on the first visit.

How do people find Guideline?

262.2k people (70%) visit Guideline directly. 66.1k (18%) people search for them in Google. Whereas, 6.4k (2%) discover Guideline through Facebook, Reddit, and YouTube. 24.5k (7%) visitors come from Guideline's email newsletters. Finally, 306.2 (0.1%) people come from affiliates and or paid referrals.

Who uses Guideline?

Guideline's top market is the United States and they receive 360.9k (96.8%) people.
Then the 2nd is Colombia with 1.6k (0.4%).
The 3rd is is India with 929.1 (0.2%).

Traffic Growth (last 6 months)

All Traffic Source

Country Share

Traffic Growth (last 12 months)

See 12/mo Traffic Stats

What are Guideline's ads on Google?

Google Ads

Full-Service 401(k), Low Fees - Make It Simple with Guideline

https://get.guideline.com/401k

Recordkeeping. Investment management. Safe harbor. Lowest employee fees. No setup...

Guideline 401(k) - Full-Service - No Extra Fees - guideline.com‎

https://www.guideline.com/

A low-fee, reimagined 401(k) for growing businesses that’s easy to manage.

Small Business 401(k) - Help Your Employees Save More

https://get.guideline.com/401k

The 401(k) your employees deserve. We make it easy to offer a plan they'll love. No setup fee. No added investment fees. Starting at $39 plus $8 per employee per month. 10,000+ 401(K) Plans. Lowest fees. Predictable Pricing. Fully Bundled. Form 5500 filing.

Small Business 401(k) | Help Your Employees Save More | guideline.com‎

https://www.guideline.com/welcome

The 401(k) your employees deserve. We make it easy to offer a plan they'll love. Deal: 100% off 401(k) consultation

Guideline Full-Service 401(k) - Tech Platform, No Extra Fees‎

https://www.guideline.com/

Guideline’s full-stack platform makes it simple to save. Sign up in 8 minutes!

What do Guideline's customers say about them?

Review Score

1.4/5

Total Reviews

41

Info

Guideline
5 Star
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4 Star
0.0%
3 Star
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2 Star
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1 Star
100.0%
Read reviews that mention
Brock

Guideline bait and switch

Reviewed on 2021-05-19T17:44:54

Guideline recently increased their fees... again. This time adding an obnoxious monthly flat fee as well as AUM fees that they were sooooo against previously.As a result, my company's 401k fees are increasing by 82.5% per year. Bait and switch is built into this company's DNA. Buyer beware.
read more
Tony Newman

I have a Favio floating line from John…

Reviewed on 2021-05-04T15:56:35

I have a Favio floating line from John Norris. I must say it is by far the worst fly line I have ever had.Just a pile of rubbish. Don't ever buy one.
read more
Efrat Ron

One of the worst services I had

Reviewed on 2021-03-31T22:43:01

If you need any answers from them, forget about it you will spend your days trying to get a response (by email or phone).that is in addition to their lack of knowledge which might lead to state penalties.
read more
Tiffany David

They are not a low cost option if you…

Reviewed on 2021-03-15T19:28:21

They are not a low cost option if you need to use all of your team's time tracking them down for answers.They never answer their phone or emails, they do not provide basic reports such as compliance testing results, email communication, not even loans! (which are not visible on the plan sponsor website). I though Principle was the worst bunch of inexperienced yahoos until Guideline lowered the bar. I honestly don't know how they stay out of jail much less in business.
read more
Vikas Gupta

Hotel California of 401k Providers

Reviewed on 2021-03-03T18:28:23

"You can check-out any time you like, But you can never leave!" Had to shut down my company so shut down the 401k w/Guideline.They said it'd take 90 days to shutdown...here we are on now entering month 5 and it isn't shutdown. They continue to bill me. They don't respond to service requests. I wouldn't sign up with them again.
read more
Carter Coe

This is one of the worst vendors I deal…

Reviewed on 2021-02-23T18:28:53

This is one of the worst vendors I deal with at my small business. We use them because of the integration with Gusto's payroll system,but the experience has been atrocious. Customer service responds in weeks rather than hours or days and often has no clue what they are talking about. I have received incorrect advice on multiple occassions. Please avoid.
read more
Ryan Wilke

High Fees

Reviewed on 2021-02-23T17:36:35

High Fees. Poor customer service. High cost to transfer to other 401k providers. Rollover cost you $50 for them to cut a check and mail it.If you like your employees, you'd avoid Guidline.
read more
Rick Clark

They don't allow zero stars

Reviewed on 2021-02-22T21:29:02

They don't allow zero stars, so I had to give a 1. Horrible customer service and inability to actually run a 401k.Shut it down, but it took a year for them to do. Once you sign on, you can't get any meaningful help. They are cheap but there's a reason - you get what you pay for in life - pay for something else is my recommendation.
read more

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