Employee Navigator vs Ease for 2027: Which to Pick

Pick Employee Navigator for a new setup, and plan a move if you are on Ease

Ease is no longer a clean choice for a new account. Employee Navigator announced on June 3, 2026 that Ease stops accepting new companies on January 1, 2027, according to Employee Navigator (2026). Ease is owned by Employee Navigator, LLC, according to ERP Research (2026), so this comparison is really between two products from one company, and one of them is closing to new business.

A benefits administration platform collects employee elections, sends them to carriers and payroll (usually as 834 enrollment files), and supports the annual ACA reporting that employers must file.

TL;DR: pick Employee Navigator for any new setup. Keep Ease only for groups already live on it, and plan each move before Ease goes read-only, because the sunset ends integrations and customer support.

Key Takeaways

• Pick Employee Navigator for any new setup, since Ease is closing to new companies.

• Existing Ease groups keep operating for now, but the sunset ends integrations and customer support.

• Employee Navigator publishes per-employee fees only for 834 feeds; its base subscription is quote-based.

• Ease publishes add-on rates for time-off, ACA and payroll links, while its subscription tiers are quote-based.

• Add-on rates are small next to the cost of a wrong census, so decide on continuity and carrier feed access first.

• A workflow layer can add approvals and logs, but we found no public API reference for either vendor, so confirm access before you design anything.

How we evaluated these two platforms

We scored the two products on five weighted criteria. Our sources were the vendors' own pricing and announcement pages, a research publisher's side-by-side comparison, a benefits firm's transition article, and the public docs of a payroll platform for the worked example. The weights are our judgment for a small insurance buyer, not a survey result. Continuity carries the most weight because a product that stops taking new companies changes the decision before any feature is compared.

Employer coverage is expensive, which is why enrollment accuracy matters. Average family premium: $26,993 in 2025 according to KFF (2025), up 6% from 2024.

We did not use review-site star ratings to rank these products. The aggregator snapshots we checked disagreed on scores and review counts, and the G2 and Capterra comparison pages returned errors when we tried to open them.

Feature matrix: where the two products differ

ERP Research compares 53 capabilities, finds the two products identical on 42 of them, and rates Employee Navigator stronger on 8 of the remaining 11 and Ease stronger on 3. The same research lists 600+ integrated carrier, payroll and TPA partners for Employee Navigator, according to ERP Research (2026). Its caveat matters: "not evidenced" means the researchers found no public documentation, not that a feature is missing.

Our read: Ease's edge in quoting and proposal tools helps brokers building new groups, and the January cutoff rules that out. For existing groups, the feature that matters most is whether carrier feeds and census sync keep working through the move. Employee Navigator's strengths in ACA eligibility and hours tracking and real-time eligibility sync fit employers that track hours closely.

What the pricing pages publish, and what stays quote-based

Employee Navigator's pricing page lists four plans: Enhanced, Enhanced Plus, Elite and Platinum, each behind a Contact Sales button. Employee Navigator 834 feeds: $0.45 PEPM, Platinum $0 according to Employee Navigator (2026). The $0.45 applies to Enhanced Plus and Elite, and the Enhanced plan has no 834 feed. Fees marked with an asterisk, including 1095 and 1094 reporting, carry the note "Additional fees apply." No base subscription price is published for any plan.

Ease's pricing page sizes its three tiers by employee count and agency users and shows no dollar figure for any tier, with a Schedule Demo button for each. The add-ons carry published rates: the time-off add-on is $2 PEPM for employers, the ACA add-on is $6 per employee per form per year, and payroll integration typically runs $0 to $1.50 PEPM, partner-specific, according to Ease (2026).

Pricing checked October 30, 2026. Neither vendor publishes a base subscription, so the table separates published rates from quote-based lines.

Our read: the add-ons are modest next to the subscription, and the subscription is the number to get in writing. Neither vendor publishes it, so a fair comparison needs both quotes before the add-on math means anything.

Employee Navigator: best fit, limits, and setup

Employee Navigator fits an agency or employer opening a new account now that needs ACA reporting and carrier feeds. Its Elite plan adds PTO and vacation tracking and AMS integrations, which matter if your team runs time-off and agency management in one place.

The limits are clear. There is no published base price, reporting carries additional fees, and the 834 feed costs extra on the plans that include it. We found no public API reference for the product, so ask in writing whether your carriers and payroll system appear on its partner list.

Setup needs a census file with hire dates and, if you use ACA eligibility, hours. It also needs your carrier list and payroll provider. HR should confirm enrollment, and each carrier should accept a test 834 file before go-live. If you need a base price before any demo, this vendor's public pages will not give you one.

Ease: best fit, limits, and the 2027 timeline

Ease's tiers are sized by employees and agency users. Pro tier on Ease: up to 2,000 employees according to Ease (2026), and the Agency tier adds EaseConnect 834 with 6 agency users. Enterprise allows 10 agency users. Those limits come from the vendor's pricing page.

Savoy Associates' transition article lays out the same dates: new companies are blocked on January 1, 2027, and integration support is discontinued when the product goes read-only on July 1, 2027. It advises finishing the move before July 1, 2027, and suggests starting around September 2026 for January 1 plan years, according to Savoy Associates (2026).

Our read: if you are on Ease, treat the migration as a project with a named owner. The start window Savoy suggests has already passed for January 1 renewals, so those groups need carrier confirmation before cutover. Employee Navigator's migration FAQ says historical data and reporting stay accessible after the sunset, but it does not say which census fields transfer. Ask for a field-by-field export before you commit.

Ease remains a sensible tool for brokers who already serve groups on it and value its enrollment experience, according to ERP's feature evidence. It is the wrong tool for a new group.

Where the admin work breaks, and a proposed workflow

The shared problem in both products is a handoff: a change recorded in payroll has to reach the benefits platform and the carrier file without anyone re-keying it. A proposed US Tech Automations workflow would start from a termination recorded in payroll, use the payroll platform's webhook as the trigger, and create a review task in the benefits admin's queue with the employee's census record and effective date. The output is a logged decision, approved, rejected or escalated, with the approver's name attached. A benefits administrator approves each removal, and HR confirms the carrier's effective date before anything changes in the benefits platform.

Before this runs, you need payroll event access. For Gusto that means partner or app-integration credentials. You also need an admin login or export on the benefits side. Ease's Excel census download appears on its pricing page as part of the base tiers, and Employee Navigator's export options need confirmation from its sales team. Finally, get written confirmation from each carrier that the change is accepted through the 834 path.

For a group moving off Ease, the same design works as a migration tracker. Each group gets one row showing census fields counted, missing fields listed, carriers confirmed, and the broker's cutover date. The workflow sends a review task for each missing field and holds cutover until the admin clears the list. The output is a sign-off record per group, which is the evidence a broker would need to show a carrier that the census matched.

Zapier, Make, or n8n versus a configured workflow

Zapier, Make and n8n can move these events between systems. When configured, they can keep run histories, retry failed steps, branch on errors and store audit evidence. What you still design and own is the same in every case: duplicate-event handling, who receives escalations, access controls on the payroll and benefits accounts, and maintenance when a vendor changes a field. A proposed US Tech Automations design would configure the approval queue, the per-decision log and the escalation path as named steps, but you would still own the credentials, the carrier confirmations and the decision to cut over. A DIY build can be a good fit if someone on your team will maintain the flow for years. If nobody will, the maintenance is the cost to plan for.

Worked example: 60 employees on published rates

Take an illustrative group of 60 employees, a modeling choice rather than a threshold. On the Enhanced Plus plan at Employee Navigator, 834 feeds at $0.45 PEPM cost 60 × $0.45 × 12 = $324 a year, before any fee the page marks as additional. On Ease, the time-off add-on at $2 PEPM for employers costs 60 × $2 × 12 = $1,440 a year, and the ACA add-on at $6 per employee per form costs 60 × $6 = $360 for one Form 1095-C per employee. A proposed US Tech Automations design could trigger on employee.terminated from Gusto, the payroll platform in this example, which Gusto's embedded payroll docs list as an employee event, according to Gusto (2025). That event would open the review task described above, so the benefits admin approves the census change before the group's 834 file is re-sent. The event requires partner credentials that you must confirm with Gusto first.

Who should pick which, and common mistakes

Who this is for

Who this is for: an owner or operations lead at a small insurance agency or insurance employer who is opening a new benefits setup, needs ACA reporting and carrier feeds, and cannot wait on a product that is closing to new companies. For a wider view of the tools agencies use, read best automation tools for benefits agencies.

Red flags: you need a base price in writing before any demo, since neither vendor publishes one; you need to add new companies to Ease after its cutoff, which is no longer possible; or your carrier or payroll system is not confirmed in writing by the vendor.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations: a workflow layer is the wrong tool if you manage only a handful of groups and your admin already reconciles census files by hand each month, because the vendor's own enrollment screens are simpler. It is also the wrong tool if nobody can grant read access to payroll or the benefits platform, since there is no event to trigger on. And if Employee Navigator's implementation team already gives you a migration checklist with named owners, use that checklist first and skip the extra layer.

Decision checklist:

• Sort each group into new, live on Ease, or moving, and write down its carrier list.

• Ask Employee Navigator for a base quote and the 834 path for each carrier, in writing.

• Request a field-by-field census export from your current system before you sign.

• Run one group end to end, including carrier acceptance, before any bulk move.

Common mistakes:

• Comparing add-on rates while ignoring the base subscription, which neither vendor publishes.

• Treating an aggregator's "starting price" as the vendor's price. Check the vendor page first.

• Starting a migration after the plan-year window has already closed.

• Assuming all access ends at the sunset. The vendor says historical data and reporting stay available.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ease still open to new companies?

No: the vendor has announced a cutoff for new companies, so a new account should start on Employee Navigator.

Does Employee Navigator publish a starting price?

No: its pricing page lists only 834 feed fees and shows Contact Sales for every plan, so get a base quote in writing.

What does Ease charge?

Ease publishes add-on rates, but its three subscription tiers have no dollar figure and show a Schedule Demo button instead.

Will my existing Ease groups keep working?

Yes for now: the vendor says existing groups keep renewing and operating, but integrations and customer support end when Ease goes read-only.

Can a no-code tool replace a benefits platform?

No: Zapier, Make and n8n can move data and log runs, but they do not replace carrier enrollment or ACA reporting inside the benefits platform.

Bottom line

For a new insurance setup, Employee Navigator is the answer. Ease is a migration project for groups that already run on it. Before you sign with either vendor, get the base quote, the carrier feed confirmations and a census export, and set your own deadline from the sunset dates. To see how US Tech Automations configures this approval queue for a migration, see how US Tech Automations configures this.