Is Planlined an alternative to Employee Navigator?

Not for enrollment or benefits administration — Planlined does not run either. For the quote-to-proposal step it is: Planlined parses the carrier documents into a side-by-side comparison, contribution model, proposal book and employee guide. Brokers typically use it alongside a ben-admin platform such as Employee Navigator.

Does Employee Navigator create benefit proposals?

Quoting and proposals come from its Zywave CPQ marketplace integration, which quotes from a rates database and exports to PowerPoint or Excel. Employee Navigator itself is the enrollment and administration platform.

Does Employee Navigator publish pricing?

Not as dollar amounts. Its pricing page lists four broker tiers, each "Contact Sales"; the only published figures are 834 EDI feed fees of $0.45 PEPM on two tiers and $0 on Platinum. Planlined is $75 per month, or $62 per month billed annually, with the first proposal free.

Planlined vs Employee Navigator: Features and Pricing

Planlined

Benefit analysis software, formerly BART. Parses whatever the carrier sent into one comparison, models contributions and scenarios, and exports the proposal book and employee guide.

For: brokers and agency teams who receive quotes as PDFs and spreadsheets and build the proposal themselves.

Employee Navigator

Benefits administration and enrollment platform connecting 195,000+ employers, 7,000+ brokers and 600+ partners, with onboarding, HR, ACA reporting, time-off tracking and payroll integrations; quoting is supplied by the Zywave CPQ marketplace integration.

For: brokers who run open enrollment and ongoing benefits administration for their employer clients, and who want the quoting step to come from the same ecosystem.

Side by side

Capabilities, one row each.

Parses carrier PDFs and spreadsheets
PlanlinedYesQuotes, SBCs, rate sheets and invoices; no cap on documents per case.
Employee NavigatorNot documentedQuoting comes from the Zywave CPQ integration, which works from a rates database rather than the documents a carrier sent.
Side-by-side comparison for the broker
PlanlinedYesUnlimited carriers, normalized fields.
Employee NavigatorPartialEmployees compare plans during enrollment; broker-side quote comparison is via Zywave CPQ.
Proposal book export
PlanlinedYesBranded PDF and presentation mode.
Employee NavigatorNoNot a proposal tool; the deliverable is the enrollment experience.
Employee enrollment guide
PlanlinedYes
Employee NavigatorPartialPlan information lives inside the enrollment portal; no standalone branded guide is documented.
Contribution and what-if modeling
PlanlinedYes5+ structures plus a scenario manager.
Employee NavigatorNot documented
Invoice reconciliation
PlanlinedYes
Employee NavigatorNot documented
Benefits administration and enrollment
PlanlinedNoPlanlined produces the proposal and guide; it does not run enrollment.
Employee NavigatorYesCore product: benefits administration, new-hire onboarding, HR management, ACA reporting, integrated payroll.
Plan and case libraries
PlanlinedYes
Employee NavigatorNot documented
Live carrier rate feed
PlanlinedNoWorks from the quotes you already have.
Employee NavigatorPartialRates come from the Zywave CPQ integration, not from Employee Navigator itself.
Works alongside Employee Navigator
PlanlinedYesEmployee Navigator connector, enabled per workspace on Enterprise plans; sold plans flow into enrollment.
Employee NavigatorYesIt is Employee Navigator.
Self-serve signup with a free start
PlanlinedYesFirst proposal free.
Employee NavigatorNoEvery tier is "Contact Sales"; no free trial documented.
Pricing
PlanlinedFirst proposal free. Professional $75/month, or $62/month billed annually, with unlimited proposals. Enterprise custom.
Employee NavigatorNot published as dollar amounts. Four broker tiers — Enhanced, Enhanced Plus, Elite and Platinum — each "Contact Sales". The only figures on the pricing page are 834 EDI feed fees: $0.45 PEPM on Enhanced Plus and Elite, $0 on Platinum.

"Not documented" means the vendor's public pages do not describe the capability. It may exist; ask them before deciding.

Choose Employee Navigator when

You need enrollment, benefits administration, ACA reporting and payroll integrations for your clients — that is the product, and Planlined does not do it.
Your brokerage already quotes through Zywave CPQ and wants sold plans to flow straight into enrollment.

Choose Planlined when

The step you want to fix is the proposal before the sale: parsing the carrier quotes, comparing them, modeling contributions and producing the proposal book and guide.
You do not want to buy a benefits-administration platform to get quoting, and you want a price you can see before a sales call.
You already use Employee Navigator for enrollment. They are not substitutes — most brokers who use Planlined keep their ben-admin platform.

Weighing more than these two? Read our roundup of Employee Navigator quoting alternatives, which lines up five tools that do this job.

Frequently asked

Questions about switching.

Is Planlined an alternative to Employee Navigator?: Not for enrollment or benefits administration — Planlined does not run either. For the quote-to-proposal step it is: Planlined parses the carrier documents into a side-by-side comparison, contribution model, proposal book and employee guide. Brokers typically use it alongside a ben-admin platform such as Employee Navigator.
Does Employee Navigator create benefit proposals?: Quoting and proposals come from its Zywave CPQ marketplace integration, which quotes from a rates database and exports to PowerPoint or Excel. Employee Navigator itself is the enrollment and administration platform.
Does Employee Navigator publish pricing?: Not as dollar amounts. Its pricing page lists four broker tiers, each "Contact Sales"; the only published figures are 834 EDI feed fees of $0.45 PEPM on two tiers and $0 on Platinum. Planlined is $75 per month, or $62 per month billed annually, with the first proposal free.

Sources · reviewed September 5, 2026

Planlined vs Employee Navigator: Features and Pricing

Planlined

Employee Navigator

Capabilities, one row each.

Questions about switching.

See Planlined on your own carrier quote.