5 Thanks Ben Alternatives For Better Benefits

Quick Summary

You are probably searching for “Thanks Ben alternatives” because you like modern, flexible benefits, but Thanks Ben isn’t ideal for you. This guide walks you through five strong options: Kota, Gusto, Paylocity, ADP TotalSource, and YuLife, so you can pick the right fit for your team.

Looking for an Alternative to Thanks Ben?

Thanks Ben (now called Ben) has built a solid reputation for flexible benefit allowances and a modern interface. But it's not the right fit for every team. 

Maybe you've hit friction with customer support, run into portal reliability issues, or found the reporting too shallow for your needs. Whatever the reason, you're here because you want something better.

This guide breaks down five Thanks Ben alternatives worth considering. We'll cover what each does well, where they fall short, and which types of teams they suit best.

Why Trust Us?

We built Kota to modernise how businesses deliver core and flexible employee benefits. 

Kota integrates directly with HRIS, payroll, and insurance providers to to automate health insurance, pensions, and life assurance for modern teams, and our clients are loving it. 

We base our advice on deep expertise in years of employee benefits implementation and optimisation.

What is Thanks Ben?

Thanks Ben (now called Ben) is an intelligent employee benefits management platform that lets HR teams centralise and automate benefits enrolment and usage. 

It brings together benefits, rewards, and recognition in one place. 

Ben Key Features:

• Flexible allowances and themed “pots” 

• Curated marketplace of vetted providers

• Ben Mastercard with spending rules and categories

• Employee self-service platform for managing benefits 

• Reporting tools for HR utilisation and spend analytics

• Total reward statements with salary + benefits summaries

Why Look For Thanks Ben Alternatives?

Many people love Thanks Ben for its flexible benefit allowances and modern UX. 

But while the software is robust, it has its flaws, so teams end up looking for other options. Here are some common issues reported online:

1. Customer support issues

Some users complain about slow or unresponsive help channels and a heavy reliance on chatbots. 

When HR teams can’t get timely human support, simple benefits issues can drag on for days.

This unresponsiveness increases internal tickets and frustrates employees who expect fast resolutions to pay or benefits-related problems.

2. Portal reliability problems

Users report that digital wallet cards are sometimes declined or don’t work as expected. 

For employees, this creates embarrassment and mistrust at the point of purchase. 

Meanwhile, HR teams are left firefighting complaints and manually reimbursing expenses that were supposed to be automated.

3. Confusing interfaces

Some users say benefit information is difficult to track across dashboards and individual benefit pages. 

This lack of clarity can reduce benefit usage because employees don’t fully understand what they’re entitled to. 

This lowers perceived value and weakens your total rewards strategy.

4. Delayed onboarding or rollout

Businesses have mentioned slower-than-expected implementation timelines and misaligned expectations during setup. 

These delays put extra pressure on HR teams, slow down benefits adoption, and can cause confusion or dissatisfaction among employees who were promised a new benefits experience.

5. Limited advanced analytics and reporting

HR professionals on Reddit note that reporting and insights can feel shallow or inflexible. 

Without clear data on benefit engagement, usage, or ROI, HR teams struggle to justify spend, optimize offerings, or demonstrate the real impact of benefits to leadership.

Let’s zoom in to the alternative tools.

1. Kota

Kota is a modern broker alternative built to take all the work involved in running benefits off your plate, and deliver a much more engaging employee experience. It handles the entire benefits journey, from HRIS integration through to end providers. 

It connects your HRIS to health insurance, pensions, and flexible benefits. Enrolment, changes, and cancellations run on autopilot. You manage everything in one place. Employees use a single app to view, personalise, and control their benefits.

Key Features

• Centralised benefits: Manage health, life, retirement, and flex benefits in one hub

• Flexible benefits wallet: Lets employees choose perks that fit their lives in a few clicks

• Broker-level support: 50+ years in benefits package design to help you build your package and answer employee questions

• Integrations: Connections with Allianz, Smart Pension, and Vitality reduce paperwork

• Automatic HRIS and payroll sync: Keeps joiners, leavers, and salary changes up to date without retyping data

• Detailed analytics: Track spend and usage across different benefits and geographies

• Employee app: Allows self-driven enrolment and management

What Kota Offers Over Thanks Ben

Ben focuses on flexible benefits through a marketplace model, but you'll still need a traditional broker for core benefits like pensions and health insurance.

Kota is different - it's built as a modern broker alternative that removes all the work involved in running benefits.

Unlike Ben which requires you to manage core provider relationships separately, Kota syncs directly from your HRIS to end providers like Vitality, Bupa, Allianz, and Smart Pension. This means:

• No double admin: You're not updating employee data across providers, your benefits platform, AND your HRIS

• No broker fees on top of platform costs: Kota replaces your broker entirely with 50+ years of benefits expertise built into the platform

• True end-to-end automation: From onboarding to payroll reconciliation, Kota acts as benefits infrastructure, not just another admin tool

• Predictable pricing: Clear per-employee costs with no hidden broker surprises

Ben's marketplace approach works for flexible allowances, but Kota delivers both core benefits (pensions, health insurance) and flexible benefits in one integrated system.

Biggest Con

• Users want more integrations as the platform evolves.

Pricing

Kota uses clear, nothing-to-hide pricing:

• Startup £199 base monthly platform fee (up to 20 ppl)

• Scale-ups £9 per employee monthly platform fee (21-100 ppl)

• Mid-market £6 per employee monthly platform fee (101-500)

Best For

Scaling small-to-mid-market and mid-market companies across the UK and Europe that want an all-in-one flexible benefits platform with predictable pricing.

2. Gusto

Gusto combines payroll, HR, and benefits administration in one platform. It aims to make paying your people and staying compliant simple, with transparent pricing and plans that grow with your company.

It’s popular with SMBs, thanks to its strong payroll engine and easy-to-use interface. 

Key Features

• Full-service payroll: Automate payments without worrying about tax calculations.

• Benefits advisors: Guide employees to make the right choice

• Employee onboarding: Custom onboarding checklists get new hires on board faster

• Open enrolment: Allows employees to enrol alone online

• Mobile App: Let’s workers clock in, and out and HR can track hours worked

What Gusto Offers Over Thanks Ben

If payroll and compliance are your biggest challenges, Gusto may deliver faster value than a benefits marketplace like Ben. 

It combines payroll and benefits in one system, removing the need for separate tools for pay runs, tax filing, and basic benefits admin.

Ben emphasises wallets, allowances, and marketplace perks. Gusto is often praised for clear pricing, unlimited payroll runs, and strong payroll automation. This helps reduce the risk of payroll and tax errors.

Biggest Con

Gusto’s biggest drawback is limited customisation options.

Pricing

Gusto offers three plans:

• Simple $49/month + $6/month per person (ideal for small businesses)

• Plus $80/month + $12/month per person (great for brands needing advanced benefits)

• Premium $180/month + $180/month per person (best for scaling businesses)

Best For

Small to medium-sized businesses that want all-in-one payroll, HR, and benefits tools.

3. Paylocity

Paylocity is a comprehensive workforce management and HR platform focused on payroll, HR, talent, and employee experience. It’s an all-in-one system for HR teams that want modern automation plus analytics and engagement features. 

Paylocity is a good option for mid-sized and larger companies that need more robust HR capabilities.

Key Features

• Advanced payroll: Support for processing complex pay structures

• HR automation: Streamline tasks across departments

• Robust reporting: Get templated and custom reports plus headcount and cost metrics

• Benefits integration: Central view of all benefits for easier management

• Employee self-service: Empower your workforce to enrol and choose benefits their way

What Paylocity Offers Over Thanks Ben

Ben is brilliant with flexible allowances and wallets. 

However, Paylocity offers a broader, all-in-one HR platform. It combines payroll, performance, time tracking, learning, and benefits in one system, which reduces tool sprawl.

Also, Paylocity has a module for nearly every HR need. This reduces the number of vendors and integrations to manage. By contrast, Ben users sometimes report portal issues, which can be frustrating when benefits are a standalone, high-touch tool.

Biggest Con

Paylocity has often been condemned for poor customer support.

Pricing

Custom, based on company size and module requirements.

Best For

Mid-sized companies seeking a full HR and benefits system with payroll integrated.

4. ADP TotalSource

ADP TotalSource is a Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) service that provides businesses with outsourced HR, payroll, benefits, compliance, and risk management solutions through a co-employment model. 

In this arrangement, you keep control over your employees’ day-to-day work, while ADP handles critical HR and administrative responsibilities.  

Key Features

• Co-employment model: Handles HR, payroll, and compliance for you

• Competitive benefit packages: Gain access to Fortune 500-style benefits

• HR support: Get expert advice from dedicated HR partners.

• Risk & compliance management:  Helps you stay aligned with complex regulations.

• Global payroll: Access a seamless payroll that supports 100+ countries

What ADP TotalSource Offers Over Thanks Ben

While Ben handles mostly benefits, ADP TotalSource goes far beyond help with benefits. 

It takes on full HR, compliance, tax, and payroll responsibility, backed by decades of experience and deep insurance offerings. The reduced burden on HR frees leadership teams to focus on growth and operations, unlocking more growth.

Biggest Con

ADP TotalSource’s biggest disadvantage is the typical high cost of PEOs compared to companies that offer benefits administration only.

Pricing

Custom quotes based on company size and needs.

Best For

Small and medium businesses that want outsourced HR support and top-tier benefits plans.

5. YuLife

YuLife blends employee wellbeing, insurance, and rewards into one engagement-focused platform. It motivates healthy behaviour with gamification and reward systems. 

The platform’s gamified wellbeing app rewards your employees for healthy activities like walking, meditation, and cycling.

Key Features

• Gamified wellbeing challenges: Encourage healthy habits like walking and meditation.

• YuCoins reward system: Earn rewards for completing healthy activities and redeem them for perks.

• Mobile-first experience: Gives employees easy access to their benefits

• Life & Income protection insurance: Gives you embedded risk coverage

• Wellbeing tools hub: Central access to all benefits

What YuLife Offers Over Thanks Ben

YuLife focuses on daily engagement and wellbeing rather than allowances and marketplace benefits like Ben.

So, if your team's focus is employee wellbeing and boosting engagement, YuLife will do a better job than Ben. It’s fun and daily healthy challenges significantly boost engagement by as much as 93% according to the company’s reports.

YuLife boosts benefit adoption way more than traditional platforms like Ben.

Biggest Con

YuLife’s biggest downside is limited coverage of non-wellness benefits.

Pricing

Typically custom and based on company size and desired coverage.

Best For

Companies prioritising employee wellbeing, engagement, and incentives within their benefits stack.

Choose Your Thanks Ben Alternative Wisely

Each of these tools excels in different aspects. 

Your ideal Ben alternative should align with your company’s size, budget, and strategic priorities:

• Need full payroll + HR + benefits? Gusto or Paylocity are solid choices.

• Want HR expertise + benefits? ADP TotalSource is a premium option.

• Desire employee wellness? YuLife brings innovation and fun.

For swift end-to-end core and flexible benefits automation from HRIS to providers, Kota leads the way.

👉 Book a demo now