SimplyHRA vs PeopleKeep: ICHRA Management Comparison (2026)

Choosing the right platform is the key to a successful and stress-free ICHRA plan.

With popular products like PeopleKeep, you effectively eliminate the administrative complexity in tasks like employee onboarding, reimbursement tracking, compliance management, and reporting.

In this post, we'll take a closer look at the pros, cons, and features of PeopleKeep and compare it with SimplyHRA — a modern ICHRA management platform designed for efficiency and ease of use.

But first, a brief introduction.

What is ICHRA?

Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) is a type of HRA or Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense (CHOICE) Arrangement that prioritizes flexibility.

It allows employers to set fixed reimbursement allowances per employee class. Meanwhile, employees get to choose their own health insurance and use their allowance to pay for qualified medical expenses.

Tying it all together are HRA management platforms like PeopleKeep and SimplyHRA.

They streamline administrative work, simplify compliance, and provide visual dashboards that allow plan administrators to complete essential tasks within a few clicks.

Here's a quick, side-by-side look at these platforms:

SimplyHRA vs PeopleKeep: Quick Comparison

Comparing SimplyHRA vs PeopleKeep

Before we get into the fine details of this comparison, here's an overview of the pros and cons of each platform:

SimplyHRA Overview

SimplyHRA is a lean and modernized ICHRA management platform designed for maximum efficiency and flexibility.

Everything you see inside the app is tailored to ICHRA management. This clutter-free and lightweight design ensures a smooth learning curve and streamlined workflows.

SimplyHRA Pros

• Straightforward and transparent pricing
• Streamlined and beginner-friendly user interface
• Done-for-you compliance and documentation
• Specifically developed for ICHRA
• Fast-growing integration ecosystem (Deel, Okta, Gusto, Zoho, etc.)
• AI in-app assistant
• Onboarding support
• Cross-platform design and functionality

SimplyHRA Cons

• Limited support for other HRA models (e.g., GCHRA and QSEHRA)
• Less diverse integration support (compared to PeopleKeep)

PeopleKeep Overview

PeopleKeep is a well-known HRA software provider, serving as a gateway to ICHRA, Qualified Small Employer HRA (QSEHRA), and Group Coverage HRA (GCHRA) for small businesses.

It's worth noting that companies can offer both ICHRA and GCHRA to different employee classes at the same time. PeopleKeep enables these employers to consolidate plan management and greatly reduce the administrative load.  

PeopleKeep Pros

• Supports ICHRA, GCHRA, and QSEHRA
• Reimbursement workflow automation
• Onboarding support
• Highly-rated customer support
• Broad integration and partner marketplace

PeopleKeep Cons

• Plans come with a platform fee
• Interface feels more "layered" than SimplyHRA
• No mobile app (although accessible via mobile browsers)

1. ICHRA Setup Process

One of the main reasons why HRA platforms exist is to facilitate and expedite setup.

Both SimplyHRA and PeopleKeep offer Quality of Life (QoL) features and automation tools that make this process a breeze. Still, there are enough differences between the two platforms that every employer should factor them into their decision-making.

SimplyHRA

With SimplyHRA, most of the setup is done through a guided visual experience.

Most of the pipeline, from entering your business details to creating your first ICHRA plan, can be completed in minutes.

SimplyHRA's guided setup is designed to prevent configuration errors, which can be an issue for more complex platforms. There's no need to request live assistance from an agent — you can get your ICHRA plan off the ground yourself.

When it comes to adding employees, you can access the side panel directly from the main dashboard or via the 'Employees' tab.

Either way, the process only takes a few seconds once you have your employee's information.

PeopleKeep

PeopleKeep's cloud-based HRA management software also implements a user-friendly and streamlined setup workflow. The first step is to enter the required details about your business, including your address, phone number, and tax information.

PeopleKeep's plan creation step may appear deeper and more layered than SimplyHRA. However, it's only designed that way to compartmentalize important plan customization options (rather than consolidate them on a single interface).

From the setup stage, you can get an idea of the usability and design differences between the two platforms.

That's just a small part of the overall platform usability factor.

2. Ease of Use & Support

Next up, let's compare SimplyHRA and PeopleKeep from a usability standpoint.

Remember, UX and design have a drastic impact on your productivity and efficiency with any software, especially at the beginning stages.

The better designed the app, the faster you can get things done.

This is supplemented by the level of support that each HRA platform provides. That said, here's a comparison of SimplyHRA and PeopleKeep in terms of ease of use and user support.

SimplyHRA

SimplyHRA is designed to be as clean and distraction-free as possible through every aspect of HRA plan management.

The entire experience utilizes consistent elements like the persistent navigation menu and collapsible side panels. These design decisions may seem inconsequential, but they're highly effective in cutting the learning curve for employees and plan administrators.

In terms of support, SimplyHRA offers a library of learning resources about important terms, rules, and other essential information. Employers and employees can also count on the built-in AI assistant to instantly answer questions or provide assistance with tasks, like managing dependents or tracking reimbursements.

Of course, you can use traditional support channels to get help managing or using your ICHRA plan. Your options include email, phone, or private consultations.

PeopleKeep

Despite being around since 2016 (rebranded from "Zane Benefits"), PeopleKeep did an excellent job at providing a modern and user-friendly interface.

Perhaps the only sign of its age is the dense page layouts, which may look intimidating compared to SimplyHRA's clean design. This is consistent across workflows, like the account creation process for employees.

The good news is, PeopleKeep's support options are known for their reliability and overall helpfulness when it comes to addressing user issues.

While it lacks an AI-powered solution like SimplyHRA's chatbot, it makes up for it with its diverse library of resources. This includes downloadable PDF guides, an eligible expense tracker, blog posts, and an HRA quiz for administrators.

3. Pricing

ICHRA is designed to help businesses and employees contend with the ever-increasing premium prices through fixed reimbursement allowances and tax-advantaged transactions.

But if there's one thing cost-related that you can't control, it's the price of your chosen ICHRA platform.

Here's how it differs between SimplyHRA and PeopleKeep:

SimplyHRA

SimplyHRA follows a clear, fixed pricing structure of $29 per employee per month — full stop.

This ensures the platform can scale to your company's specific healthcare needs without worrying about hidden costs. No need to worry about platform charges or initial setup fees.

You are only required to make an initial deposit if you want to use SimplyHRA's pre-funded debit cards for employees or a bank account for Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments. These features are, however, 100% optional.

PeopleKeep

Similarly, PeopleKeep implements a level of transparency when it comes to their pricing.

For ICHRA, the baseline fee is $25 per employee per month, plus a platform fee of $50 added to your subscription. You do, however, need to request an actual price from the PeopleKeep team, taking into account your company size and billing cycle to arrive at a final number.

Having to wait for a personalized quote may add more friction to the process. On the plus side, getting to know your needs and company profile allows PeopleKeep's team to recommend a different, more suitable HRA type.

4. Reimbursement Management

After the initial setup and employee onboarding, most of your administration efforts using your HRA platform will revolve around managing reimbursements.

For employees, it should be easy and intuitive to submit and track reimbursement requests. And for administrators, it's about the efficiency of the approval workflow and clarity of the reporting features.

SimplyHRA

The SimplyHRA reimbursement workflow uses automation and cross-platform accessibility to make it easy for employees to submit their requests.

For starters, they can opt for a virtual card or bank account and enable automatic payments. Manual reimbursement requests for insurance premiums or eligible medical expenses can then be submitted within minutes using the SimplyHRA mobile app.

Reimbursement requests can then be manually processed or tracked through the dashboard.

SimplyHRA also gives administrators the option to automate tracking and approvals for medical expense reimbursements. And since payments and deductions can also be automated, plan administrators can save hours on time-consuming tasks to focus more on tracking, optimizing benefits, and providing employee support.

PeopleKeep

When submitting reimbursement requests via PeopleKeep, employees need to enter essential information to ensure smooth processing. This may take slightly more work, but it also prevents issues like missing receipts and duplicate transactions.

Similar to SimplyHRA, PeopleKeep can also handle the review process for submitted reimbursement requests. As such, the main role of your plan administrator would be to approve each request after the PeopleKeep team validates the transaction and sends a notification.

5. Analytics & Reporting

Tracking your ICHRA data is not only essential for plan optimization. It also allows you to verify and manage compliance with critical data like participation rate and affordability calculations.

SimplyHRA

SimplyHRA generates audit-ready reports as well as interactive data dashboards, giving plan administrators quick access to valuable insights.

In addition, key sections of the SimplyHRA include filterable data tables to streamline analytics tracking. This is one of the advantages of modern HRA platforms that prioritize the visibility and trackability of analytics — from employee usage to year-wide budget data.

PeopleKeep

PeopleKeep offers a broader lineup of analytics and reporting tools in exchange for being less intuitive.

It allows you to track participation rates, employee usage, W-2 data, and more — automatically generating audit-ready reports that simplify compliance.

Employees also gain access to useful historical data through the PeopleKeep portal. This includes document request updates, allowances, and previous transactions.

6. Compliance & Document Management

Generating audit-ready reports is just one aspect of ICHRA compliance.

Your company also needs a seamless and organized system for managing plan documents.

Most modern HRA platforms also include compliance assistance in their onboarding process. Efficiency and reliability in this department, however, vary from platform to platform.

SimplyHRA

First and foremost, SimplyHRA's dedicated team makes sure that all tax and compliance-related paperwork is done on your behalf.

You don't need to lift a finger to get this off your checklist. Just focus on building your plan, setting reimbursement amounts, and onboarding employees while the team does the grunt work.

In terms of document management, SimplyHRA keeps it simple with a single-page tracker that consolidates your plan documents.

PeopleKeep

PeopleKeep also commits to handling all the compliance-related paperwork, allowing employers to focus on other aspects of plan management. They'll handle everything — from generating legal plan documents to ensuring affordability for Applicable Large Employers (ALEs).

As for document management, PeopleKeep organizes audit-ready documents on the 'Legal Documents' page.

7. Miscellaneous Features

Before we wrap up this comparison, here's a quick rundown of each platform's additional, noteworthy features:

SimplyHRA

• Streamlined Class Management — SimplyHRA lets you specify and assign employee classes from the onboarding step or through the employee management interface.
• Flexible AI Assistant — Use the built-in AI chatbot not just to accelerate self-learning, but also to get assistance with nearly everything within the platform.
• Payroll and HRIS integrations — Take full advantage of automation using third-party integrations with payroll systems, including Gusto, ADP, Plane, and Rippling.

PeopleKeep

• Support for QSEHRA and GCHRA — PeopleKeep supports other HRA types, which is useful if you're planning to offer both GCHRA and ICHRA.
• Provider and Prescription Filters + Autopay with Remodel Health — Large employers can take advantage of the Remodel Health partnership for extra features, including autopay and advanced payroll integrations.
• Free Browser-Based Tools — Use the eligible expenses tracker and HRA quiz for successful implementation.

SimplyHRA vs PeopleKeep: Verdict

Found an HRA platform you like?

Remember, SimplyHRA's strengths revolve around implementing, managing, and optimizing successful ICHRA plans. PeopleKeep, on the other hand, works best for larger employers also looking to adopt other HRA types or combine ICHRA with GCHRA.

Of course, the best way to make a sound decision for your company is to consult each provider.

Click here to book a consultation and learn how SimplyHRA will work for you.