Keel/Compare/Keel vs. ALEX
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Keel vs. ALEXALEX advises. Keel enrolls.

Keel runs the whole enrollment, with Amanda on video, phone, text, and chat. ALEX is the best-known benefits counselor, now with enrollment via ALEX Home. Broker-run enrollment: Keel. Standalone advice: ALEX.

✓ Every claim sourced and checked, July 2026.

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Reach for Keel when

You want an AI-native enrollment a broker owns end to end: multi-channel guidance across video, voice, SMS and chat, white-labeled, with the ben-admin file produced for you.

Reach for ALEX when

You want best-in-class decision support with a claims-powered recommendation and years of enterprise track record, plus native enrollment now via ALEX Home.

At a glance

Side by side

Every ALEX claim below is sourced (citations at the bottom). Keel rows describe what is live today. It's the matchup brokers ask about most, so we held every line of it to the sources.

Dimension Keel ALEX (Jellyvision)
Center of gravityThe whole benefits year: enrollment, questions, COBRA, complianceDecision-support-first; enrollment added via ALEX Home
AI benefits guidance✓ Amanda, conversational, grounded in the employee's plan and answers✓ ALEX, conversational virtual benefits counselor
Recommendation inputsSelf-reported usage and preferences no claims data, by design✓ Claims data plus personal details and usage
Captures elections✓ System of record; produces the ben-admin export bundle✓ Now, via ALEX Home enrollment is the newer part of the product
Live video, voice, SMS agent✓ Amanda: live video avatar, voice, SMS, email, chat✕ Scripted animation plus pre-recorded voiceover no live video-avatar, voice, or SMS agent
Year-round support✓ Amanda + Concierge, all year~ Year-round communication content
Languages✓ English and Spanish✓ English and Spanish (ALEX Go)
Broker white-label and branded portals✓ Brand-scan a URL, get a per-client branded subdomain~ Broker program; less white-label depth
Transparent, auditable recs✓ Deterministic 5-factor scoring plus compliance snapshots (NAIC)~ Behavioral-science plus claims model
Ben-admin export bundle✓ Produces the broker-uploadable file (e.g. Employee Navigator)ALEX Home enrolls end to end; export to a third-party admin is unclear
Maturity at decision supportNewer✓ Years, enterprise scale, 1,500+ customers
Buyer and go-to-marketBuilt for brokers, white-labeled across your bookBroker and employer-direct
PricingPer employer, talk to KeelQuote-only

Swipe the table sideways to see both columns →

✓ built and live · ~ partial · ✕ not a capability. ALEX figures as of 2026. See sources.

The real difference

Two different starting points

Keel and ALEX agree on the problem: nobody should face open enrollment alone with a PDF full of jargon. They just started in different places.

Keel grew up as enrollment. Capturing the election is the point, and the AI, Amanda, is woven through the whole journey rather than sitting in front of it. Amanda isn't only an on-screen counselor. She is the same intelligence over a live video avatar, a phone call, a text thread, email, and chat, so the guidance meets the employee wherever they will actually engage. And Keel is built for the broker to white-label and deploy across every client, producing the ben-admin export bundle at the end.

ALEX grew up as decision support, a genuinely great virtual counselor that uses claims data and behavioral science to recommend a plan, then historically handed off to a separate ben admin to record the choice. ALEX Home changed that, and enrollment is now built in. It's an impressive expansion, and the enrollment piece is the newer part of the product.

Neither approach is wrong. If decision support is the whole job, ALEX is formidable. If the job is an AI-native enrollment a broker owns end to end, that's Keel's shape.

“Enrollment is the newest part of ALEX. It's all Keel does.”

See it for yourself

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Here is the enrollment experience the comparison is about. Click around it yourself.

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A live slice of the product with a fictional employer, Northwind Traders. Click the sidebar to move between surfaces. Full tour

Ask Amanda

Enrollment by text

ALEX's counselor lives on a screen. Here is Keel reaching an employee who never opens the portal.

Amanda
Amandaby text, 4:58 PM
Text message · Today 4:58 PM
Hi Marcus, open enrollment at Ridgeline closes Friday. Want to finish right here by text? It takes about ten minutes.
for real? im on a forklift till 6, can't do the website thing
Right here works. Last year you picked the PPO for your daughter's asthma visits. Keep it, or want me to check whether the new plan year changes the math?
check it
Keeping the PPO still wins for your family: her visits would cost about $840 more out of pocket on the HSA plan, which outweighs the premium savings. Reply KEEP and I'll finish your medical election.
Text message

An illustrative exchange. Amanda is the same intelligence over SMS, a phone call, a live video avatar, email, and chat, and her numbers always come from your group's actual plans. Meet Amanda

The questions buyers actually ask

?

Which meets employees where they actually are?

Keel, with wider reach

ALEX is a polished on-screen counselor, built from scripted animation and pre-recorded voiceover, with a fast bilingual mobile mode. Keel's Amanda is the same AI across a live video avatar, a real phone call, SMS, email, and chat. So the deskless warehouse employee who will never open a benefits portal can still enroll by text or phone. For a workforce that isn't all at desks, that reach is the difference between enrolled and a chase list.

?

Which is built for a broker to deploy across a book?

Keel, by design

Keel is broker-in-the-box. White-label it, brand-scan each client into its own portal, and run one AI-native enrollment across your entire book. ALEX has a broker program, but its white-label depth is shallower and it also sells employer-direct. If you want one experience, your brand, every client: that is Keel.

?

Which recommends plans more accurately?

ALEX has an edge, and we'll say so

ALEX feeds real claims data into its recommendation, reinforced by its January 2023 acquisition of Picwell, a claims-modeling company, which can model likely healthcare needs more richly than self-reported usage. Keel deliberately uses the employee's own inputs, expected usage, preferences, and finances, and stays out of claims and PHI, a compliance and trust choice. So Keel's recommendation is more transparent and auditable, with deterministic scoring and every recommendation logged for the NAIC AI bulletin, but it doesn't use claims history. If claims-powered modeling is your top priority, weigh ALEX carefully.

?

Does ALEX actually enroll now, or just advise?

Both now, via ALEX Home

This is worth stating precisely, because it changed recently. ALEX started as decision support and communication, and it added end-to-end enrollment with ALEX Home, where elections flow to carriers, payroll, and vendors. So the old line that ALEX only advises is out of date. The honest version: enrollment is the newest part of ALEX. It's all Keel does.

When ALEX is the better choice

If decision support is the product you're buying.

If the richest possible plan recommendation, backed by claims data and years of enterprise deployment, is what you're after, ALEX is excellent and more mature at that specific job than Keel is today. And if you're already standardized on ALEX for benefits communication, ALEX Home's enrollment may be the smaller change to make. We'd point you there before overselling.

In practice

Reach comes first

Picture a 300-person building-products distributor

Three warehouses, one office. About 40 percent of employees sit at desks; the rest are on floors, docks, and trucks all day. An on-screen counselor genuinely helps the office staff, and that's exactly who decision-support tools were built for.

The other 60 percent get a login they never use. They aren't confused about benefits; they are unreachable during work hours on the channel the tool lives on. With Keel, the text thread opens when the shift ends, the night crew can do the whole thing on a phone call, and Spanish is a first-class language, not a toggle. Completion stops being a chase list the week before the deadline.

The best recommendation engine in the world only matters if the employee shows up to hear it. Reach comes first. That's the bet Keel made by putting Amanda on every channel instead of one.

Who should choose which

A straight recommendation

Choose Keel if

  • You're a broker who wants one AI-native enrollment across your whole book, white-labeled.
  • Multi-channel guidance across video, voice, SMS and chat matters for a workforce that isn't all at desks.
  • You want the ben-admin file produced for you and a transparent, auditable recommendation.

Choose ALEX if

  • Best-in-class decision support with claims-powered recommendations is the priority.
  • You want a proven enterprise track record at that specific job.
  • You're comfortable with a product whose enrollment layer is the newer part.

Getting started

Week one with Keel

White-label Keel across your book without waiting on an enterprise rollout.

Send the plan documents

SBCs and rate sheets go in; Keel turns them into a live, comparable plan catalog.

Scan your brand

Point Keel at the client's website and get a portal in their colors, on their own subdomain.

Load the census

Roster and current elections import in bulk, so day one starts from what is true today.

Open enrollment

Amanda invites every employee over web, video, text, and phone, in English or Spanish.

Export the bundle

Download the ben-admin-shaped file and upload it. Carriers and payroll flow like always.

Pricing

What each one costs

Keel
Priced per employer.
Talk to us for a quote scoped to your book. Get a demo
ALEX (Jellyvision)
Quote-only. No public per-employee list pricing.
One public figure ALEX cites is an outcome: employers using the ALEX and PlanSource HSA integration see roughly $300 higher HSA savings per employee. Verify current pricing with Jellyvision.

FAQ

Common questions

Does ALEX enroll employees, or just advise?
Both now. ALEX started as decision support and communication and added native enrollment with ALEX Home, where elections flow to carriers, payroll, and vendors. The enrollment layer is the newer part of the product, and the decision-support core is what ALEX is best known for.
Does Keel use claims data like ALEX?
No, by design. Keel recommends from the employee's own inputs and stays out of claims and PHI, which makes its recommendations transparent and auditable but not claims-powered. ALEX uses claims data, a genuine strength for modeling likely healthcare needs.
Can Keel do live video and voice?
Yes. Amanda is a live video avatar, a phone call, an SMS thread, email, and chat, all the same AI. ALEX is an on-screen counselor built on scripted animation and pre-recorded voiceover, with no live video-avatar, voice, or SMS agent.
Is Keel built for brokers?
Yes. Keel is built for brokers: white-label it, brand-scan each client into a branded portal, deploy across your book, and Keel produces the ben-admin export bundle at the end.
What is ALEX Home?
ALEX Home is Jellyvision's AI-powered platform that brings benefits guidance, engagement, and enrollment under one roof. It expanded ALEX from decision support into benefits administration, with elections flowing to carriers, payroll, and vendors. It's the newest part of the ALEX product family.
How much does ALEX cost?
Jellyvision doesn't publish per-employee list pricing; ALEX is quote-only. One public outcome figure: employers using the ALEX and PlanSource HSA integration see roughly $300 higher HSA savings per employee.

Keep comparing

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ALEX alternatives →

How we built this comparison

We read Jellyvision's public pages, pricing, and reviews, and checked every claim in July 2026. We re-check quarterly. Two rules: we only count features Keel has shipped, and when ALEX does something better, this page says so.

Sources and verification

  1. ALEX product and virtual counselor: jellyvision.com/what-is-alex
  2. ALEX Home enrollment ("elections flow to carriers, payroll, and vendors"): Introducing ALEX Home, jellyvision.com/alex-home
  3. Claims-data recommendation and claims-modeling acquisition (Picwell, January 2023): Jellyvision press release
  4. Scale (1,500+ customers), reviews, HSA outcome figure: G2, Gartner, Jellyvision and PlanSource HSA integration post
✓Competitor claims verified against public sources in July 2026. We don't characterize whether ALEX Home's ben-admin engine is proprietary or partner-built, because Jellyvision doesn't disclose it. Re-verify quarterly.

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