How "cheapest" is supposed to work

Most pretax commuter benefit platforms quote a per-employee per-month (PEPM) fee plus implementation. Even at $4 to $8 PEPM, a 50-person team is spending roughly $2,400 to $4,800 a year before anyone has saved a dollar in taxes. For a small business, that flips the math: the platform takes the savings.

Alice prices differently. The employer fee is structured so the platform fee cannot exceed the FICA savings the employer earns from employee pretax commuter spending. If your employees spend, you save on the employer side of FICA and Alice's fee comes out of those savings. If they don't spend, there is no fee.

What you don't pay for

• No up-front employer cost
• No manual open enrollment to manage
• No per-seat monthly fee that scales with headcount whether or not the seat is using the benefit
• No employee pre-funding required and only a small reserve deposit from the employer

What employees pay for

Employees pay nothing to participate. They get an Alice Card (a Visa commercial credit card issued by Celtic Bank, powered by Stripe, with program funds at Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Member FDIC) and swipe it for eligible commuter expenses. Pretax dollars come straight off payroll, up to $340 a month for transit and $340 a month for parking under the 2026 IRS limits.

The hidden costs of "cheap" providers

A pretax provider that charges a low PEPM but requires the employer to manage enrollment, reconcile claims, handle forfeitures, and field employee questions usually costs more in HR hours than it saves in fees. Alice handles enrollment, the card, the receipts, the questions, and the payroll line item.