I analyzed 12 months of traffic data for 5 US benefits admin / EOR platforms. One grew, four collapsed. Here's what I found.

TL;DR: Pulled SEMrush data (Nov 2024 to Oct 2025) for PlanSource, Gusto, Ease, Benefitfocus, and Maxwell Health. PlanSource is the only one that grew traffic (+9.79%) while the rest of the category shrank, up to -50.64% for Maxwell Health. PlanSource's conversion rate also jumped 113.91% YoY to 15.32%, roughly 10x Gusto's and 30x Maxwell Health's. Meanwhile Ease has the best engagement metrics in the group and a conversion rate under 0.01%.

THE ANALYSIS:

I spent some time this week digging into competitor data for the benefits administration / EOR space. Pulled 12 months of traffic, channel mix, and conversion data using SEMrush. Here's the core table:

Key Findings:

1. PlanSource is the only grower, and its conversion rate is absurd for the category

Most of PlanSource's traffic is direct (58%) and referral (35%), not paid or organic search. That looks like a broker/partner-driven channel, not a media budget doing the work, and it's converting at a rate none of its competitors are close to.

2. Ease has the most engaged visitors and almost no conversions

Longest time on site (13:48), lowest bounce rate (28.07%) in the group. Conversion rate is under 0.01%. People are sticking around and just not converting. Feels like a funnel or offer problem, not a traffic problem.

3. Even the category giant is shrinking

Gusto still dominates on raw volume (99.6M visits) but is down 0.92% YoY. Scale isn't immunity here.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

In a category this mature, traffic volume alone doesn't tell you much. The smallest player in this set is out-converting the largest by roughly 10x. Worth checking if similar patterns show up in your own space before assuming more traffic is the fix.

DISCUSSION PROMPT:

Have you seen this kind of split (traffic collapsing for most of a category while one player quietly wins) in other industries? Curious if it's a benefits-admin-specific thing or more universal.

P.S. I run a competitor analysis service, so take that for what it's worth, but the numbers are the numbers. Happy to answer questions or share more of the breakdown.