Check Ecosystem Overview
What the Check Ecosystem is, why it matters, and how partners use it to offer payroll-adjacent products.
The Check Ecosystem is the network of payroll-adjacent products — retirement, health benefits, business insurance, accounting, earned wage access, and more — that Check makes available to its partners through turnkey integrations. Instead of building each integration from scratch and negotiating a separate relationship with every provider, partners can offer these products alongside payroll and launch them in a fraction of the time.
This guide is the starting point for understanding the ecosystem: what it is, why it's valuable to your business and your customers, the product categories available today, and the different ways an integration can be delivered.
Why the Ecosystem Matters
Employers increasingly expect a single platform that handles payroll and the benefits and financial products that surround it. Standalone payroll is table stakes; the products built around it are where platforms can differentiate and grow. The Check Ecosystem lets you meet that expectation without the multi-quarter build that integrating each provider directly would normally require.
For Check partners, the ecosystem unlocks four kinds of value:
- New revenue. Each ecosystem product is a new, monetizable offering that increases average revenue per user (ARPU), often through revenue share on products your customers were going to buy anyway.
- Stronger retention. The more of an employer's workflows that live on your platform, the stickier the relationship. Payroll plus benefits, retirement, and accounting is far harder to displace than payroll alone.
- A more competitive product. Prospects frequently ask whether a platform supports the specific tools they already use. A broad ecosystem means fewer lost deals and a more credible "all-in-one" pitch.
- Less operational overhead. Because ecosystem products draw directly on payroll data already in Check, deductions, benefit contributions, and payroll journal entries can stay in sync automatically, reducing manual reconciliation for you and your customers.
Key Terms
The ecosystem involves a few distinct parties. We use these terms consistently throughout the ecosystem guides:
- Check — the embedded payroll platform. That's us. 👋
- Partner — a customer of Check who builds a software platform on top of Check's infrastructure and owns the relationship with the end employer.
- Ecosystem Partner — a third-party provider (e.g., a 401(k), insurance, or accounting platform) that integrates with Check to serve the employers on a Partner's platform.
- Employer — the business running payroll on a Partner's platform, and the ultimate consumer of ecosystem products.
Product Categories
Check supports a growing set of ecosystem categories. Each category has its own section in the left navigation with provider-specific integration guides.
| Category | What it offers | Representative Ecosystem Partners |
|---|---|---|
| Retirement Benefits | 401(k) plan setup, enrollment, and contribution management driven by payroll | Vestwell, Human Interest |
| Health Insurance | Health benefit enrollment and automatic premium deductions | SimplyInsured, Benbase |
| Business Insurance | Workers' comp and business coverage quoted from payroll data | Next Insurance |
| Accounting | Automatic mapping of payroll data into accounting journal entries | Layer |
| Earned Wage Access | On-demand access to earned wages for hourly workers | Clair |
The categories and providers above reflect what's available today and will expand over time. For the most current set of supported partners — and to discuss which categories fit your go-to-market and customer base — reach out to your Check representative.
How Ecosystem Integrations Work
Not every ecosystem product is delivered the same way. Depending on the category and provider, an integration falls into one of a few models. The model determines how much you build, whether you contract directly with the Ecosystem Partner, and how the experience is presented to your customers.
Embedded Component
The most turnkey option. Check owns the integration and the relationship with the Ecosystem Partner, and exposes the full purchasing and enrollment experience through a Check Component you embed in your product. There's no separate contract to sign and no provider-specific integration to build — you enable the component and your customers can begin enrolling.
Best for: the fastest path to launch, with Check managing the end-to-end experience. Examples: Next Insurance, SimplyInsured.
Check-Managed Commercials
Check handles the commercial relationship and collects customer consent (via a Check consent component or API), but you integrate with the Ecosystem Partner's own components or API for the core enrollment flow. You get more control over how the product is presented, while still avoiding a separate commercial contract with the provider.
Best for: partners who want control over presentation without taking on contracting overhead. Example: Clair.
API Access
The Ecosystem Partner contracts directly with you and builds on Check's APIs to access the payroll data needed to power their product. This model offers the broadest optionality — it lets you work with a wide range of providers, including ones you already use.
Best for: flexibility and breadth, when you want to choose your own provider in a category. Examples: Layer (accounting), Human Interest 401(k).
Getting Started
- Pick a category. Use the sections in the left navigation to explore the categories and providers most relevant to your customers.
- Review the integration guide. Each provider has a dedicated guide covering the technical setup, components, and APIs involved.
- Talk to your Check representative to confirm which partners are available for your accounts and to get introduced to providers where a direct relationship is required.