Tool profile
Pave: cost, fit and limits
Pave is a compensation platform made by Trove Information Technologies, Inc. that supplies live pay benchmarks from integrated client data, prices jobs, runs merit cycles and offers an AI agent that acts as a compensation analyst. It is aimed at venture-backed technology companies and other employers that want market data and planning tools in one system.
What to know first
Pave sells in layers. A free benchmark tier brings a company in, a Pro tier adds custom peer groups and equity detail, and two agent tiers add AI analysis and workflow automation, each quoted on request. Planning, team views, total rewards and offer letters are add-ons for the top tier. That structure is clear on the plans page, but the cost of the AI layers remains unknown until a sales call.
Pave at a glance
| Maker | Trove Information Technologies, Inc., United States |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Entry price | $0 for Market Data Lite |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI Compensation Management Software in 2026, rank 4 of 10 |
| Website | pave.com |
Who Pave is best for
Startups checking ranges before they hire
Market Data Lite is free, covers benchmarks for 290+ job families and shows the US overall plus one market of the buyer's choice.
Finance and people teams that want equity benchmarks
Pro adds unvested and ongoing equity benchmarks and vesting schedule trends, which matters for companies that use options and RSUs in offers.
Compensation leads building job architecture
The Agentic Market Intelligence tier lists job architecture building and rapid pricing of new jobs and ladder extensions, backed by public datasets such as DEF 14A data.
Teams using AI assistants outside Pave
MCP access to Pave data is listed in the agent tiers, so an approved AI tool can query benchmarks without copying pay files by hand.
Pave plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Market Data Lite | Free | Benchmarks from 9,000+ participating companies for 290+ job families, AI-powered job matching, limited to the US plus one market. |
| Market Data Pro | Request a quote | Custom peer groups, benchmarks across 60+ countries and 90+ metros, recent hire filter, advanced equity data and unlimited exports. |
| Agentic Market Intelligence | Request a quote | Pro plus AI analysis of trends, spans of control and attrition, job architecture building, public dataset analysis and MCP access. |
| Agentic Workflows | Request a quote | Everything above plus Pave as a compensation data warehouse, Market Pricing that blends sources, and an agent automating complex workflows. |
Checked November 2026.
What Pave does
- Pave Agent
- The agent is described as a compensation analyst grounded in a company's own data and Pave's benchmarks, and the page gives the example of running five simulations of a merit cycle in one request.
- Permission-aware answers
- The agent returns only what each user is cleared to see, which matters because a general chat window over pay data would otherwise expose salaries to the wrong manager.
- Market Pricing
- The Workflows tier blends several data sources and auto-prices jobs, including salary ranges and equity targets, which the page says takes minutes rather than weeks.
- Planning add-ons
- Compensation Planning extends decisions to managers, Team View shows them their teams, Total Rewards gives employees a portal and Visual Offer Letter shows candidates their package.
- Integration breadth
- The home page lists HRIS, ATS and equity management connections, traditional survey providers, payroll data links, and MCP and API access to outside AI tools.
How Pave handles your data
Pave's security page was not reachable, so this relies on its home page and privacy policy. The home page links to a security and privacy page citing SOC 2, encryption and access controls, and says the agent returns only permitted data. The privacy policy names Trove Information Technologies, Inc. in San Francisco, states services are hosted and operated in the United States, and says customer data is aggregated and de-identified into the market data product. It does not say whether AI models train on customer data, so ask in writing.
Where Pave falls short in practice
- Free tier is narrow. Market Data Lite covers two locations only, the US overall plus one market, so a company hiring in several countries will need Pro, which is quote-only.
- Customer data feeds a shared dataset. The privacy policy says client data is aggregated and de-identified into the market product. Companies with strict rules on sharing pay data should confirm what leaves the account.
- AI layers have no listed price. Both agent tiers and all add-ons are request-a-quote, so the total for benchmarks, agent, planning and total rewards cannot be estimated from the site. Ask for an itemized quote.
Works with
Alternatives to Pave
Pave: common questions
Is Pave Market Data Lite really free?
Yes, the plans page lists Market Data Lite as free. It gives real-time benchmarks from 9,000+ participating companies for 290+ job families, with two locations only: the US overall and one market you choose. Custom peer groups, equity detail and unlimited exports need Pro.
What does the Pave Agent do?
The product page describes an AI compensation analyst that runs simulations such as merit cycle scenarios, auto-prices jobs and answers questions from your own comp data and Pave's benchmarks. The plans page puts it in quote-only agent tiers. Ask for a demonstration on your own job titles.
Does Pave train AI models on our pay data?
The privacy policy does not mention AI or training. It says client data is aggregated and de-identified into its market data product. Because the question is unanswered in the pages read, ask for a written statement on model training and on which providers process prompts.
Where does Pave host its data?
The privacy policy states that services are hosted and operated in the United States and names no provider or region. European employers should ask about transfer mechanisms and whether any non-US hosting option exists before connecting HR and payroll feeds.
Can other AI tools query Pave data?
The plans page lists MCP access to Pave data in the Agentic Market Intelligence tier, and the home page mentions MCP and API connections to external AI tools. Permission rules still apply, so check how access tokens map to individual users.