If you've ever wondered how much love your employer gives you by offering a 401(k) or other retirement savings plan, now there's a way to find out.

BrightScope rates 401(k), employee stock, profit sharing and other plans that require sponsors to file reports with the U.S. Department of Labor. It was launched in January by brothers Mike and Ryan Alfred, who formerly ran an investment management firm, and Dan Weeks, a Hewlett-Packard software engineer.

Based in San Diego, BrightScope currently rates about 4,500 retirement plans and hopes to rate more than 30,000 by year-end.

Given the harsh spotlight cast on the ubiquitous retirement savings plans in the aftermath of Wall Street's collapse last year, the millions of workers using them need information on the quality of the product, says CEO Mike Alfred, a former portfolio manager with Alfred Capital Management in La Jolla, Calif.

"What the industry needed was a quantitative score, like the Morningstar rating for mutual funds or J.D. Power ratings," Mr. Alfred said. "Participants are relieved to finally have a resource to help them understand whether a plan is good."

BrightScope developed its ratings based on a profile of the average 401(k) participant as determined by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. According to that Washington, D.C., research group, the average 401(k) participant is 44 years old, makes $44,000 a year and has a balance of $40,000 in his or her retirement account.

BrightScope analyzes more than 200 features of 401(k) plans, including company matching contributions, fees, the investment menu and vesting schedules. It then calculates how fast each plan will generate the amount of money the average 401(k) investor needs to retire.

Companies whose plans provide enough cash for workers to retire sooner rather than later get higher scores. Retirement plans that don't generate enough cash as quickly receive lower scores.

Each company's score is then compared with the top-rated plan among "peers," companies with about the same number of participants and assets in their plans and that are in the same industry.

If Michael Baker and Allegheny Technologies are any indication, BrightScope's definition of "industry" is broad. The Moon engineering and energy services firm's peers include law firms Skadden Arps, and Morgan Lewis & Bockius, while Allegheny Technologies' include cosmetics maker Revlon.

Allegheny Technologies offers one of the highest-rated retirement plans among regional employers based on BrightScope's methodology. The specialty metals producer's Allegheny Ludlum personal retirement and 401(k) plan has a score of 84 vs. 85 for the top-rated plan among its peers.

The difference means that an Allegheny Ludlum employee would come up with an account balance that is $12,600 short of what he or she would have at retirement if they participated in the top-rated plan. They would have to postpone their retirement by a year if they want to make up the lost ground.

Go to www.BrightScope.com and type in your employer's name to find out if your retirement plan is rated.

If it is, you'll find the plan's assets, number of participants, average account balance and top three investment holdings. You'll also find ratings based on fees, the company match and other factors as well as how much longer you'll have to work compared with those covered by the top-rated plan among your company's peers.

There's also a section for comments. Mr. Alfred said there has been "a huge increase in the amount of commenting" in recent weeks, but posters for Pittsburgh-area employers are few and far between.

Consol Energy's investment plan for salaried employees is rated 81, making it one of the top-rated plans offered by Western Pennsylvania companies. BrightScope rates Michael Baker's 401(k) plan and U.S. Steel's savings plan for salaried employees at 75.

One point lower are Bank of New York Mellon's 401(k) plan, Alcoa's savings plan for nonunion employees and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Federated Investors' profit sharing/401(k) plan is rated 72.

Plans of Pittsburgh-area employers scoring below 60 include WesBanco's employee stock ownership plan (58), MSA's retirement savings plan (50) and U.S. Steel's 401(k) plan for members of the United Steelworkers union (50).

Mr. Alfred says most of the scores are based on filings companies made with the U.S. Department of Labor for the 2007 and 2008 fiscal years. Because of that, some critics say the data is stale.

He acknowledges that the system is not as quick as he would like to capture changes to 401(k) plans, such as the suspension of company matches that has occurred since the recession began. (For a list of companies that have changed or suspended matching 401[k] contributions, go to www.pensionrights.org and click on the link for fact sheets.)

However, Mr. Alfred says that since the service was launched, more companies and 401(k) plan recordkeepers are voluntarily submitting fresher data to BrightScope. He expects the trend to continue as companies try to showcase the value of the benefit their 401(k) plan offers.

"Our goal in the future is to have all the data updated [in] real time," Mr. Alfred said.