Best Small Business Insurance Companies of 2024
Help protect your Small Business with our highest ranked Insurance companies and marketplaces.
- Tivly: Best Overall for Business Insurance
- The Hartford: Best for BOP Insurance
- Hiscox: Best Professional Liability (E&O) Insurance
- Next: Insurance: Best General Liability Insurance
- The Hartford: Best Workers’ Compensation
- CoverWallet: Best Commercial Property Insurance
- CoverWallet: Best Cyber Liability Insurance
- Progressive Commercial: Best for Commercial Auto Insurance
What is Small Business Insurance?
Your Small Business is your livelihood. That’s why it’s important to make sure you have the right Small Business Insurance to help best protect it. According to a leading Small Business Insurer, The Hartford, 40% of small businesses are likely to experience a property or liability claim within the next 10 years. While the most common claim is burglary and theft, the most costly claim for a small business is reputational harm, which includes libel, slander and violation of privacy[1]. And that’s not all. If your Small Business has employees, you’ll need to help protect your employees from a workplace accident or illness through a Workers’ Compensation policy. Does your business handle sensitive customer information? You might need a Cyber Liability policy to help protect it from a data breach. Does your Small Business use company vehicles? You should consider a Commercial Auto policy to help protect those vehicles from theft or damage. With so many different Small Business Insurance coverages available, and insurers or marketplaces to choose from, it’s no wonder why finding the right Small Business insurance can be a terrifying proposition for a Small Business owner.
How Much Does Small Business Insurance Cost?
The cost for Small Business Insurance can vary based on a number of factors, including industry, employees, limits, and claims history, just to name a few. Be careful though, with any type of insurance, you’ll want to look beyond cheap business insurance and seek something tailor fit for your Small Business. According to Insureon[2], an online insurance agency that focuses on Small Businesses, the average costs of the most common policies include:
- General Liability Insurance is $65/mo.
- Professional Liability Insurance: $97/mo.
- Business Owners’ Policy: $99/mo.
- Workers’ Compensation Insurance: $111/mo.
Best Overall for Small Business Insurance: Tivly
Tivly comes in as our best overall Small Business Insurance provider. Tivly is no stranger to the Small Business scene, as they’ve become a leading destination for small business owners for their insurance needs over the years. Serving as a large small business insurance marketplace, Tivly connects small business owners seeking insurance with a network of over 200 insurance partners waiting to serve them. Generally speaking, after a handful of prequalifying questions, Tivly’s insurance specialists aim to connect a small business owner with a leading insurance provider capable of finding the customer the customer the right insurance policy, from the right provider, for the right price. Not all providers are as capable of finding insurance options for the variety of small businesses – and their inherent risks, which can lead to a poor customer experience. Tivly’s ability to find more insurance options for small businesses made us feel like everything they did was with the Small Business Owner in mind. It’s why we chose Tivly as our best overall small business insurance company.
Why We Like Them
- Offer a quick and simple online insurance assessment.
- Ability to find insurance options for most small business.
- Generous call center hours, large partner network.
Why We Don’t
- Largely requires speaking with an insurance specialist and connection to an insurance provider to get a policy.
Best Business Owners’ Policy (BOP): The Hartford
A Business Owners’ Policy combines business property and liability coverage into a single policy that can help protect against covered losses like theft, fire, and more.
The Hartford comes in as our top-rated Business Owners’ Policy. We see your 100+ years in business Hiscox and raise you another 100+. The Hartford, a leading Small Business insurer was founded in 1810 and has 19,500 employees across the US. Unlike Hiscox, while their Business Owners’ Policy is their specialty product, The Hartford has strong product options for most across other key areas like General Liability Insurance, Professional Liability Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Insurance & Commercial Auto Insurance. The Hartford’s BOP is made up of three critical coverages for small business owners:
- Business Property Insurance
- General Liability Insurance
- Business Income Insurance
These three critical coverages packaged into a convenient single policy, along with an array of optional endorsements that could be added to your policy to help customize your business, are why The Hartford came out on top for this offering.
It’s no wonder they are a leading provider for Small Business Insurance, boasting about over 1MM Small Business Owners’ choosing them for their insurance needs. In fact, The Hartford was a strong – perhaps the strongest – contender to unseat Hiscox as our Best Small Business Insurance company, however unlike Hiscox, we felt they made it difficult to get insurance. How so, you ask? We couldn’t get a policy online in a day of age where virtually everyone on the list has that capability. This is not to say they are not digitally focused, as their service, claim, and quote (not online bind) experiences were recently rated Top Digital Small Business Insurer by Dynatrace[3].
Why We Like Them
- BOP comes equipped with solid standard limits and the ability to customize through endorsements, as needed.
- Rated Top Digital Small Business Insurer for a second consecutive year.
- 200+ Years of Experience & over 1MM Small Business Customers Served
Why We Don’t
- No current online policy purchase capability
- Limited call center hours compared to peers
- Not a fit for higher hazard classes like construction, transportation, and many others
Best Professional Liability Insurance: Hiscox
Professional Liability Insurance, also known as Errors & Omissions (E&O) Insurance, or Professional Indemnity insurance overseas, helps cover you and your business from mistakes, or other claims of negligence, against the professional services your Small Business provides.
Our Top Rated Professional Liability Insurance Provider
Hiscox comes in as our top-rated Professional Liability provider. Hiscox seems to get Small Business Owners and by now you can tell we like them. Based on everything we’ve researched, Hiscox places a great deal of importance on the Professional Liability product for Small Business Owners. That’s because, no matter your size, Professional Liability Insurance will help cover your business from claims of negligence made against the services you provide. Without this coverage, your business is on the hook for fronting all the costs to protect it in court – and potentially more. Hiscox has made its living mastering the Liability insurance products. Professional Liability, in particular, seems to be their bread and butter. They’ve mastered the process of acquiring it, and even getting proof of insurance – and because of this, they are our unanimous pick for the best professional liability insurance company.
Why We Like Them
- Ability to purchase policy online
- Generous call center hours, large agent network.
- Immediate Certificate of Insurance (COI) online.
Why We Don’t
- Packaging coverages outside of PL is difficult as Hiscox does insure WC or Auto.
Best General Liability Insurance: Next
General Liability insurance, also known as Business Liability insurance, helps protect you from claims arising from property damage, bodily or personal injury, as well as other accidents that can occur from your business operations.
Next comes in as our top-rated General Liability Insurance provider. It’s not only the product they serve, but the breadth of industries they write it in and the ease of getting it – which is why we chose Next Insurance as the Best General Liability provider. Founded in 2015, Next Insurance is the baby on this – but don’t let their age fool you, they are a technology-fueled business that is seemingly growing in the Small Business Insurance space by the day. While some of the providers are more limited in the industries they serve, Next is seemingly open for business for industries with more risk than others, like construction business, for example. Combine this with a 5 minute quote, the ability to get your policy online & leave with your certificate of insurance shortly thereafter. While they might not have the tenure and experience of the aforementioned Business Insurance giants above, Next is the next generation of this space and is already used by over 100K Small Business Owners. It appears Small Business Owners have caught on.
Why We Like Them
- Same Day Coverage, All Online
- Ease of Doing Business
- More Accepting of Construction and Contractor Businesses
Why We Don’t
- Tenure and Experience in the Space Relative to Peers
Best Workers’ Compensation: The Hartford
Workers’ Compensation Insurance, typically a required coverage for Small Businesses with employees, helps provide wage replacement and medical benefits to employees to become injured or ill while performing their job.
The Hartford comes in as our top-rated Workers’ Compensation Insurance Provider. When it comes to Workers’ Compensation, Hartford is tough to beat. The benefits of being a Workers’ Compensation customer of The Hartford makes them our clear favorite in this category. Whether it’s their pay-as-you-go program that calculates premium based on actual payroll or their seemingly countless other benefits, it’s clear why they are a favorite in this space. Some of the benefits your Workers’ Compensation policy with The Hartford give you access to, include:
- Pay-As-You-Go Billing Solutions
- Access to Preferred Medical Provider Network w/ 1MM+ Providers
- Prescription Drug Features w/more than 65K U.S. Pharmacies
- Needle Stick Reimbursement Program
- Nursed Back to Help Program
As mentioned above, these product features are complimented by the accolades The Hartford receives for their stance in the Small Business Insurance space, including:
- 200+ Years of Experience
- A Recognized Leader in Small Business Insurance with Over 1MM Small Business Owners insured
- Recognized as the Top Digital Small Business Insurer by Dyantrace
Why We Like Them
- Second-largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance nationwide
- Discounts are available for bundling your Workers’ Compensation and Business Owners Policies
- Premier benefits for policyholders including Pay-As-You-Go programs and access to network medical providers and pharmacies.
Why We Don’t
- Getting a policy online – and depending on the hour of the day, over the phone – just seems harder than the rest of the pack here.
- Restricted industries that they write about, with many including construction and transportation where they don’t.
Best Commercial Property Insurance Option: CoverWallet
Commercial Property Insurance, also known as Business Property Insurance or Business Hazard insurance, helps protect a Small Business Owner’s physical assets from a covered loss.
CoverWallet comes in as our top-rated Commercial Property insurance company. Starting in 2015, CoverWallet is the leading digital insurance platform for Small Businesses. If you are seeking a quote for a variety of coverages, based on the information you provide about your business, their platform aims to find a fit with a carrier partner of theirs. In January of 2020, Aon, a leading professional services firm acquired CoverWallet[4]. While CoverWallet’s platform is capable of matching Small Business Owners with other products of need like General Liability or Workers’ Compensation Insurance, their quote process was relatively seamless for Commercial Property – in some cases taking far less time to complete and ultimately get a policy through a partner of theirs. CoverWallet’s relatively seamless process for getting Business Property coverage, in most cases relative to their peers, made them our choice as the best Commercial Property Insurance option. We did notice that while they certainly have a robust carrier list they work with, there were some notable exclusions, which might make some Small Business Owners shy away.
Why We Like Them
- Sound Quote Platform, Relatively Seamless Compared to Peers
- Broad Options for Many Business Types
Why We Don’t
- Notable Big Carriers Don’t Partner With Them
Best Cyber Liability Insurance: CoverWallet
Cyber Liability Insurance, sometimes referred to as Data Breach Insurance, helps protect a small business, as well as individuals providing services for that business from internet and online-based risks.
CoverWallet comes in as our pick as the best outlet for Cyber Liability insurance. No, adding CoverWallet twice in a row wasn’t a mistake. In reviewing the field, we believe their ability to match the unique risks of your business with their stable of partners is the best bet for this class. Cyber Liability, in general, wasn’t always looked at as a mainstay for a true small business, as most of the risks a micro business would be exposed to could be covered under less expensive data breach policy. Some companies even had Data breach coverage bundled into their Business Owners’ Policy. That was until a pandemic hit, eCommerce jumped, and so did everything Cyber Liability Insurance covered as well. With the heightened awareness over many risks brought on from increases in online business, the Cyber Liability market for Small Business is in full bloom. With Small Business Owners flocking to get this coverage, we believe CoverWallet is best set up to help. As mentioned above, their quote capability made us walk away pretty impressed, and if you prefer to jump on the phone to talk through the options with a live rep, they make the transition rather easy.
Why We Like Them
- Seamless quote process
- Live agents capable of talking through complexity in coverage
Why We Don’t
Notable Big Carriers Don’t Partner With The
Best Commercial Auto Insurance: Progressive Commercial
Commercial Auto Insurance, sometimes referred to as Business Auto Insurance, helps protect the vehicles, trucks or trailers used for the Small Business from damage and liability.
Progressive comes in as our top-pick for Commercial Auto insurance. They are the #1 Commercial Auto Insurer in the U.S. for a reason[5]. Whether it’s the product, the service, or the claims experience, Progressive leads the business insurance provider to pack in the Commercial auto space, and for that reason, we named them as the Best Commercial Auto insurer. Started in 1937 and headquartered in Mayfield, OH, Progressive employs over 35,000 people, making it one of the largest businesses in this review. Their Commercial Auto product is built to provide coverage fit for smaller vehicles used for business use – an example is an account dropping off tax filings to a client – all the way to large delivery truck fleets. This is complemented by a laundry list of discounts available for Small Business owners, like a pay-in-full discount where customers can save up to 15%. While Progressive has a good online quote capability, their sales and service organizations are open 24/7 to be there for Small Business Owners – whenever they need them. We had a hard time finding another company with comparable customer support hours.
Why We Like Them
- #1 Commercial Auto insurer in the country
- 24/7 policy service by phone or online
- Broad appetite across commercial vehicles, trucks, and trailers
- Broad array of discounts for policyholders
Why We Don’t
- Commercial Auto premiums seem a bit higher than others
- Some discounts don’t apply to all states
How We Ranked Insurance Providers & Marketplaces
We spent hours canvassing the marketplace for the Best Small Business Insurance companies, and reviewed them based on the coverages they offer, their respective positions in space, ease of doing business, and overall customer experience to help best align our Small Business Owner followers with the right insurance solution for their Business.
Disclaimer
At BuyLiability.com, we spend hours researching Small Business Insurance companies and marketplaces to help create useful, unbiased product reviews for Small Business Owners like you. In doing so, we make every effort to keep the most updated and accurate information on our website, but we make no warranties as to the accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of the information referenced within. Accordingly, we are not liable in any manner for any direct, indirect, or consequential damages arising out of the access, use, or inability to use our website or any third-party site linked to our site. We have no control over third-party websites that we link to on our site and as a result, are not liable for third-party websites that we link to on our site and are not responsible for the content, its accuracy, function, or legality of the actual websites.
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[1] The Hartford, “The Hartford Reports: More Than 40 Percent Of Small Businesses Will Experience A Claim In The Next 10 Years”
[2] https://www.insureon.com/small-business-insurance/cost
[3] https://newsroom.thehartford.com/newsroom-home/news-releases/news-releases-details/2020/The-Hartford-Ranks-No-1-For-Small-Commercial-Digital-Capabilities/default.aspx
[4] https://www.coverwallet.com/press/aon-completes-acquisition-coverwallet
[5] No. 1 commercial auto insurer from SNL Financial’s 2019 national written premium data.