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Updated: July 8, 2026

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Who Are The Cheapest Small Business Insurance Companies?

I found ERGO NEXT offers the lowest small business insurance rate nationwide at $99/mo, saving you 11% compared to the national composite average of $111/mo. Thimble, The Hartford, biBerk and Nationwide follow behind to round out my cheapest providers list. If you're looking for event and job-level coverage, Thimble will likely edge out the competition since they offer coverage by the hour, making it much easier to save.

My picks are based on aggregated rates from the six most common types of small business insurance across 400+ industries, all states (including D.C.), employee counts from 0 to 49 and 16 vehicle types (for commercial auto pricing). So, in other words, it is a high-level representation of who has the lowest rates nationally and may not be affordable for your business's profile or specific coverage needs. For example, while ERGO NEXT is the national winner, at the coverage type level, they only rank first in affordability for workers' comp.

ERGO NEXT$99$1,182
Thimble$105$1,260
The Hartford$109$1,302
biBERK$110$1,319
Nationwide$112$1,345

Cheapest Small Business Insurance By Coverage Type

At the coverage type level, the cheapest small business insurers vary widely. The Hartford, Thimble and ERGO NEXT dominate traditional commercial coverages like general liability, professional liability, commercial property and workers' comp. However, providers that are not included on our overall list like Chubb and Progressive are first in affordability for cyber insurance and commercial auto insurance respectively.

When thinking of these cheap picks in terms of bundles specific to your industry needs, consider the following:

  • If you're in a white-collar field: You likely need some form of professional liability insurance and general liability, which makes The Hartford a particularly low-cost option for you.
  • If you're in an industry that involves hands-on physical work: ERGO NEXT sits as the most affordable for this grouping for general liability, workers' comp and commercial property insurance, making it the ideal low-cost option for these most needed coverage types.
  • If you're in tech or finance: For the most affordable mix, make sure you have The Hartford for traditional insurance needs like professional liability insurance and Chubb for cyber policies for the most ideal savings.
  • If you have a retail operation: The Hartford offers general liability for the lowest cost which has produce liability insurance included, and savings present with Thimble can be overcome by their BOP bundle discount. If you have significant digital transactions, make sure to add Chubb's cyber insurance for affordable protection.
General Liability
The Hartford
$102
$1,227
17%
Workers' Comp
ERGO NEXT
$86
$1,030
24%
Professional Liability
The Hartford
$45
$537
20%
Commercial Auto
Progressive Commercial
$143
$1,713
13%
Commercial Property
Thimble
$111
$1,330
11%
Cyber Insurance
Chubb
$69
$822
18%

Cheapest Small Business Provider By Industry

What you pay for small business insurance is almost entirely a function of who you are, not which insurer you pick. Industry and state interact to shift the affordability ranking dramatically from one combination to the next, and the cheapest carrier for a landscaping company in Texas is often not the cheapest carrier for a photographer in Vermont. For example, in the current table's filter for an Arts Media and Entertainment business in Alabama, a provider that never shows up on the main cheapest overall, Hiscox is the price leader for this profile.

Use the filters in the table to find your cheapest small business insurance provider for your specific industry area and state.

Data filtered by:
Arts, Media & Entertainment
Alabama
Arts, Media & EntertainmentAlabamaHiscox$56$670

Cheapest Small Business Insurance By Industry

Industry is one of the strongest predictors of which carrier leads on affordability for your profile. Find the full breakdown for your industry below, including sub-industry detail, coverage requirements, and carrier-specific notes.

Cheapest Small Business Insurance By State

Premiums shift meaningfully from state to state, driven by differences in workers' compensation structures, litigation exposure, state-mandated coverage requirements, and local market competition. The affordability rankings above may look different when you filter to your specific state. Find the full breakdown for your market below.

Cheapest Small Business Insurance By Company Size

At the company size level, specializations in scale are much clearer. The Hartford while 3rd overall for affordability is the cheapest small business insurance provider for companies with five or more employee while NEXT is the winner when employees are 4 and under.

0ERGO NEXT$46$556
1 to 4ERGO NEXT$90$1,076
5 to 9The Hartford$151$1,817
10 to 19The Hartford$258$3,101
20 to 49The Hartford$532$6,389

Ways To Get The Cheapest Small Business Insurance Without Sacrificing Coverage

Here are some tips you should take into account to get the cheapest insurance for your small business.

  • talk icon
    Get quotes before you talk to a broker, not after

    Independent brokers are useful but they work with a limited carrier panel. The carriers with the strongest affordability performance in our data, particularly ERGO NEXT and biBERK, sell direct and aren't always represented by brokers. If you get a broker quote first and use it as your baseline, you may be comparing against an incomplete market. Start with direct quotes from the carriers that lead for your industry profile, then use a broker to fill gaps.

  • smallBusiness icon
    Ensure your business classification is correct

    Insurers price by NAICS code or their own internal classification system, and small differences in how your business is categorized can produce large premium differences. A marketing consultant classified under "advertising agencies" will pay more than one classified under "management consulting" for the same coverage. Before accepting a quote, ask the carrier what classification code they've assigned you and whether an alternative classification is available for your business type. This is worth doing on every quote, not just the most expensive one.

  • creditCard icon
    Pay for your policy annually

    Paying annually rather than monthly saves around 5% on average across carriers in our data. The less obvious point: if your business is seasonal, paying annually on a policy you'll cancel or reduce mid-term can cost more than the discount saves. Confirm the carrier's mid-term adjustment and refund policy before committing to annual payment.

  • insurance2 icon
    Bundling saves money but only within the right carrier

    The standard advice to bundle policies assumes the same carrier is competitive across all the coverage types you need. That's often not true. In our data, The Hartford leads on general liability and professional liability pricing, ERGO NEXT leads on workers' comp, and Thimble leads on commercial property. 

    A bundle with a single carrier may beat individual policies from the same carrier, but it won't necessarily beat the best individual pricing available across carriers. Run the comparison both ways before deciding.

  • coins icon
    Raising deductibles if you can afford it

    Raising deductibles reduces premiums across most coverage types, with our data showing savings of up to 18%. The coverage type where this makes the most sense is commercial property, where deductibles are straightforward and claims are discrete events. 

    It makes less sense on general liability, where a single claim can be large enough that a higher deductible becomes material. If you're going to raise deductibles to reduce premium, commercial property is where the math tends to work best for small businesses.

  • shoppingCart icon
    Review your coverage limits, not just your carrier, every year

    Most small businesses that are overinsured don't know it. Revenue growth, payroll changes, and new equipment all affect what coverage limits you actually need, and insurers don't automatically adjust downward when your risk profile shrinks. An annual review focused specifically on whether your limits still match your current business size typically costs nothing and can produce meaningful savings without changing carriers.

Cheapest Small Business Insurance: Bottom Line

Based on MoneyGeek's 2026 nationwide analysis, the most affordable business insurance providers are ERGO NEXT, Thimble, The Hartford, biBERk and Nationwide. The cheapest for your business depends on the number of employees, preferred coverage, industry, location and other business characteristics. To get the best cheap business insurance for you, compare plenty of quotes and companies, bundle policies, and coverage options.

Cheapest Small Business Insurance Chart

Cheapest Small Business Insurance: Next Steps

We recommend that your next steps involve comparing top small business insurance providers rather than isolating who is the price leader. This makes sure that not only you are getting a good rate, but you are getting the coverage and customer support you need along with it. Our team also recommends that you re-verify how much business insurance coverage you need before you start comparing quotes.

We've also broken down some advice that will depend on where you are at in your decision making process.

You just need to meet a contract requirement

I want to know what coverage I need and what I can skip

I have business insurance, but I think I'm overpaying

Get Cheap Small Business Insurance Quotes

Based on your industry and state, we can match you to the carrier that leads on affordability for your profile. You'll be taken directly to their site to complete your quote.

About Connor Bolton

Connor Bolton, Senior SEO and Content Manager (Business & Pet), MoneyGeek

Connor Bolton is Senior SEO and Content Manager at MoneyGeek, where he leads the business and pet insurance editorial teams. He sets the research framework, data standards and content structure for his team. All content goes through his accuracy review before publication. Connor also writes in-depth guides and has spent more than four years covering insurance products across personal, commercial and specialty lines.

The research infrastructure Connor built covers auto, home, renters, life, health, business and pet insurance across pricing analysis, carrier research, customer experience and coverage evaluation. It includes over 6 million data points for business insurance across 408 industry areas, all 50 states and 16 vehicle types. The pet insurance side covers over 5 million profiles across 18 major providers, 100+ breeds and ages up to 20 years. Connor’s insurance research and his team's work has been cited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, CBS News, Forbes and LegalZoom.

Connor also talks with underwriters and carrier liaisons at Ethos, The Hartford, ERGO NEXT, Nationwide and State Farm, and monitors business and pet owner communities on Reddit. Those sources shape how his team evaluates carriers, structures rate analysis and writes for human buyers rather than search engines.

For questions about MoneyGeek's business and pet insurance content, contact him at connor@moneygeek.com or on LinkedIn.

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