Best General Liability Insurance

ERGO NEXT is the second most affordable general liability insurer with average rates of $107 a month, which is 13% or $16 a month below national benchmarks. It ranks first for affordability across the following business profiles:

• ERGO NEXT ranks first for affordability across these business profiles:
• Industries: Construction & Contracting, Consulting Services, Beauty/Body/Wellness Services, Manufacturing, Repair & Maintenance, Pet Care Services, Misc Professional Services, Hospitality/Travel & Tourism, Transportation & Logistics, Food & Beverage, Wholesale & Distribution, Childcare Services
• Employee count: One to four employees
• States:
  • West: AZ, AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY
  • South: AL, AR, DC, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV
  • Midwest: IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI
  • Northeast: CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT

ERGO NEXT's buying experience is its clearest strength. Quotes take under five minutes and recommendations for coverage limits, sub-limits and endorsements are tailored to business details. Digital policy management through the app and website is well reviewed, covering coverage changes, instant COI access and terms verification.

Claims is the weaker area. ERGO NEXT ranks sixth overall across communication, resolution timeliness, dispute handling and settlement outcomes.

ERGO NEXT ranks eighth for coverage options, the weakest area in the study.

• Core limits: Policies cap at $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate. Standard limits that are lower than what some competitors allow.
• Sublimits: Damage to rented premises is available up to $1 million (standard). MedPay tops out at $15,000. Products and completed operations coverage has no customization, which is a limitation for product-based businesses and high-risk contract work.
• Endorsements: Available endorsements are EPLI, cyber coverage up to $250,000 with a fixed deductible and terrorism coverage. Waiver of subrogation isn't available online, which complicates some contract requirements.

The Hartford is the most affordable general liability insurer in our analysis saving most businesses the most at rates that 17% or $21/mo lower than the national average. The company is not the cheapest for everyone though, and more often ranks 2nd with rates closely behind ERGO NEXT when examining individual business profiles.

To make clear who The Hartford is most price effective for, we've summarized who they rank first in affordability for:

• General industries most often cheapest for: Tech/It, Marketing & Communications, (Arts, Media & Entertainment), Financial Services, Education, Retail & Product Rental, Healthcare & Medical
• Employee counts most often cheapest for: 5 to 49+ employees
• States/Regions most often cheapest in:
  • Northeast: CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT
  • Midwest: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI
  • South: MD, DC, VA

The Hartford has one of the weaker general liability insurance buying experiences on the market, lacking coverage recommendations, the speed newer insurers have and online coverage term customization. Many quotes are also not final until you call a representative online, especially if you are buying more policies or are purchasing a BOP bundle.

Past buying a policy there is a stark difference in agent service quality and their agent service shines in their policy management (ranks 1st overall) and claims processes (2nd overall). Once you buy, you'll be assigned an industry specific expert to be your service representative, making personalized service a standard feature.

Our thoughts and findings on The Hartford's general liability insurance coverage options and terms are as follows:

• Core Limits: You are able to directly purchase up to a $2 million per occurrence and $4 million aggregate policy without umbrella insurance, making it easier for higher risk are larger companies to get limits they need.
• Sublimits: A major drawback of The Hartford quotes online is that you can't adjust sublimits, but it does make terms immediately transparent. Even so, while it is more standardized online an agent can personalize your limits on a call.
• Endorsements: All businesses are able to get EPLI, cyuber insurance, employee benefits coverage and waivers of subrogation are readily available for purchase online. Limits are not customizable online and agents are needed for more precise changes to coverage.

biBERK is our middling provider for general liability insurance affordability ranking 3rd overall and saving businesses an average of 8%. The company ranks as the most affordable or 2nd most affordable company in the following areas: 

• General industries most often cheapest for: Real Estate & Property Services, Recreation and Sports, Cleaning Services and Fitness Services
• Employee counts most often cheapest for: Sole Proprietors
• States most often cheapest in: AK, HI

biBERK doesn't stand out in any one area regarding customer experiences with their general liability products and has a balanced service reputation. The company has its strongest performance in its buying experience, ranking 3rd overall and for quote speed. When analyzing customer reviews, biBERK had one of the highest rated sales agent experiences, earning it the 2nd best spot in our study.

Our team experienced technical issues with their online quoting system occasionally as well when moving back and forth in their flow to modify coverage. So, if you want to compare pricing and different policy option combinations, biBERK's online experience can be frustrating.

biBERK's main offerings are extremely standard and waivers of subrogation and other common contract required endorsements are available online if you need them. The main differentiator of the company's coverage options is their minimum per occurrence coverages of $300,000 which allows low-risk businesses to not be forced into higher coverage they don't need. 

If you need higher Medpay coverage limits, you'll find better selection elsewhere and the company only offers up to $10,000 of coverage. Similar to other larger insurers, biBERK also requires that you call them to make more specific coverage term changes that can't be done online.

If you want the lowest prices possible, Simply Business does not have top rankings for any particular business type. Even so, the company ranks 5th overall for affordability in our study, making it a serviceable option to compare quotes with. Your pricing will also be highly variable since some of their lower cost partners may not provide coverage on their platform for larger business sizes, certain industries and specific states.

You can only judge Simply Business based on their buying experience since they do not provide policy management tools, manage claims or underwrite the policies themselves. Within its scope, the general liability insurance provider ranks 4th overall for their buying experience which allows easy comparison of multiple provider offerings. 

While their comparison tool is great for surface level looks, our team went through their quotes process and found issues regarding transparency and customizability. They lack full policy term transparency and only show per occurrence/aggregate limits and deductibles with no sublimit breakdowns. Simply Business also does not allow you to modify sublimit coverage terms and core coverage limits along with endorsements are the only thing that can be customized.

We found in our investigation of Simply Business's general liability options that they offer unique options online for contract related-policy needs. More detailed requests for contract related requirements are available for additional insured, waivers of subrogation and adding a primary and noncontributory clause to your coverage. In addition, they offer the lowest possible core limits of $100,000 of per occurrence coverage which can be attractive for those in the lowest risk industries needing to save on coverage. 

Keep in mind there is not a way to perfectly nail down Simply Business's coverage options for every business, and your offerings will vary widely based on your company's details.

Thimble ranks 4th overall for general liability insurance affordability and does not stand out for long term coverage for most businesses. Even so, with an average rate of $115/mo it is competitive with our 3rd place pick biBERK, making it an option to consider if you're looking for low-cost coverage. In our analysis, they are particularly affordable for those in contracting and construction with an average monthly savings of $66/mo, ranking them 2nd cheapest provider for this group.

Thimble has a top-heavy customer experience performance, having the 2nd best process for buying a general liability insurance policy and progressively gets worse as you move to policy management (4th) and claims (7th). This is primarily due to their lack of availability of on the phone agents and you can only connect with a service representative over email. 

So, if you're looking for personalized service and fast response times, Thimble will be a much weaker option due to this limitation. If you are considering buying a policy, we and many customers found the process simple and straightforward, that policy terms were very transparent (even into the fine print) and it offered the 2nd fastest quote times under 6 minutes on average.

Coverage options for general liability policies are much more limited with Thimble, offering only three core general liability insurance options for per occurrence only and lacking more minutia add-on customization (forces tiered coverage packages). While this is the case, it does specialize in offering temporary coverage that for as little as a per hour basis that can be beneficial for event-based and single job contract focused businesses.