Cheap General Liability Insurance

We found these providers to have the cheapest general liability insurance (AKA public liability insurance) on average:

1. The Hartford : The cheapest general liability insurer overall with average rates of $102/mo which saves small businesses 17% on average. The company is generally cheapest for most professional service and office-based businesses (finance, tech, marketing)
2. ERGO NEXT: NEXT saves businesses 13% on general liability insurance overall with average rates of $107/mo or $1,286/yr. The business insurer is cheapest for hands-on, operational service businesses (Contractors, Food & Beverage, Transportation)
3. biBERK: biBERK rounds out our top three cheap general liability insurers with average savings of 8%. They are often cheapest for sole proprietor service businesses (cleaning, fitness, recreation).

Your most affordable business insurance provider and monthly rate can vary widely based on your specific business details. So, use these companies as a starting point for possible general liability policy costs, not a final answer.

At the general industry level, ERGO NEXT is proportionally the cheapest general liability insurance company, winning 12 out of 25 general industries with savings of up to 34% on average. The Hartford isn't far behind with 7 wins at second place for affordability, biBERK sits at 3rd with four wins and Nationwide 4th with 2 wins. Tech related organizations will be able to get the most affordable general liability policies on the market at $24/mo with marketing, arts and consulting businesses following all being $30/mo or under on average.

If you want to dig deeper into the cheapest commercial insurance for your industry, we've left dedicated resources below.

ERGO NEXT's proportional lead is much larger at the location level for cheap general liability insurance, winning 38 out of 51 states and territories studied in terms of affordability. The Hartford primarily has dominance in the northeast and midwest winning the remaining states, sporting the highest average savings of 18% in Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island and Minnesota. West Virginia, Mississippi and South Dakota are the most general liability insurance cost friendly states and have the lowest prices available for the coverage type starting at $75/mo on average.

The cheapest general liability insurance policy can be a smart choice as long as it still protects your business properly. The lowest-cost option is safest when the following criteria are met:

• Coverage limits match your actual risk exposure (and any contract requirements)
• Coverage is affordable, so you can pay them if you ever file a claim
• Coverage add-ons and endorsements (if needed) are available at a reasonable cost
• The provider has a strong customer experience reputation, including the buying process, policy management, and claims handling

Ultimately, the goal isn’t to choose the cheapest policy at all costs, it’s to choose the best general liability option that meets your coverage needs at an affordable rate. However, if your budget only allows for the lowest-cost policy, you may need to accept tradeoffs (like lower limits or fewer add-ons) and plan to upgrade coverage as your business grows.

Position your business for the lowest possible general liability rates without compromising protection with the following methods:

There’s no single cheapest general liability insurance company for every business. The cheapest option depends on your industry, state and business size and the lowest-priced policy only works if it still meets your contract requirements and protects you from real risk exposure. Use our recommendations to narrow your options, compare quotes apples-to-apples to confirm who’s truly cheapest for your business and ensure you’re choosing the lowest-cost option that still meets your coverage needs.

To identify the cheapest general liability insurers, we analyzed real pricing data from 10 major providers and modeled a large set of standardized pricing estimates across common U.S. small business profiles.

Dataset scope and assumptions

• Providers analyzed: 10 major insurance providers
• Industries covered: 408 industries
• Geography: all U.S. states and territories (including Washington, D.C.)
• Employee count bands: 0, 1–4, 5–9, 10–19 and 20–49 employees (95% of market)
• Policy baseline: standard $1 million per occurrence / $2 million aggregate general liability policy
• Pricing estimates modeled: just over 1 million total estimates

We also incorporated modeled average revenues and payrolls across business profiles to improve pricing accuracy.

How we determined which provider was “cheapest”

We used this dataset to determine which insurers were most often the lowest-cost option across different business profiles. Our “cheapest” rankings include both:

• General Recommendation: Provider rankings based on average estimated pricing for a standardized 1–4 employee business profile across all industries and states in our dataset.
• Factor Combination Recommendations: Provider rankings based on which insurer was most often cheapest within specific business factor combinations. For example:
  • Industry × State pricing was compared using a standardized 1–4 employee profile
  • Employee count affordability was derived by comparing aggregated pricing trends across industries and states

Important note: These results represent standardized pricing estimates, not personalized quotes. Actual pricing can vary based on your business classification, revenue/payroll, claims history and the specific limits, deductibles and endorsements you choose. For the most accurate cheapest-provider answer, we recommend comparing quotes apples-to-apples using the same coverage limits.

Read our full methodology.