General liability covers physical injury and damage, while E&O covers financial loss from professional mistakes or services.
This guide breaks down how these coverages differ, where they overlap, and when businesses need one or both.
Updated: February 2, 2026
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These policies separate risk based on how harm occurs. General liability insurance handles accidents and physical damage, while the professional liability other covers mistakes in professional services that lead to financial loss.
Below you can see how these policies differ side by side and how they function for separate risks.
Core purpose | Covers third-party bodily injury & property damage | Covers financial loss from professional mistakes |
Type of harm covered | Physical injury or damage | Economic or financial harm |
Triggered by | Accidents, physical incidents | Errors, negligence, missed steps, bad advice |
Covers slip-and-fall claims? | Yes | No |
Covers faulty advice or services? | No | Yes |
Covers missed deadlines? | No | Yes |
Covers advertising injury? | Yes | Sometimes (varies by policy) |
Typical users | Most businesses | Service-based and professional firms |
Legal focus | Premises and operations liability | Professional negligence liability |
These policies are often grouped together because both respond to lawsuits, but they apply to different legal theories of liability.
They overlap in that they both:
Both policies are fundamentally different because:
In Short: If a claim is based on “you did something wrong physically,” it’s GL. If it’s “your service or advice caused loss,” it’s E&O.
The clearest way to see the distinction between general liability and E&O insurance is by examining the types of claims that typically fall under each policy. We've broken down these items below for your comparison.
The distinction between general liability and errors & omissions becomes important when the type of harm your busines_s_ can cause is not physical, but financial. The scenarios below show where that difference changes your real-world risk.
This comparison is about how harm occurs, not which policy is broader. General liability addresses accidents and physical damage tied to operations, while E&O addresses failures in professional work, judgment, or service delivery. Many service businesses face both types of exposure, which is why the policies often need to work alongside each other rather than as alternatives.
Now that the difference is clear, the goal is to match your business’s real sources of risk to the right type of protection.
Your next move depends on where you are in the process:
If you’re figuring out what coverage your business needs
Start by identifying how your work could realistically cause harm:
If the first answer is yes, general liability is relevant. If the second is yes, E&O becomes important.
If clients rely on your expertise or deliverables
Your risk shifts from accidents to outcomes. The more your work influences client decisions, systems, finances, or results, the more E&O becomes a core protection and needs higher limits.
If your business is growing or changing
New services, consulting roles, or expanded responsibility can introduce E&O exposure even if your business previously only needed general liability. Reassess coverage when your role shifts from physical operations toward expertise-based services.
If you’re unsure how your risk translates to insurance
Think through realistic scenarios based on actual coverage items:
Mapping situations to coverage types clarifies what belongs where.
If you’re early in the buying process
Start with the policy tied to how your business primarily creates value:
About Angelique Palenzuela-Cruz
Angelique Palenzuela-Cruz is a Content Writer at MoneyGeek specializing in business insurance. She focuses on general liability, workers' compensation and professional liability coverage, helping small business owners cut through policy jargon and understand what they're actually buying.
Angelique has spent over five years reporting on personal finance, with deep experience in both insurance and lending markets. Her psychology background also gives her a unique understanding of how people actually process difficult financial decisions, allowing her to meet readers where they are, simplify complex concepts and build decision making frameworks that give them confidence. Whether you're learning about policies, comparing providers or trying to figure out requirements, Angelique does the legwork, digging into regulations, analyzing policy language and testing her explanations against agent-level standards so you get straight answers without fluff.
