Save big with Next business insurance + download their guide for FREE.
Quick Look: Best Small Business Insurance
- Best for Business Owner Policies: The Hartford
- Best for Tailored Coverage: Simply Business
- Best for Matching You With Providers That Fit Your Needs: Tivly
- Best for Start Ups: CoverWallet
Businesses of all sizes need comprehensive insurance, including smaller ones. Running any business can mean juggling multiple roles to maintain profitability, but this is especially true for owners of smaller enterprises. Your business, plus the financial livelihood of you and your employees, is an investment you need to protect. Having the right small business insurance is a vital step here.
Take a look at Benzinga's guide to better understand the insurance needs of smaller operations and find the best business insurance provider for you.
Best Small Business Insurance
Every business has different assets to protect and you want the best. Here are some of our top picks for business insurance providers.
The Hartford
- Best For:Comprehensive coverage/Business Owners' Policysecurely through The Hartford Business Insurance's website
HIG, also known as The Hartford, can be a 1-stop shop for all of your business insurance needs. It offers several products, including general liability insurance, professional liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance. Keeping all of your business insurance policies with the same provider can help ensure complete coverage and also earn discounts.
HIG allows you to file your claims by phone or online 24/7. The customer service team is also available by phone.
A Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) combines business property and business liability insurance into one business insurance policy. This type of policy helps cover your business from claims resulting from things like fire, theft or other covered disasters. The Hartford can tailor your BOP to help meet your unique needs by adding optional coverages like a data breach, business income for off-premises utility service and other special coverages.
The Hartford has an average 4.8 out of 5 star rating when it comes to their BOP.
Simply Business
Simply Business offers a comprehensive suite of business insurance that specializes in one main thing: protecting the business you work hard to build.
Whether you’re looking for construction workers' insurance or insurance for your startup, Simply Business helps you find the right coverage at the right price. Simply Business takes care of a variety of customers and can easily help you find coverage that's as unique as your business. Tell Simply Business a little bit about your business and you'll get almost-instantaneous affordable quotes from top insurance providers. Pick the coverage you need and that's all you need to do.
Building your business is hard enough. Let Simply Business make it easier. Get a quote from Simply Business today.
Tivly
- Best For:Matching you to the provider that fits your needsget started through Tivly’s website
Tivly offers 1-stop shopping for a range of business insurance policies using its convenient online website. Fill in the criteria online and get a quote for your small business. Tivly is partnered with over 200 providers and will match you with the one that fits your needs.
Tivly works with providers on our list like Progressive, The Hartford, Liberty Mutual and Gallagher. As a result, you can build an insurance portfolio for your small business in one place.
CoverWallet
- Best For:Start-ups, the self-employed and small businessessecurely through CoverWallet Business's website
In minutes, you can protect your business with general liability insurance with CoverWallet. CoverWallet makes getting coverage simple, convenient and fast so you can serve your customers, grow your business and manage the day-to-day happenings of your business.
CoverWallet works with small- and medium-sized enterprises and startups to provide insurance coverage right for your specific business.
You can also get professional liability insurance to cover alleged or actual negligence, legal costs and settlements. This insurance is also known as errors and omissions insurance.
Get your tailored CoverWallet quote today.
Types of Small Business Insurance
Every type business insurance is designed to protect a different aspect of your business, often with some overlap. That’s why it’s important to work with a trusted insurance agent or advisor to help you purchase the right policies for your business and industry. Here’s a look at the most common types of business insurance as well as the types of losses covered.
General Liability
General liability insurance is also referred to as business liability insurance. It's the insurance that protects both you and your business from general claims that involve property damage and/or bodily injuries. The purpose of this type of insurance is to help cover medical expenses and attorney fees associated with these claims. This policy type lowers the financial setback that can come with claims against your business.
Each policy and provider vary in coverage, but here’s a look at what is generally covered — and not covered.
Covered:
- Property damage and/or bodily injury caused by your products
- Property damage and/or bodily injury caused by your services and operations
- General liability could function like renters insurance and cover the site where your business operates if your business is held responsible for damage caused to the property.
Not covered:
- Auto accidents
- Employee injuries
- Intentional acts to damage or harm
- Professional mistakes
Product Liability
If part or all of your business operation includes manufacturing products, product liability is crucial. Even if you take precautions to ensure that your product is in compliance with the highest standards, there’s always the chance that something could go wrong.
If your product causes damage to someone else, your business will be held responsible and you may find yourself facing a lawsuit. Product liability insurance can cover the legal fees that you need to pay to defend your business, as well as medical costs, compensatory and business damages.
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance protects the physical aspects of your business. This includes:
- The building where your business operates
- The furniture and equipment inside your building
- Your business inventory
- The signage outside of your business
- Outdoor fences and landscaping
You can select a range of coverage for your commercial property insurance. A basic policy should cover losses due to fire, lightning, wind, hail and acts of vandalism. Depending on where you live, you might want to add additional coverage to protect from earthquakes and other types of damage. If your business suffers from a covered loss, you’ll file a claim with your insurance company. The company can pay for the losses so you can either replace, repair or rebuild.
Workers’ Compensation
You need to have workers’ comp insurance if you have employees. This insurance will protect you as the business owner and your employees in the event of a work-related injury.
Employees benefit because medical costs for the injury are covered. Employees can also receive financial assistance during recovery. Claims require many forms to be completed within a timely manner for the coverage to take place.
Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability insurance is important if you provide a specialized service to your clients, customers or patients. As with any insurance policy, your professional liability insurance will offer coverage for situations included in your policy documents.
Generally, your policy should cover you if your client or patient claims that you made an error, omitted information or were otherwise negligent. Your professional liability insurance policy will help you even if the claim made against you is totally unfounded.
You may want to consider a professional liability insurance policy if you are:
- An accountant
- A business consultant
- A lawyer
- A medical provider
- A real estate agent
Cost of Small Business Insurance
The cost of your business insurance policies will depend on a number of factors, including:
- The industry you work in
- Where your business is located
- The size of your business
- The deductible you choose for your policy
- The amount of coverage that you choose for your business
How to Save Money on Small Business Insurance
For many smaller operations, keeping overhead low and costs within budget is always a concern. There are many ways you can save money on the cost of your insurance policies. Here are some factors to consider when assessing your business insurance plan.
- Bundling coverage: Most insurance providers offer several types of insurance and the ability to bundle multiple policies for a discount. You may also be able to bundle your professional insurance policies with other types of insurance policies, such as home insurance or car insurance.
- Risk reduction: Some insurance companies may offer discounts to businesses that actively work to lower risks in their business. For example, you may be able to earn a discount on a workers’ compensation policy by offering regular safety training for your employees. Or, making updates to your building to increase accessibility and reduce safety hazards is another way to lower your risk factor.
- Maintaining coverage with 1 provider: If you remain a loyal customer to your insurance provider, it may reward you with a discount.
- Switch and save: Insurance companies may also offer you a discount if you switch to their company from a competing insurance provider.
- Industry specific discounts: Some insurance companies offer discounts to businesses that work within a certain profession, so be sure to keep this in mind in your search.
- Business size and industry: Policies and premiums vary by business size and industry.
- Location: Where you base your business (and any of its physical locations) may play a role in the cost of your premium.
Next Steps for SMB Insurance
You don’t want to waste money on something you don’t need. The policies your business needs will depend on the type of business you run, whether you have employees and other factors.
The best way to start your business insurance plan is to identify which types of insurance you need and which are optional, and then figure out which you can afford. You may want to consult with your lawyer or a licensed insurance agent at this stage. Once you have a solid idea, start to compare plans. Most companies offer free quotes that will give you a good starting point.
From there, you can reach out to the companies that seem like the best fit and work with a licensed insurance agent to find the right policy for you. Once you buy coverage, get your Certificate of Insurance (COI) and keep physical as well as digital copies of it. Some providers allow you to access your COI easily through their platform, so consider this in your search if this is of importance to you. You may be required to display your COI in your place of business -- check out your local laws to know for sure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do small businesses have to offer health insurance?
The ACA stipulates that businesses with 50+ full-time employees have to provide the option for health insurance enrollment to at least 95% of these full-time employees.
What type of business insurance does a small business need?
This depends on the nature of your business, but some type of general/professional liability coverage at the minimum. You may be required by law to carry workers’ compensation insurance for any employees. And if you own or rent a property, commercial property insurance is an important asset as well.
