Best Online Business Insurance Companies 2026
Our top choices for getting and managing insurance online include Ergo Next, Thimble, biBERK, Chubb and Simply Business.
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Updated · 3 min read
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Many business owners can now buy business insurance online. If your small-business insurance needs are straightforward and you need coverage quickly, you have several good options.
Here’s how to buy insurance online, then manage your policy digitally.
Save up to 30% on business insurance
NerdWallet Small Business helps you get real-time quotes from 30+ insurers, and instant access to your Certificate of Insurance (COI) through our partner, Coverdash.
Best online business insurance companies
NerdWallet’s editorial team chooses the best business insurance companies based on these factors:
- Relatively few complaints from policyholders to regulators.
- High financial strength ratings from credit rating agencies.
- Online quotes that let you estimate your costs quickly.
Here are our top-rated options that sell insurance online. They also let you manage your policy online in a meaningful way, whether that’s tracking a claim, sharing your certificate of insurance or managing others’ COIs.
Why trust NerdWallet
250+ small-business products reviewed and rated by our team of experts.
80+ years of combined experience covering small-business and personal finance.
Objective, comprehensive small-business insurance ratings based on the financial strength, complaint records, digital features and customer service availability of insurance market leaders. Read our methodology.
NerdWallet's small-business insurance content — including our ratings, reviews and recommendations — is produced by a team of writers and editors who specialize in small-business finances. Their journalism has appeared in The Associated Press, Washington Post, MarketWatch, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur, ABC News, MSN and other national and local media outlets. Each writer and editor follows NerdWallet's strict editorial guidelines to ensure fairness and accuracy in our coverage.
Chubb
Best for buying a BOP online
Chubb is a great choice if you’re buying a business owner’s policy online. Its BOP offers certain protections, like extra expense coverage and accounts receivable coverage, that other insurers don’t always include.
Chubb is a century-old company and it isn’t fully digital-first, though — you’ll have to submit a request to get your COI, for instance. There’s no live-chat customer support either. Read NerdWallet’s review of Chubb business insurance.
Policy types available online
- Business owner’s policy
- General liability insurance
- Commercial property insurance
- Professional liability insurance
- Workers’ compensation insurance
- Umbrella insurance
- Cyber insurance
Ergo Next
Best for managing your policy online
Ergo Next sells all the business insurance policies most entrepreneurs need. When you shop, Ergo Next will recommend policies based on your business information. You can buy all of them online. Its “Live Certificate,” a digital certificate of insurance, should also make it easy to prove you have insurance when a client or landlord asks.
One downside: Ergo Next charges a monthly “service fee” that it says pays for things like unlimited additional insureds. It’s only $3.99 per month, but other insurers don’t generally charge fees like that. Read NerdWallet’s review of Ergo Next Insurance.
Policy types available online
- Business owner’s policy
- General liability insurance
- Commercial property insurance
- Professional liability insurance
- Workers’ compensation insurance
- Commercial auto insurance
- Employment practices liability insurance
- Tools and equipment insurance
- Hired and non-owned auto insurance and liquor liability insurance are available as add-ons to other policies
biBERK
Best for professional liability insurance
BiBERK is Berkshire Hathaway’s online insurance company. You can’t get all of its policies in every state. Professional liability coverage is an exception.
BiBERK is a good choice if you need coverage fast thanks to proactive coverage recommendations.
But it may also take up to two days to add an additional insured. This means biBERK might not be a good pick for contractors. Read NerdWallet’s review of biBERK.
Policy types available online
- Professional liability insurance
- Workers’ compensation insurance
- General liability insurance (limited by state)
- Business owner’s policy (limited by state)
- Commercial auto insurance (limited by state)
- Umbrella insurance (limited by state)
Thimble
Best for contractors and managing contractors
Thimble is an online insurance agent, which means they sell policies from other companies. Since Thimble does not underwrite its own policies, we don’t rate it.
Thimble offers helpful features for contractors who work one job or one event at a time. Policies with short terms can help you comply with what your contracts require without buying a year’s worth of coverage. If you’re the one hiring contractors, you can use Thimble’s Certificate Manager to stay on top of your subs’ coverage and make sure it’s compliant. Read NerdWallet’s review of Thimble business insurance.
Policy types available online
- Business owner’s policy
- General liability insurance
- Commercial property insurance
- Professional liability insurance
- Workers’ compensation insurance
- Commercial auto insurance
- Cyber liability insurance
- Inland marine insurance (which Thimble calls “business equipment protection”)
- Business interruption insurance, equipment breakdown coverage, and hired and non-owned auto insurance can be added to BOPs. Product liability insurance is available as part of general liability insurance.
Simply Business
Best for comparing multiple quotes
Simply Business is an online insurance broker, which means they sell policies from other companies. Since Simply Business does not underwrite its own policies, we don’t rate it.
Simply Business is an online marketplace that can help you get quotes from multiple insurers at once. You can choose which policies you want to buy, enter information about your business, review your quotes and then pick a policy. Once you have coverage, you can access your COI and add additional insureds anytime. You can also store your COI on a mobile device. Read NerdWallet’s review of Simply Business.
Policy types available online
- Business owner’s policy
- General liability insurance
- Business property insurance
- Professional liability insurance
- Workers’ compensation insurance, including for sole proprietors
- Cyber liability insurance
- Inland marine insurance
Managing your business insurance policy online
Beyond buying a policy, the best online business insurance companies make it easy to interact with them online. This might include:
- Instant access to your certificate of insurance. Contractors often need to share COIs with people they’re doing business with. If you can download that document easily from an online dashboard, you don’t have to track down an email or remember where you saved your copy. Ergo Next was among the first companies to build this tool and it’s still a differentiator today.
- Managing insurance policies for contractors. Thimble’s Certificate Manager tool is uniquely useful if you manage contractors. You can create a checklist of your insurance requirements, invite subcontractors to upload proof of compliant insurance (or buy it — from Thimble, naturally), and see your team’s policies and expiration dates in a central dashboard.
- Adding an additional insured. Sometimes your general contractor or landlord asks you to add them to your insurance policy. That way, if someone sues both of you, your insurance pays out first. Great online business insurance companies make it easy to add an additional insured and generate an up-to-date COI. Simply Business is a good choice if this is your top priority.
Save up to 30% on business insurance
NerdWallet Small Business helps you get real-time quotes from 30+ insurers, and instant access to your Certificate of Insurance (COI) through our partner, Coverdash.
Should you buy business insurance online?
NerdWallet analysis finds that online-first business insurance companies, in general, have high complaint ratios. That means policyholders file more complaints with state regulators than we’d expect, given each company’s market share.
Ergo Next, biBERK and Hiscox, another insurer that sells online, had the most complaints relative to their size of all the business insurance companies we rate.
We don’t know exactly what these policyholders complained about. But here's what I think: In general, when you buy insurance online, you don’t have a single agent or agency who you can take your question to. Customer service probably feels less personal. DIYing your coverage also opens the door to more potential misunderstandings about what your policies cover and exclude.
With that in mind, getting business insurance online is a good fit if:
- You need coverage ASAP. Buying a policy online can take as little as ten minutes. Going through an agent usually takes at least a day. That said, make sure you read each screen in the quote process so you know what your policy excludes.
- You have straightforward insurance needs. Lots of insurers sell general liability insurance, BOPs and workers’ comp online. It’s harder to find directors and officers insurance or product liability insurance. The more general your needs are, the more likely it is to find coverage online.
But shopping online isn’t for everyone. Insurance agents can still offer a lot of value. Consider an agent if:
- You want to ask questions. You can meet with your agent while you shop for insurance and throughout the life of your business. They can answer questions about what your policies cover, which insurer is the best choice and how to expand your coverage as your business grows.
- You need more specific types of insurance. If your business needs a type of insurance you can’t easily find online, that’s a good sign that you need an agent. They can help you get quotes and make sure the policy fully covers your company’s risks.
How to get business insurance online
Follow these steps to buy your business insurance coverage.
1. Figure out what policies you need
Most of the time, online insurance sellers make recommendations based on the information you give them about your business. For instance, if you say you have employees, they’ll recommend that you buy workers’ comp.
But it’s a good idea to check your lease and any contractual agreements to see if they require you to have certain policies. Your state may also require workers' compensation insurance or commercial auto insurance. When you go into the transaction knowing what you need, you can make sure you’re fully covered (and that the insurer isn’t recommending anything you don’t need.)
2. Get quotes
The cost of business insurance can vary widely depending on what your business does, how big it is and where it’s located. Get quotes from a few different providers so you can compare costs.
To get a business insurance quote, you’ll need basic information about your business. This usually includes:
- The address of any properties you own or rent.
- How many employees you have.
- Your estimated annual revenue.
Then, the online business insurance company will estimate how much your coverage will cost. That estimate is called a quote.
To get several quotes at once, try using an online insurance marketplace like Simply Business. Otherwise, you can go through the process with a few different insurance companies. Each should take a few minutes.
3. Compare your options
Business insurance policies are pretty standardized. But they might include different endorsements or exclusions. If you have questions about what a policy does or doesn't cover, reach out to the company and ask before you buy.
Take a moment to research customer satisfaction ratings and the financial strength of the insurer, too. That information weighs heavily in NerdWallet's star ratings. This step is especially important if you buy from a company like Thimble or Simply Business, since your policy will be underwritten by a different company you might not be familiar with.
4. Buy your policy
Most online business insurance companies let you use a credit card or ACH bank transfer to buy your coverage online. Some offer a discount if you pay for an entire year at once.
Check your email or online dashboard after you buy your policy. You should have gotten a copy of your certificate of insurance.
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Methodology
Business insurance ratings methodology
NerdWallet rewards business insurance companies for reliability and good service. We calculate star ratings based on scores in about a dozen categories. These include:
- Each company's financial strength.
- How many complaints customers made relative to its market share.
- How easy it is to get coverage.
- How accessible customer service is.
Learn more about how we rate small-business insurance companies.
Our editorial team routinely fact-checks and updates these data points. We also adjust our scoring on an ongoing basis. This helps our star ratings reflect changing industry norms. For instance, in 2026, we began evaluating how easy insurers make it to add an additional insured.
Our ratings are a guide. But insurance policy details and prices can vary widely. We encourage you to shop around and compare several insurance quotes.NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.
Insurer complaints methodology
One key factor in our star ratings is how many complaints insurance companies get. Here's how we arrive at that score.
Disappointed customers can file a complaint with their state's insurance department. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) collects, analyzes and groups complaints by business line and insurance company every year. A business line is a specific type of coverage, like workers’ comp.
Then, the NAIC calculates a complaint ratio for each company. It divides the company's share of complaints by its share of total premiums for each line of business. It then adds these ratio values to their official complaint index.
- A complaint ratio of 1 means a company received about the expected number of complaints relative to its size.
- A ratio of 2 means it received twice as many complaints as expected.
- A ratio of 0 means it received half as many complaints as expected.
NerdWallet obtains the raw NAIC data every year. We aggregate results at the company level and fact-check these results. Then we calculate a three-year average of each insurer's complaint ratio and convert it to a score for our star ratings.
Business insurance star ratings consider complaints about two lines of business: commercial liability and commercial property. We analyze complaint data on commercial auto and workers' comp policies too. But we don't currently incorporate these into our ratings since they're less universal.
