Ergo Next Insurance Review 2026: Easy Online Shopping, but Lots of Complaints
Ergo Next lets small-business owners shop online for general liability insurance, business owner's policies and more.
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Ergo Next is a business insurance company that sells policies online. It’s a good fit for small-business owners who need coverage fast and don’t want to go through an agent. Policyholders can also download their certificate of insurance from an online dashboard and add as many additional insureds as they need.
Ergo Next is a relative newcomer to the business insurance industry, where most companies are many decades old. It was founded as Next Insurance in 2016. It rebranded to Ergo Next after major player Munich Re acquired it in July 2025.
So far, the acquisition doesn’t appear to have changed much about Ergo Next’s digital tools, which were always what made it stand out. But it can take companies years to finish integrating with each other. We’ll keep an eye on how the purchase or claims processes evolve in the coming months.
One thing we’re watching: If customers file fewer complaints about Ergo Next after this acquisition. It got a lot of those in our analysis ( more details here ). Munich Re fared far better. It’ll be interesting to see if the new parent company rubs off on Ergo Next or not.
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Ergo Next pros and cons
Pros
Quick online application lets business owners get coverage quickly.
You can get up to a 10% discount on bundled policies.
You can access your certificate of insurance online and share it with others digitally for free.
Cons
State regulators received far more complaints from Ergo Next commercial liability customers from 2022 to 2024 than we’d expect, given its market share.
No phone support available during the quote process.
Some specialized types of business insurance, like key person insurance, are not available.
Charges a nonrefundable service fee ($3.99/monthly, or $47.88/annually), even if you cancel early
What Ergo Next does well
Fast online purchase process
Ergo Next says its customers can buy policies online in a matter of minutes. If your goal is getting coverage immediately — to comply with a contract, for instance — then Ergo Next is almost definitely faster than working with an agent. The purchase process is straightforward and intuitive.
Digital certificates of insurance
If you frequently need to provide proof of insurance, Ergo Next makes it simple to do so. Policyholders can access a certificate of insurance online instantly instead of having to request a copy. They can also add additional insureds online to extend coverage to clients or subcontractors.
Getting your COI and adding an additional insured are technically free. But Ergo Next does charge a blanket “service fee,” which the company says covers unlimited additional insureds among other things. It’s the only insurer I know about that charges that kind of fee.
Proactive coverage recommendations
When I got a quote as part of writing this review, I didn’t have to request specific policies. Instead, Ergo Next suggested coverage for me based on the information I shared about my business. If you’re new to shopping for business insurance, that makes it easy.
That said, this also makes it possible to accidentally leave something out or get a policy (or high limits) you don’t need.
Where Ergo Next falls short
Lots of complaints filed with state regulators
Customers filed far more complaints about Ergo Next with their state regulators between 2022 and 2024 than we’d expect given the company’s market share. The contents of those complaints aren't public. But in general, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners says the most common topics are claims delays, unsatisfactory settlements and denials.
Business insurance companies that sell policies online tend to see far more complaints than we’d expect. For example, biBERK and Hiscox got similarly low ratings.
I think this might be because getting insurance online is so fast. That might be your goal — coverage now, questions later. Still, working with an agent or at least calling an expert might help ensure policyholders understand what they’re buying.
Want to get a quote online but talk to an agent before you check out? Try The Hartford.
Mediocre customer service
Ergo Next funnels customer support requests to an AI chatbot that can connect you with an agent during business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT). Posts on online forums describe frustrating situations — like big premium increases, policy nonrenewals and duplicate charges — that were difficult to resolve this way.
Buying a policy through a local agent takes longer than buying one online. But afterward, your agent becomes someone you can call with questions when things like this happen. Our top-rated company that sells through independent agents is Cincinnati Insurance.
Can’t compare quotes
Ergo Next says its prices are competitive. But the only way to be sure is to get business insurance quotes from multiple companies. If your priority is getting the lowest price, try shopping with an online insurance marketplace like Simply Business or Coverdash.
Marketplaces generate quotes from several different insurance providers, and you can purchase one online. You can often manage your policy through the marketplace as well.
How we evaluated Ergo Next
NerdWallet’s business insurance star ratings include these factors:
- Financial strength (33%). This tells us how likely an insurance company is to be able to pay out claims if there’s a major disaster or financial crisis. Ergo Next’s parent, Munich Re, is rated “excellent” by market leader AM Best.
- Customer complaints (33%). The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) collects data about how many complaints customers filed against an insurer. Based on NAIC’s most recent data (from 2022 to 2024), Ergo Next received far more complaints about general liability and commercial property insurance than we’d expect given its market share. The company earned our lowest possible score here.
- Purchase process (17%). Ergo Next sells the most common types of business insurance online. It makes helpful suggestions based on your industry. Customer support during the purchase process is lacking, though.
- Customer support (17%). Ergo Next gets high marks here for its digital certificate of insurance and how easy it is to add additional insureds. But you can only file claims one way, online, and customer support is primarily via chat.
I took a few additional steps to write this review. These don’t currently inform our star ratings, but you’ll see details about them below:
- Aggregating customer reviews and complaints. I used an AI tool to summarize what policyholders say about Ergo Next on websites like Reddit, the Better Business Bureau and app stores. We don’t factor this feedback into star ratings because it’s usually anonymous and we can’t verify it. But we still think it has value in understanding the potential ups and downs of a particular insurer.
- Trying the online quote process. If an insurer offers online quotes, I get one. I use the same location, industry and business size information every time. The quote process can reveal how customizable policies are, hidden fees and more. We don’t include this in star ratings because many insurance companies still don’t offer online quotes, so we can’t gather the data from every brand.
What small-business owners think about Ergo Next
Here are the themes that emerged in forum posts and online reviews of Ergo Next. I used an AI tool to help analyze overall sentiment, but I chose to highlight certain topics that I think are most important for insurance shoppers.
👍 Getting coverage fast
Trustpilot users generally say it was easy to buy insurance from Ergo Next. This is, in my opinion, the company’s biggest advantage. If you need coverage fast, you can most likely get it today.
👎 Ongoing customer support
Once they have insurance, though, lots of Ergo Next users say the customer service experience gets worse. The company pushes customer service inquiries to a chatbot, and if you try to speak to someone, users report long hold times and challenges getting their questions answered.
These complaints are common to online-only or online-first companies in all kinds of industries. But insurance is complicated, and it’s important to make sure you understand your coverage. Working with an agent might be slower, but it ensures you can call someone when you need help.
👍 Digital certificate of insurance
Trustpilot users say the Ergo Next app is intuitive, especially when it comes to viewing and sharing certificates of insurance.
This “digital certificate of insurance” is still rare among insurance companies. Many make you request a copy of your COI if you need it. Delivery can take hours. Other companies also don’t publish information on how to add an additional insured. It makes sense that these options remain useful and popular.
👎 Policy changes or cancellations
Reddit and BBB users say Ergo Next has declined to renew their policies or dramatically increased their premiums without explanation.
That’s not necessarily a red flag. Insurance companies review policies every year. They decide whether or not they’re still willing to cover each business, and if so, whether their premium needs to change. It’s normal for some policies to get cancelled. But if these customers get the poor support experiences others have described, I see why they feel taken aback.
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What policies does Ergo Next sell?
Ergo Next offers a number of policies that you can purchase individually or bundle for up to a 10% discount. Click on each policy to learn more about what it covers.
- Tools and equipment insurance.
- Liquor liability insurance, umbrella insurance and product liability insurance can be tacked onto general liability policies.
Ergo Next doesn’t sell key person insurance, directors and officers insurance, builder’s risk insurance or surety bonds. NerdWallet recommends that you work with an agent for less common types of coverage like those. If your risks are that specialized, you should use an agent to buy all your insurance, too.
How to get insurance from Ergo Next
Getting an online quote from Ergo Next only takes a few minutes.
While writing this review, I went through the quote process. I told Ergo Next I was a business consultant working out of my home, earning about $10,000 in annual revenue.
The quote process asked for:
- My business address and mailing address.
- Whether I currently have E&O insurance.
- How many employees I have.
- The size of my largest contract in the last 12 months.
- What percentage of my work is performed in a fixed office versus offsite.
- Whether I’ve had a felony in the last 5 years, bankruptcy in the last 3 years, or had lawsuits, mediations or arbitrations against me.
- Whether any claims have been filed against my business in the last 3 years.
Answering the questions took about five minutes. Ergo Next generated a quote in about 10 seconds. It looked like this:
Clicking “customize” lets you adjust policy limits and deductibles. You can remove policies Ergo Next suggests if you don’t want them, but you can’t add other policies in the same transaction.
When it was time to check out, I had the option to pay monthly or annually. There was no discount for paying annually. If you choose monthly, you have to agree to automatic payments. And if you pay with a credit card, you’ll absorb a 1.99% processing fee.
On top of the premium, Ergo Next charges a service fee of $3.99 per month or $47.88 per year. The company says the service fee covers “unlimited certificates of insurance and other services.” If you cancel early, service fees for the entire policy period are non-refundable.
We recommend getting quotes from several insurance companies to make sure you’re paying a fair price.
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Methodology
Business insurance ratings methodology
NerdWallet’s business insurance ratings reward companies that offer small-business owners reliability and ease of use. Ratings are based on weighted averages of scores in several categories, including financial strength, customer complaint data, shopping experience and customer service. Learn more about how we rate small-business insurance companies.
Our editorial team regularly reviews and updates our data to ensure consistency and accuracy. We also update our scoring on an ongoing basis to reflect changing industry norms and business owner needs. For instance, in 2026, we began evaluating how easy insurers make it to add an additional insured.
These ratings are a guide, but insurance policy details and prices can vary widely from business to business and provider to provider. 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
NerdWallet examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. We use the most recent three years of data, which is currently 2022-2024.
To assess how insurers compare to one another, the NAIC calculates a complaint index each year for each subsidiary, measuring its share of total complaints relative to its size, or share of total premiums in the industry. To evaluate a company’s complaint history, NerdWallet calculated a similar index for each insurer, weighted by market shares of each subsidiary, over the three-year period.
Our star ratings consider ratios for both general liability insurance and commercial property insurance. When an insurer sells policies that are underwritten by several different insurance companies, we consider the NAIC complaint ratios of all the underwriters.
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