Pie Insurance Review 2026: Workers’ Comp Startup With Few Tech Tools
Pie is an insurtech company that sells workers’ compensation insurance, but you can’t get a quote online.
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Pie Insurance is a workers’ compensation insurance startup. Founded in 2017, the company now sells workers’ comp in 39 states plus Washington, D.C.
Pie stands out for offering a variety of payment plans, including the option to pay as you go based on the size of your payroll. That can help you avoid an expensive audit at the end of the year.
Pie calls itself an insurtech. But given that label, it’s light on the consumer-facing tech. You can’t get a quote online, for instance, and there’s no digital claims portal. You even submit claims via a Google Form.
Part of this discrepancy may be because Pie also sells insurance through partner agents. Its technical innovations appear to focus on that audience, like an “appetite checker” agents can use to see how likely their clients are to get underwritten by Pie.
This is how insurance companies have historically operated — through agents. To have the best experience with Pie, you should probably work with an agent rather than going through its website. If you want to get quotes on your own, start with other online business insurance companies instead.
And even if your agent recommends Pie, I’d still compare several options. That’s because, between 2022 and 2024, Pie customers filed far more complaints with state regulators than we’d expect given Pie’s market share.
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Pie Insurance: Pros and cons
Pros
Option to pay as you go for your workers’ comp premium through your payroll provider, as well as monthly, quarterly, semiannually or annually.
Can generate a certificate of insurance online.
Cons
Far more complaints than expected filed with state regulators than expected given Pie’s market share.
What Pie does well
Quick price estimate
You can get a ballpark price estimate from Pie in a matter of minutes online. That can be helpful for getting a sense of how much you need to budget for insurance.
But this is just an estimate, not a quote. You’ll have to talk to a Pie representative on the phone to provide additional information about your business and get your actual premium.
Flexible payment options
Pie supports pay-as-you-go premiums. In this setup, it automatically deducts your workers’ comp premiums from your payroll every month. This should mean premiums are more accurate, since they’re tied to your actual payroll rather than what you expected it would be when you bought the policy. It also means you don’t have to pay a deposit at the start of the policy period.
Where Pie falls short
Lots of customer complaints
Pie customers filed far more complaints with state regulators between 2022 and 2024 than we’d expect given the company’s market share. (This is the biggest reason for the company’s relatively low star rating from NerdWallet.)
Customers also complain quite a bit online about premium audits that take them by surprise. Premium audits are a normal part of workers’ comp. But if huge price swings happen often, that makes me wonder if Pie’s quotes are a little off. Policyholders also express disappointment with the phone and online customer service experience.
Minimal claims support
To check the status of a workers’ comp claim with Pie, you have to reach out to the company or your adjuster. That’s different from other workers’ comp companies. Many provide a way to check the status of a claim online. Or, if you have an agent, you can go through them.
Pie also doesn’t offer risk management services. These services, like on-site training and safety audits, may reduce injuries and prevent future workers’ comp claims. Not every insurer provides risk management. But given workers’ comp is Pie’s sole focus, this absence is notable.
How we evaluated Pie business insurance
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. All Pie Insurance entities have “excellent” ratings from AM Best.
- Customer complaints (33%). The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) collects data about how many complaints were filed by an insurer’s customers. Between 2022 and 2024, Pie received far more complaints about workers’ compensation insurance than we’d expect given its market share. This is common among insurance companies that sell policies directly to consumers. It might be because their customers are more likely to be small businesses shopping for themselves without the support of an agent.
- Purchase process (17%): You can get a price estimate — not a quote — after entering a little information about your business. You’ll have to call Pie to finalize your quote, though, and then decide whether to purchase a policy.
- Customer support (17%): Pie policyholders can generate a certificate of insurance online. Email and phone support are available during extended weekday hours, but online reviews say the experience isn’t great. I have qualms about the claims process too. You can file a claim via phone or email, but the online option is via a Google Form. Plus, you have to contact Pie for status updates. There’s no way to check in on your claim online.
I take a few additional steps when writing reviews of business insurers. 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 Pie on websites like Reddit, Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau. 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 can help shoppers understand the potential ups and downs of a particular insurer.
- Trying the online quote process. If an insurer offers online quotes, I get one. If not, which was the case for Pie, I go as far as I can in the quote process without actually buying a policy. 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 Pie
I read through online forums like Reddit, Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau to understand how companies and insurance agents feel about Pie. I then used an AI tool to help analyze overall sentiment.
Pie is still a relative newcomer to workers’ comp, so its market share is fairly small. That means there’s less conversation online about this company than other, better established ones. But here are the primary themes that stood out:
👍 Get coverage fast
Some online reviews say Pie keeps its core promise — helping companies get workers’ comp fast. Beyond that, some Trustpilot reviewers who spoke to customer service reps said they provided detailed information and helped them make a confident decision.
👎 Impersonal customer service
Other commenters on Reddit and Trustpilot say they’ve struggled to get in touch with a Pie representative when they have questions or concerns. They’re routed to a centralized help center, which means they have to repeat information they’ve already shared or upload documents a second or third time. That can be very frustrating, especially if you’re already dealing with an injured employee.
👎 Audit surprises
Most workers’ comp companies will audit your business every year or so. They review your payroll records to compare them to your estimated payroll and, if there’s a difference, they charge you. This is how the insurance company knows you’re accounting for every employee.
Reviews of Pie, however, say these audits — and their bills — came as a surprise. Some say Pie charged them four- or five-figure sums without warning or offer of a payment plan.
What policies does Pie sell?
Pie only sells workers’ compensation insurance. It previously dabbled in commercial auto coverage. But it ended that program on Jan. 1, 2026.
If you need another kind of insurance, you can share your name, email address and phone number on Pie’s website and wait for someone to contact you. I don’t recommend that — Pie provides no information about who will contact you or what you might pay.
Instead, just go straight to another source and get quotes. If you’re shopping for insurance online, try Chubb, Ergo Next or biBERK. If you want personalized support, find an independent agent in your area.
How to get insurance from Pie
While writing this review, I got a workers’ comp quote from Pie. I told Pie I operate a bakery with $60,000 in annual payroll. I used my own ZIP code in Chicago.
Pie asked whether I currently have workers’ comp and if I’d had any claims or work-related injuries in the last three months. I said no to both.
And that was it. Pie generated an “estimated premium.”
A business insurance quote is binding — if you buy the policy, that’s exactly what you’ll pay. This is not a quote, though. It’s an “estimate” with a request that I call and provide more information.
According to the fine print, Pie needs more information about whether I need coverage for myself and if I’ve had coverage in place continuously before it can be specific about a premium. Most other online business insurance companies ask these questions during this process and generate a quote. You can then buy your policy right away.
There are pros and cons to this. On one hand, it’s possible Pie’s follow-up questions are very detailed, which leads to a more accurate quote (and avoids those surprising audits other customers have experienced). On the other, Pie could add those questions to the estimate process and generate a full quote instead.
