Equitable Life Insurance Review 2026

Equitable is a solid option for life insurance shoppers, offering a range of term and permanent life insurance policies, along with other financial products. But those who want whole life insurance or term policies longer than 20 years should look elsewhere.

Equitable earned 4.2 stars out of 5 for overall performance. NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account consumer experience, complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and financial strength ratings.

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Where Equitable stands out

Equitable’s Term-in-10 policy offers coverage after a quick phone call for people who don’t want to take a medical exam. If you need short-term coverage, one-year policies are available.

Equitable has several universal policies to choose from with a range of useful add-ons. For example, you can add coverage for long-term care expenses or choose a rider that reduces market ups and downs in your cash value.

Where Equitable falls short

Equitable doesn’t sell whole life insurance, and its maximum term policy length is 20 years. Other insurers offer policies with terms up to 30 or even 40 years for those who need coverage over a longer time period.

Equitable isn’t a standout for customer service. It draws an average rate of consumer complaints to state regulators and ranked last for customer satisfaction in J.D. Power’s most recent life insurance study.

Term life insurance. Equitable offers four types of term life insurance:

• Level term life. You can choose terms of 10, 15 or 20 years, with coverage starting at $1 million.

• Annual renewable term life. This policy can be renewed annually without reapplying for coverage, but the price increases each year. The minimum death benefit is $1 million.

• TermOne. Coverage is non-renewable and expires after one year. The minimum death benefit is $25,000.

• Term-in-10. Qualifying applicants ages 18 to 60 can be issued policies within minutes. You can choose a term length of 10, 15 or 20 years. The maximum coverage amount is $1 million for issue ages 21+, or $500,000 for issue ages 18-20.

All the company’s term life policies are convertible to permanent life insurance.

Permanent life insurance. Equitable offers indexed universal life (IUL) and variable universal life (VUL) insurance policies.

• VUL Incentive Life Protect. This VUL policy comes with a no-lapse guarantee, keeping your coverage in place for at least 20 years or until age 90, whichever comes first. You’ll have a range of investment options for your cash value.

• VUL Optimizer. This policy prioritizes the growth of your cash value, which can be invested in a variety of underlying funds. It may be a riskier but higher-reward option than the Incentive Life Protect policy, with a shorter no-lapse guarantee and flexibility in how you structure your premium payments. 

• COIL Institutional Series. This VUL policy is designed to meet the financial needs of high-income executives, professionals and small business owners.

• BrightLife Grow. With this IUL policy, the growth of your cash value is tied to the performance of an underlying financial index. There’s a 0% floor, meaning you won’t lose money during market downturns.

Equitable life insurance riders

Depending on your policy, you might be able to customize coverage with these riders:

• Accelerated death benefit rider. Pays out part of your death benefit early if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness.

• Children’s term rider. Covers your children under your policy.

• Waiver of premium rider. Pauses your premiums if you become disabled.

• Long-term care rider. Available on permanent policies, this rider can help pay for nursing homes or other care expenses.

• Market Stabilizer rider. Reduces volatility in your variable universal life policy.

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A strong sign of consumer satisfaction is how many people complain about their insurance company to state agencies. Over three years, Equitable has drawn close to the expected number of complaints to state regulators for a company of its size, according to a NerdWallet analysis of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Equitable ranked No. 22 out of 22 companies for customer satisfaction in J.D. Power's 2025 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study.[1]

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How Equitable’s customer experience stacks up

The Equitable website has useful information about the company’s life insurance policies, including a table summing up basic differences between coverage types. But it can be tricky to find the company’s contact information, as the “customer support” menu has quite a few options and the navigation isn’t always intuitive. Some life insurance pages link to the “find a financial professional” page, offering a phone number you can call to set up a consultation.

The website doesn’t have many self-service features, but you can change beneficiaries through your online portal. You can also use the mobile app to manage your account and see your financial advisor’s contact information. While it’s available for both Apple and Android, the app draws mixed reviews, with some users reporting slowness and bugs.

We called the insurer to ask a few questions about term life insurance. We had some trouble with the automated system, which asked for a policy number. Because we didn’t have one, we were placed in a queue with an estimated wait time of up to 15 minutes. We gave up and called again a few days later with a similar result.

What it’s like to apply for a policy with Equitable

You’ll need to work with a financial professional to apply for any life insurance policy with Equitable. Even the Term-in-10 policy — which you can apply for and buy online within a few minutes — requires you first to speak with an advisor, who will give you a link to the online application.

Screenshot captured by our editorial team on Oct. 27, 2025.

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Equitable is a large life insurance and retirement savings company. It was known as AXA Equitable until a name change in 2020.

Besides life insurance, Equitable offers annuities, workplace retirement plans and employee benefit plans, which include critical illness and hospital indemnity insurance.

Equitable can be reached by:

• Phone: Call 800-777-6510 Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET.

• Email: No customer service email available.

• Live chat: Not available.