18 Best Small Business Insurance Providers of 2024

Every business big or small needs to have business liability insurance in order to protect them from heavy financial losses that might occur due to different unforeseen events.

Your business could be damaged by natural disasters, an employee could sue your management, there may be a data breach at your company, or your employees might get injured in a workplace accident.

All of these risks might cost you thousands of dollars and may even end up in lawsuits if an employee or a customer sues your business for being unfair.

Having business liability insurance covers you from financial losses that might arise due to such events.

However, choosing a business insurance provider is not easy and requires extensive consideration.

You also need to carefully choose the business insurance as it will determine what incidents you are covered for.

Since this might be the first time you are considering buying business liability insurance for your small business, we have put together a guide to help you through the process.

Let’s dive in.

What are the Best Business Insurance Providers for Small Businesses?

1. State Farm

Best comprehensive business liability insurance provider for businesses of all kinds and sizes.

Every agent at State Farm is a business owner themselves and hence they know what coverage is ideal for your business and recommend them accordingly.

Whether you are a contractor, a lawyer or you have a wholesale business, a non-profit organization, an animal care center, a retail business or a religious organization, State Farm has a long list of coverages for different types of businesses.

As a founder, your business is always at the risk of business and professional liability. Often unhappy clients sue businesses for negligence, errors, and omissions. This may cost your business in amounts that could be way more than you can imagine.

State Farm protects such business owners through their professional liability policy. This policy is available for architects, engineers, dentists, accountants, and related businesses.

If yours is a business like a salon, an animal hospital, retail pharmacist, a notary republic, or something similar, you can also opt for the Business Owners Policies that offer general liability and professional liability protection to such small businesses.

As a business, you also run the risk of being sued by employees for discrimination, sexual harassment, and wrongful termination. These lawsuits can be pretty expensive too.

With State Farm, you can protect yourself from such claims with their Employee Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI). Since non-profit organizations also run the risk of such claims, EPLIs help secure non-profit organizations as well.

State Farm protects its policyholders from three types of liability claims, namely, directors and officers liability, discrimination against a third party, and wrongful employment practices.

If your business has vehicles, you can also get them insured with State Farm’s Automobile Insurance. You can avail protection from liability, collision, and personal injury.

Every employer is also required to protect its employees financially by providing for medical treatment or other benefits in case of any injury arising out of employment. This gets covered by State Farm’s Worker’s Compensation Insurance.

Instead of opting for several separate insurances like this, you can choose the Commercial Liability Umbrella Policy which offers a broader coverage and gives you a bundled pricing that can be much more economical.

The cost of the policies differs depending on your business’s industry, location, number of employees, history, deductibles, and many other factors. You can either buy a policy online or find an agent nearby.

2. Hiscox

Best business insurance tailored to the needs of small businesses.

Hiscox has the license to sell business insurance in 49 states except for Alaska and the District of Columbia. So if your business is not in either of these places, you are in luck as Hiscox is reputed to offer some of the best insurance coverages to small businesses.

Not only does it have many positive reviews online, but it has also received some of the highest ratings from A.M. Best and S&P that provide ratings to insurance companies.

Hiscox offers a wide range of coverages that includes general liability insurance, professional liability insurance, errors and omissions, business owner’s policy, cybersecurity insurance, workers compensation, and a few others.

While general liability insurance covers all basic claims like personal injury, businesses that have a lot of assets must go for commercial property insurance.

Similarly, if your business runs the risk of professional liability, Hiscox’s professional liability insurance protects you from some particular risks in your field. It also protects small businesses from virus and malware attacks with its cybersecurity insurance.

There is also a premium umbrella insurance that has higher policy limits and allows larger claims.

What makes Hiscox a very desirable option for small businesses is that every insurance policy is customized depending on the type of the business and its specific business needs. They do not follow a one size fits all approach.

It also has a very user-friendly process where you can directly buy the policy online or purchase it from a local agent. They offer a 14-day money-back guarantee which is not usual of insurance companies.

If the situation arises where you need to make a claim, you can do so through their online portal which is available 24/7. You can also make changes to your insurance policy online through the same portal.

In order to get the pricing for a claim, you can either select your state and industry from a drop-down list and get an approximate quote or you can request a custom quote for your business by contacting the team.

3. Nationwide

Best business liability insurance provider with a wide variety of options.

Nationwide had issued its first farm policy in 1926 as the Farm Bureau Automobile Insurance Company and was renamed to Nationwide as it expanded all over the country.

Today it is present in all states except Alaska and has received very high ratings from A.M. Best, Moody’s, and Standard & Poor’s. While it serves businesses of all sizes, it currently covers more than half a million small businesses.

The most popular business types that Nationwide covers include retail stores, contractors, auto service and repair, wholesalers and distributors, food and beverage businesses, medical clinics, and others.

For each type of business, Nationwide offers generic as well as industry-specific coverages. Not only can you cover your business from destructive incidents like theft, fire, and others, you can also protect your employees, your business’ assets, and your business vehicles.

You can either choose specific insurance based on what you want to cover like commercial property insurance to protect your property, business income insurance to cover the losses when your company is temporarily closed or you can choose a business owner’s policy.

The BOP includes coverage for property, income, general liability, as well as equipment breakdown.

The many other different insurance policies that Nationwide offers include errors and omissions, cyber liability, crime insurance, worker’s compensation, umbrella insurance, and others.

The umbrella insurance acts as an extra layer of protection in case your business is ever faced with a high-loss situation. It can cover the extra costs when the cost of a claim exceeds the coverage.

Nationwide considers business needs from every angle and even provides coverage that helps protect business property in transit, against losses caused due to the inability to collect payments, and even protects construction projects from losses during different stages.

You can either apply for a policy online or get it from the thousands of agents across America. You can also make a claim online through their website.

Once you file a claim you can expect quick service as Nationwide is quite famous for good customer service and quick claims payments.

4. The Hartford

Best business liability insurance provider with the best worker’s compensation insurance.

If you are looking for a good business liability insurance provider to specifically address your worker’s compensation insurance needs, The Hartford may be what you are looking for.

Since every state has its own regulation on worker’s compensation insurance, make sure you consider them before choosing your service provider.

When you pay the premiums for your worker’s compensation coverage, you can either choose to pay it all at once or pay as you go each month. If your employees work in different states, you can also extend your coverage to them if you notify The Hartford within 30 days of an incident.

It also lets you bundle your worker’s compensation policy with other policies such as Professional Liability Insurance, Commercial Property Insurance, Business Income Insurance, and General Liability Insurance.

The Hartford also has a large network of healthcare providers and pharmacies, which makes it easy to provide good care to employees who’ve suffered from work-related injuries.

To add to it, they also have risk engineering professionals in their team who help businesses tackle worker’s compensation loss drivers.

Apart from worker’s compensation, there are also many other insurance options for businesses to choose from.

Some of these include Business Income Insurance to replace lost income when your business is temporarily closed, Commercial Auto Insurance to protect your vehicles, the ones you borrow and the employees driving them, and other coverages.

If you operate your business from your house, you can also choose home-based business insurance to protect it from lawsuits, property damage, data breaches, and others.

You can also choose to protect your management team from lawsuits that might arise against them at work through Management Liability Insurance.

There are many other important insurance coverages that The Hartford offers which many other business insurance providers don't, which include, Multinational Insurance for businesses that do business internationally and marine insurance to cover cargo vehicles.

You can either choose individual policies, combine multiple coverages into one policy or choose the business owner’s policy (BOP) that includes most of the important coverages that a business will need.

You can either purchase the policies online or buy them from a local agent. You can also apply for claims, pay bills and find an agent through their website.

5. Thimble

Best business liability insurance provider for small businesses.

Getting an insurance policy for your small business can be a very easy and quick job with Thimble. It provides you the quote in 60 seconds and your insurance certificate gets delivered to you as soon as you make a purchase.

While Thimble does not yet offer worker’s compensation insurance and business interruption insurance, depending on the type of your business you can choose from General Liability Insurance, Professional Liability Insurance, Business Equipment Protection, and more.

With General Liability Insurance, you can protect your business from losses due to damage to property, body, and injuries due to advertising.

The Professional Liability Insurance covers you from damages due to actual or alleged negligence and false claims of damages.

You can also protect the equipment that you use in your business with the Business Equipment Protection policy.

A unique coverage that Thimble offers is insurance for commercial and recreational drones. You can secure your drone against losses based on where you plan to fly it, the weight of the drone, the duration you will fly it for, and others.

A distinguishing feature of Thimble’s small business insurance is that you do not have purchase insurance for a year. You can choose the duration you want to secure your business or drone for, i.e., an hour, a week, a month, or any other duration.

This helps small businesses pay as they go as business insurances are generally quite expensive and block business’ money for long durations. This does not happen with Thimble.

So if you are a freelance photographer, who’s bought a camera on lease for a day, you can secure the equipment with the Business Equipment Protection policy in just 60 seconds for just one day.

Thimble is also coming up with an event insurance plan where they will be offering coverage for common risks associated with events like event liability and liquor liability.

If you are an event management firm, you can also leave your email id on their website and get notified once they launch the insurance policy.

Some of the other industries and professions and industries that Thimble covers are contractors and handymen, landscapers, freelancers, hair and beauty professionals, fitness trainers and coaches, pet sitters, photographers, and others.

6. Travelers

Best business liability insurance provider with great commercial auto insurance.

Unlike what the name suggests, Travelers is not a traveler’s insurance provider but provides some unique coverages that many good business insurance providers do not offer. It also has an A+ rating from A.M Best for its financial strength and ability to pay claims.

It is an especially good option if your business owns a fleet of vehicles that forms a crucial part of your business. Travelers’ Commercial Auto Insurance includes liability coverage, physical damage, and motorists’ coverage.

Travelers also has extensive experience in the equipment breakdown business and offers equipment breakdown coverage and reinsurance.

If your business operates on a lot of sensitive information, you could also benefit from Travelers’ Cyber Liability Insurance that covers your company from losses caused due to data breaches and data loss.

It also offers some additional cybersecurity tools to protect your company from data losses before a breach and tools to mitigate the loss once it happens.

Another different coverage that Travelers has along with Professional Liability Insurance is Site Pollution Liability and Contractors Pollution Liability which covers contractors from pollution claims.

This coverage is necessary if yours is into food and beverage, printing and publishing, warehouses, contractual work among others.

If yours is a fine art business that sometimes has to be transported and is highly valuable can be covered by Inland Marine Insurance.

There is also Ocean Marine Insurance that covers ocean cargo, marine services suppliers, marine transportation, luxury yachts, and marine contractors.

Overall, you can protect your business from general and property liability by choosing the Business Owner’s Policy(BOP). You can either choose individual coverages or choose a BOP that bundles many of these coverages.

For extra coverage and protection, you can also choose the Excess Casualty and Umbrella Insurance which covers big, unexpected events.

Along with all specialized coverages, with Travelers you also get basic insurances like professional liability, worker’s compensation, property insurance, and management liability.

7. Liberty Mutual

Best business liability insurance provider with a Group Insurance Program.

Liberty Mutual has business insurances for small businesses with fewer than 1000 employees as well as with medium to large-sized businesses.

Since we are here to make life easier for founders of startups and small businesses, we will discuss all the coverages that Liberty Mutual offers to such small businesses and why it is a good choice.

While Business Owner’s Policy bundles property insurance and general liability insurance, there are other insurances that you can buy separately.

Using Commercial Auto Insurance, you can protect your vehicles, whether they are owned or hired, and their drivers from different types of damages. They also provide several tools and a mobile app that even help with the repair once an accident happens.

You can either protect your property and the assets within, using the Property Insurance, or you can choose the Equipment Breakdown Insurance that covers several equipment and the losses arising from them.

Some of the devices that this insurance covers include boilers, pressure wheels, diagnostic equipment, production machinery, air conditioning equipment, and others.

If you have goods being transported between locations, you can also protect them with Inland Marine Insurance.

There is also something called the Group Insurance Program which is ideal for businesses with limited budgets, where businesses with similar business needs can come together to get better pricing and a better combination of coverages as well.

Not all businesses are the same and your business might need coverage that Mutual Liberty does not offer in its packages. This is where Mutual Liberty’s Speciality Insurances come in to address different business needs.

8. Zurich

Best business liability insurance providers with the most comprehensive commercial insurance policies.

While Zurich offers business liability insurances in many countries across the globe, for the scope of this article, we will discuss Zurich North America.

While there are some of the basic coverages that Zurich has like professional liability insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, commercial auto insurance, there are also some special coverages that it has which not many good business insurance providers provide.

One such example is the Accident and Health Insurance that has flexible coverages like Critical Illness Insurance, Personal Accident Insurance, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Business Travel Accidents, and others.

Under each broad category of Insurance, there are specific insurances for specific risks.

Zurich also has a Captive Insurance Policy under which it provides Single-Parent Captive Insurance, Sponsored Cell Captive Insurance, and Group Captive Insurance.

Now, if yours is a construction business, you might want to protect it from different risks like property damage, theft, delays in completion, and also secure your materials used during construction. Zurich’s Builder’s Risk Insurance covers them all.

There is also a Private Equity Insurance that covers private equity firms and their portfolio of companies.

Companies that operate on a credit basis where there is a risk of payments being deferred by customers, like vendors and wholesalers or distributors, can protect themselves from losses with Zurich’s Trade Credit Insurance.

It also has Political Risk Insurance for businesses located in high-risk areas where political instability may cause financial damage to the business.

Zurich has an industry-focused approach rather than generic policies. Some of the industries it covers include financial services, manufacturing, mid-sized companies, professional services, real estate, and technology.

They also have Commercial Umbrella Insurance that protects against large claims that exceed usual insurance policy coverages.

9. CNA

Best business liability insurance provider for commercial property and casualty insurances.

CNA serves a wide range of industries ranging from financial institutions, healthcare, real estate, technology, manufacturing, trade contractors, professional services, wholesale distributors, and a few others.

While CNA Connect, CNA’s Business Owner’s Policy covers small businesses from many general and property liability risks like those associated with buildings, business income, computer equipment, and more, there are also other coverages to protect small businesses from other risks.

It also includes some specific coverages in terms of property insurance that many other companies do not provide.

Not only the buildings of your business, but you can also cover all associated vehicles for property damage and damage to vehicles using CNA’s Commercial Auto Insurance.

You can protect your business from data breaches using Cyber Insurance and also cover it from damages caused by network failure, wrongful collection, reputational harm, e-theft and social engineering, voluntary shutdown, and others.

Since every profession and organization is at the risk of allegations about negligence, wrongful termination, harassment in the workplace, and others, CNA’s Management Liability Insurance can protect your business, the management, and the employee from such allegations.

It also provides coverage against fiduciary liability, kidnaps and ransom, employment practices liability, and crime. Another coverage with regards to employees is the Workers’ Compensation Insurance which covers employees and the management in case of injuries at work.

For businesses looking for a business insurance provider that has a warranties program, CNA’s Warranty and Alternative Risks serve the purpose.

If you conduct business overseas CNA also protects your business by writing off the risks associated with doing business internationally.

This insurance covers business travel, accidental death and dismemberment, wrong detention, Defense Base Act, foreign voluntary workers among others.

CNA’s Risk Control professionals work with businesses to identify potential risks and exposures to develop practical strategies to avert the risks or try to mitigate losses post a break or event.

10. Progressive Commercial

Best business insurance provider for commercial auto insurance.

The two main types of insurances that Progressive Commercial offers are Business Insurance and Commercial Auto Insurance.

So if your business has a large fleet of vehicles Progressive Commercial could be an ideal choice as it insures a wide variety of vehicles which includes trucks, vans, food trucks, dump trucks, etc.

Along with insuring your commercial vehicles, you can also insure your business with the business insurances that it offers including BOP, workers’ compensation, contractors, professional liability, cyber insurance, and general liability.

While Progressive Commercial covers all types of commercial vehicles, they also offer vehicle-specific coverages.

Typically their Commercial Auto Insurance covers liability, physical damage, medical payments, hired auto, uninsured motorists, non-owned coverages, and others.

However, if you want your trucks to be insured, you can choose the Motor Truck Cargo which covers commodity or freight, rental reimbursement with downtime, and some other coverages for businesses that provide trucks on hire.

Progressive Commercial also offers commercial truck insurance for tractor-trailers like auto hauler trailer, dry freight trailer, utility trailer, flatbed trailer, pole trailer, tank trailer, and others.

Once you have secured your commercial vehicles, you can either protect your business with general liability insurance and cover medical payments, physical injury or pair it with property insurance in their Business Owner’s Policy.

After securing your property, you will be required to get workers' compensation insurance as required by most states to pay for the medical expenses if your employees get injured at work or to cover lost pay during temporary shutdowns.

However, if you are an individual contractor, there is a Progressive Advantage Business Program that bundles together all the important coverages that you will need as a small business owner or a contractor working independently.

Apart from the main insurances that Progressive Commercial offers, it also includes specialty insurances for some specific business insurance needs and ample resources that help businesses manage different types of risks.

11. CoverWallet

Best business liability insurance provider that covers businesses from all possible risks and losses.

A few industries that CoverWallet serves are nonprofits, real estate, construction, contractors, consultants, food, accommodation amongst others. It also covers businesses in these industries from all possible angles.

Protect your property and business assets with CoverWallet’s Commercial Property Insurance or protect it from claims of bodily damage with the General Liability Insurance.

While these basic insurances cover all basic risks, there are some industry-specific insurances available.

One of these is the Liquor Liability Insurance. Since liquor businesses are held accountable if an intoxicated person who bought alcohol from them causes an accident or bodily damage, such insurance protects liquor businesses from hefty claims.

While Professional Liability and Errors and Omissions insure contractors and other professionals like consultants from claims of negligence or errors and omissions, the medical field can be highly sensitive and could result in heavy financial losses if a patient makes a claim.

CoverWallet covers medical professionals from such liabilities with its Professional Liability Insurance.

Often manufacturing companies run the risk of delivering faulty products to their customers which might result in bodily harm or damage to property. CoverWallet covers such manufacturing businesses with their Product Liability Insurance.

There is also insurance for garage owners to protect them from physical injuries, property damage, or other claims.

Since every business runs the risk of being robbed, a very important insurance that CoverWallet offers is Crime Insurance that protects businesses from internal as well as external thefts and robberies. This insurance is not offered by many good business insurance providers.

Unlike Most business insurance providers, CoverWallet goes beyond simple Workers’ Compensation Insurance. It provides an Employee Benefits Liability that insures employers from employee claims about errors to their benefits plans.

There is also Disability Insurance that protects employees if they are unable to work for a period of time due to some disability.

Businesses can also protect themselves from the losses that sometimes may arise due to fraudulent activities by their employees. Such insurance is especially important if there are risks of embezzlement or similar dishonest activities by employees.

As we said, CoverWallet covers businesses from all angles. Another example that reinforces this sentence is their Fiduciary Bond that helps businesses protect their pension funds from losses caused due to fraudulent activities by employees.

12. GEICO

Best business insurance provider for commercial auto insurance.

GEICO has partnered with Hiscox Insurance to provide business insurance products. So you will be directed to the Hiscox page when you want to start a quote for the insurance that you choose.

In terms of the insurances that it provides, it covers all the major angles that a business needs to be insured from. They are also quite known for giving customers a good experience.

However, out of all the business insurances that GEICO has on offer, you should especially choose them for your business if you are looking for good commercial auto insurance. They cover commercial cars, pickup trucks, box trucks, food trucks, and service utility vehicles.

As of now, they do not cover semi-trucks and tractor-trailers.

Choosing a commercial auto insurance is important because your personal auto insurance may not cover damages caused to your vehicles when used for business.

GEICO’s commercial auto insurance covers your business vehicles for damages, driver injury, or injury to someone else during an accident and damage to someone else’s property. You can easily add or remove vehicles covered, adjust your coverage, report and track claims.

Along with your vehicles, you should also consider insuring your commercial property and the assets or equipment within office buildings and premises.

This can be done with GEICO’s General Liability Insurance that covers property damage, physical injury, defense costs, and personal or advertising injury.

Now to protect the employees working in your company, you can also opt for Professional Liability Insurance which covers professionals from claims of mistakes or negligence, copyright infringement, or personal injury.

This insurance is particularly important if you are a contractor working individually or your business provides professional services, professional advice, or other contractual services.

Since most states require businesses to insure their employees from losses due to injury at work, you might also want to purchase GEICO’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance. It covers medical bills, a portion of lost wages, and funeral expenses if the death happens due to work.

It will also protect your business in case lawsuits are made against it.

13. Next Insurance

Best business liability insurance provider for self-employed individuals.

While Next Insurance provides all the important business insurances that your business needs, the different industries, and occupations that it covers includes some professions that are not usually covered by business insurance providers.

This includes Amazon sellers, retail, therapy, beauty, dog walkers, property managers among others.

You can either choose Next Insurance’s Business Insurance that includes general liability, professional liability, commercial auto, and worker’s compensation or you can choose each of them individually.

Next Insurance understands that every business is different and that while one business might need a particular type of coverage the other might not and offers their coverage accordingly.

For example, it offers general liability and professional liability insurance to advocates, to Caterers it provides the Caterer's insurance that covers general liability.

Next Insurance’s General Liability Insurance provides coverage from bodily damage, property damage, advertising harm, court or legal fees, medical payment,s, and defamations.

With its Professional Liability Insurance, you are covered from losses caused due to failure of meeting deadlines, professional mistakes that cost your client money or when a client or a customer accuses you of negligence.

For businesses with commercial vehicles, Next Insurance’s Commercial Auto Insurance covers uninsured motorists, rental reimbursements, towing costs, repairs, and replacements due to collisions, property damage as well as bodily damage to drivers or others.

So if you own vehicles that you use solely for business, getting them covered along with general liability insurance is a good idea.

Depending on the industry you are in and the number of employees you want to insure, Next Insurance’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance comes at a relatively lower price.

This insurance covers the medical expenses of your employees if they get injured at work, their lost wages, funeral costs, or costs of taking care of an employee permanently injured at work. It also covers the training costs of employees.

If an employee decides to file a lawsuit against you, having Next Insurance’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance can help.

Every business needs to cover itself from several risks and having only one insurance like general liability won’t help cover other losses. Keeping that in mind, Next Insurance also offers a 10% discount when you combine insurances and offers you a bundled pricing.

14. Suracy

Bets business liability insurance provider that covers paid family leaves.

Previously known as AmVenture, Suracy offers business insurance products to small and large businesses, franchises, nonprofits, unions, religious organizations, and others. In all, there are eleven types of business insurance products that it offers.

Out of these, the basic business insurances that businesses of all sizes should have are general liability, professional liability, workers’ compensation, commercial liability, and commercial auto insurance.

You can either choose the Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) to cover your business from professional liability as well as general liability and losses due to business interruption, or you can also get each one of them individually.

General liability insurance does not make sense if your business has no physical assets or risks of personal injury to a third party.

You must also opt for Medical Malpractice Insurance instead of Professional Liability Insurance if you are a medical professional as it addresses the needs of medical professionals better than professional liability insurances.

Businesses should also consider Suracy’s Cyber Liability if they do any kind of business online which is very likely for businesses these days.

While it covers the losses that may be caused by data breaches, it also offers Website Media Content Liability, Regulatory Defense and Penalties, PCI fines, and costs.

So even if your business is just a website offering some kind of information to others, Cyber Liability insurance may be able to protect you from losses that may be caused due to claims.

Now, while almost every business needs to have Workers’ Compensation Insurance, it is also a good decision if your business has Suracy’s Disability Insurance.

While the workers' compensation takes care of costs arising due to injuries at work, the Disability Insurance insures workers from incidents that happen outside their workplace.

Businesses that see their employees as valuable resources to the company must definitely get this insurance along with others.

However, sometimes employees may make allegations or claims towards the company they work for and it might be a costly affair.

This is where Employment Practises Liability Insurance (EPLI) comes in to help businesses recover losses caused due to such cases of true or false allegations.

A unique insurance policy that Suracy offers to businesses is the Paid Family Leave (PFL) which covers employee benefits and their salary when employees take paid leaves from work due to certain reasons like adoption, foster care, family care, and others.

15. Chubb

Best business liability insurance provider that offers many unusual coverages.

Chubb has over 30 business insurance products on offer which caters to a wide range of industries ranging from agriculture, cleantech, construction, cultural or educational institutions, food, healthcare, hospitality, and many more.

While like most other business insurance companies, Chubb also provides general liability insurance, environmental insurance, accidental and health-related insurance, under each there are several more specific insurances to address different risk exposures.

Let us begin with the many coverages that it offers under accident and health. There is Business Travel Accident insurance to cover employees during travel, Multinational Travel Accident Insurance, Out-of-Country medical insurance, and Foreign travel insurance.

Businesses can protect themselves from data breaches, theft, and vandalism with Chubb’s Cyber insurance. To protect their operations, products, and property, they can opt for the Commercial General Liability insurance.

Chubb offers all the basic insurance that every other good business insurance company should provide like workers’ compensation, professional liability, management liability, workplace benefits among others.

However, there are some unusual coverages that Chubb offers that others do not.

An example would be Political Risk and Credit Insurance which protects businesses from the damages that might be caused due to government actions, economic turmoil, or political unrest.

Another example is their Primary Casualty and International Casualty products that protect businesses from global risks while doing business.

If your business runs the risk of environmental damage or claims against it, Chubb’s Environmental insurance has a lot of products that cover different pollution and environment-related risks.

If yours is a manufacturing company, instead of choosing a generic product recall insurance, you can also opt for Chubb’s Product Recall Insurance that has separate products for component parts, consumable products, consumer goods, and small businesses.

There are also different insurance products that cover healthcare businesses, railroad operators, and educational institutions from different exposures.

Another very unique insurance that Chubb offers is the Trade Credit Insurance that is ideal for businesses that allow customers to take products on credit or to vendors and suppliers that allow credit.

16. Simply Business

Best business liability insurance brokerage that helps in finding business-specific coverages from top insurance providers.

While Simply Business is listed as a business insurance provider, it does not have insurance products of its own. Instead, it partners with other business insurance providers like CNA, Hiscox, Markel, Travelers, and others as a business insurance broker.

Depending on your business, Simply Business compares different products from different insurance providers

The different types of businesses that Simply Business offers coverages for are contractors, limited liability companies, sole proprietorships, and the self-employed. ,

Either you can protect your small business with Simply Business’ business insurance which includes general liability, professional liability, workers’ compensation, errors and omissions and others or you can choose one which is specific to your profession.

If you are an independent contractor, Simply Business combines the general liability insurance and workers’ compensation to protect your contractor’s business.

Similarly, if you are a janitor, a handyman, or own a lawn care business, landscaping business, painting business, or any other similar business, Simply Business has specific profession-related insurances that cover risks that you may be exposed to in your profession.

These insurances combine different combinations of professional liability insurance, workers’ compensation, general liability depending on what your business needs.

With the general liability insurance, you can cover your business from property damage, bodily damage to your customers, and reputational damage. However, it does not protect you or your employees from work-related injuries.

Here is where the workers’ compensation insurance comes in. Simply Business however does not offer workers’ compensation insurance.

If your business runs the risk of claims by customers on negligence, eros, omissions, or physical damage to them, you must also protect your business with Simply Business’ Professional Liability insurance or Errors and Omissions.

17. biBERK

Best business liability insurance provider with an extremely easy

biBERK is a part of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Insurance Group and has been rated A++ by A.M Best Company and AAA by Standard & Poor’s Corporation. They are quite known for good customer support, financial strength, and easy quote process.

Their insurance plans are also much less in price than other similar providers.

In all, there are six insurance coverages that they offer which cover small businesses from a variety of risks they may get exposed to.

Among the many industries that they serve, some of them include construction and contracting, janitoring and cleaning, lawn care and landscaping, transportation, healthcare, restaurants and bars, retailers, and wholesalers.

Compared to most business insurance providers, getting a quote through biBERK is extremely easy and a three-step process. First, you will be required to answer a few questions. Second, you will need to choose the desired coverage and lastly make the payment.

It’s as simple as that.

Choosing insurance with biBERK is also very simple. Each insurance clearly states what it offers.

To help you choose, here is what each of the insurance covers.

The Professional Liability Insurance or Errors and Omissions protects those who provide professional services. It covers mistakes or errors and alleged failures or actual failures on your part.

With the General Liability Insurance, you are covered from medical payments, legal representation, defense against libel and slander, and protects your business from physical damage or personal injury.

You can also utilize the Property & Liability (BOP) that covers subcontractors who need to buy property for conducting business. This also protects business equipment like computers, machinery, and others.

If you have commercial vehicles that you use for conducting business, you can get them protected with biBERK’s Commercial Auto Insurance that covers replacement and repair costs.

And since every state in the US requires businesses to have workers' compensation insurance, biBERK’s workers’ compensation insurance has you covered from medical fees and legal fees if your workers suffer from injuries at work.

While these insurances cover you from major risks, you might sometimes anticipate the size of the risk incorrectly. biBERK’s Umbrella Policy covers losses caused by big incidents that you might have missed.

18. Insureon

Best business liability insurance provider for covering specific and industry-related risks.

Insureon protects small businesses from all common types of risks and also provides coverage for some unique risks. They also have a few insurance policies for specific industries.

The different basic insurances that Insureon offers include General Liability, Professional Liability, Business Owner’s Policy, Errors and Omissions, Workers’ Compensation, and Cyber Liability.

This insurance covers small businesses from several risks like damage to property, customer or employee injuries, professional negligence, data breach lawsuits, work errors, business interruption incidents like the pandemic, and a few others.

Additionally, you can also protect your business vehicles with their Commercial Auto Insurance and Hired and non-owned auto insurance.

These protect your business from car accidents, vandalism, and theft, weather damage, accidents in leased vehicles, rental cars, or employee-owned vehicles.

Now come to the special risks.

If your business’ property stands the risk of heavy losses if the property gets damaged due to incidents like fire, theft, vandalism, or windstorms, Insureon has a Commercial Property Insurance.

If you predict heavy losses due to business interruption like what happened during the pandemic, there’s the Business Interruption Insurance which covers relocation costs, lost revenue, and day-to-day expenses.

There is an Inland Marine Insurance that covers businesses property in transit or valuable property being used in the fields to conduct business. Manufacturers, retailers, and distributors can protect their businesses with the Product Liability insurance.

You can also protect your business from sexual harassment lawsuits, discrimination claims, and mismanagement allegations with EPLI or you can protect the directors and offices with a Directors and Officers Insurance.

Now if you would like to organize events outside your business like parties, fundraisers, gatherings, and others, there is a Special Event Insurance that can cover such events.

Some industry-specific insurances that Insureon offers are Liquor Liability Insurance, Builder’s Risk Insurance, and Contractor’s Tools and Equipment Insurance.

If you are involved in any kind of business with the government or deal with clients’ money, you might also want to consider the fidelity bonds, surety bonds, and license bonds that Insureon offers.

Types of Business Insurance

While there are some common types of business insurance that apply to almost every business big or small, there are industry-specific business insurance that cover industry-specific risks and exposures.

Here, we have mentioned the most common insurances that businesses from different industries must get.

1. General Liability Insurance

Also known as Commercial Liability Insurance or Business Liability Insurance, every business must have it. It covers costs for property damage claims against your business if your customer gets injured on your property or damages due to your business’ advertisements.

2. Professional Liability Insurance

Also referred to as Errors & Omissions, this type of insurance covers businesses and professionals providing professional services from claims of negligence, errors, omissions, personal injury, copyright infringement, and others.

Accountants, physicians, consultants, medical practitioners must protect themselves using professional liability insurance.

3. Workers’ Compensation Insurance

This insurance covers the medical expenses of employees if they get injured at work and also protects businesses from hefty losses if the injured employees decide to sue them. A workers’ compensation insurance policy is mandatory in almost every state in the US.

It also covers funeral charges if an employee dies at work. Some workers’ compensation insurance covers employees if they become disabled due to work-related accidents.

4. Business Owner Policy (BOP)

Instead of buying a separate property insurance and a general liability insurance, businesses can opt for Business Owner Policy Insurance which combines both. It might even be more economical than buying each of this insurance separately.

It can then be combined with other industry-specific insurances depending on the service provider and industry.

5. Business Interruption Insurance

Also known as Business Income Insurance, it covers loss of income if there is an interruption in a business’ operations due to disasters, or other reasons.

6. Cyber Liability Insurance

Cyber liability insurance covers the losses that a business may suffer if its business loses data due to data breach, data theft, viruses, malware, or other reasons. It also covers legal charges if they arise due to the breach.

In this day and age, where cyberattacks are so common, every business that deals with important data must get themselves covered with cyber liability insurance.

7. Commercial Umbrella Insurance

Often referred to as Umbrella Insurance, it provides an extra layer of protection to businesses. It gives you extra coverage to pay for losses or claims that exceed your existing policy limits. This type of insurance is highly important if you operate a high-risk business.

8. Commercial Auto Insurance

Your personal vehicle insurance may not cover losses caused to your vehicle if it was in an accident during work-related activities. This is where commercial auto insurance comes in.

It covers your commercial vehicles like cars, trucks, vans, tractor-trailers from collision costs, repair, and replacements. Most commercial auto insurances also cover the driver who was driving the vehicle and even others who were injured in the accident.

9. Equipment Breakdown Insurance

This insurance covers the costs of damages or breakdown of commercial equipment due to internal problems like power shortages, mechanical breakdowns, and short circuits.

10. Directors and Officers Insurance (D&O)

Often the management of the company or its officers and other employees may be subjected to lawsuits by other employees, suppliers, competitors, customers, or others for wrongful acts or false allegations.

Directors and Officers insurance protects directors and employees from such claims and covers financial damages that may arise due to the claims.

11. Product Recall Insurance

Often manufacturers might have to recall a particular product or a batch of faulty products. Product recall insurance covers the cost of recalling such products from the market. It also covers any losses that the faulty products may have caused to the customers.

12. Special Event Liability Insurance

Special event liability insurances cover losses if your business event like a fundraiser, a party, gatherings, or others causes any damage to property or bodily damage or even if it gets canceled. Not many business insurance providers cover such events.

13. Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI)

An EPLI covers businesses from claims by their workers of wrongful termination, sexual harassment, breach of contract, discrimination, and others.

Having this insurance is extremely crucial for businesses as such cases often happen, and the losses that arise from lawsuits resulting from such claims are also quite hefty.

14. Inland Marine Insurance

Even though the name suggests that it is a marine insurance, inland marine insurance covers products, equipment, and goods in transit by rail or road. Some insurance providers even offer this coverage if your goods are temporarily stored somewhere.

15. Ocean Marine Insurance

The only difference between inland marine and ocean marine insurance is that the latter covers products and equipment being transported by sea and the former covers those being transported by road or rail.

16. Trade Credit Insurance

Retailers, wholesalers, or vendors often function on a credit basis where there are risks that the buyer defers the payment. This is where trade credit insurance helps businesses recover the losses that might arise if clients fail to pay.

17. Liquor Liability Insurance

If your business manufactures, sells, or serves alcohol, a liquor liability insurance is a must. If an intoxicated person suffers from a bodily injury after being served alcohol by you, the liquor liability insurance covers the medical costs, legal fees, and other associated costs.

Benefits and Importance of Business Liability Insurance

Every business runs the risk of some or the other kind of damage to property or life, lawsuits, legal fees, and others depending upon the industry they are functioning in. These costs may be massive and cost businesses quite a lot if they have to pay from their reserves.

This is where business liability insurance comes in to cover businesses from different types of risks and exposures. Having business liability insurance for your business is important for various reasons mentioned below.

1. Coverage for life, property, and equipment

Depending upon the insurance policy that you choose, your business liability insurance will protect you from different types of losses to life, property, and equipment.

Your business might directly or indirectly cause harm to your customers or their property. The computers in your office might need to be repaired. There may be a data breach at your firm or your business’ property might get damaged due to fire, vandalism, and other disasters.

This might cause business interruption and your employees may lose salary during that period. There may be political instability in the region you operate and your business may directly be affected.

The list of risks is long and covering them from your business’ reserves might be very expensive. Business liability insurance protects your business from such losses by covering these different types of risks.

2. Insures employees from injuries at work

Employees may get injured at work or there may be loss of life on your property. In such cases, employees can sue the employers and the legal fees might be very heavy.

Most states also require employers to have workers' compensation insurance that covers the medical fees, legal costs, and settlement charges in case of injuries at work. This eliminates the need for employers to pay for medical costs.

When employees are protected from such incidents, it improves your image as an employer as well and tells others that you care for your employees. Employees also prefer working for employers who offer workers’ compensation insurance over those that don’t.

3. Helps minimize financial losses

Claims and lawsuits can be costly. The main reason that business liability insurance is important for businesses is that it covers them from financial losses and covers the expenses that might arise from different events.

For example, if a customer gets injured on the premises of your business, your general liability insurance policy will pay for the medical charges instead of you. You will be required to pay the pre-mentioned premiums so that your policy stays up-to-date.

4. Protects your business from losses due to actual or false allegations

There may be instances where you or your business will be blamed by customers for professional negligence, errors, and omissions, or bodily injury.

Your employees might also blame directors, other employees, or the management for sexual harassment, discrimination, unlawful termination, and others which might result in hefty lawsuits.

Here, business liability insurances like professional liability and Directors or Officers’ insurance can not only protect your business from the legal costs involved but might also help you damage the reputation management costs.

5. Gives your business credibility

Having business liability insurance tells various stakeholders that you are a credible business and gives them the assurance of doing business with you or working for you. It gives them the sense of being covered by insurance policies if an unexpected event happens.

6. Prepares your business from the unexpected

It is almost impossible to determine when an adverse event might occur and your business might suffer from a loss or damage. Business liability insurance not only has you covered from such occurrences but it also helps prepare for risks of various kinds.

It might also help you repair or replace something if there’s a need without any extra charges to your business.

What Does Small Business Insurance Cover?

Depending upon the insurer that you choose, small business insurance may cover several risks and might also be a combination of different insurance policies.

Most commonly a small business insurance includes general liability, professional liability, and business interruption insurance. These are combined into a Business Owner Policy which covers businesses from damages to property, life, and lost income.

The coverage that a small business insurance offers depends upon the coverage that you choose.

• General liability or commercial liability insurance covers your business from losses if your customers are injured on your property or your business damages someone else’s property.
• Professional liability covers claims or negligence, errors, and omissions against you or your business.
• Business interruption or lost income insurance covers salaries lost due to business interruption.
• Workers’ compensation insurance covers the medical fees of your employees if they get injured at work. It also covers funeral costs if an accident results in death.
• Commercial auto insurance covers all the vehicles you use for business and also covers the employees driving them.
• Employment practices and liability insurance (EPLI) offers coverage from claims of sexual harassment, unlawful termination, discrimination among others.
• Directors or Officers insurance protects the management from claims and accusations, lawsuits and covers all legal fees.
• Commercial Umbrella insurance provides an extra layer of protection by covering claims that are bigger than what your primary business insurance covers.
• Commercial flood insurance offers coverage from damages that may be caused to your property and assets due to floods.

Standard business insurances do not include everything. Therefore, depending upon the type of insurance that you buy, a small business insurance will offer different types of coverages.

You can either buy an individual insurance or combine several policies together depending on the risks that your business faces.

What Does Small Business Insurance Exclude?

There are broad categories of business insurance available but often businesses are mistaken that they are covered under all the risks and claims that come under the broad umbrella. However, not all risks might be covered under every insurance.

For example, while your commercial auto insurance covers all damages and repairs to your vehicles and the employees driving them, it will not cover damages that were caused when the vehicle was being used for personal chores even though it might be your business vehicle.

While professional liability insurance or errors and omissions might cover claims of negligence and errors, it will not cover fraudulent activities.

Sometimes businesses also misrepresent themselves and their employees or the number of employees they have to pay reduced premiums. If this occurs, your business insurance will not cover you.

Also, while most business insurance providers cover businesses from fire, theft, or vandalism, they may not protect you from natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, and others.

While the business interruption insurance covers lost income due to interruption in business, it does not cover all the lost income. It might cover a portion of the losses or only for a couple of months.

Similarly, small business insurance does not offer coverages against environmental pollution, liquor liability, product recall costs, and others. To get your business covered from such risks, you will have to look for industry-specific insurances.

How to Choose the Best Business Liability Insurance?

While choosing a business liability insurance may be a time consuming process, it is an extremely important one as it determines what your business is covered from.

If you simply buy an insurance policy by looking at what it is called, you might not really know the intricate details of what is being offered to you.

This might result in you buying an insurance policy that does not cover the risks that your business is most exposed to, or you might buy an expensive insurance which offers coverages that you do not really need.

Therefore, it is important to carefully evaluate insurance policies and insurance providers along different criteria in order to purchase the best business liability insurance for your business.

1. Do not make assumptions about the coverage that your insurance policy offers

When you choose a business liability insurance policy, do not make assumptions about what is covered and what is not. Your general liability insurance might not cover you from natural disasters while you might think it does.

This will only result in your bearing the costs if an uncovered event does happen and you are under the assumption that you are covered. Understand what the policy you are considering covers before making the purchase.

2. Understand how the insurance provider calculates its quotes

Different business insurance providers calculate their quotes differently. Some factor in the industry and the number of employees, while some may consider the type of operations. Business insurance providers must be transparent about the way they calculate quotes.

Choose a business liability insurance provider that helps you stay informed rather than simply stating a number and asking you to pay.

3. Calculate the per-employee cost of your policy

While choosing a business liability insurance, always calculate the costs per employee. You do not want to choose one that looks attractive but has a very expensive premium compared to the number of employees that you have.

4. Consider general liability along with other liabilities

While every business needs to have some common categories of insurance policies, like general liability, there are industry-specific coverages that every business must get to give them well-rounded protection.

Make sure you get professional liability insurance that covers you against claims of professional negligence, errors, and omissions. Ensure that it covers the professional services that you offer.

You must also consider getting a business interruption liability that covers lost income during business interruption that might happen due to unforeseen reasons. You must also look at the allowed reasons for business interruptions as not all reasons are always covered.

Considering the current pandemic, getting a business interruption insurance that covers viruses and bacteria seems like a good idea.

5. Know the insurance obligations of your industry

Almost every state in the US requires employers to have workers' compensation insurance or there might be penalties.

Similarly, every business in each industry is subject to different requirements. It could even be a case where your business does not require any insurance as a mandate.

Knowing the insurance obligations of your industry can save you from the risk of running into serious legal problems.

6. Go for maximum coverage

While different business insurance providers will offer different types of coverages, always choose one that provides the broadest coverage and covers different types of incidents.

You never know how big or expensive a claim may turn out to be, hence, it is important to get sufficient coverage.

You must also get an umbrella policy that offers an extra layer of protection and will cover you if the cost of a claim exceeds what your existing coverage covers.

7. Read your insurance policy carefully

One very common mistake while buying an insurance policy is not reading what the insurance covers and failing to understand the finer details. This results in making claims which are not covered or paying expensive premiums for coverages that you do not really need.

Every business insurance provider has its own requirements and criteria for judging the severity of an incident. Make sure you know what these are.

8. Find out the financial strength of the business liability insurance provider

Before applying for business insurance with any insurance provider, make sure that they are the best out there and have been given excellent ratings by insurance rating companies like A.M. Best and Standard & Poor.

Some business insurance providers may be financially weak and thereby might be unable to pay the coverage amounts or might become insolvent like other companies.

Almost every business liability insurance provider in our list has received top ratings for its financial strength. biBERK of Berkshire Hathaway is especially known for its financial strength.

9. Look for scalability

Suppose you have bought commercial auto insurance that currently covers two of your trucks, but you now want to include ten cars in your fleet. Choose a business liability insurance that lets you easily make such changes.

Business needs keep on changing, which is why you must look for flexible business liability insurance policies.

10. Do a thorough risk analysis to understand all risks to your business

While everything mentioned above was external to the company, choosing the best business liability insurance begins with analyzing the risks that your business is exposed to before deciding what insurance you must buy or where you must buy it from.

Not all coverages apply to every business and your business might also need some unique coverages that most insurance providers do not offer. For example, coverage for a helicopter that your business needs to hire for some business operations.

Small Business Insurance FAQ

Manage Your Business Risks by Getting a Small Business Insurance

Wherever your business may be, every business runs the risk of being damaged due to unforeseen future events. There may also be massive industry-specific risks that might cause severe financial losses and can even cause a dent in your company’s reputation.

It is important to protect your business from such risks by choosing the most fitting business insurance that covers different types of risks.

You might not get an all-in-one policy but you can always combine different coverages into one insurance to include all the different risks.

Determine what you want to primarily cover along with general risks, and evaluate different business insurance providers on those lines.

For example, if your main concern is insuring your fleet of commercial vehicles, Travelers, GEICO, Progressive Commercial, and CoverWallet may be some good options.

If you are looking for comprehensive business insurance coverage, Zurich, and Chubb could fit your needs.

You can also choose a business liability insurance broker, i.e. Simply Business, and compare business insurance policies from the top insurance providers in the country.

Small businesses or freelancers, contractors, and other self-employed individuals can compare Next Insurance, Hiscox, and Thimble.

If you are looking for a hassle-free quotation process, and also a business insurance provider that has a great customer support and amazing financial strength, you might also want to give biBERK a try.

Whichever insurance provider you choose, in this day and age, make sure that they accept claims 24/7 and have an online portal where you can get a quote, make a claim, and even pay premiums.

Before finalizing on one, make sure you read some reviews to get an idea of how the company responds to claims and how soon they generally make payments.

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