Best Digital Insurance Companies

In today’s fast-paced world, we often forget some of the most important financial decisions we need to make, such as getting the right insurance. Many times, we just keep the same insurer because we’ve had them forever, or because our parents had them too.

But that’s not always the best financial move. Digital insurance companies are disrupting the industry and making it way more comfortable for people to quickly get the right insurance they need at a great price.

So in this article, I will review the best digital insurance companies out there right now.

Best Digital Insurance Companies

Below is a list of some of the best digital insurance providers. While many of these companies provide more than just one type of insurance, I’ve outlined which one I like best for each insurance type. Let’s dive in.

Best for Home Insurance: Lemonade

Lemonade is an insurance provider that operates entirely through its app. Lemonade previously only offered renters insurance, but now it offers pet health insurance and homeowners insurance, too. All you need to do is answer a few simple questions on the app or their website, and you can receive a quote.

The reason I like Lemonade best for home insurance is because of its pricing and simplicity. As I said, the process to get insured, file a claim, update coverage, etc., is incredibly easy and intuitively done right through the app. And pricing for home insurance starts at just $25 per month, which is extremely competitive (obviously, this will vary based on your home, location, etc.).

Visit Lemonade or check out our Lemonade review.

Best for Auto Insurance: Liberty Mutual

Liberty Mutual is the sixth-largest global property and casualty insurer, founded in 1912. It offers many insurance options for both individuals and businesses, but where they excel is in its auto insurance. To start, Liberty’s pricing and bundling discounts are extremely competitive against other auto-insurers (of course, your rate will vary based on your situation). The claims process is also streamlined with Liberty it can take just 5 to 10 minutes to file a claim online, and Liberty will handle the rest, getting in touch with you if and where needed.

Liberty also has Accident Forgiveness, so your rates won’t automatically increase if you’re in an accident. And with their Better Car Replacement feature, Liberty can reimburse you for a car that’s one year newer and has 15,000 fewer miles on it so that you can get a better new vehicle.

Visit Liberty Mutual for more insight into this insurer.

Best for Searching for Health Insurance: Policygenius

Policygenius is an interesting option because they don’t directly provide health insurance, but they act as a channel to help you find health insurance more effectively. Policygenius provides all types of insurance, including life insurance, homeowners insurance, disability, renters, and auto.

But, again, they don't directly provide health insurance. They instead connect you to your state's healthcare marketplace to help you find the most effective and affordable coverage possible.

I'm recommending Policygenius in this category because of how much information they give you to set you up for success.

They have a full glossary of healthcare-related terms to help you better understand your healthcare coverage. They also have several reviews of the largest healthcare providers, as well as frequently asked questions that you might come across as you're looking for healthcare.

The most significant benefit, though, is their state-by-state guide to the health insurance open enrollment period, where they provide a link to each state's health insurance marketplace.

With each state, it tells you what the enrollment deadline is, where you can find the marketplace, what is happening to any premiums, any participating insurers, and other things that you need to know.

Having these resources can make it easier to choose a health insurance plan on your own.

Policygenius also has excellent customer service if you have any specific questions.

As you're probably well aware, getting health insurance coverage is incredibly important, so making sure that you choose the right policy for you and your family is essential, and Policygenius can help you do that the right way.

Visit Policygenius or read our Policygenius review.

Best for Life Insurance: Ladder

Ladder offers term life insurance policies through an online experience that makes the process of getting life insurance fast and easy (noticing a theme with this list yet?). Everything is done online, and you can get a quote in seconds and apply in minutes. What’s unique about Ladder is you can change your coverage as your needs change, such as applying to increase or decrease your coverage with a life situation change, such as having kids or getting older.

You can get a term life insurance policy of up to $8 million with Ladder (minimum of $100,000), and there are no fees to use Ladder. Ladder offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, the option to cancel anytime, and licensed, non-commissioned professionals to answer questions.

Visit Ladder or read our full Ladder review for more information.

Best for Pet Insurance: Embrace

Embrace offers insurance specifically for pets. Based out of Cleveland, Embrace has consistently won awards since selling its first policy back in 2006. It works like any other insurance you answer some specific questions about your pet(s) and can get a quote within minutes.

Once you have a policy, your pet can be covered for things such as exam fees, illnesses, accidents, dental illnesses, cancer, prosthetics, and so much more. A few things aren’t covered, but with the average cost for unexpected veterinary care ranging from $800 to $1,500, Embrace can quickly become worth it for many pet owners.

Visit Embrace or read our Embrace Pet Insurance review.

What Is Digital Insurance?

Digital insurance is essentially an insurance company that takes a technology-first approach to selling products and services.

Focusing on technology first allows insurance providers to reduce their costs and offer a more customer-centric approach. It also allows you, as the customer, to research different types of policies through an online dashboard or an app without having to call someone on the phone.

Digital insurance companies also leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to price and risk-evaluate your policies. This helps them be more accurate with pricing and frequently offers a much lower cost.

Digital insurance companies know they have to be fast and agile to reduce their costs and give you the best price possible as quickly as possible. So with digital insurance companies, you’ll see things like a live chat or an online claims portal that makes it easy to file a claim. You might also see a self-service portal, FAQs, and guides to help you research different insurance terms things that just make the process a lot easier.

How Much Does Digital Insurance Cost?

The cost of digital insurance will vary greatly depending on the digital insurance provider you choose and the type of insurance you're trying to get. As you can imagine, home insurance might cost more than life insurance, which might cost more than renters insurance.

That being said, digital insurance companies tend to provide a far lower cost because of their low overhead and technology-first approach. As a point of reference, Lemonade Insurance offers renter’s insurance for as little as $5 a month, pet insurance for as little as $10 a month, and homeowners insurance for as little as $25 per month.

However, your best bet is to choose a digital insurance provider and the type of insurance product that you want and then make some price comparisons to see what your actual quote will be.

Related: Best renters insurance

Is Digital Insurance Worth the Cost?

Digital insurance prices can be lower than you would pay with a traditional insurance provider (most of the time).

In addition to a lower cost, you're going to get a much more streamlined approach and the ability to do all of your insurance documentation and policy updates through an app or an online portal on your own.

There's a downside to this if you prefer meeting with someone face-to-face or getting human interaction to help you pick a specific policy or type of insurance.

Is a Digital Insurance Company Right for You?

If you don't have highly complex insurance needs and you want to save money, and you're also okay with doing things digitally, yes.

If you prefer to go into an office, to call someone on the phone, or meet face-to-face with someone to talk about different types of insurance policies and other costs, then it might not be for you.

What to Look For in a Startup Insurance Company

When working with a startup insurance company, the first thing you want to do is make sure they are legitimate. Many of these new insurance companies are backed financially by other larger insurance companies. You may have to do a little bit of research to figure out who supports the insurance company that you’re looking at if it’s not clearly stated.

A great place to start is by looking up the insurer's complaint record. You can do this at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' consumer information resource. On this website, you can look at an insurance company's closed complaints, as well as their closed complaint ratio.

Suppose you have state-specific questions about your insurance. In that case, another resource is the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' map section, where you can look up your state's individual insurance website and get more information on state-specific insurance policies.

This is helpful if something doesn't seem right with your new insurance company. You can cross-verify with the state-regulated information.

It’s also helpful to check out the company’s Better Business Bureau record and any Trustpilot reviews that they might have.

The good news is that the companies I've listed on this page are all reputable, and you can do your due diligence quite easily.

That being said, if something sounds way too good to be true, it probably is. It helps to do a little extra research before buying a policy if you're unsure.

Are There Any Online-Only Insurance Companies?

Yes, there are plenty of online-only insurance companies. Online-only insurance companies are another phrase for a digital insurance company, so the companies you see on this list are online-only insurance companies.

Now remember that some of these companies are not insurance companies themselves, but rather brokers that connect you to other insurance companies, or like Ladder, they're a company that is backed financially by another larger insurance company.

It helps to do your research on the company, but there are plenty of online-only insurance companies operating today.

How We Chose the Best Digital Insurance Companies

The first thing we did was look at the most common types of insurance that most people need, such as health insurance, life insurance, renters insurance, auto insurance, and home insurance, to choose the best digital insurance companies.

Then we researched the best digital insurance providers in each of these spaces and determined which one was best for each category.

We looked at things like pricing which is essential because you want to make sure you’re getting the best price possible and ease of use and overall customer experience. A digital insurance company can lose points if their website is too cumbersome, if their app isn’t intuitive, or if the customer experience isn’t great.

The benefit of using a digital insurance company is speed to delivery, low cost, and a great experience. So if a company does not meet high standards in all three of those areas, we chose to ignore them for this list.

We also ensured that each of the companies we selected was reputable and had a good Better Business Bureau and Trustpilot rating.

Finally, in addition to comparing options when selecting a policy, we wanted to make sure that you could contact the company if you had additional questions. So each of these companies on this list gives you the ability to reach out and connect with someone to talk more about a policy, if necessary.

FAQs

Are Digital Insurance Cards Legal?

Yes, digital insurance cards are legal. Every state accepts electronic proof of insurance now. For auto insurance, for example, you can show proof of insurance from your phone instead of a physical card in all 50 states.

Does Digital Insurance Automatically Renew?

In most cases, your digital insurance policy will automatically renew unless you cancel it. Your insurance provider will likely give you about 30 days' notice before the policy is renewed. You'll want to make sure to check the specifics with your particular insurance provider first, though.

Does Digital Insurance Increase after an Accident?

Your insurance may go up after an accident, depending on the policy and the insurance provider that you choose. It's helpful to contact the insurance provider before you sign up for a policy to understand their accident forgiveness policy or if it even exists. After you get into an accident, make sure to contact your digital insurance provider to understand if and how your insurance premiums will change.

Bottom Line

Using a digital insurance company makes sense for most people in today’s day and age. The process is far more streamlined than using a traditional insurance company or going the traditional route to secure insurance.

It’s often a lower cost, and it helps you get a policy much faster. Plus, customer experience tends to be markedly better. That’s one of the reasons you see so many new digital insurance companies popping up and so many older insurance companies developing a digital part of their business, like Liberty Mutual, for example.

If you're in the market for any type of insurance, this list is a great starting point for you. Remember to do your research and make sure that you find the right policy with the right insurance provider that fits your lifestyle and needs.

Related: Best Insurtech Companies