Home / Insurance / Best Small Business Insurance Companies
Insurance · Updated 2026-10-19
Three names come up constantly in small-business insurance: Hiscox, Next Insurance, and The Hartford. They take visibly different approaches — Hiscox as a small-business specialist with on-demand options, Next Insurance (now branded ERGO NEXT) as a digital-first insurer for trades and the self-employed, and The Hartford as an established full-menu insurer writing a large share of America's small commercial policies.
This page compares the three on what their own websites actually say: products, who they serve, and published cost benchmarks. No invented scores, no paid rankings. Everything below was verified against the companies' official sites on 2026-10-19.
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Every "best business insurance company" list that ranks insurers with one score is hiding its method. Premiums, available products, and even eligibility vary by state, industry, payroll, and business size — the cheapest insurer for a freelance consultant can be the priciest for a contractor with a crew. We don't rank. We lay out what each of these three publishes, so you can match their strengths to your situation.
The honest way to choose: confirm which products you actually need, check which insurers serve your industry, and get quotes for identical coverage from at least three of them. Then compare the declarations pages line by line.
Hiscox positions itself specifically around small business. Its published lineup: general liability, professional liability (errors and omissions), a business owners policy (BOP), and cyber security insurance. Two things stand out. First, short-term liability insurance through a partnership with Thimble — hourly, daily, or monthly general liability and E&O with an instant certificate, built for project-based work. Second, industries it names outright on its site: architecture and engineering, health and wellness, consulting, and artisan subcontracting.
On price, Hiscox publishes one benchmark: general liability is "typically $30 a month or less." That's the company's own claim about its customers — a benchmark, not a quote for your business.
One structural note: workers' compensation, commercial auto, directors and officers, and umbrella coverage come through carrier partnerships (workers' comp through The Hartford), not directly from Hiscox. If you want every policy under one roof, that's a wrinkle worth knowing.
Next Insurance built its name on a fully online buying experience aimed at the self-employed and small businesses — it says it covers more than 1,300 professions, with emphasis on trades, contractors, consultants, knowledge workers, retailers, and mobile service businesses. Its six published products: general liability, workers' compensation, professional liability, commercial property, cyber liability, and commercial auto.
Next publishes the most detailed cost benchmarks of the three. From its official cost page: general liability from $19/month (45% of customers pay $45/month or less); professional liability from $19/month (73% pay $45/month or less); workers' compensation from $14/month (49% pay $75/month or less); commercial property from $18/month (40% pay $45/month or less). Those are the company's own customer figures — useful as a reality check, not as a quote. Some state pages advertise discounts of up to 25%.
A note on the name: following ERGO Group's acquisition (completed July 2025), the company is now branded ERGO NEXT. You'll see both names; they're the same insurer.
The Hartford is one of the largest writers of small commercial insurance in the U.S., and its menu shows it: general liability (bodily injury, property damage, and personal injury including libel and slander), professional liability, workers' compensation, commercial auto, commercial property, business income insurance, and a business owners policy that bundles general liability, commercial property, and business income — with optional add-ons including data breach coverage, professional liability, workers' comp, commercial auto, and umbrella.
It also publishes useful specifics: professional liability aimed at consulting, accounting, bookkeeping, marketing, advertising, technology, and legal professions; home-based business coverage; and commercial flood insurance. Its official BOP FAQs are unusually candid — a BOP does not cover professional services claims, employee injuries, or business vehicles, which need separate policies.
On price, The Hartford doesn't publish customer benchmarks on the pages we reviewed — so we don't invent any. The widely quoted "$68/month average" for its general liability comes from third-party reporting, not from thehartford.com, and we don't repeat unverified figures.
Choose Hiscox if you're a small professional-services or artisan business, want a specialist's product set, or need short-term project coverage through the Thimble partnership.
Choose Next Insurance (ERGO NEXT) if you're self-employed or in the trades, want to buy entirely online, and value published price benchmarks before you start.
Choose The Hartford if you want the broadest product menu from one insurer — including workers' comp, commercial auto, and business income under the same roof — or run an LLC that needs several policies at once.
None of the three publishes a financial-strength letter grade on its consumer site, and none publishes complaint ratios — so on those two dimensions, use the NAIC Consumer Insurance Search to look up any insurer before you buy.
Get quotes for identical coverage — same liability limits, same deductibles, same endorsements — from at least three insurers, so you're comparing prices, not different products. Then check:
| What | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| General liability — published starting price | from $19/month | Next Insurance — official cost page (company's own customer figures) as of 2026-10-19 |
| General liability — published customer claim | typically $30/month or less | Hiscox — official site (company's published claim) as of 2026-10-19 |
| Small business insurance — industry range | $500–$3,000/year | Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) — industry-published range as of as cited 2026 |
Averages mask wide state-by-state variation. Your premium depends on your profile, location, and coverage choices.
Read the Hiscox review, the Next Insurance (ERGO NEXT) review, and the Hartford review for the full details — then use our guide to comparing business insurance quotes to evaluate what you're offered.
Every figure on this page comes from the official source named. We never use aggregator sites as sources.
