Workers Comp Insurance 2026
By Elena Rodriguez | Last updated: October 3, 2026
Verdict Box
| Award | Carrier | Axis Workers’ Comp Fit Score (WCFS) | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Editor’s Choice | ERGO NEXT | 79.5 / 100 | A+ paper, published prices, online bind |
| Runner-Up | The Hartford | 75.5 / 100 | Published average cost plus documented pay-as-you-go |
| Budget Pick | biBERK | 66.5 / 100 | Direct from Berkshire Hathaway, A++ rated, no broker layer |
| Free | None | n/a | Workers’ comp insurance is never free. Every carrier below offers a free quote. |
Quick Answer: What Is the Best Workers’ Comp Insurance for Small Business?
ERGO NEXT is the best workers comp insurance for most small businesses in 2026, scoring 79.5 out of 100 on the Axis Workers’ Comp Fit Score. It pairs an A+ (Superior) AM Best rating with a published starting price of $14 per month and online quote-to-bind.
Key Takeaways
- According to Axis Intelligence, ERGO NEXT ranks first among seven workers’ comp carriers with a Workers’ Comp Fit Score of 79.5 out of 100.
- The Hartford reports that most of its workers’ comp customers with less than $300,000 in payroll pay an average of $81 a month.
- NCCI reports the workers’ compensation calendar year 2025 combined ratio was 91%, the 12th straight year of underwriting profit for private carriers.
- BLS reports private industry employers recorded 2.5 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2024.
- According to Axis Intelligence, only two of the seven carriers publish a dollar figure for what customers actually pay.
Workers Comp Insurance Comparison Table (2026)
| Rank | Carrier | WCFS | AM Best FSR | Published price signal | Pay-as-you-go documented | Buying path | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ERGO NEXT | 79.5 | A+ | From $14/mo; 49% pay $14 to $75/mo | Flexible payment options | Online quote and bind | nextinsurance.com |
| 2 | The Hartford | 75.5 | A+ | $81/mo average (under $300K payroll) | Yes | Not documented in sources retrieved | thehartford.com |
| 3 | EMPLOYERS / Cerity | 70.0 | A | Qualitative (“cost-effective”) | PrecisePay | Online quote via Cerity | employers.com, cerity.com |
| 4 | biBERK | 66.5 | A++ | “Up to 20% less” | Not documented | Online, direct | biberk.com |
| 5 | Pie Insurance | 63.5 | A- | “Up to 30%” savings | Not documented on pages retrieved | Online quote | pieinsurance.com |
| 6 | AmTrust | 60.0 | A- | Not published | Yes (PAYO) | Agent | amtrustfinancial.com |
| 7 | Travelers | 57.0 | A++ | Not published | Not documented | Independent agent | travelers.com, AM Best |
AM Best ratings are as stated by each carrier or by AM Best on the dates logged in our fact table. Ratings change; confirm on AM Best before you buy.
How Is the Axis Workers’ Comp Fit Score Calculated?
The Axis Workers’ Comp Fit Score (WCFS) is an Axis Intelligence metric that grades how well a workers’ comp carrier fits a small employer buying coverage today, using only what each carrier publicly documents. Every input is a logged, dated fact. Nothing is scored from reputation or memory.
Formula: WCFS = 10 × (0.25 × Financial strength + 0.15 × WC specialization + 0.20 × Price transparency + 0.15 × Billing flexibility + 0.10 × Digital buying + 0.15 × Claims scale). Each criterion is scored 0 to 10, so the maximum is 100.
| Criterion | Weight | How it is scored | Source basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial strength | 25% | AM Best FSR: A++ = 10, A+ = 9, A = 8, A- = 7 | AM Best or carrier statement of AM Best rating |
| Workers’ comp specialization | 15% | WC-only carrier = 10; multiline with documented WC leadership claim = 7; other multiline = 5 | Carrier pages |
| Price transparency | 20% | Published dollar figure = 10; published % savings claim = 6; qualitative claim only = 3; nothing published = 1 | Carrier pages |
| Billing flexibility | 15% | Documented pay-as-you-go = 10; named PAYG product without detail = 8; “flexible payment options” = 6; not documented = 1 | Carrier pages |
| Digital buying | 10% | Online quote and bind = 10; online quote = 8; agent required = 3 | Carrier pages |
| Claims scale | 15% | Scored from documented claims staffing, claims paid or customer base (see Methodology) | Carrier pages |
WCFS scores by criterion
| Carrier | Fin. strength | Specialization | Price | Billing | Digital | Claims | WCFS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ERGO NEXT | 9 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 79.5 |
| The Hartford | 9 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 75.5 |
| EMPLOYERS / Cerity | 8 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 70.0 |
| biBERK | 10 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 66.5 |
| Pie Insurance | 7 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 63.5 |
| AmTrust | 7 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 60.0 |
| Travelers | 10 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 57.0 |
Source: Axis Intelligence, inputs logged October 3, 2026.
Read the bottom row carefully. Travelers holds the strongest balance sheet in the set and calls itself the nation’s largest workers’ comp writer, and it still finishes last. That is not a judgment on its claims handling. It is a judgment on what a small employer can see before calling an agent: no published price and no documented self-serve path. The WCFS rewards carriers that show their numbers. A three-person landscaping crew comparing quotes at 10pm needs a price signal more than it needs the biggest name in the market.
Best Workers’ Comp Insurance for Most Small Businesses: ERGO NEXT
Verdict: The best overall fit for micro and small employers who want to price and bind coverage without a broker.
Standout: ERGO NEXT says workers’ comp at the company starts as low as $14 per month, and that 49% of its customers spend between $14 and $75 a month. It is one of only two carriers in this set that publishes a dollar figure, and the only one that publishes a distribution of what customers pay.
Financial strength: NEXT announced on September 16, 2025 that it earned an A+ (Superior) Financial Strength Rating from AM Best, following its full acquisition by ERGO, the primary insurance arm of Munich Re. In the same release, the company said it was approaching 750,000 small business customers.
Drawbacks: The $14 floor applies to the lowest-risk class codes and locations. A roofing contractor will not see it. Pay-as-you-go detail was not documented on the pages we retrieved; ERGO NEXT’s agent listing mentions only “flexible payment options.”
Best for: Service businesses, light trades and professional offices with simple class codes.
Pricing (as of October 3, 2026): From $14/month; 49% of customers pay $14 to $75/month (company-reported).
Best Workers’ Comp for Pay-As-You-Go Billing: The Hartford
Verdict: The strongest choice for employers whose payroll swings during the year.
Standout: The Hartford states that most of its customers with less than $300,000 in payroll pay an average of $81 a month for workers’ comp. Across a full policy year, that works out to $972 ($81 × 12), according to Axis Intelligence calculations. It also offers a pay-as-you-go option that spreads payments monthly.
Financial strength: The Hartford says AM Best rated its financial strength A+ as of July 2025.
Drawbacks: The $81 average is company-reported and limited to payroll under $300,000. Online purchase was not documented on the page we retrieved, which costs it on the digital criterion.
Best for: Seasonal businesses, restaurants and retailers with variable payroll.
Pricing (as of October 3, 2026): $81/month average for customers under $300,000 in payroll (company-reported).
Best Workers’ Comp Specialist: EMPLOYERS / Cerity
Verdict: A carrier that sells workers’ comp and nothing else, which shows in its scope.
Standout: EMPLOYERS describes itself as a workers’ comp specialist that serves clients in 46 states and the District of Columbia, focused on small businesses in low-to-medium hazard industries. Its digital brand, Cerity, offers free online quotes in 46 states.
Financial strength: Cerity states its underwriting companies are rated A (Excellent) by AM Best.
Drawbacks: No dollar figure is published. EMPLOYERS lists PrecisePay among its trademarks, but billing mechanics were not described on the pages we retrieved.
Best for: Low-to-medium hazard businesses that want a carrier whose whole operation is workers’ comp.
Pricing (as of October 3, 2026): Not published; quote required.
Best Budget Workers’ Comp: biBERK
Verdict: The best direct route to top-tier financial strength without paying for a broker.
Standout: biBERK says it insures small businesses directly, with no brokers or intermediaries, and that policies can cost up to 20% less than traditional providers. It sells online and states policies can be issued in minutes.
Financial strength: biBERK states all of the major insurance subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway Insurance Group are rated A++ by AM Best, and that Berkshire Hathaway paid $62 billion in claims in 2025. That claims figure covers the whole group, not workers’ comp alone.
Drawbacks: The 20% figure is a ceiling claim, not an average. biBERK states it does not sell workers’ comp in the four states that require businesses to buy from a government entity. Pay-as-you-go was not documented.
Best for: Cost-focused owners comfortable buying without an agent.
Pricing (as of October 3, 2026): Not published in dollars; “up to 20% less” (company-reported).
Best Workers’ Comp-Only Insurtech: Pie Insurance
Verdict: A workers’ comp specialist built for fast online quotes, held back by a lower rating and thin public billing detail.
Standout: Pie states that it serves small businesses in 40 states and Washington, D.C., and its agency page advertises savings of up to 30% on workers’ comp.
Financial strength: Pie is rated A- (Excellent) by AM Best, per the company.
Drawbacks: A- is the lowest rating in this set, tied with AmTrust. The 30% savings claim appears on Pie’s agency-facing page. Pay-as-you-go billing was not documented on the pages we retrieved, so it scores at the floor on that criterion until it is.
Best for: Owners who only need workers’ comp and want an online quote in minutes.
Pricing (as of October 3, 2026): Not published in dollars; “up to 30%” savings (company-reported).
Best Workers’ Comp for No-Money-Down Billing: AmTrust
Verdict: A large small-business workers’ comp writer with the most cash-flow-friendly billing in the set.
Standout: AmTrust says its Pay-As-You-Owe (PAYO) option lets policyholders bind workers’ comp with no money down at inception or renewal, and that it writes more than 350 classes of business. It also reports its adjusters handle 115 claims a month against an industry average of 140.
Financial strength: AmTrust states an A- (Excellent) rating from AM Best.
Drawbacks: No price is published, and its materials are aimed at agents, so you will buy through one.
Best for: Businesses where an upfront deposit is the real barrier.
Pricing (as of October 3, 2026): Not published; quote required through an agent.
Best Workers’ Comp for Claims Infrastructure: Travelers
Verdict: The heavyweight. Excellent paper and claims depth, but nothing a small buyer can price on its own.
Standout: Travelers calls itself the number one writer of workers’ compensation insurance in the United States and reports more than 2,000 workers’ comp claim professionals.
Financial strength: AM Best affirmed the A++ (Superior) Financial Strength Rating of Travelers’ main subsidiaries in August 2025.
Drawbacks: Travelers directs small business buyers to an independent agent. No price or pay-as-you-go detail appeared on the pages we retrieved.
Best for: Growing employers that already work with an independent agent and expect complex claims.
Pricing (as of October 3, 2026): Not published; quote through an independent agent.
How We Evaluated Workers’ Comp Insurance Carriers
This ranking is documentation-based. No one at Axis Intelligence bought a workers’ comp policy, filed a claim, or ran a timed quote for this article, and nothing on this page should be read as if we did. What we did: on October 3, 2026, we retrieved each carrier’s own workers’ comp pages, cost pages, and, where available, an AM Best press release, and logged every figure with its URL and retrieval date in the fact table attached to this article’s SEO file.
We then scored seven carriers on six criteria, weighted toward the two things a small employer cannot easily check alone: whether the carrier can pay (financial strength, 25%) and what coverage will roughly cost before a sales call (price transparency, 20%). Specialization, billing flexibility and claims scale carry 15% each; digital buying carries 10%.
One rule shapes the results more than any other. If a carrier does not document something on its public pages, it scores low on that criterion, even if an agent might confirm it on the phone. That penalizes Travelers and AmTrust on price, and Pie and biBERK on billing. It is deliberate: the score measures what a buyer can verify today.
Scope: we did not score complaint ratios, because we did not retrieve the NAIC complaint data during this session, and an unretrieved number is not a number we publish. Prices are company-reported and apply to each carrier’s own customer mix, so they are not comparable across carriers like for like. We started with ten carriers and dropped three (Chubb, Nationwide and Liberty Mutual) because we could not retrieve primary workers’ comp documentation for them during this session. They are candidates for the next monthly review.
Workers’ Comp Insurance Buyer’s Guide
How much does workers comp insurance cost for a small business?
Two carriers publish figures. ERGO NEXT says its workers’ comp starts at $14 a month, with 49% of customers paying $14 to $75. The Hartford says most customers under $300,000 in payroll average $81 a month. Your price is driven by payroll, class code, state and claims history, so treat these as reference points, not quotes.
The market backdrop is favorable to buyers. NCCI’s 2026 State of the Line reports that workers’ comp net written premium fell 0.2% in 2025, the only premium decline among the property and casualty lines NCCI compared. Total net written premium, including state funds, was $45.6 billion.
Is workers’ comp profitable for insurers, and why does that matter to you?
Very. NCCI reports a calendar year 2025 combined ratio of 91%, meaning carriers paid out roughly $91 in losses and expenses for every $100 of premium. But the accident year 2025 combined ratio was 102%, so current-year claims alone ran above premium; prior-year reserve releases carried the profit. When that cushion thins, rate cuts tend to slow. Lock in a good class code and clean claims record now.
What drives your workers’ comp premium?
Injury risk is the base of the price. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that private industry employers recorded 2.5 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2024, an incidence rate of 2.3 cases per 100 full-time workers. Your classification code tells the carrier where your work sits against that average. For context on what workers’ comp adds to total labor cost, see our business operating costs statistics, which tracks employer compensation costs by establishment size.
Should you choose pay-as-you-go workers’ comp?
If your headcount moves with the seasons, yes. Pay-as-you-go billing ties premium to actual payroll rather than an annual estimate, which reduces the year-end audit bill. Turnover matters here too: high churn makes payroll estimates unreliable, a pattern visible in our employee turnover statistics. The Hartford and AmTrust document pay-as-you-go in their public materials.
Where can’t you buy private workers’ comp?
biBERK and Cerity each state that four states require employers to buy workers’ comp from a state fund, so private carriers do not sell it there. Check your state workers’ compensation agency before quoting.
How workers’ comp fits with your other employer programs
Payroll and HR platforms increasingly connect directly to carriers for pay-as-you-go billing. If you are choosing that stack, our guide to employee benefits administration software covers platforms with workers’ comp integration. Employers hiring younger, entry-level crews should also read our Gen Z employment statistics, since new workers change both payroll and risk profile. And because carriers hold employee data, keep an eye on insurer incidents in our data breach tracker.
Workers Comp Insurance FAQ
Which workers comp insurance company is best for a small business in 2026?
According to Axis Intelligence, ERGO NEXT is the best overall fit, scoring 79.5 out of 100 on the Workers’ Comp Fit Score. The Hartford is the runner-up at 75.5, driven by its published $81 average monthly cost and documented pay-as-you-go billing.
What is the cheapest workers comp insurance for a small business?
The lowest published starting price in our set is ERGO NEXT at $14 a month for the lowest-risk class codes. biBERK claims prices up to 20% below traditional providers, and Pie claims savings of up to 30%, but neither publishes a dollar figure.
How much is workers comp insurance per month for a small business?
The Hartford reports an $81 monthly average for most customers with under $300,000 in payroll, and ERGO NEXT reports that 49% of its customers pay between $14 and $75 a month. Both figures are company-reported.
Which workers comp carrier has the highest AM Best rating?
biBERK (Berkshire Hathaway Insurance Group) and Travelers hold A++ (Superior), the top AM Best Financial Strength Rating, according to biBERK’s own disclosure and an August 2025 AM Best release for Travelers.
Can I buy workers comp insurance online?
Yes. ERGO NEXT offers online quote and bind for businesses up to $5 million in annual revenue, per its agent listing. biBERK, Pie and Cerity also offer online quotes.
Does workers comp insurance pay 100% of medical bills?
biBERK states that workers’ comp covers 100% of related medical bills plus lost wages up to limits set by state law, with no deductibles or copays. Benefit rules are set state by state.
Are workers comp premiums going up or down in 2026?
NCCI reports net written premium fell 0.2% in 2025, the only premium decline among the lines it compared, which points to a stable-to-soft pricing environment heading into 2026.
What is pay-as-you-go workers comp?
Pay-as-you-go workers’ comp bills premium against actual payroll each period instead of a single annual estimate. AmTrust’s version, Pay-As-You-Owe, allows binding with no money down at inception or renewal.
Which states require you to buy workers comp from the state?
biBERK and Cerity each state that four states require businesses to buy workers’ comp from a government entity. Confirm with your state’s workers’ compensation agency.
Is a workers comp specialist better than a multiline insurer?
It depends on what you need bundled. EMPLOYERS and Pie sell only workers’ comp, which scores highest on specialization in our matrix. Multiline carriers like The Hartford and ERGO NEXT let you place workers’ comp next to general liability.