Shopping for life insurance can be annoying. But gone are the days when you needed to talk to an agent/salesman to get a quote. Now, online life insurance companies are making it easier than ever to get the insurance you need to protect your family.
However, the range of options is growing by the day. Luckily, the process to get a life insurance quote at most companies is quick - it can still be a hassle to know where to shop.
That's why we're breaking down the list of the top online life insurance companies. These companies make shopping for life insurance easy - by keeping the process online and quick. And remember, getting a quote doesn't cost you anything! Check out our list below!
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Note: The life insurance offers that appear on this site are from companies from which The College Investor receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). The College Investor does not include all life insurance companies or all life insurance offers available in the marketplace.
Bestow
Bestow is an online life insurance company that offers a short term and long term plan option. It uses technology to make the paperwork of getting term life insurance easy. It also eliminates the need for doctor visits.
They currently offer a 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30-year level term policy. They can serve anyone 18 to 59 years old.
They claim to be able to offer a $100,000 policy for as little as $10 per month. Their maximum insurance amount is $1,500,000.
Check out our full Bestow Life Insurance review here.
Ethos Life
Ethos Life was one of the first companies to sell life insurance policies online. Hence, they were also pioneers in regard to using technology to make applying for life insurance easy.
Ethos won't require a medical exam during the application process. You'll just need to answer a few health questions to get a policy.
Ethos offers a wide variety of term life insurance policies, ranging from 10 years to 30 years. Payout amounts for term policies range from $20k to $2 million and are available to anyone ages 25-65.
Ethos also offers whole life policies to those who are ages 66-85. The payouts for these whole life policies are lower at $1k to $30k, but approval is guaranteed.
Read our full Ethos Life review here.
Fabric
Fabric By Gerber Life Insurance is another online term life insurance company (or life insurance technology company) that focuses on providing level term life insurance without a medical exam, along with other estate planning support such as wills.
They offer policies to individuals from 25 to 60, with premiums starting as low as $6 per month. The value of policies ranges from $100,000 to $5,000,000.
They offer term lengths of 10-year, 15-year, 20-year, 25-year, and 30-year. Read our full Fabric by Gerber Life review here.
Haven Life
Haven Life is another one of the original online term life insurance companies that focuses on delivering high quality term life insurance at an affordable rate. Their application is slightly longer than others, but they do offer extremely competitive rates for no medical exam term life insurance.
They offer term life insurance for adults under age 59 up to $3,000,000. If you're 60 to 64 years old, you can see if you qualify for a $1,000,000 term life insurance policy.
Read our full Haven Life review here.
Ladder
Ladder has the goal of making life insurance simple. They offer a completely online term life insurance experience, with a wide range of term life insurance options, and no medical exams for coverage up to $3M.
You can get a term life insurance policy with Ladder if you're between 20 and 60 years old. They offer policies ranging from $100,000 to $8,000,000. This is one of the highest values we see in the online term life insurance space.
They also offer term lengths from 10 years to 30 years and flexible coverage that can be adjusted as needs change. Read our full Ladder Life Insurance review here.
LeapLife
LeapLife can help you search, compare, and get recommended personalized life insurance policy quotes to find the best rate.
They offer low cost level term life insurance online, and unlike many of the other companies on this list, you can also purchase whole life policies by calling their life insurance specialists.
As such, they offer a little more customization than many companies listed here.
Read our full LeapLife review here.
Policygenius
Policygenius isn't directly a life insurance company. Rather, it's a marketplace/comparison tool that makes shopping for life insurance (and pretty much every other type of insurance) super easy. It's one of the best life insurance comparison tools available.
They can provide you with term life insurance quotes from $500,000 to $10,000,000, and from 5 years to 30 years.
However, for some of their policies, it's not totally online. Given that they are a marketplace, they do have some online life insurance companies and others that will require more work. It's great to compare and shop around though, so don't dismiss it.
Check out our full Policygenius review here.
Prudential
Prudential is one of the oldest life insurance companies out there, and they have a complete offering of every insurance policy available. However, not all of these are available online.
Their online term life insurance policy is known as SimplyTerm, and it is available in coverage up to $500,000. It's available in term of 10, 20, or 30 years. Compared to other online options on this list, this is the least flexible and lowest maximum policy available.
However, with Prudential, they want you to move beyond the online policies and speak to an agent who can provide you with quotes on the full range of products they offer.
Quotacy
Quotacy is another online term life insurance comparison tool. It was one of the earliest tools that allowed you to quickly compare term life insurance options online.
Quotacy offers a full array of life insurance policies (beyond term), and it has a great customer support team if you need help beyond the online form. Even though they compare life insurance of other companies, everything is done directly with them.
Check out our full Quotacy review here.
Dayforward
Dayforward is one of the newest online term life insurance companies. What makes Dayforward different is unlike typical life insurance companies, it protects an insured person’s income. Following the death of the insured person, Dayforward pays a steady paycheck until the insured person’s youngest child reaches adulthood.
This is supposed to be to help prevent a family from having to manage a lump sum, but there are definitely pros and cons with this approach. If it's something that you're curious about, consider getting a quote.
Read our full Dayforward review here.
Who Should Shop For Life Insurance Online?
If you're a millennial or less than 50, relatively healthy, and know exactly what you need from an insurance perspective, then shopping for life insurance online just makes sense.
Plus, for 99% of people, term life insurance is better than any other life insurance alternatives.
So, if you already know what you need, and what you should qualify for, then it makes sense to shop online for the lowest premium for the amount you need. There's no reason to hassle with an agent (who also may not want to work with you anyway because of the low commissions with term insurance).
What If I Get Denied?
If you do get denied for an online term life insurance policy, then you should reach out to a life insurance agent who can navigate the underwriting process and get you the best rate possible for life insurance.
Most of the online life insurance companies are technology companies - they use technology to craft their policies, and if you don't fall into their pre-defined criteria, they will deny you.
This doesn't mean you're uninsurable, it just means your situation is probably more complex than others and would be better suited to work with a life insurance agent.
Term vs. Whole Life
You'll notice that almost all of these companies on the list strictly offer term life insurance. The reason is that term insurance is straightforward in pricing and benefits.
Whole life, on the other hand, is expensive and messy. It's messy from the benefits offered, the cash value, the premiums, and more. As such, it's incredibly difficult to streamline the process to offer online.
But even more so, most people should stick to term life insurance. There are very few reasons when a whole life policy makes sense.
Final Thoughts
Shopping for life insurance can be daunting. But this list puts together the best online term life insurance companies all in one place.
Remember, it doesn't cost anything to get a quote. And with most of these companies, you can get a quote in less than 15 minutes.
So, spend an afternoon, shop around, get multiple quotes, and know you're getting the best premiums possible for your life insurance needs.
Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared toward anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, Today, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.
Editor: Clint Proctor Reviewed by: Claire Tak