A $30 a Month Floor vs a $67 a Month Average (2026)

Small business insurance costs depend on the trade, payroll, revenue and location, and the two numbers in this page's title are not on the same scale. Hiscox states that general liability starts at $30 a month, which is a floor. The Hartford publishes an average of about $810 a year, or about $67 a month, across its own customers, which is an average. A floor is the lowest point a price can start from, while an average sits somewhere inside a range, so the $37 gap between them says nothing about which company is cheaper for a given business.

How much does small business insurance cost?

There is no verified market average to quote, and this page does not invent one. What exists is a set of figures that each company publishes about itself, and they measure different things. Hiscox's is the lowest price at which its general liability range begins. The Hartford's is the mean of what its own customers pay.

Premiums depend on trade, payroll, revenue and location. Hiscox names business size, industry, location and coverage amount as what moves its price, and The Hartford says costs vary by state. Neither figure is described as applying to a particular trade, so a business should treat both as reference points and not as predictions.

A floor and an average, side by side

The table below shows what each figure is and what it is not.

A floor tells a buyer where the range begins. It does not say how many businesses pay it, or how far above it most businesses land. An average tells a buyer roughly where the carrier's own customers sit, but it is pulled by whatever mix of trades, sizes and states that carrier insures.

The two providers, in alphabetical order

The order is alphabetical, not a ranking. Prices are as of October 13, 2026, were read at each provider's own pages, and move over time.

Hiscox. Hiscox states that general liability starts at $30 a month. Its page names business size, industry, location and coverage amount as the things that move the figure. Treat $30 as a floor, never as a typical price. Business size is named explicitly, which is relevant to a very small business.

The Hartford. The Hartford publishes an average of about $810 a year, or about $67 a month, for general liability. That is the carrier's own average across its customers, not a market rate. Its page says costs vary by state and that a specific premium could be higher or lower, so the average should not be read as a quote.

Why can \$30 and \$67 not be compared directly?

Because they answer different questions. $30 answers "where does this company's pricing start?" and $67 answers "what do this company's customers pay on average?" A business could pay well above $30 with Hiscox, and a business near The Hartford's average could pay less than $67 or more.

The customer mix matters too. The Hartford's average reflects the trades and states it insures, and a mix weighted toward low-risk trades will show a lower figure whatever its price for any one trade. Hiscox publishes no average, so there is no like-for-like figure to set against The Hartford's.

One concession is worth making plainly. If the only question is which company publishes the lower number, Hiscox does, at $30 against $67. That is a point about what each chose to publish, and it says nothing about which company will quote lower for a given business.

What do the other providers publish?

For context, the remaining providers listed here publish figures of other kinds. NEXT Insurance, now branded ERGO NEXT, says general liability starts at $19 a month for some businesses and reports that 45% of its customers pay $45 a month or less. Its trade examples run from about $20 a month for a personal trainer to about $245 a month for a restaurant, and the company says an exact price needs a quote.

Insureon is a broker, not a carrier, and reports an average general liability premium of $45 a month, with annual policies from $265 to $3,030. Those figures are the median of policies it sold to roughly 100,000 of its own small business customers. Chubb and Thimble publish no premium and quote each business individually.

Every one of these is a different measure again: a starting price for some businesses, a customer distribution, a median or nothing at all. That variety is the reason no single figure can answer the cost question.

What does the price leave out?

The Insurance Information Institute says bodily injury and property damage cover protects against liability for harm to others arising out of non-professional negligent acts. Personal and advertising injury covers libel, slander, false arrest, infringing on another's copyright and malicious prosecution, and medical payments cover can be triggered without legal action.

The exclusions are where the real cost sits, and neither figure says anything about them.

This page does not state which of these either company's policies contain, or at what price they can be added. The cost of insurance is the premium plus whatever the policy leaves the business to carry itself.

What about a business owners policy?

A business owners policy bundles property insurance for buildings and contents the company owns, business interruption insurance for lost income after a fire or other catastrophe, and liability protection. The Institute says it is aimed at small and mid-sized businesses that generally face the same kind and degree of risk.

Its limits are plain: "BOPs do NOT cover professional liability, auto insurance, worker's compensation or health and disability insurance." Neither the $30 floor nor the $67 average is a business owners policy price.

What does the law require?

The U.S. Small Business Administration states that the federal government requires every business with employees to carry workers' compensation, unemployment and disability insurance. It adds that some states require additional insurance and that laws requiring insurance vary by state. A general liability policy satisfies none of those three, however low its price.

This page does not state a requirement for any particular state. The place to confirm one is that state's own insurance department. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners publishes a small business insurance shopping tool, the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner has a guide to how business insurance works, and the Texas Department of Insurance has a page on general liability insurance.

Does an LLC remove the need for a policy?

No. The SBA says limited liability protects personal assets in most instances, but that the protection has limits. The entity and the policy do different jobs, and one does not stand in for the other.

If someone runs a single-member LLC, the entity separates the business from the owner in most instances, while a policy pays for covered claims the business faces. ZenBusiness is the entity half of that pairing. It sells no insurance of any kind and is not part of the Hiscox and The Hartford comparison, so choosing a policy is a separate decision.

How can a business find its own number?

Write a plain description of the business: the work, the equipment, who is on site, the revenue, the payroll and the location. Give the same description to both companies, so each quote is built on the same facts.

Ask each for the same coverage amount, the limit and the deductible in writing, because this page does not state typical figures for either. Put the named exclusions to each as questions, and ask whether each can be added and at what price. Ask who issues the policy and who handles claims.

Then check the state insurance department for anything legally required, and compare totals last, once coverage types, limits, deductibles and exclusions match. A lower premium that leaves a required cover unfilled, or an exclusion that matters to the work, is not a saving.

This is general information rather than legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.