Workers Comp Insurance for Small Business: Compare Options

Provider roles, workflow representations, and price evidence on this page were verified against each provider's current official pages on July 20, 2026 and are rechecked before publication. State examples, the jurisdiction router, and the residual-market mechanics cite the current official agency source, verified August 7, 2026. Cover My Trade is an independent editorial publisher, written and maintained by the Cover My Trade editorial team — not an insurer, agency, broker, or advisor. If a figure here no longer matches the governing source, tell us at hello@covermytrade.com and we will correct it and re-date it.

Scope: workers' compensation only, for small businesses in standard trade and service classes — cleaning, landscaping, handyman and light trades, and comparable service operations — plus every jurisdiction's purchase route. Elevated-hazard classes such as roofing and tree work are flagged where they change the answer, without class-level appetite detail. General liability, commercial auto, and tools coverage are separate decisions, linked below.

The short answer. There is no universal best workers-comp provider, and any page that names one is skipping the step that decides your outcome. Start with the state where each of your workers performs work, not with a provider ranking. Ohio, North Dakota and Washington sell workers' compensation only through a state fund, as does Wyoming for extra-hazardous classes, and no private option on this page applies there. Everywhere else, confirm the purchase route and which workers must be included, then compare five routes — a workers-comp specialist, a direct digital route, a multi-carrier marketplace, an established carrier, and your state's assigned-risk plan — on the same payroll, class-code, state, policy, employer-liability, payment, audit, and claims fields. Your first move is to open your own state's rule in the authority router below. Bind valid coverage before you request a certificate: a COI is evidence of a policy, never a substitute for one, and never omit operations or relabel workers to force eligibility or a lower price.

If someone is waiting on your certificate

The fastest legitimate route still runs through a bound policy, and most of the delay is decided before you apply rather than after:

• You need coverage before you can have proof. There is no legitimate way to obtain a certificate without a valid policy, and no honest provider offers one. Never alter, fabricate, or backdate a certificate.
• Open your state's rule first. In Ohio, North Dakota and Washington — and for extra-hazardous classes in Wyoming — you buy from the state system, not from a private insurer, and starting a private application there costs you the day.
• Get the requester's exact wording before you apply. A specific employer-liability limit, a waiver of subrogation, or an alternate-employer endorsement asked for after binding adds processing time; asked for during the quote, it usually does not.
• Then expect same day to a few business days after the policy binds. The slowest of underwriting review, payment or deposit, and form processing sets the actual date — not the provider's advertised quote speed.

Best-fit picks by business situation

Each pick names a business situation and the route that fits it. Every pick is an option to request a quote — not a promise of eligibility, price, or coverage, all of which remain state-, class-, and underwriting-dependent.

• Cleaning, landscaping, handyman or comparable service shop hiring in one state: Pie Insurance, a licensed producer.
• Straightforward class, owner wants to buy and hold documents entirely online: ERGO NEXT, a licensed insurance agency route.
• Trade crew answering a general contractor's or client's proof request: Simply Business, a licensed multi-carrier producer.
• Crews crossing state lines, or an owner who wants a named claims contact: The Hartford, an insurer group.
• Roofing, tree work, framing, heavy loss history, or four declines already: your state's assigned-risk plan, through a licensed local professional.
• Any business in Ohio, North Dakota or Washington, or an extra-hazardous class in Wyoming: the official state system — no private route on this page applies to you.

If you have not yet opened the current rule for every state where your workers perform work, or you are unsure which workers count, none of these picks applies yet — confirm the requirement first, using the authority router below or workers comp requirements by state.

On this page

• If someone is waiting on your certificate
• Best-fit picks by business situation
• Start with the state route, not the provider list
• How Cover My Trade selected these options
• Compare the workers-comp shopping routes
• Who each workers-comp route is best for
• What workers comp covers, and what it does not
• What published workers comp prices actually mean
• Compare quotes, audits, and legitimate proof
• When no insurer will write you
• Frequently asked questions
• Your next step

Start with the state route, not the provider list

State examples below cite the governing agency page, verified July 20 or August 7, 2026 as marked; the jurisdiction router was verified against the U.S. Department of Labor directory and the named state agencies on August 7, 2026. The full state-by-state requirement matrix lives on workers comp requirements by state; this page carries the purchase route and the authority, not the thresholds.

Workers' compensation is a state-governed system. The state where each worker performs work — not your headquarters, your trade, or a national rule of thumb — determines whether coverage is required, which workers must be included, and where coverage can legally be purchased. Two verified examples show why national absolutes fail. Washington requires employers to obtain coverage through the state's Department of Labor & Industries or qualify for certified self-insurance; a private workers-comp policy is not the purchase route there (Verified, official L&I page, July 20, 2026). Texas generally lets private employers choose whether to subscribe to the workers-comp system, with notice and reporting duties for nonsubscribers, per the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation (Verified with limitation — Texas only; last updated June 8, 2026). That election is not free of consequence: under Texas Labor Code Chapter 406, an injured employee can sue a nonsubscribing employer directly for negligence, and the employer loses the common-law defenses of contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fellow-servant rule. The filing duties are the small part of that choice. Work through these gates before comparing any provider:

Gate	What decides it	Your first action
State purchase route	The current official rule for every state where workers perform work: private insurers, a state-run system, self-insurance, or another mechanism.	Open the governing agency page for each state in the router below.
Worker and classification facts	Employees, owners and officers, independent contractors, subcontractors, leased or temporary workers, and volunteers — decided by state tests and facts, not labels or 1099 forms.	List every person who works for you and the actual relationship, without editing the facts.
Contract or proof request	A client, general contractor, landlord, license process, or platform may demand coverage or proof beyond the legal mandate — and only the actual wording controls.	Open the contract or request and record the required policy, limits, certificate holder, form language, dates, and deadline.
Class and claims complexity	Hazardous or unusual class codes, multi-state work, heavy losses, or negotiated form needs can put a business outside standard online routes.	Note anything a self-service path may decline, so you can plan the escalation early.
Price-evidence type	Starting prices, percentile estimates, customer medians, and quote examples are different evidence types that do not compare with each other.	Ignore headline figures until you hold quotes built on the same inputs.

Valid coverage comes before proof. A certificate of insurance is evidence related to a bound policy — it does not create, extend, or amend coverage, and the party requesting it decides whether it is acceptable. There is no legitimate way to obtain proof without a valid policy, and no honest provider offers one. Never alter, fabricate, or backdate a certificate, and never misstate operations, payroll, or worker status to force eligibility. How certificates work in detail is covered in how a certificate of insurance works.

Where you can and cannot buy privately

Four states run monopolistic workers-compensation funds: Ohio, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. In Ohio, North Dakota and Washington that means every covered employer buys from the state system and none of the private routes compared on this page applies. Wyoming is narrower than the shorthand suggests, and the table shows how. This is not a preference or a pricing question — it is the purchase route set by state law.

Jurisdiction	What the authority states	Employer's liability included?	Verify at
Ohio	Employers obtain coverage through the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation; private carriers may not write standard workers' compensation in Ohio. Qualifying employers may apply to self-insure. Rating uses NCCI classifications, with base rates set per $100 of payroll in Ohio Administrative Code 4123-17-06.	No — buy stop-gap employer's liability separately	Ohio BWC, getting coverage
North Dakota	Workforce Safety and Insurance is the sole provider and administrator; North Dakota law does not allow private insurers to underwrite workers' compensation in the state. Coverage must be in place before employees begin working.	No — buy stop-gap employer's liability separately	ND WSI, coverage requirements
Washington	Employers obtain coverage through the Department of Labor and Industries or qualify for certified self-insurance; a private workers-comp policy is not the purchase route.	No — buy stop-gap employer's liability separately	WA L&I, do I need an account
Wyoming	Narrower than the shorthand suggests. Coverage through the Department of Workforce Services is required for extra-hazardous industries, identified by NAICS code under W.S. §27-14-108. The Wyoming Department of Insurance states that employers exempt from that requirement may buy workers' compensation from private insurers on the open market.	No from the state fund; a private policy bought by an exempt Wyoming employer carries its own Part Two	WY DWS, employers; WY DOI, workers' comp

Both of the following cost money when they are missed.

The state fund does not sell you employer's liability. A standard private workers-compensation policy has two parts. Part One pays statutory benefits to an injured worker. Part Two — employer's liability — responds when a worker or a third party sues you over that injury rather than simply claiming benefits. Monopolistic state funds provide the benefits and not Part Two. Closing that gap normally requires a stop-gap employer's liability endorsement added to your general liability policy — a separate purchase, from a private insurer, that the state fund will not sell you. If a general contractor's contract asks for employer's liability limits and your workers are covered by one of these state funds, that endorsement is what it is asking about. Ask your general liability carrier whether it will attach stop-gap for your states; not every carrier does.

Your state fund coverage usually stops at the state line. These systems are state agencies, not insurance companies, and generally cannot write coverage for work performed elsewhere. If your crew crosses a border, ask the authority whether a reciprocal agreement covers the trip and what proof it requires, and confirm what your policy in the other state must show.

Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands run their own territorial systems. Cover My Trade has not verified those purchase routes from the territory authority as of August 7, 2026; confirm directly using the router below.

Find your state's workers-comp authority

Every jurisdiction below is listed with the governing authority the U.S. Department of Labor identifies for it, verified against the DOL directory of state workers' compensation officials on August 7, 2026. Two entries are corrected here against the agency's own current site, because the federal directory is out of date on both: Oklahoma, where the Workers' Compensation Commission established in 2013 administers the Administrative Workers' Compensation Act rather than the former Workers' Compensation Court, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the directory still points through a link-shortener. Treat the directory as a starting point rather than a final answer. Every row below carries the status Verified with limitation: the governing authority and the purchase route are verified, and each authority's own employer-requirement page has not been separately verified row by row. This router answers one question — where the rule comes from and where coverage is bought. It does not carry employee thresholds, owner-election rules, or exemptions.

Those thresholds are exactly why you have to open your own state's page rather than trust a national summary. The trigger runs from the first employee in Alaska, where the Division of Workers' Compensation states that each employer with one or more employees must obtain coverage unless approved to self-insure, to the fifth in Alabama, where the Department of Labor states that employers regularly employing fewer than five are not required to carry it — and Texas makes participation generally elective altogether (all Verified, August 7, 2026). Three neighbouring trades can therefore get three different answers to the same question. The full matrix lives on workers comp requirements by state; the authority below is where each rule is published. A route marked private-market means private carriers may write there; it does not mean coverage is optional, and several of those states also operate a competitive state fund you may quote alongside private carriers.

Jurisdiction	Governing authority	Workers-comp purchase route
Alabama	Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Alaska	Department of Labor & Workforce Development, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Arizona	Industrial Commission of Arizona	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Arkansas	Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
California	Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Colorado	Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Connecticut	Workers' Compensation Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Delaware	Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Affairs	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
District of Columbia	Department of Employment Services, Office of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Florida	Department of Financial Services, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Georgia	State Board of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Guam	Workers' Compensation Commission	Territorial system — route not verified as of August 7, 2026; confirm with the authority
Hawaii	Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Disability Compensation Division	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Idaho	Industrial Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Illinois	Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Indiana	Workers' Compensation Board of Indiana	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Iowa	Iowa Workforce Development, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Kansas	Department of Labor, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Kentucky	Labor Cabinet, Department of Workers' Claims	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Louisiana	Louisiana Workforce Commission, Office of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Maine	Workers' Compensation Board	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Maryland	Workers' Compensation Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Massachusetts	Department of Industrial Accidents	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Michigan	Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Workers' Compensation Agency	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Minnesota	Department of Labor and Industry, Workers' Compensation Division	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Mississippi	Workers' Compensation Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Missouri	Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Montana	Department of Labor and Industry, Workers' Compensation Claims Assistance Bureau	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Nebraska	Workers' Compensation Court	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Nevada	Department of Business & Industry, Division of Industrial Relations	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
New Hampshire	Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
New Jersey	Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
New Mexico	Workers' Compensation Administration	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
New York	Workers' Compensation Board	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
North Carolina	Industrial Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
North Dakota	Workforce Safety and Insurance	State fund only — private policy not available
Ohio	Bureau of Workers' Compensation	State fund only — private policy not available
Oklahoma	Workers' Compensation Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Oregon	Workers' Compensation Division	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Pennsylvania	Bureau of Workers' Compensation, Department of Labor and Industry	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Puerto Rico	Industrial Commission	Territorial system — route not verified as of August 7, 2026; confirm with the authority
Rhode Island	Department of Labor & Training, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
South Carolina	Workers' Compensation Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
South Dakota	Department of Labor and Regulation, Division of Labor & Management	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Tennessee	Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Texas	Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation	Private market, and participation is generally elective for private employers — see the nonsubscriber consequences above
Utah	Labor Commission, Division of Industrial Accidents	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Vermont	Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Virgin Islands	Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Administration	Territorial system — route not verified as of August 7, 2026; confirm with the authority
Virginia	Workers' Compensation Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Washington	Department of Labor and Industries, Insurance Services Division	State fund only — private policy not available
West Virginia	Office of the Insurance Commission	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Wisconsin	Department of Workforce Development, Workers' Compensation Division	Private market — confirm requirement with the authority
Wyoming	Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division	State fund for extra-hazardous NAICS codes; other employers may elect state coverage or buy private

American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands are not listed in the federal directory; if you employ workers there, contact the territorial labor department directly. Once you know your route, the input list you will need for every quote is in Compare quotes, audits, and legitimate proof — gather it once and give every option the same facts.

How Cover My Trade selected these options

Cover My Trade does not sell, underwrite, or bind insurance, does not issue certificates or determine legal compliance, and earns nothing from the order below. These rules were applied on July 20, 2026 and are re-applied on publication day.

Inclusion gate. An option appears only when its current official documentation shows a workers-comp path relevant to U.S. small businesses and makes its market role and access path visible.

State gate. Every option remains subject to state availability. Nothing on this page implies private-market access where an official state route controls the purchase.

Equal-field rule. Every option is examined on the same fields: state access and class appetite; the quote, underwriting, bind, and effective-date workflow; policy documents and proof; payment structure; premium-audit treatment; market standing; and the claims path. A field that public documentation does not close is labeled "not publicly verified — confirm in the current quote," never left blank.

Evidence rule. One current first-party source per option. No provider page establishes a competitor's facts or a state rule; state claims cite the governing agency.

Price rule. Public figures are reproduced only with their evidence type, date or data period, known basis, and missing assumptions. Unlike figures are never merged, averaged, or used to rank options.

Ordering rule. The list is unnumbered and ordered by route fit and evidence confidence — never by commission, carrier size, advertised price, or quote speed. No numeric scoring or weighting is used; if a scoring method is ever adopted, its fields and weights will be published on this page.

Exclusion rule. An option that fails a gate is omitted or listed under considered but not included with the specific failed gate.

Source conflicts are published, not resolved quietly. Three are open as of August 7, 2026. The Hartford's own cost page tells readers that a business in North Dakota, Ohio, Wyoming or Washington must buy through a monopolistic state fund, while the Wyoming Department of Insurance states that Wyoming employers exempt from the extra-hazardous requirement may buy from private insurers — on a state rule, the regulator controls and the carrier page does not. Simply Business publishes a $101 monthly customer median on its workers-comp page and a $122 monthly customer average on its workers-comp cost page; these are different statistics and this page reproduces the one whose basis and period are stated. Pie states workers-comp coverage in 38 states and Washington, D.C. on its savings page and 39 states and Washington, D.C. on its about page; confirm your own state in the appetite check.

Refresh. Facts verified July 20, 2026; next scheduled verification October 18, 2026, or sooner if a provider, policy form, or state rule materially changes.

No option here is a partner, sponsor, preferred provider, or client, and this page publishes with neutral links.

Who sells, who underwrites, and who handles claims

The label on a workers-comp website rarely tells you who actually bears your policy. Four market roles matter, because they change where your price comes from, who processes your certificate, and who pays your claim:

Role	Who issues and bears the policy	What the role changes for you
Direct carrier	The carrier group itself, through an underwriting subsidiary	One appetite and price; quotes, documents, audits, and claims stay inside one organization.
MGA / program administrator	A carrier the program underwrites for; the administrator manages quoting and service	Program rules set eligibility; confirm the issuing carrier behind the program.
Broker / agency (producer)	A separate issuing insurer; the producer sells and services	The producer can shop or place; the insurer controls terms, audits, and claims.
Comparison marketplace	Third-party carriers on each quote	One application, several carriers; certificate speed, audit, and claims terms vary by the carrier you pick.

One more distinction sits underneath all four. An admitted insurer is licensed by your state's insurance department, files its rates and forms there, and is backed by the state guaranty fund that pays claims if the insurer becomes insolvent; a non-admitted or surplus lines insurer is not, and its policyholders have no guaranty-fund protection, per the NAIC. Statutory workers' compensation is the line where this matters least and is asked about most: federal law expressly preserves each state's power to restrict placing workers' compensation with a non-admitted insurer, and states treat that placement differently, so the backstop for a risk no admitted carrier wants is normally the assigned-risk plan rather than surplus lines. Ask which company issues your policy and whether it is admitted in your state.

Where a provider's own current documentation does not establish its role, this site labels the role "not verified" rather than assuming it — the same verification vocabulary (Verified; Verified with limitation; Partial; Blocked; Not applicable; Superseded) used on every consequential field of this page.

Compare the workers-comp shopping routes

Roles, price evidence, and limitations below reflect each provider's current official pages as of July 20, 2026. Every figure is provider-published and labeled by evidence type in what published workers comp prices actually mean; none is a guaranteed quote or market average. None of these routes applies in Ohio, North Dakota, or Washington, or to extra-hazardous classes in Wyoming. Workflow, market standing, and the questions each option's public evidence leaves open are carried in the profiles below.

Option and role	Buyer profile served	Public price evidence	Main limitation
Pie Insurance — licensed producer; policies underwritten by The Pie Insurance Company and affiliates	Single-state employer, small payroll, standard class; wants class-code help during the application	No public starting premium. Advertises up to 30% savings and an approximately 3-minute quote — marketing representations, footnoted as variable; not price evidence	Not available in all states or situations; eligibility, the underwriting company, terms, timing, and savings all vary
ERGO NEXT — licensed insurance agency; the issuing insurer bears the policy obligations	Owner-operator or small crew in a listed profession; no negotiated forms needed before binding	Starting at $14/month, based on active-policy premiums as of April 1, 2026; not guaranteed	Not all applicants, states, or classes qualify; the exact issuing company, minimum premium, fees, audit terms, and state access are quote-specific
Simply Business — licensed multi-carrier producer / marketplace	Employer who wants competing carrier prices on one application before committing	As low as $38.91/month (10th-percentile sales basis, Jan.–Jun. 2025); $101/month customer median (Jul.–Dec. 2025); three May 2026 quote examples of $95–$137/month	Third-party carriers underwrite and handle claims; the carrier, down payment, payment terms, forms, state access, and proof timing vary
The Hartford — insurer group; direct and agent routes	Employer with growing payroll, multi-state exposure, or a preference for a named human contact	Starting at $13/month; $81/month average among its customers with under $300,000 in payroll (page updated May 20, 2026); estimates, not guarantees	Products vary by state and business; public figures do not normalize class, state, limits, minimum premium, audit, or fees; state-run routes remain outside private purchase

Any field this table does not show is not publicly verified — confirm it through the current quote or official source. A blank never means zero, free, no requirement, or nationwide availability.

Who each workers-comp route is best for

The matrix above carries the comparable fields. These profiles carry what the matrix cannot: the decisive reason to pick one route over the one next to it, the workflow from application to proof, the market standing behind the paper, the coverage each route leaves open, and the questions each option's public evidence does not answer. Every workflow below carries the status Verified with limitation: it is stated on the provider's own current page, and the fields marked not publicly verified remain open.

Pie Insurance: the workers-comp specialist route

Pie, a licensed producer, writes workers' compensation and little else, which shows in its intake: class-code support during the application and unusually plain audit education on its official pages.

Choose Pie over ERGO NEXT when you want that class-code and audit help while you are applying rather than after your first audit bill. Not ideal for a business outside Pie's current state or class appetite, or for anyone who needs a guaranteed savings percentage, a guaranteed quote time, or a coverage conclusion drawn from marketing copy. What this route does not close: any state where the state fund is the purchase route, and any class outside its current appetite — both of which you learn only by running the appetite check or the quote.

Workflow. Pie publishes workers-comp coverage in 38 states and Washington, D.C. on one of its own pages and 39 on another (see the source conflicts above); no target-class list is published, so verify both through the current appetite check or quote. The online quote is represented as about 3 minutes, with underwriting and actual timing varying. A COI can be requested after coverage is bound; waiver and form processing are not publicly verified. Premium is estimated and then audited, and its official page explains payroll and class inputs and post-term reconciliation.

Market standing. Pie publishes an A- (Excellent) AM Best rating on its own workers-comp page. Cover My Trade has not confirmed that rating against AM Best's own listing, and the rating attaches to the issuing carrier rather than to the producer — confirm the issuing company in the quote, then check its listing (Partial, August 7, 2026).

Confirm in the quote:

• The exact underwriting company, whether it is admitted in your state, plus your state and class eligibility.
• Owner and officer elections and employer-liability limits.
• Minimum premium — the floor the insurer charges regardless of how small your payroll is — plus deposit, installments, and fees.
• Audit method and the certificate and waiver workflow.

ERGO NEXT: the direct digital self-service route

ERGO NEXT (formerly NEXT Insurance; rebranded in January 2026 following its acquisition by Munich Re's ERGO Group) is a licensed insurance agency route built for owners who want to buy, hold documents, and issue their own COIs from an app.

Choose ERGO NEXT over Pie when speed and self-service documents matter more than class-code coaching and your class is unremarkable. Not ideal for a state or private-market mismatch, an unusual or hazardous class, complex multi-state placement, heavy loss history, or a contract that requires negotiated forms before binding. What this route does not close: negotiated form or endorsement requests made before binding, and hazardous-class placement — both usually need a human underwriting path.

Workflow. More than 1,300 professions are stated; no separate state list is published, and listed state and class underwriting applies. About 10 minutes to quote and buy is stated, and coverage is represented as effective the next day after payment — representations, not guarantees. Policy documents and COIs are available online and in-app after purchase, with no extra COI charge stated. A monthly start is shown; minimum premium, deposit, fees, audit terms, and the issuing company are not publicly verified.

Market standing. Not verified from the rating agency's listing as of August 7, 2026. The rating attaches to the issuing carrier — confirm which company issues your policy, then check its listing. One source divergence to note: ERGO NEXT's own materials describe the company as a digital-first insurer, while its consumer purchase path runs through a licensed agency with an affiliated issuing company. Both descriptions are defensible, which is exactly why you should confirm in the quote which company actually issues your policy — that is the entity whose terms, audit, and claims handling apply.

Confirm in the quote:

• The issuing insurance company, whether it is admitted in your state, and your state and class eligibility.
• The actual effective date, payroll and class basis, and owner treatment.
• Minimum premium, deposit, fees, and audit terms.
• The certificate and waiver workflow against your contract's exact wording.

Simply Business: the multi-carrier marketplace route

Simply Business is a licensed multi-carrier producer, not a carrier: one application returns quotes from third-party carriers who underwrite and handle claims, and its published figures carry unusually clear data labels.

Choose Simply Business over a single-carrier route when you do not yet know which carrier wants your class and would rather see several prices than guess. Not ideal for a reader who assumes the marketplace is the insurer, services every claim, or guarantees the headline price or proof timing. What this route does not close: the carrier-level terms — policy forms, audit method, cancellation, and claims handling — which become visible only after you select a quote. The marketplace screen compares price and access; it does not compare policy language.

Workflow. The producer is licensed in all states and the District of Columbia; no workers-comp trade list is published, and the actual carrier and state route control availability. One application returns a carrier comparison with online purchase where available; "within 10 minutes" is marketing, not a guarantee. The account and proof workflow is stated, and each carrier's certificate, waiver, and contract-acceptance handling varies. An initial down payment may apply, the carrier handles the policy and claims, and audit and payment terms differ by carrier.

Market standing. Varies by which carrier quotes you; no rating attaches to the producer. Not verified from the rating agency's listing as of August 7, 2026 — ask which carrier is quoting, then check its listing.

Confirm in the quote:

• Which carrier is quoting, whether it is admitted in your state, and whether the quote is bindable as shown.
• That carrier's state and class appetite and policy forms.
• Down payment, installments, fees, cancellation, and audit terms.
• The carrier's certificate, waiver, and claims processes.

The Hartford: the established carrier route

The Hartford offers a direct and agent path into a large insurer group, with visible claims resources and a pay-as-you-go billing service described on its official page.

Choose The Hartford over a digital-only route when your payroll is growing, your crews cross state lines, or you want a named human to call when a claim lands. Not ideal for a business in a state-run system, an ineligible class, or anyone treating its customer averages as a personal quote. What this route does not close: the four state-fund jurisdictions, and eligibility for the pay-as-you-go service, which is quote- and state-specific rather than automatic.

Workflow. Neither a state list nor a trade list is published for workers' compensation; a private option is offered where available, and its own page identifies state-run routes for certain states. Online quote and phone routes both exist; underwriting and effective date are quote-specific. The business portal can create certificates, while contract-form and waiver processing is not publicly verified. A pay-as-you-go service is described and the claims network is visible, but the actual audit and payment terms control.

Market standing. Not verified from the rating agency's listing as of August 7, 2026. The rating attaches to the specific underwriting subsidiary rather than the group — confirm the subsidiary in the quote, then check its listing.

Confirm in the quote:

• The actual underwriting subsidiary, whether it is admitted in your state, and your state access.
• Online versus agent routing, class and payroll basis, and owner elections.
• Pay-as-you-go eligibility and fees, plus audit terms.
• Certificate creation and any endorsement handling your contract requires.

The assigned-risk plan: the market of last resort

Every state operates a statutory backstop for employers no voluntary carrier will write. The National Council on Compensation Insurance, which administers many of them, describes the residual market as covering employers who cannot obtain coverage because of their size, newness, loss history, or hazardous class, and notes that a state's mechanism may be a state fund, a joint underwriting association, an assigned-risk reinsurance plan, NCCI's own Workers Compensation Insurance Plan, or an alternative arrangement (Verified, NCCI, August 7, 2026).

Choose the assigned-risk route when roofing, tree work, framing or a loss-heavy record has already produced declines — for those classes it is the normal path, not a punishment. Not ideal for an employer who has not actually been declined, since eligibility usually requires documented declinations, or for anyone who expects voluntary-market pricing. What this route does not close: multi-state work. NCCI publishes a limited other-states endorsement for residual-market policies, so coverage for states you did not name at binding is narrower here than on a voluntary policy — ask before you send a crew across a line.

Workflow. Where NCCI administers the plan, applications can be submitted online, by phone, or by mail. Where a state fund or rating organization administers it, apply through that administrator. Declination evidence is normally required and the threshold is state-specific: Oregon's plan, administered by NCCI at the direction of the state, requires that the employer have been declined by at least one carrier within the last 60 days or have received no reasonable offer of coverage (Verified with limitation — Oregon only, August 7, 2026). Confirm your own state's rule with its authority in the router above.

Market standing. Assigned-risk policies are issued by admitted carriers assigned under the plan, so guaranty-fund protection applies; the assigned carrier, not the plan, handles your claims.

Confirm before you apply:

• Which body administers your state's plan, and how many declinations it requires.
• Which carrier you have been assigned to, and its audit and claims process.
• The rate loading against voluntary-market pricing, and what would let you leave the plan.
• Other-states treatment, if any worker crosses a state line.

Match your situation to a shortlist

Business situation	Trade or operation	First move	Routes to quote
Hiring your first employee in one state	Cleaning, landscaping, handyman and comparable standard service classes	The governing gate is unresolved: open the current official state rule in the router above before shopping, and pair it with the first employee checklist	Then quote a specialist route (Pie) and a direct digital route (ERGO NEXT) on the same inputs — unless your state is a state-fund jurisdiction, in which case start at the authority
Trade crew with payroll and a client or GC proof request	Trades working under a general contractor	Record the contract's exact policy, limits, certificate-holder, and form language before any application	Quote a marketplace pass (Simply Business) and an established carrier (The Hartford), and compare against the contract fields
Workers performing work in more than one state	Any trade with crews crossing a state line	Multi-state placement is fact-specific: get qualified, state-by-state review rather than assuming the headquarters state controls, and check whether any state in your footprint is a state-fund jurisdiction	An established carrier or agent route (The Hartford) or a licensed independent professional; confirm other-states treatment — which extends the policy to states you did not name at binding — in every proposal
Solo owner whose contract demands workers-comp proof	Any trade	Confirm the requirement first: owner eligibility and elections vary by state and policy, so verify the official state rule and the requester's exact wording	A marketplace pass (Simply Business) or a licensed local professional; never buy an ill-fitting policy solely to generate a certificate
Elevated-hazard classification	Roofing, tree work, framing and other work at height	Expect standard online routes to decline the class. Confirm your class code before you shop and plan for a specialist or residual route from the start rather than after four declines	A licensed local professional with access to hazard-class markets, plus the assigned-risk plan as the backstop
Regular use of 1099 subcontractors	Any trade that hires subs	Collect a current certificate from every sub before you quote, because payments to uninsured subs commonly become your payroll at audit — see what the audit finds	Any route above, but ask each one specifically how it treats uninsured subcontractor cost at audit
An audit bill just arrived	Any trade, most often one that used subs	Before disputing anything, pull your subcontractor certificates filed by period and your payroll separated by class and state, and read the auditor's worksheet against them	Your current carrier's or state system's audit team first; then a licensed local professional if the classification itself is in dispute
Non-renewed mid-project	Any trade; most common in elevated-hazard classes	Ask for the reason in writing, check your state's cancellation and non-renewal notice rules with the authority, and tell your general contractor before the certificate lapses rather than after	Start the assigned-risk plan immediately alongside a licensed local professional; the notice period is your whole runway
A worker was injured and you are unsure you were covered	Any trade	Report the injury now through the carrier's or state system's claims line, and change nothing in your records	A licensed agent in your state for coverage going forward, and an attorney about the injury itself — coverage cannot be backdated to reach a loss that has already happened

Whichever row fits, reuse the quote-input checklist in compare quotes, audits, and legitimate proof as your per-provider scorecard — ask every option for the same fields instead of building a new list for each provider.

What workers comp covers, and what it does not

Three different documents answer three different questions, and conflating them is the most expensive mistake in this category. The state rule decides whether coverage is legally required and where it may be purchased. The contract decides what a client, GC, landlord, or license process demands — which can exceed the law and applies only to that agreement. The policy and its forms decide what is actually covered, for whom, and on what conditions. A workers-comp purchase resolves a specific slice of risk; the boundaries below show what it does and does not reach, and where the adjacent decision lives. Coverage is always conditional: the policy, endorsements, state system, classification, elections, exclusions, and facts control — a marketing coverage list proves nothing about a specific claim.

Question or exposure	Route	Boundary
Work-related injury or occupational illness affecting a covered worker	The workers-comp policy or state system investigates	Benefits, covered persons, compensability, and employer obligations are state- and fact-specific
Employer-liability suit, or a third-party-over allegation in which someone your worker sued turns around and sues you	Employer's liability — Part Two of a private policy, or stop-gap on your general liability policy where a state fund is your route — plus qualified review	Limits and state-system treatment vary; no assumption that every policy or state fund responds identically
A customer or other third party is injured, or their property is damaged	The general-liability lane — see general liability insurance options	Workers comp does not replace GL
A client or license process asks for a bond	The surety lane — see license and permit bonds	A bond is not insurance. It protects the customer and the state, you repay the surety after it pays, and it covers none of your workers
The owner is injured	Owner and officer elections plus state and policy review	Owners may be included, excluded, or treated differently; never assume the owner is covered
Independent contractors or subcontractors	Classification, contracts, certificates, and audit review	Labels and 1099 forms do not decide status; payments to uninsured subcontractors commonly become your payroll at audit
Remote or multi-state work	Each applicable state, policy territory, and other-states review	Headquarters alone may not resolve coverage; obtain qualified state-by-state advice
A client requests proof, a waiver of subrogation, alternate-employer wording, or specific limits	The contract, the policy and its forms, and the authorized issuer	A certificate is evidence only; "additional insured" is liability-policy language, not a generic workers-comp solution
Employment practices, disability or leave, health, auto, property, cyber, or professional errors	Separate legal or insurance lanes — see what insurance your business may need	Named here only as boundaries; each is its own decision

What your contract is actually asking for

Four phrases account for most workers-comp language in client and general-contractor agreements. They are contract terms, not legal requirements, and they are negotiable — but you cannot negotiate what you cannot read.

Term your contract uses	What it actually asks for	Does it apply to a workers-comp policy?	What to ask the issuer
Waiver of subrogation	That your insurer give up its right to recover from the client after paying a claim your client caused	Yes — commonly available by endorsement, and sometimes at additional premium	Can you attach it for this client, what does it cost, and how long does it take?
Alternate employer endorsement	That your policy respond as though the named client were your employee's employer for that work	Yes — this is workers-comp-specific and names a particular client	Will you issue it for this named client and this project, and by when?
Employer's liability limits	Part Two limits, usually stated as three figures — per accident, per disease per employee, and a disease policy limit	Yes — but a monopolistic state fund does not provide Part Two, so if the state fund is your route in Ohio, North Dakota, Washington or Wyoming, this means stop-gap on your general liability policy	Do my limits meet the contract, and if the state fund is my route, will my GL carrier attach stop-gap?
Additional insured	Status extending liability coverage to the client	Generally a liability-policy concept, not a standard workers-comp one — do not assume it can be added	Is there anything equivalent you can issue on this policy, or does this request belong on my general liability policy?

An indemnity clause sitting next to these can be broader than any insurance backing it — that is a contract question for a construction attorney, not an insurance question for your agent. The full certificate and additional-insured mechanics live in how a certificate of insurance works.

What published workers comp prices actually mean

All figures below are provider-published, reproduced with their stated basis and period, and verified as of July 20, 2026. None is a Cover My Trade sample, a market average, or a guaranteed quote.

Public workers-comp pricing looks comparable and is not. A starting price, a low-percentile estimate, a customer median, a carrier-customer average, and a business-specific quote example are five different evidence types, built from different populations over different periods. Read the label before the number:

Figure and evidence type	Basis and period	What it cannot tell you	Status
Up to 30% savings; ~3-minute quote — marketing claims (Pie)	Current official page; both footnoted as variable; no premium figure published	No baseline, profile, state, class, payroll, annual premium, fees, or guaranteed savings	Verified with limitation
$14/month starting price (ERGO NEXT)	Active-policy premiums as of April 1, 2026; a low-start representation, not a guarantee	The business profile, state, class, issuing company, payroll, limits, minimum premium, audit, fees, or annual total behind it	Verified with limitation
$38.91/month low estimate (Simply Business)	10th percentile of its workers-comp policies sold Jan.–Jun. 2025, divided evenly over 12 months	The carrier, profile, state, class, payroll, annual total, down payment, fees, or audit treatment	Verified with limitation
$101/month customer median (Simply Business)	Its customers, Jul. 1–Dec. 31, 2025	Anything about your business: it mixes carriers, classes, states, payrolls, limits, and payment structures, and is not a market average	Verified with limitation
$95/month quote example — Michigan lawn care, sole proprietorship, 2 employees (Simply Business)	A single real quote generated May 2026	The payroll, class codes, rates, limits, carrier, minimum premium, fees, claims, or audit terms behind it	Verified with limitation
$111/month quote example — Massachusetts electrician, LLC, 1 employee (Simply Business)	A single real quote generated May 2026	The same fields; note that one employee here costs more than two in Michigan	Verified with limitation
$137/month quote example — Texas handyperson, S-corp, 2 employees (Simply Business)	A single real quote generated May 2026	The same fields; the trade and state differ from the Michigan example, not just the price	Verified with limitation
$13/month start; $81/month customer average (The Hartford)	Page updated May 20, 2026; the $81 statistic is scoped to its customers with under $300,000 in payroll	The data period, distribution, state and class mix, limits, minimum premium, audit, fees, or payment plan	Verified with limitation

Those three quote examples are the most useful numbers on this page, and not because of their size. Two employees in Michigan lawn care quoted below one employee in Massachusetts electrical work: headcount did not set the price, and neither did payroll alone. Trade, class, and state did.

What actually moves your price, interpreted once here rather than repeated under each option:

• The rating inputs, which do most of the work: the state and its purchase system, your exact class codes and operations, payroll by class and state, and your experience modification.
• The people you count, which is where estimates go wrong: employee count, owner and officer elections, and subcontractor use — including payments to subs who cannot produce their own coverage.
• The policy you asked for: employer-liability limits, any deductible program, prior coverage and claims history, and the policy term.
• The money terms that never appear in a monthly headline: minimum premium, deposit and installments, taxes, assessments and fees, payroll reporting or pay-as-you-go billing — the arrangement that bills you against actual payroll each period instead of an annual estimate — and the final audit.
• What you can move: safety and return-to-work programs, which affect the modifier at the next rating rather than this one.

For how a marketplace translates payroll and classification into a premium, Simply Business publishes its own cost methodology — a formula illustration, not a rating for your business.

What actually moves the number: a worked example

Almost every workers-comp premium starts from the same arithmetic: payroll divided by 100, multiplied by a rate for each class code, multiplied by your experience modifier. In private-market states the rate comes from your carrier's filed rates and is not published. In Ohio it is published in law, which makes Ohio the one place a fully sourced worked example can be built without inventing a figure. The mechanism is the same everywhere; only the source of the rate changes.

The rates below are the current Ohio base rates per $100 of payroll set by Ohio Administrative Code 4123-17-06, Appendix A, effective July 1, 2026 for the payroll reporting period ending June 30, 2027 (Verified, August 7, 2026). That an employer's rate is the class base rate as modified by its own experience rating is set out in Ohio Administrative Code 4123-17-03.

The illustration: an Ohio landscaping business with $200,000 in annual payroll. Payroll amounts, the class split, and the experience modifier are stated assumptions, not figures drawn from a real business.

Case	Assumptions	Arithmetic	Manual premium
Low	$150,000 in class 0042 Landscape Gardening (rate 2.7014); $50,000 in genuinely clerical duties, separately recorded, in class 8810 Clerical Office (rate 0.0466); experience modifier 0.85 after three claim-free years	(1,500 × 2.7014 + 500 × 0.0466) × 0.85	$3,464
Base	All $200,000 in class 0042 Landscape Gardening (rate 2.7014); experience modifier 1.00	2,000 × 2.7014 × 1.00	$5,403
High	$140,000 in class 0042; the business adds tree work and $60,000 falls in class 0106 Tree Pruning and Trimming (rate 6.7604); experience modifier 1.25 after a lost-time claim	(1,400 × 2.7014 + 600 × 6.7604) × 1.25	$9,798

The driver moving the spread is the class code. The same payroll, on the same business, in the same state, ranges from $3,464 to $9,798 — a factor of nearly three — and the largest single mover is which class the work falls in. In Ohio the landscaping rate is 58 times the clerical rate, and adding tree work pulls part of the payroll onto a rate two and a half times higher again. Payroll changes your premium in a straight line; the class code changes the multiplier. This is why a class code assigned loosely at application is not a paperwork detail, and why quoting the same business under different described operations produces wildly different numbers that mean nothing.

What this illustration is not. It is arithmetic on a published rate, not a quote, a market average, or a Cover My Trade premium sample. It excludes the administrative cost and Disabled Workers' Relief Fund assessments that Ohio adds separately, any minimum premium, any program discount, and the final audit. In states where private carriers write, your rate is filed by the carrier rather than published in law, so the only way to see your number is a quote built on accurate inputs. A dated Cover My Trade sampled range will be added here once its methodology gate is complete.

The price and audit rule. No option on this page is called cheapest, because the evidence types cannot support the claim. Your initial premium is commonly an estimate built from payroll, classification, state, and experience inputs, then reconciled through a premium audit or reporting process after the term. A monthly display figure must never hide the annual premium, minimum premium, deposit, installments, assessments, fees, or audit exposure behind it — ask for each in writing.

Compare quotes, audits, and legitimate proof

Comparable proposals start with identical, accurate inputs. Give every route the same facts — never trimmed to force eligibility — and demand the same commercial terms back:

Input group	What to provide or request
Business identity	Legal name and DBA, entity type, FEIN, addresses, years operating, ownership and officers, every state and location
Workers	Employees by state and status, remote and field staff, owners and officers with elections, contractors and subcontractors, leased or temporary workers, volunteers
Operations and classes	Exact duties and their percentages, job sites, heights, equipment, vehicles, regulated work, candidate class codes, clerical and sales distinctions
Exposure	Estimated annual payroll by class and state, employee count, subcontractor cost and their certificates, seasonal swings, largest contracts, multi-state travel
History	Prior carrier and policy, lapses, past audits, claims and loss runs, experience modification, cancellations or nonrenewals
Coverage request	Effective date, states, employer-liability limits, owner inclusion or exclusion, other-states, alternate-employer, and waiver questions
Commercial terms	Carrier and underwriter, whether the carrier is admitted in your state, policy form, estimated annual premium, minimum premium, deposit, installments, assessments and fees, pay-as-you-go, audit method, cancellation and renewal
Proof and service	Certificate holder, the contract's exact wording, project, locations, dates, any waiver or form request, the deadline, the claim-reporting channel

From requirement to legitimate proof, the sequence runs:

1. Open the governing documents. The current state rule for every state where work occurs, plus the actual contract, license application, or proof request — highlighting the required policy, limits, certificate holder, form language, dates, and deadline.
2. Apply with the real facts. Actual operations, worker relationships, states, payroll by class, subcontractors, claims, and prior coverage. Never omit work or relabel a worker to force eligibility.
3. Compare proposals on the same fields. Carrier, state, class, payroll basis, owner elections, policy term, employer-liability limits, minimum premium, deposit and installments, fees, audit, cancellation, and claims handling.
4. Review before binding. The quote, your application representations, the policy forms and endorsements, and the effective date — and ask whether the exact requested certificate or form can be issued, and whether underwriting or fees apply to it.
5. Obtain authorized proof after coverage is valid. Send the requester documents from the authorized issuer, and resolve any mismatch with the issuer and requester — never by editing, fabricating, or backdating a certificate.

What the audit finds, and what it charges you for

Your premium starts as an estimate built on the payroll you projected. At the end of the term the carrier or state system reconciles it against what you actually paid, and bills or refunds the difference. Most owners expect that part.

The reconciliation most owners do not expect is the subcontractor charge. Payments to subcontractors who cannot produce their own workers-compensation coverage for the period they worked for you are commonly charged as your payroll, at your class rate. A sub you paid $40,000 who carried nothing can arrive as $40,000 of added payroll on your audit bill, long after the job is closed and the money is spent. The certificate you did not collect in March is the invoice you cannot dispute in January. Ask each route how it treats uninsured subcontractor cost before you bind — the treatment varies by carrier and by state, and it is rarely on the quote.

Collect from every sub	When	Why it matters at audit
A certificate naming the sub's own workers-comp carrier and policy number	Before their first day on site	Without it, the auditor has no evidence the sub was covered, and the payment defaults to your payroll
A policy period that covers every day they worked for you	At engagement, and again if the job runs past their expiry	A certificate that lapsed mid-job covers only the days inside the period; the rest is chargeable
The sub's own class code, or a plain description of what they did	At engagement	If the auditor cannot tell what the work was, it is commonly rated at the highest class on your policy
A written agreement stating the sub carries their own coverage and will maintain it	Before payment	Establishes the relationship you represented at application, and gives you something to enforce
A renewal certificate before the old one expires	Before the lapse, not after	Uninsured days are counted individually; a gap of a few weeks is still chargeable payroll

Keep payroll records separated by class and by state for the whole term, keep sub certificates filed by period rather than by name, and report material changes during the term rather than discovering them at reconciliation. If your operations change mid-term — a new service line, a first tree job, a crew crossing a state line — tell the issuer when it happens. A mid-term correction is an adjustment; the same fact found at audit is a bill.

When no insurer will write you

A no-provider outcome is a legitimate outcome, not a failure. Find your situation below.

• No market will write your class. Use the assigned-risk plan your state operates, or a licensed independent or local specialist with access to hazard-class markets. This is the normal path for roofing, tree work, and similar classifications, not an exception.
• The state fund is the route. In Ohio, North Dakota, and Washington, and for extra-hazardous classes in Wyoming, private purchase is not available — start at the authority in the router above and price stop-gap employer's liability separately with your general liability carrier.
• You are operating right now without required coverage. The exposure is not just the premium you did not pay. Depending on the state it can include penalties, stop-work orders, personal liability for an injured worker's benefits, and criminal exposure. North Dakota, for one, publishes a $10,000 penalty plus $100 for each additional day, cease-and-desist authority, and employer liability for the actual cost and reserves of any claim arising while uninsured, and allows the worker to sue for damages (Verified, ND WSI, August 7, 2026). The route out is to bind valid coverage going forward and to speak to a licensed agent in your state. If a worker has already been injured, speak to an attorney, and report the injury through the carrier's or state system's claims line — coverage cannot be backdated to reach a loss that has already happened, and asking any provider to do it is fraud.
• You have been non-renewed mid-project. Ask for the reason in writing, check your state's cancellation and non-renewal notice rules with the authority, and tell your general contractor before the certificate lapses rather than after. Start the residual-market route immediately; the notice period is your whole runway.
• You have already lapsed, and want to know whether it can be cured. Ask the authority and the insurer separately, because they answer different questions. From the authority: whether penalties accrue per day, whether the gap must be reported, and what ends the accrual. From the insurer or the plan: the earliest effective date it will write, whether any reinstatement of the old policy is possible, and whether the gap must be disclosed on the next application. Nobody can make coverage retroactive to a day that has already passed, so the practical answer is almost always to bind forward and manage the exposure for the gap. A gap you disclose is an underwriting question; a gap the carrier finds later is a rescission question.
• Your loss history is the problem. Expect the experience modifier to drive the answer more than the provider choice. Ask each route how it prices a business with prior claims, and ask what a return-to-work or safety program would do to the modifier at the next rating.
• The required limits are more than you can afford. Contract limits are a contract term, not a legal minimum. Confirm what the agreement actually requires before assuming the number is fixed, and ask whether the client will accept a lower limit or a different structure.
• You cannot yet identify the facts. Pause before buying at all if you cannot identify worker status, class duties, the applicable states, employer-liability limits, owner elections, or the requester's exact wording. An ill-fitting policy bought in a hurry solves nothing.

Neither of these is ever the answer: changing operations, worker labels, payroll, claims, or state facts to force a quote; and buying a low-cost policy solely to obtain a certificate. Financing products, formation services, and software are not substitutes for resolving the insurance requirement.

Considered but not included

• Tivly — no current official workers-comp page with the equal-field evidence this methodology requires was verified as of July 20, 2026.
• Insureon — duplicates the multi-carrier marketplace role already represented; no materially distinct workflow or reader fit was verified in the July 20, 2026 review.
• biBERK and other direct carriers — an equal-field, first-party evidence set had not been compiled as of July 20, 2026.

Each remains eligible for a future review if its gate closes; the stated gate is the only reason for exclusion.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need workers comp with one employee?

It depends entirely on the state, and the range is wide: Alaska's Division of Workers' Compensation states the requirement starts at one employee, Alabama's Department of Labor states it starts at five, and Texas makes participation generally elective for private employers. Covered worker types, industry-specific rules, and owner exceptions are set state by state as well — and in Ohio, North Dakota, and Washington coverage is sold only through the state fund. Before assuming either way, open the current rule for the state where your worker performs work, using the authority router above or workers comp requirements by state. The coverage is sometimes searched as "workman's comp" — same system, same state-governed answer.

Can a sole proprietor buy workers comp for themselves?

Sometimes. Some states and policies let an owner without employees elect coverage — often because a contract demands proof — but eligibility, inclusion and exclusion rules, minimum premiums, and whether the election satisfies your client's exact wording vary by state and policy form. Confirm the current official state rule and the issuing insurer's treatment before buying, and never purchase an ill-fitting policy solely to generate a certificate.

Does workers comp cover independent contractors or subcontractors?

Not categorically. Worker status is fact-specific: state tests, the actual working relationship, and the policy's terms control, and a 1099 form or "contractor" label is not conclusive. Separately, payments to subcontractors who cannot produce their own coverage are commonly charged as your payroll at audit — see what the audit finds. List every working relationship when you quote, ask how the policy and each state treat it, and get qualified review for close calls rather than deciding classification yourself.

How fast can I get a workers comp certificate of insurance?

Commonly the same day to within a few business days after the policy binds — the clock is set by the slowest dependency: complete quote inputs, underwriting review, payment or deposit, processing of any requested form such as a waiver of subrogation, and the certificate-holder details from the requester. A COI is evidence of a bound policy, never a substitute for one, and the requester decides acceptance. The full sequence is in if someone is waiting on your certificate.

How much does workers comp insurance cost per month?

There is no single number to quote you, and the largest driver is your class code rather than your headcount — one Simply Business quote example shows a Massachusetts electrician with one employee quoted above a Michigan lawn care business with two. A worked example using published Ohio rates is in what actually moves the number, and the currently published, dated provider figures, each labeled by evidence type, are in what published workers comp prices actually mean.

Does my state fund policy include employer's liability?

No. In Ohio, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming the state fund pays statutory benefits but does not provide Part Two employer's liability — the coverage that responds when you are sued over a workplace injury rather than billed for benefits. Closing that gap normally means adding a stop-gap employer's liability endorsement to your general liability policy, purchased from a private insurer. A Wyoming employer who is exempt from the extra-hazardous requirement and lawfully buys a private policy has Part Two on that policy instead. If a general contractor's contract specifies employer's liability limits and a state fund is your route, ask your general liability carrier whether it will attach stop-gap for those states before you sign.

Your next step

Start where the system starts: open the current official rule for every state where your workers perform work, using the authority router above. Then open the actual contract or proof request and record its exact fields. Prepare accurate worker, operation, class, payroll, subcontractor, state, loss, prior-coverage, limit, and effective-date inputs — if this purchase accompanies a first hire, the first employee checklist linked in the situation matrix above carries the rest of that workflow. Request quotes from the two or three routes that fit your row above, compare them on the same carrier, policy, payroll, minimum-premium, payment, audit, service, and proof fields, and review the forms before binding. Only after coverage is validly bound, obtain authorized documents and send them to the requester — resolving any mismatch with the issuer, never with an edited certificate. Then keep the policy working: calendar your own expiry and every subcontractor certificate's expiry, keep payroll separated by class and state from day one, and tell the issuer when your operations change rather than letting the audit find it.

Sources and last verified date

Last verified: August 7, 2026

Next review: September 7, 2026

• Getting coverage — Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation — how Ohio's exclusive state fund sells coverage.
• Ohio Administrative Code 4123-17-03 — Ohio Legislature — the published base-rate rule behind the worked Ohio example.
• Coverage requirements — North Dakota Workforce Safety & Insurance — North Dakota's exclusive-fund purchase route.
• Do I need a workers' comp account? — Washington L&I — Washington's exclusive-fund rule.
• Employer information — Wyoming Department of Workforce Services — Wyoming's extra-hazardous-class fund requirement.
• Workers' compensation — Wyoming Department of Insurance — the private-policy path for exempt Wyoming employers.
• Employer resources — Texas Department of Insurance, DWC — Texas's elective workers-comp rule.
• Directory of state workers' compensation officials — U.S. Department of Labor — the authority router's source.
• Insuring the uninsurable — NCCI — how assigned-risk and residual-market mechanisms are structured.
• Assigned risk plan — SAIF — a state plan's own eligibility conditions for the residual market.
• Workers' comp insurance — Pie Insurance — the specialist route's published terms and representations.
• Workers' compensation insurance — NEXT Insurance — the direct digital route's published terms.
• Workers' compensation cost — Simply Business — marketplace quote examples and methodology.
• Workers' compensation — The Hartford — the established-carrier route's published terms.
• Surplus lines — NAIC — regulator framing for non-admitted placements.