Top income protection insurance compared

About Top income protection insurance compared

Income protection pays out when illness, injury or disability stops you earning, so readers weigh two things above all: what a policy costs each month, and how the money reaches you when a claim is made. This ranking brings together 88 brands that list income protection among their product lines, from Portuguese and Costa Rican brokers to Danish, German and Philippine companies. Starting prices vary widely. Across this ranking the median starting premium is €7, the lower quartile is €2.92 and the upper quartile is €17.30. The spread is not only about price. Insurers account for 48.8% of the brands here and brokers for 38.4%, which decides whether a claim is handled by the company you buy from or passed along to a partner. Monthly payments are close to standard, with 96.7% of the brands offering them. The real choice comes down to cover, contact routes and the price of the quote.

How we picked

Every brand in this ranking is scored on three things, and each carries a real weight. Cost accounts for 35% of the score, the offer itself for 25%, and trust for 40%. Cost is read from the published starting premium for the line, offer from the cover and payment options a brand sets out, and trust from how the company identifies itself, which contact routes it publishes and what it says about handling claims. Those inputs come from the pages each brand publishes: product pages for starting premiums, payment model and cover, terms pages for eligibility and cover limits, and legal notice or company pages for the legal entity, the founding year and the headquarters country. Brands that pay to appear are listed before the rest, and the remaining order follows the score. Of the 88 brands in this category, 63 are licensed. Each blurb below names the facts that put that brand in this ranking and sets it against the brand placed next to it.

Our top picks

1. 1. CosmosDirekt

   CosmosDirekt is seventh in this ranking as a direct insurer with a long record, operating since 1950 as Cosmos Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft. It has priced income protection from €1.73 on monthly payments, and it lists income protection alongside car, home, life, motorcycle, travel, pet and landlord cover, so several policies can sit with one underwriter. Claims run online and by phone on online and phone, and support runs on phone, email and help centre. Against Consors Finanz, the brand placed next, the difference is focus: Consors Finanz builds cover around lending customers and pairs income protection with critical illness, with claims on phone, contact form and customer portal.

   • Premium from: €1.73
   • Insurance types: Auto, Home, Life, and 5 more
   • Provider type: Insurer

   Pros

   • Premiums start at €1.73 on monthly policies, under the site median of €8.37.
   • CosmosDirekt is an insurer, insurer, so the policy and the payout sit with the same company, Cosmos Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft.
   • Cover spans auto, home and life, letting a household place several lines with a single provider.
   • Claims can be filed online or by phone, online and phone, and support runs on phone, email and help centre.
   • Traded since 1950 in DE under BaFin supervision, which gives a long operating record to weigh.

   Cons

   • The €1.73 entry figure ranks 44 of 252 brands on price, better than most, yet the floor across the site is €0.
   • Support runs on phone, email and help centre only, with no chat line or community forum in that list.
   • auto, home and renters at Good Sam Insurance Agency adds renters and health cover, so a reader needing those lines goes elsewhere.
   • The travel policy stops at up to 64 years, leaving older travellers outside that cover.

2. 3. CHECK24

   CHECK24 is fourth in this ranking as one of the broadest comparison sites in the list, with car, home, life, health, travel, pet, motorcycle, dental, income protection and gadget cover under auto, home and life. It has operated since 1999 as CHECK24 Vergleichsportal GmbH, offers monthly payments and premiums from €0.69, and runs support on chat, email and phone, one of the widest contact sets here. Claims go through CHECK24 Versicherungscenter online claim form, insurer online claim form and post, which adds a posted route alongside the online forms. Against Air Bank just above, CHECK24 offers far more lines to compare, while the cover itself is set by the insurer you pick.

   • Premium from: €0.69
   • Insurance types: Auto, Home, Life, and 7 more
   • Provider type: Comparison site

   Pros

   • One account reaches auto, home and life, so several kinds of cover can be arranged in the same place.
   • Monthly payments are the model on offer, monthly, which spreads a policy charge month by month.
   • Support runs on chat, email and phone, so a question can go by chat, email, phone or the help centre.
   • Registration sits with the German chambers: D-UC2S-PFVJD-82, D-FPD7-IQZPB-00 and D-I6KJ-85T6H-31.

   Cons

   • comparison site places CHECK24 outside underwriting, so the cover limit, the wording and the payout are set by the insurer you choose.
   • The claim route follows the insurer too: CHECK24 Versicherungscenter online claim form, insurer online claim form and post means the form sits with the site's insurance centre, with the insurer, or goes by post.
   • Monthly payments are the only model listed, monthly, so nothing annual is shown beside the monthly figure.

3. 6. die Bayerische

   die Bayerische is ninth in this ranking and carries the longest history of any brand here, having operated since 1858 as BY die Bayerische Vorsorge Lebensversicherung a.G.. It is a German insurer, and income protection sits within a wide list that also covers car, home, motorcycle, life, health, dental, travel, pet and gadget insurance. Premiums start at €2.09 on monthly payments, claims run on online, post and phone, and support runs on phone, email and chat, which adds chat, while its excess runs €0 to €35. Banco Promerica, the brand placed next, is a Costa Rican broker with a shorter policy list and premiums of $2.50 to $14.

   • Premium from: €2.09
   • Insurance types: Auto, Home, Motorcycle, and 7 more
   • Provider type: Insurer

   Pros

   • Premiums start at €2.09 on the mobile phone liability line, and the excess on that same line runs €0 to €35, so a small loss can cost nothing to settle.
   • die Bayerische underwrites the risk itself as insurer, writing auto, home and motorcycle for households and public liability and property for businesses, so cover and claims stay with one company.
   • Monthly payments are available, so a premium is spread across the year rather than paid in one sum.
   • Support runs on phone, email and chat, and claims can be started on online, post and phone, which gives several routes to report a loss.
   • The company behind the policies, BY die Bayerische Vorsorge Lebensversicherung a.G., has been trading since 1858.

   Cons

   • The entry premium and the cover limit come from different products: €2.09 is quoted for the mobile phone line, while 100 million EUR (E-Scooter-Versicherung) applies to e-scooter cover, so neither figure describes a motor or home policy.
   • Renters cover is missing from auto, home and motorcycle, whereas Good Sam Insurance Agency includes it in auto, home and renters.
   • Business cover is limited to public liability and property, a narrower set than the market, where professional indemnity alone is offered by 63.5% of the brands on the site.

What to look for

The starting premium, not the first quote

A low floor only marks the entry point. In this ranking the median starting premium is €7 and the upper quartile is €17.30, so the gap between a cheap entry and a typical one is wide. Read each brand's own figure, such as €0.69 or CZK 15, before weighing quotes.

Who handles the claim

Brokers and comparison sites stand between you and the insurer, so it matters which side of the counter a brand sits on. Insurers make up 48.8% of this ranking and brokers 38.4%, with comparison sites at 12.8%. Check where the claim form lives, using routes such as mobile app, online form and insurer website or phone, contact form and customer portal.

Monthly payments and the payment model

Monthly premiums are the norm in this category: 96.7% of the brands take monthly payments and 100% list monthly as their model. Paying monthly also keeps an income shortfall affordable while a claim is being settled, and Doutor Financas, Air Bank, Santander Portugal, Singlife PH, CosmosDirekt and die Bayerische all confirm monthly payments.

Reaching a person when money is short

An income claim is stressful, so contact routes count. Phone is the most common channel in this ranking at 88.5%, ahead of help centres at 77%, email at 72.4% and chat at 37.9%. Brands such as Find Forsikring DK publish email and help centre, a narrower set.

Who the cover is aimed at

Seniors are the audience most often named in this category, at 85.7%, with expats at 35.7%. Age bands also decide eligibility, and they differ between brands: up to 64 years against 18+.

Life and critical illness sold alongside

Income protection rarely travels alone. Life cover sits beside it at 81.8% and critical illness at 38.6%, while car and travel cover appear at 60.2% and 53.4%, so one provider may hold both the policy and the cover behind it.

Frequently asked questions

Top income protection insurance compared by country

• Australia
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• India
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• South Africa
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV