We ran a real cyber insurance quote for an Ohio-based insurance agency — $400K in annual revenue, 1,200 client records, standard commercial profile. We submitted the same information to six top-rated carriers through our comparison platform. Here's what came back.

The quotes

All six quotes were for a $1M cyber liability limit with full prior acts coverage. Same company. Same risk profile. Six very different prices.

The spread between the cheapest and most expensive quote: $1,582 per year — a 169% difference.

But price isn't everything

Here's where it gets interesting. The cheapest carrier — At-Bay at $940 — also had the broadest coverage of any carrier in this comparison. That's unusual. Normally you expect to pay more for better coverage. In this case the market dynamics of cyber insurance produced the opposite result.

At-Bay's advantages over the cheapest traditional option included:

• Pay-on-behalf ransomware — Travelers and most others require reimbursement
• $1M telephone hacking and crypto jacking limits vs $250K elsewhere
• Dependent BI coverage for both IT and Non-IT vendors
• Cyber risk report included — only At-Bay and Coalition offered this
• Breach response coverage outside the policy limit

Why the spread is so large

Cyber insurance is still a relatively young and evolving product. Carriers price it differently based on their own claims data, risk models, and appetite for certain industries. There's no standardized rate filing the way there is for auto insurance. The result is genuine market inefficiency — the same risk can be priced very differently across carriers.

This is exactly why comparison shopping matters in cyber insurance more than almost any other commercial line.

What this means for your business

If you bought your cyber insurance from whoever your general liability broker recommended, or went directly to a well-known carrier name, there's a meaningful chance you're overpaying. The company in this example would save $1,582 per year just by switching to the best option — and they'd actually get better coverage in the process.