How Much Does Cyber Liability Insurance Cost?

The Short Answer

Most small businesses pay between $400 and $8,000 a year for cyber liability insurance, with the average landing around $1,500. According to Insureon’s data from over 100,000 small business policyholders, the average cost is $129 a month, or $1,552 a year. A separate study by AdvisorSmith, based on a $1 million revenue, $1 million coverage limit model across 39 industries, found a very similar average of $1,485 a year. Embroker’s 2024 research puts the broader range at $1,200 to $7,000 a year, with a median near $2,000.

Those numbers vary a lot once you factor in your industry, revenue, the data you handle, and your security practices. The sections below break down exactly what moves the price.

Cost by Business Revenue

Insureon’s data shows a clear pattern: smaller businesses pay less in absolute dollars, but the premium grows with revenue since insurers price primarily on potential loss severity.

• Businesses under $100,000 in revenue average about $587 a year
• Businesses between $1 million and $2.49 million in revenue average about $1,754 a year
• Businesses over $10 million in revenue average about $5,790 a year

See the full breakdown in Cyber Insurance Cost by Business Size.

Cost by Industry

Industry is one of the biggest price drivers. AdvisorSmith’s study found payment processing ($2,449/year), financial services, investment services, law firms, and insurance among the most expensive industries to insure, while transportation and logistics, manufacturing, auto dealers, and construction and contractors (around $1,070/year) tend to be the least expensive.

That tracks with what we see across our own industry pages. If your business handles payment card data or large volumes of financial or health information, expect to pay more than a contractor or manufacturer with a similar revenue. See the full table in Cyber Insurance Cost by Industry.

What Actually Affects Your Premium

Underwriters weigh a consistent set of factors across the industry: annual revenue, industry risk, the volume and sensitivity of data you hold (customer PII, health records, payment card data), the security controls you have in place, your claims history, and the coverage limit and deductible you choose. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is consistently described as one of the most heavily weighted controls in underwriting. Read more in Factors That Affect Your Cyber Insurance Premium.

Typical Limits and Deductibles

Insureon reports that small businesses typically carry coverage limits between $1 million and $5 million, with average deductibles between $1,000 and $2,500. Higher limits and lower deductibles both increase your premium. See Coverage Limits and Deductibles Explained for how to think about choosing yours.

Why the Cost Is Worth Comparing to the Alternative

The 2025 NetDiligence Cyber Claims Study, which analyzed over 10,000 claims where small and medium-sized businesses made up 98% of the data, found a 5-year average total incident cost of $246,000 for SMEs, with the most recent year’s average at $264,000. Crisis services alone (forensics, legal, notification) averaged $152,000 per incident. Insurance payouts covered roughly 69% of total SME incident cost over that period. Learn more in The Real Cost of a Data Breach.

Is Cyber Insurance Legally Required?

No. No U.S. state or federal law requires general businesses to carry cyber liability insurance. All 50 states have data breach notification laws, but none mandate buying insurance to cover the costs of responding to one. Full detail in Is Cyber Insurance Required by Law?

Get a Real Number for Your Business

Averages are a starting point, not a quote. The fastest way to know what your business would actually pay is to go through our quote process, which takes about four minutes and compares your business across 12+ A-rated carriers.

Every Cost Question, Answered