Crowdsource-driven insurance rankings that, by its own disclosure, can't be bought, but it's also a lead-gen funnel — reviewers feed an algorithm while shoppers feed insurers their contact info.
What it's really for A crowdsourced insurance-rating platform; carriers ranked from self-reported policyholder reviews.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its policyholder-reviewed insurer rankings, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
- Operating since
- 2016 (10 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- A crowdsourced platform that ranks insurance carriers using a proprietary algorithm applied to policyholder reviews, while monetizing as a lead-generation site that passes shopper data to partner insurers.
- What they do
- It aggregates self-reported policyholder reviews and ratings for auto, home, renters and other insurance lines, then scores and ranks carriers by line and by state (minimum 25 reviews to appear).
- What to watch for
- Getting quotes routes your personal details to partner insurers, and reviewers report a deluge of follow-up calls, emails and texts after submitting their information.
- Composite score
- 2.60 / 5.00 → grade C+
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- Clearsurance launched in 2016 as a crowdsourced review and rating service for insurance, founded by Michael Crowe and Todd Kozikowski; it had curated over 50,000 reviews on more than 350 home, rental and auto insurance carriers and raised a $4 million Series A. Source: Insurance Journal →
- Per its FAQ, rankings are based entirely on Clearsurance scores derived from customer ratings; companies need at least 25 reviews for a line to appear, Clearsurance 'does not manipulate the order' of companies, and 'the only factor that affects a company's position is the rating that the company earns from its customer reviews.' Source: Clearsurance FAQ →
- Clearsurance, owned by Quote.com (previously 360 Quote LLC) after a 2021 acquisition, operates as a lead-generation site that collects customer information and shares it with partners; reviewers reported a deluge of texts and calls after submitting their information. Source: Insurify →