Plumb
D-

Small-business insurance marketplace

Insureon

Hub International Ltd. (via Specialty Program Group); acquired 2022

Marketplace Free to read Visit Insureon ↗

A commission-paid digital insurance brokerage, not an independent reviewer; its "top-rated carriers" framing is marketing for a marketplace the carriers pay into.

What it's really for A commercial-insurance brokerage; it earns commission on the coverage it sells.

What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its small-business insurance quote comparison, not everything the site does.

High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.

Follow the money

Insurance carriers pay Insureon the most, through commissions and volume/loss-based contingency income, so the platform's revenue depends on placing business with the carriers it quotes.

Source →
Operating since
2011 (15 years) · source
What it costs you
Free to read The reviews are free to read.
How they make money
Insureon earns commissions, contingency/profit-based income, and supplemental commissions from insurance carriers when small businesses buy policies through its platform, plus technology fees in some states.
What they do
Insureon is a licensed online brokerage that lets small businesses compare quotes from 40+ commercial insurance carriers and buy coverage through one application.
What to watch for
It does not independently test or rank carriers for you; it is a broker paid by the very insurers it presents, and by its own disclosure that pay includes contingent commissions tied to the volume and profitability of business it places.
Composite score
1.00 / 5.00 → grade D-

How the grade was reached

Independence · 30% weight 0 / 5

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.

Evidence basis · 30% weight 1 / 5

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.

Method transparency · 20% weight 2 / 5

Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?

Conflict disclosure · 10% weight 2 / 5

Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?

Manipulation resistance · 10% weight 1 / 5

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

Compare with others

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