Plumb
C+

Insurance comparison marketplace

Insurify

Independent (privately held; VC-backed, with Admiral Group a minority shareholder after Insurify's 2023 acquisition of Compare.com)

Marketplace Free to read Visit Insurify ↗

A licensed insurance agency that ranks the same carriers that pay it commissions and advertising fees; by its own disclosure, higher-paying partners can influence which quotes appear and in what order, though its editorial IQ Score claims to operate independently.

What it's really for A licensed insurance marketplace; it earns commission when a policy is bound through it.

What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its 'IQ Score' insurer rankings and quotes, 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 Insurify the most, through commissions on bound policies plus cost-per-lead and advertising fees, and by Insurify's own description paying can buy "featured carrier placement" and influence quote ordering, even though it says insurers do not pay its editorial team.

Source →
Operating since
2013 (13 years) · source
What it costs you
Free to read The reviews are free to read.
How they make money
Insurify is a licensed online insurance agency that earns commissions when a policy is bound through its marketplace, plus cost-per-lead/cost-per-click referral fees and advertising revenue.
What they do
Insurify lets shoppers compare real-time auto, home, and life insurance quotes from 100-plus carriers and publishes "best insurer" rankings via its proprietary IQ Score.
What to watch for
The carriers it compares and rates are also the source of its revenue, and Insurify itself warns that on comparison sites "higher-paying partners may influence which quotes you see and in which order," with paid "featured carrier placement" available to advertisers.
Composite score
2.70 / 5.00 → grade C+

How the grade was reached

Independence · 30% weight 1 / 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 3 / 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 4 / 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 4 / 5

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

Manipulation resistance · 10% weight 3 / 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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