Business Insurance Cost Calculator
Estimate what business insurance is likely to cost your business in Australia. Occupation risk and turnover drive the premium far more than the cover limit does, which surprises most first time buyers. General information only, speak to a licensed broker for advice.
Public liability and professional indemnity cover different things and neither substitutes for the other. Public liability responds when you cause injury to a third party or damage their property. Professional indemnity responds when your advice, design or professional service causes a financial loss. A consultant who visits client sites usually needs both.
None of these policies cover injury to your own staff. That is workers compensation, which is a separate and compulsory statutory scheme administered differently in each state and territory, and it is not part of a business insurance pack.
💰 Ways to save
- Use a broker rather than buying direct, particularly if your occupation is anything other than plainly low risk. Brokers access underwriting agencies and wholesale markets that do not sell direct to the public, and for trades, construction and professional services they frequently place the same or better cover for less than the online direct price. Their commission is paid by the insurer rather than added to your premium, and the real value is that they argue your occupation classification and manage the claim if one happens.
- Get your occupation classification right and keep it current. Insurers rate premiums off an occupation code, and being classified into a higher risk band than your actual work warrants is one of the most common and most expensive errors in small business insurance. A carpenter who does no roof work and no hot works should not be rated as a general builder. Describe your actual activities precisely at renewal each year, because a business that has changed what it does is often sitting in a stale classification.
- Lift your excess deliberately rather than accepting the default. Moving from a $500 to a $2,500 excess commonly reduces a premium by 10 to 25 percent, and it also discourages small nuisance claims that damage your claims history and drive future renewals up. The discipline is to only do this to a level you could genuinely fund tomorrow without hurting cash flow, and to set the money aside rather than assuming you will find it.
- Bundle covers with one insurer instead of scattering them. A business pack that combines property, contents, stock, business interruption, public liability and tools with a single insurer is usually 10 to 20 percent cheaper than the same covers bought as separate policies, and far more importantly it removes the gaps and arguments that arise when two insurers each say the other should respond. Single insurer, single renewal date, single claims contact.
How we estimate this
## What business insurance costs in Australia in 2026
Pricing reviewed: June 2026.
Pricing reviewed June 2026. Indicative Australian costs, not a quote.
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Understanding business insurance costs in Australia
What business insurance costs in Australia in 2026
Premiums vary enormously because they are individually rated, but the 2026 bands are useful as a starting point. A sole trader consultant or office based business with turnover under $500,000 typically pays $500 to $1,200 a year for $20m public liability. A small trade business in the same turnover band pays $700 to $2,000 for public liability alone. Professional indemnity for a small consultancy runs $800 to $2,500 for a $1m to $2m limit, and considerably more for financial, legal, medical and engineering advice where the limits and exposures are larger. A business pack combining property, contents, stock, business interruption and liability for a small retail or hospitality operation is commonly $2,500 to $8,000. High risk occupations involving working at height, scaffolding, roofing or hot works can pay two to four times the equivalent trade rate for the same turnover.
Public liability, and why the limit matters less than you think
Public liability is the foundation cover for almost every Australian business that has any physical interaction with the public, clients or other trades. It responds when your business causes personal injury to a third party or damages their property, and it covers both the compensation and the legal costs of defending the claim. The available limits are conventionally $5m, $10m and $20m. Here is the counterintuitive part: the premium difference between them is small, usually in the order of 10 to 15 percent from bottom to top, because the overwhelming majority of claims settle well below even the lowest limit and the insurer is pricing frequency rather than the tail. What actually drives your public liability premium is your occupation and your turnover, because those are the proxies for how much risk exposure you generate. The practical consequence is that buying $20m instead of $5m is cheap, and it keeps you eligible for the many principal contractors, councils, government agencies and commercial landlords that now specify $10m or $20m as a contract minimum.
Professional indemnity and the claims made trap
Professional indemnity covers financial loss suffered by a client because of your advice, design, specification or professional service. It is essential for consultants, engineers, architects, IT professionals, accountants, brokers, designers and anyone whose deliverable is judgement rather than a physical product, and it is mandatory under the registration rules for a number of professions. The critical structural difference from public liability is that professional indemnity is written on a claims made basis. It responds to claims made against you during the policy period, regardless of when the work was performed, provided the work was after the policy's retroactive date. That has two consequences that catch people out. First, you must maintain continuous cover, because a gap can leave historical work unprotected. Second, when you retire, sell the business or change professions, cancelling the policy leaves all your past work exposed, and the fix is run off cover, which extends the claims made trigger typically for seven years and must be arranged before cancellation.
Products liability, business packs and the other common covers
Products liability responds when a product you manufacture, import, sell or supply causes injury or damage after it leaves your control, and it is frequently bundled with public liability into a single combined liability section. It is essential for anyone making, importing or retailing physical goods, including food. A business pack is the modular product most small businesses actually buy: it combines property and contents, stock, glass, machinery breakdown, theft, money, and business interruption, which covers lost income while you cannot trade after an insured event and is often the most valuable and most under bought section in the whole pack. Beyond that, tools and equipment cover matters to trades, cyber liability has moved from optional to close to essential for any business holding customer data or taking payments online, and management liability covers directors and officers, employment practices claims and statutory fines for businesses with employees.
What actually drives your premium
Five factors do most of the work. Occupation is the largest, because insurers rate off an occupation code that reflects the inherent hazard of what you do, and a roofer and a bookkeeper are not remotely comparable regardless of turnover. Turnover is the second, used as the proxy for exposure volume, and it scales premiums in bands rather than linearly. Claims history is third and moves premiums sharply, with a single claim in five years commonly adding 20 to 30 percent and multiple claims potentially making cover difficult to place at all. Cover limits and the breadth of the sections you buy are fourth, and matter less than people expect on liability but a great deal on property and business interruption. Excess is the fifth and is the lever most directly under your control, with a move from a $500 to a $2,500 excess commonly reducing premium by 10 to 25 percent. Location and construction type also feed into any property section, particularly in flood, cyclone and bushfire exposed areas.
What business insurance does not cover
Three exclusions cause the most surprise. First, injury to your own workers is not covered by any of these policies. That is workers compensation, a compulsory statutory scheme run separately by each state and territory with its own premium calculation, and it must be arranged separately. Second, faulty workmanship itself is generally excluded from public liability. The policy will typically respond to resulting damage caused by defective work, but not to the cost of redoing the defective work, which is a commercial risk you carry. Third, wear and tear, gradual deterioration, known circumstances that existed before the policy started, and deliberate acts are excluded across the board. Underinsurance is a related and very common problem in property sections, where a business insures contents or stock for less than replacement value and finds the claim reduced proportionally by an average or co insurance clause.
How to buy it sensibly
The sequence that works is to list your actual exposures before you look at products. Write down who could be injured by your work, what you could damage, what advice you give, what physical assets and stock the business depends on, how long you could survive without trading, what data you hold, and what your contracts and licences require you to carry. Take that list to a licensed broker rather than filling in an online form, because the classification of your occupation and the wording of the exclusions matter more than the headline premium, and a broker is paid by the insurer rather than by you. Read the Product Disclosure Statement and the Target Market Determination, particularly the exclusions and any conditions you must comply with, since a condition breach can defeat a claim. Review annually rather than rolling over, because turnover, activities and contract requirements all drift. This page is general information only and not advice, and a licensed broker or insurer is the right party to advise on your particular circumstances.
Frequently asked questions
How much does business insurance cost in Australia in 2026?
A sole trader consultant or office based business under $500,000 turnover typically pays $500 to $1,200 a year for $20m public liability. A small trade business in the same band pays $700 to $2,000. Professional indemnity for a small consultancy runs $800 to $2,500, and a business pack for a small retail or hospitality operation is commonly $2,500 to $8,000.
Should I get $5m, $10m or $20m public liability cover?
Generally $20m, because the premium difference from $5m is usually only 10 to 15 percent while the eligibility difference is large. Most principal contractors, councils, government agencies, shopping centres and commercial landlords now specify $10m or $20m as a contract minimum, so a $5m limit can quietly lock you out of work for very little saving.
What is the difference between public liability and professional indemnity?
Public liability responds when your business causes physical injury to a third party or damages their property. Professional indemnity responds when your advice, design or professional service causes a client financial loss. They cover different events and neither substitutes for the other, so a consultant who also attends client sites typically needs both.
What does claims made mean on a professional indemnity policy?
It means the policy responds to claims made against you while it is current, rather than to work performed while it was current. You therefore need continuous cover, and when you retire or sell the business, cancelling leaves past work exposed. Run off cover extends the trigger, typically for seven years, and must be arranged before you cancel the policy.
Does business insurance cover my employees if they are injured?
No. Injury to your own workers is covered by workers compensation, which is a compulsory statutory scheme administered separately by each state and territory with its own premium calculation and its own rules. It is not part of a business insurance pack and must be arranged separately as soon as you employ anyone.
What is the fastest way to reduce my premium?
Check your occupation classification is accurate, since being rated in a higher risk band than your actual work warrants is the most common and expensive error. After that, lift your excess deliberately, which commonly saves 10 to 25 percent, and bundle covers with one insurer rather than several, which typically saves another 10 to 20 percent and removes gaps between policies.
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