Best Life Insurance Companies in September 2026

State Farm, Transamerica, New York Life, and Mass Mutual are among the best life insurance companies. But which company is best for you will depend on multiple factors, including the type of life insurance you want, your desired death benefit amount, your age, gender, overall health, and more.

To help you understand your life insurance options, Insurify reviewed more than a dozen top life insurance companies. We evaluated each based on its pricing, financial strength, policy offerings, consumer complaints, and customer experience.

This article will cover the different types of life insurance available, average costs, and which insurers to consider for your specific needs.

Best life insurance companies at a glance

Here’s an overview of our choices for top insurance companies by category.

Insurance Company	Best For	Sample Monthly Premium	AM Best Rating	Online Quote	No-Exam Product Available?
State Farm	Best overall	$46	A+ (Superior)	Yes	Up to $50,000 term life for 10 years or up to age 50 (whichever is longer)
Transamerica	Whole life insurance	$38	A (Excellent)	Yes	Trendsetter LB and Trendsetter Super may not require a medical exam
Guardian Life	Customer satisfaction	$87	A++ (Superior)	Yes	No
Nationwide	No-exam term life	$32	A+ (Superior)	Yes	Yes, 10- or 20-year term coverage up to $1.5 million
New York Life	Cash value	Not available online	A++ (Superior)	No	Underwrites AARP Guaranteed Acceptance Life Insurance
Pacific Life	Universal life	Not available online	A+ (Superior)	No	Yes, up to $3 million for ages 18–60
Mutual of Omaha	No-exam whole life	Not available online	A+ (Superior)	No	Yes, guaranteed acceptance whole life for ages 45–85, up to $25,000
American General / Corebridge Financial	Online application and purchase	$35	A (Excellent)	Yes	Yes, guaranteed-issue whole life available for ages 50–80, up to $25,000
Prudential Financial	Policy customization	$48	A+ (Superior)	Yes	Yes, no-exam term life available for up to $1 million in coverage
MassMutual	Young families	Not available online	A++ (Superior)	No	Yes, for qualifying applicants on all individual term and whole life products
Northwestern Mutual	Financial strength	Not available online	A++ (Superior)	No	No

Best life insurance companies of 2026

Insurify spent hours researching major life insurance companies. Unless otherwise noted, we sought quotes from multiple companies for a 30-year term life insurance policy with a $150,000 death benefit for a non-smoker 45-year-old man in overall good health. Here are some top life insurance companies to consider.

State Farm: Best overall

• Sample premium: $46/month

• Online quote available: Yes

• Online purchase: No

• Availability: Some products not available in California, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin

State Farm offers term, whole, universal, and final expense life insurance policies. It ranks well for customer service and satisfaction in industry ratings: State Farm scored second-best overall for customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study.^[1]

The insurer offers standard 10-, 20-, and 30-year term periods. It has a user-friendly online quote process but directs customers to local agents to purchase a policy. Its moderate term life rates, diverse product offerings, and excellent customer service could make it a great fit for many consumers.

Transamerica: Best for whole life insurance

• Sample premium: $38/month 

• Online quote: Yes

• Online purchase: No

• Availability: Not available in New York

Transamerica offers term, whole, index universal, and final expense life insurance policies. Its whole life insurance product, Transamerica Lifetime, is particularly comprehensive. Policyholders can take advantage of multiple payment options, preferred rates, and nine different riders, such as for critical illness and income protection.

Transamerica offers term limits as low as $25,000, up to $2 million with Trendsetter LB, and more than $10 million with Trendsetter Super. Online quotes are only available for Trendsetter Super, and applicants must speak to an agent to buy a policy.

Guardian Life: Best for customer satisfaction

• Sample premium: $87/month (30-year term, $250,000 limit, the lowest limit available)

• Online quote: Yes

• Online purchase: No

• Availability: All 50 states

Guardian Life offers term, whole, and universal life insurance. While its product offerings are pretty basic, the company scores well for customer service and satisfaction in two important industry rankings.

The insurer ranked fourth for customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study and has less than one-quarter of the expected number of complaints, according to the NAIC Consumer Complaint Index. Guardian Life’s online quote process is simple, user-friendly, and provides recommendations based on the annual income you report.

Nationwide: Best for no-exam term life

• Sample premium: $32/month (20-year term, $250,000 limit — no 30-year term online quote)

• Online quote: Yes

• Online purchase: Yes

• Availability: Some products unavailable in New York

Nationwide offers term, whole, universal, and variable universal life insurance, as well as long-term care coverage as a stand-alone or rider on another policy. Life Essentials — one of Nationwide’s two term life products — is available for 10- or 20-year term periods and offers a maximum coverage limit of $1.5 million.

You can buy a Life Essentials policy online, and it doesn’t require a medical exam. Guaranteed Level Term requires an exam and isn’t available to buy online, but it has term periods of up to 30 years and no maximum coverage limit.

New York Life: Best for cash value

• Sample premium: Not available online

• Online quote: No

• Online purchase: No

• Availability: All 50 states

New York Life offers term, whole, universal, and variable universal life insurance, as well as long-term care and individual disability coverage. It doesn’t have as much detailed information available online as other insurers and directs consumers to connect with an agent by submitting contact information.

While every whole life insurance policy includes cash value, New York Life’s Secure Wealth Plus policy includes early cash-value buildup, tax-deferred and guaranteed cash value accumulation, and often tax-free access to cash value as your needs evolve. The insurer also offers add-ons like living benefit, chronic care, and accidental death benefit.

Pacific Life: Best for universal life insurance

• Sample premium: Not available online

• Online quote: No

• Online purchase: No

• Availability: All 50 states

Pacific Life offers term, universal, indexed universal, and variable universal life insurance. It doesn’t have as much detailed information available online as other insurers and directs you to find a local financial professional by entering your ZIP code.

Its three universal life products provide options so you can choose features like flexible premiums, guaranteed minimum interest rates, and options for how and where Pacific Life invests the cash value of your policy. Pacific Life also offers add-ons for universal life policies, though you have to contact a local agent to learn about any customization.

Mutual of Omaha: Best for whole life insurance without a medical exam

• Sample premium: Not available online

• Online quote: No

• Online purchase: No

• Availability: Not available in New York

Mutual of Omaha offers term, whole, and universal life insurance. Notably, it doesn’t require a medical exam for its whole life insurance product and even offers an online quote tool.

The coverage amounts are relatively low — ranging from $2,000 to $25,000 for a whole life policy — and it’s only available to ages 45 to 85. Mutual of Omaha’s term life insurance is available to ages 18 to 80, with term periods of 10 to 30 years and coverage limits starting at $100,000.

American General/Corebridge Financial: Best for online application and purchase

• Sample premium: $35/month

• Online quote available: Yes

• Online purchase: Yes

• Availability: Not available in New York

American General Life Insurance Company sells life insurance through its Corebridge Direct brand, which had a well-below-average score in J.D. Power’s life insurance study. Corebridge Financial offers many life insurance products, including term, whole, universal, and final expense life insurance, as well as accidental death, quality of life, and guarantee-issue whole life policies.

Its online quote process is detailed but user-friendly and easy to understand.

You can also select a quote and apply online, but Corebridge requires a medical exam before confirming a policy. You can schedule the exam in the app as soon as the next day (though that may depend on your location). Following the exam, a Corebridge representative will follow up to confirm your actual rate before charging you for the policy.

Prudential Financial: Best for policy customization

• Sample premium: $48/month

• Online quote available: Yes (estimated)

• Online purchase: No

• Availability: 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Prudential sells term, universal, indexed universal, indexed variable universal, and variable universal life insurance. The company also offers investment and retirement products. Prudential stands out for its numerous riders that allow you to customize your policy. It offers 14 different riders, including ones that allow you to tap the value of your policy while you’re alive if you become seriously ill or disabled.

Prudential provides a quoting tool for its EssentialTerm Value policy, but to purchase this basic policy, and for all other policy types, you need to speak with an agent.

MassMutual: Best for young families

• Sample premium: Not available online

• Online quote available: No

• Online purchase: No

• Availability: All 50 states and Washington, D.C.

MassMutual offers whole and term life policies, as well as disability income and long-term care insurance. Although you can’t get a quote online, MassMutual’s website has a calculator that can help you estimate how much life insurance you need based on your income, dependents, and financial goals.

With an extensive, easy-to-understand library of educational content, MassMutual is a solid place to start if you’re new to life insurance shopping. You have to talk to an agent to get an actual quote and to buy a policy.

Northwestern Mutual: Best for financial strength

• Sample premium: Not available online

• Online quote available: No

• Online purchase: No

• Availability: All 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Northwestern Mutual offers a suite of financial products, including whole, universal, variable universal, and term life insurance. It also offers financial planning services, like retirement planning and college funding, as well as brokerage accounts and other investing products.

Northwestern Mutual stands out for its financial strength. AM Best gives the company an A++ rating, the highest available. The company also has a strong reputation for customer satisfaction. It placed fifth for overall customer satisfaction in J.D. Power’s 2025 Individual Life Insurance Study.

How Insurify chose the top life insurance companies

Insurify’s editorial team spent 40-plus hours researching the 17 companies with the largest market share in North America, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ 2023 Life Insurance Market Share report. 

We considered industry metrics like financial and credit strength ratings, customer satisfaction rankings, and company complaint scores. We also meticulously assessed each company’s availability, life insurance product types, policy features, and quoting and purchase process.

We used the following profile for sample quotes: A nonsmoking 45-year-old male in overall good health who is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds.

How much does life insurance cost?

Generally, life insurance costs average from less than $20 per month for young policyholders with a 10-year, $100,000 term policy to more than $600 per month for a 30-year, $1 million policy for a 55-year-old, based on Insurify’s analysis of actual quote data from our life insurance partner LifeQuotes.

Actual premiums vary based on factors that include your age, gender, smoking status, health, desired coverage amount, term length, occupation, and more. Risk factors, like being a smoker or participating in risky hobbies like skydiving, generally increase life insurance premiums. Being young and in good health typically earns you a lower premium.

Types of life insurance

The two main categories of life insurance are term life insurance and permanent life insurance, but even those have different policy types and features. In all cases, a life insurance policy is only active if you continue paying the premiums.

Term life insurance is a temporary policy that provides a certain amount of coverage for a set period. Permanent life insurance lasts your entire life and typically includes a cash value you can withdraw from or borrow against, under certain conditions, while you’re alive.

The following table is a quick comparison of key differences between term and permanent life insurance.

Policy Feature	Term Life	Permanent Life
Duration	Usually 10, 20, or 30 years	Lifelong
Cost	Generally cheaper	Usually costs more than term
Cash value	No cash value	Usually has a cash value component
Best for	Specific financial goals, lower-cost coverage	Lifelong coverage, investment purposes

Term life insurance and how it works

Term life insurance provides coverage for a set period, or term — usually between 10 and 30 years. It’s typically the most affordable type of life insurance because it only lasts for a set time and doesn’t include any cash value.

A term life policy includes a death benefit the insurer pays out to your chosen beneficiaries if you die within the policy term. Most people who opt for term life insurance want to protect their loved ones from financial burdens if they die since the payment can help pay off debt and cover running expenses.

Here are the common types of term life insurance policies:

• Convertible: A convertible term life insurance policy is one you can extend by converting it to a permanent policy at the end of the initial term. Premiums will likely increase for the new, permanent policy.^[2]

• Renewable: A renewable term policy provides coverage that the policyholder has to renew, typically every year. Premiums often increase on renewal.

• Decreasing: With a decreasing term policy, the coverage amount decreases over time. Most policyholders would choose this option to cover debts that decrease over time, like a mortgage or student loans.

• Increasing: With an increasing term policy, the coverage amount increases over time. This could be a smart option if you expect your financial needs to grow — for example, if you have another child.

• Level: With a level-term policy, the death benefit doesn’t change throughout the policy term.

• Fixed: A fixed-term policy is the most basic term life insurance policy. The premiums remain the same throughout the policy term.

• Voluntary: Voluntary life insurance is optional life insurance your employer provides, often at a significantly discounted rate. It’s a type of term life insurance because you often only have coverage as long as you work for that employer.

Permanent life insurance and how it works

Permanent life insurance provides lifetime coverage, as long as you continue paying your premiums. It typically has higher premiums than term life insurance because you lock in your premiums when you buy the policy and pay to build cash value, which can benefit you while you’re alive.

As you pay into the permanent life insurance policy and the cash value accumulates, you can withdraw or borrow against those funds to help pay for emergencies or significant expenses. Cash value isn’t the same thing as the death benefit, but if you borrow against your cash value and die before you repay the policy, your insurer may reduce the death benefit accordingly.

Cash value is tax-deferred, meaning you only pay taxes on funds you withdraw. How much it grows from interest or investment depends on the policy type.

Here are the common types of permanent life insurance policies:

• Whole: With whole life insurance, you get lifetime coverage, a set premium, and the opportunity to build cash value, which grows at a fixed interest rate.

• Guaranteed: Guaranteed-issue whole life insurance is a type of long-term coverage that doesn’t require a medical exam. It typically has an age requirement of more than 50 years old and much lower coverage limits than a traditional whole life policy.^[3]

• Universal/adjustable: Universal, or adjustable, life insurance can provide lifetime coverage and accrue cash value at a varied interest rate, but you may be able to adjust the premiums and death benefit over time.

• Indexed: With an indexed universal policy, you choose to invest the cash value with a specific index fund. This can have higher returns but is a riskier investment.

• Variable: A variable universal policy is similar to an indexed policy, except you choose to invest the cash value in accounts tied to the stock market.

How much life insurance do you need?

The amount of life insurance you need will depend on multiple factors, including your financial situation and goals. 

To financially protect your loved ones after you pass away, you should consider how much money they would need to:

• Cover your final expenses

• Replace your income

• Pay off any debts, like a mortgage

• Support children and other dependents

• Pay for future education needs

How to choose the best life insurance policy for your needs

Life insurance can be a financial safety net for your loved ones and a resource to you while you’re still alive. Here are some steps you can follow to help you find the right policy:

1. Consider your needs and goals. If protecting your family’s financial security is your priority, a term life insurance plan can offer coverage at an affordable rate. If you want lifetime coverage building cash value that you can borrow against for big expenses down the line, whole life insurance is a good start. Life insurance is also often cheaper if you buy it when you’re young. If you buy a whole life insurance policy at a young age, you could lock in low rates.

2. Estimate how much life insurance you need. How you do this will also depend on your goals. One common recommendation is to multiply your income by 10 and add anticipated college costs for any children. Another is to add up your debt, income, mortgage payments, and anticipated education costs to get your number.

3. Figure out what premiums you can afford. Consider your income, expenses, and financial goals to determine what you can afford to pay for life insurance premiums.

4. Decide on the right type of insurance. Pull all that information together as you consider what type of life insurance is right for you.

5. Compare multiple life insurance quotes. You can get a quote online from a handful of insurers, but you’ll likely need to contact several companies to get all the quotes you need. Always be honest about your health on your application. Consider optional add-ons, or riders, for things like critical or terminal illness as you compare policies.

6. Pick a comprehensive plan. Choose a reputable insurer, confirm the policy you want, add any additional riders you need, and review the final policy documents closely before purchasing.

7. Evaluate regularly. If your family or financial situation changes significantly, revisit your policy. Assess your life insurance once in a while to make sure it’s still providing the right coverage.

How to save on life insurance

Life insurance is only active as long as you’re paying the premiums, so here are some tips to help keep it affordable:

• 

  Shop around

  Life insurance companies are competing for your business, and you may see significant rate differences for similar coverage. Shop around and compare quotes to make sure you get the best deal.

• 

  Buy early

  Life insurance premiums are generally cheapest for younger people. Generally, health risks increase with age, so life insurance premiums do as well.

• 

  Look into group insurance

  Employer-sponsored life insurance is often much cheaper because employers can get a better group rate. You may have to contribute, but it could be a lot less than paying for coverage elsewhere. Group coverage is typically for one or two times your annual salary, and the policy usually ends when you change employers.

• 

  Make healthy lifestyle changes

  Maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, and not smoking can qualify you for lower rates.

• 

  Choose a term policy with renewal guarantees

  Term policies are cheaper than permanent policies, so if life insurance with a set term works for you, it could help you save on your premiums. A renewal guarantee gives you the option to start a new term after the current one ends without requiring a medical exam. The premiums may go up, but you’ll likely pay less than you would if you had to shop for an entirely new policy elsewhere.

• 

  Check for premium discounts

  Sometimes insurers offer discounts on specific coverage amounts, so you could pay less for $250,000 of coverage than for $200,000 of coverage, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

• 

  Pay annually

  Some insurers add charges if you pay monthly instead of annually, so paying an annual premium could also save you cash.

Life insurance companies FAQs