Trupanion vs. Embrace: Which Is the Best for Your Pet? (2025)

Trupanion and Embrace are two major pet insurance companies that offer comprehensive accident and illness plans for dogs and cats. Embrace offers more policy types, allows pet parents to customize their reimbursement rates, and offers cheaper premiums than Trupanion for similar coverage. Trupanion offers the advantage of direct payment to participating vets.

We’ll go over the coverage details, cost, policy features, claims, and customer reviews for each company to help you choose. Make sure to compare pet insurance quotes for your furry friend before choosing between Embrace and Trupanion.

Trupanion vs. Embrace: The verdict

For most pet owners, Embrace offers a better value. Both companies offer comprehensive coverage, but Trupanion policies contain more exclusions. For example, Trupanion never covers exam fees. Embrace offers more pet insurance policy types than Trupanion. Unlike Trupanion, Embrace also offers mobile app claims and a 24/7 vet helpline.

While Trupanion offers the unique benefits of lifetime per-condition deductibles and a direct pay option, those advantages may not justify the company’s high premium costs. Embrace not only offers lower rates for similar coverage but also provides a multi-pet discount and budget-friendly policy customization options. The two companies have similar customer service reviews.

Trupanion vs. Embrace

Compare quotesCompare	Compare quotesCompare
Reimbursement % The percentage of costs your provider will pay for a covered event, after you’ve paid your deductible. 90%	Reimbursement % The percentage of costs your provider will pay for a covered event, after you’ve paid your deductible. 70%–90%
Payout limits The maximum amount your provider will pay for covered events. Unlimited	Payout limits The maximum amount your provider will pay for covered events. $5,000–$30,000
Deductibles The amount you must pay towards a covered event before your coverage kicks in. $0 to $950	Deductibles The amount you must pay towards a covered event before your coverage kicks in. $100–$1,000
Curable pre-existing conditions Pre-existing conditions refer to conditions your pet has shown documented symptoms of before your policy’s waiting period is over. Some companies still cover these conditions if they’re deemed “curable” and haven’t shown symptoms for a specified period of time that varies by insurer. Not covered	Curable pre-existing conditions Pre-existing conditions refer to conditions your pet has shown documented symptoms of before your policy’s waiting period is over. Some companies still cover these conditions if they’re deemed “curable” and haven’t shown symptoms for a specified period of time that varies by insurer. Covered

Data in this table has been sourced from Insurify users who received a pet insurance quote from our partner Fletch.

Trupanion

Embrace

How Trupanion and Embrace compare

Trupanion and Embrace both have a reputation for providing comprehensive coverage, but each company has unique strengths and weaknesses. Here’s how Trupanion compares to Embrace in five categories.

Cost of pet insurance

Trupanion is significantly more expensive than Embrace. Based on our sample quotes, the monthly cost of Trupanion pet insurance ranges from $47 to $137 per month for dogs and $28 to $45 per month for cats. Embrace costs about $39 per month for dogs and $27 per month for cats. Trupanion also offers fewer customization options for budget-minded pet parents.

Keep in mind that pet insurance premiums depend on individual factors, like your pet’s age, breed, and location. What’s more, Trupanion and Embrace use different pricing models. Embrace premiums increase with your pet’s age. Trupanion premiums start high for young pets but don’t increase due to your pet’s age. Rates from both companies may increase due to other factors.

Find Affordable Pet Insurance

Compare top pet health insurance plans in minutes

Enter your ZIP codeView My Quotes

Secure. Free. Easy-to-use.

4.8/5 (7,669+ reviews)

Coverages and plan features

Trupanion only offers a comprehensive accident and illness policy. Embrace offers accident-only plans and a wellness plan in addition to accident and illness coverage. One key difference between the two companies is that Embrace reimburses you for your vet bills, while Trupanion offers VetDirect Pay, so you don’t need to cover the cost during the claims process.

Embrace allows you to customize your deductible, reimbursement rate, and annual coverage limit, which gives you more control over your premium. Trupanion only allows you to choose your deductible — all plans feature a 90% reimbursement rate with no annual or lifetime limits. Trupanion uses a lifetime per-condition deductible as opposed to Embrace’s annual deductible. Trupanion and Embrace offer similar features, but they have some differences as well.

See how the two companies compare in the table below.

Feature	Trupanion	Embrace
Mobile app	No	Yes
Mobile claims filing	No	Yes
Direct vet pay	Yes	No
24/7 pet helpline	No	Yes
Online policy management	Yes	Yes
Live chat support	Yes	No
Multi-pet discount	No	Yes

Policy exclusions

Both companies offer coverage for a wide range of conditions and treatments, including congenital and hereditary conditions, specialist and emergency care, prescription medications, and more. But Trupanion has a few more coverage exclusions and requirements than Embrace.

Dogs and cats younger than 14 are eligible to enroll in Trupanion pet insurance. Embrace has no age limits, but pets older than 15 are only eligible for accident-only insurance. Both companies exclude coverage for pre-existing conditions, but Embrace no longer considers curable conditions to be pre-existing after your pet is symptom-free for one year.

Accident and illness policies from both insurance companies also exclude routine care, but you can add wellness coverage to your Embrace policy to potentially save money on annual wellness exams and other preventive care costs.

Trupanion doesn’t cover exam fees or certain preventable conditions, including dental problems for pets who don’t get routine dental cleaning. Embrace covers preventable conditions, with the exception of certain conditions preventable by vaccines your vet recommends, and also offers optional exam fee coverage.

Claims process

Here’s how each insurer handles pet insurance claims.

	Trupanion	Embrace
Claims submission options	File online Submit by mail Ask your vet to send an invoice if they accept Trupanion VetDirect Pay	Online Mobile app Email Fax Mail
Submission window	90 days	Full policy term + 60 days
Review process timeline	Makes 60% of VetDirect payments within one minute Processes 70% of claims in 24 hours	Up to 5 days for Wellness Rewards Up to 15 days for accident and illness claims Up to 30 days for first claim
Payment or reimbursement options	Direct payment to your veterinarian  Check Direct deposit	Check  Direct deposit
Deductible factors	Annual deductible; you’re responsible for a flat amount each year	Deductible is per condition; for each condition, you’re only responsible for the deductible once in your pet’s lifetime

Customer reviews

Embrace and Trupanion both have a Trustpilot rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars based on thousands of customer reviews. The two companies also have similar average ratings on Yelp — Embrace has a rating of 2.1 out of 5 stars based on more than 650 reviews, and Trupanion has a rating of 2.2 out of 5 stars based on more than 1,300 reviews.

Embrace customers praise the quick claims process, the caring and knowledgeable customer care team, and the fair pricing.

But some customers complain that premiums increase substantially with each new policy term, and many customers disagree with Embrace about a claim denial on the basis of the pre-existing conditions exclusion.

Trupanion customers praise the company’s quick and reliable claims process. Pet parents also like the high reimbursement percentage, which keeps out-of-pocket costs to a minimum.

But some customers complain that Trupanion premiums are too expensive and keep increasing. Others say the customer service needs improvement. Many pet owners also cite frequent claim denials as a reason for their negative feedback about Trupanion.

Trupanion vs. Embrace FAQs