The Pet Treatment Index

Cheap Pet Insurance: What the Low Price Actually Buys

The Pet Treatment Index Editorial Desk — Independent pet-treatment research

Published: August 28, 2026 · Last reviewed: August 28, 2026 · Last verified: August 28, 2026
Benchmark source: NAPHIA State of the Industry Report 2026 (published June 21, 2026; reports calendar year 2025)
Veterinary review status: Not completed. If a licensed veterinarian reviews this page, we will name the reviewer, credential, scope, and date.
Insurance or legal review status: Not completed. This page compares public market data, statutes, and contract language; it does not provide a personalized insurance recommendation or legal advice.

Cheap pet insurance is not one company. It is a product tier and a set of settings. In 2025, U.S. accident-only policies in force averaged $190 a year for dogs and $112 for cats — about $16 and $9 a month. Accident-and-illness policies averaged $836 and $435. The cheaper tier leaves illness out. Your own price then moves with species, age, breed, ZIP code, deductible, reimbursement rate and annual limit. Next step: compare three quotes on identical settings.

We can't tell you your cheapest company, and neither can anyone else's national average. A national ranking names a winner for the pets, cities, dates and coverage settings its publisher chose. Until a quote is run for your animal, in your ZIP, on matched settings, a national winner is somebody else's winner. That is the honest limit of this page, and it is the reason the rest of it is built the way it is.

This applies to you if

  • You are in the United States with a dog or cat.
  • Your pet is healthy right now — no symptoms, no diagnosis, no estimate in hand.
  • You want a lower premium but you don't want to find out later that you bought something narrower than you thought.
  • You are willing to pull three current quotes instead of trusting one table.

This is not your situation if

  • Your pet may need care today.
  • A symptom, diagnosis, veterinary recommendation or treatment estimate already exists. A policy bought now is not a dependable way to pay for it. Start with how existing history affects coverage.
  • You have an open or denied claim on a policy you already hold.
  • You are about to cancel existing coverage because a new quote looks cheaper. Read the switching section first.
  • You need equine, livestock, exotic or working-animal coverage, or you are outside the U.S.

If your pet may need care now, contact your veterinarian or a local emergency animal hospital. Do not delay care to shop for insurance. New coverage is not a reliable way to pay for a problem that has already produced symptoms, a veterinary opinion, a diagnosis or a treatment plan. This page will still be here afterward.

Start in the right lane

For the decision this page is built to solve, price shopping starts with a pet that has no current care need and a future you are trying to protect. Six situations send readers to this page, and only one of them is actually a price decision.

Table 1 — Your situation · What this page is good for · What it can't do · Where to go next
Your situation What this page is good for What it can't do Where to go next
Healthy pet, planning ahead Benchmarks, price levers, tradeoffs, matched comparison Guarantee a future claim is paid Keep reading
Pet may need care now Nothing that should delay care Solve today's problem Veterinarian or emergency animal hospital
Symptom, diagnosis or estimate exists The general coverage boundary only Make a new policy pay for it Continue care; read how coverage is decided
Premium went up at renewal The replacement comparison Preserve everything your current policy covers Before you switch
Open or denied claim Nothing on this price page Get another insurer to pay retroactively Your current insurer's written appeal process and your state insurance department
Several healthy pets Household annual totals after discounts Prove the biggest discount is the lowest total Keep reading, then quote every pet

The three products, and what each one costs

There are three product categories in NAPHIA's U.S. market data, not one product at different prices. Accident-only covers eligible injuries. Accident-and-illness covers eligible injuries and illnesses. Insurance with embedded wellness includes routine-care benefits inside the insurance product. In 2025 the U.S. averages ran from $112 a year to $1,414 a year depending on the category and species.

These are the figures NAPHIA published on June 21, 2026 for calendar year 2025. They are averages of policies in force at year end, not quotes.

The Cheap Ladder: U.S. average annual premium by tier, 2021–2025

Scope: United States. Dogs and cats. U.S. dollars, annual, per pet. NAPHIA market averages for policies in force at each year end. Source: NAPHIA, State of the Industry Report 2026, Section 4, printed page 22. The 2021–2025 changes and monthly equivalents are our arithmetic on those published figures.

Table 2 — Tier · Species · 2021 · 2022 · 2023 · 2024 · 2025 · 2021–2025 change · 2025 monthly equivalent
Tier Species 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2021–2025 change 2025 monthly equivalent
Accident only Dog $192 $201 $204 $193 $190 −1.0% $15.83
Accident only Cat $121 $122 $116 $110 $112 −7.4% $9.33
Accident & illness Dog $625 $640 $675 $749 $836 +33.8% $69.67
Accident & illness Cat $370 $387 $383 $386 $435 +17.6% $36.25
Insurance with embedded wellness Dog $1,051 $1,134 $1,263 $1,321 $1,414 +34.5% $117.83
Insurance with embedded wellness Cat $559 $614 $626 $651 $859 +53.7% $71.58

Limitations: an in-force market average is not a price you can buy. NAPHIA combines member-contributed information, public sources and, where needed, stated actuarial inferences. The insured pool changes as policies enter and leave, so a category average can fall while an individual renewal rises. Monthly equivalents are the annual figure divided by twelve — not a carrier's billing schedule — and do not include installment fees.

Three things fall out of that table that no one-number ranking shows you.

Accident-only is the only category that got cheaper across the 2021–2025 series. Dogs went from $192 to $190. Cats went from $121 to $112. Over the same period accident-and-illness rose 33.8% for dogs.

So the gap widened. For dogs, the distance between the cheap tier and the full tier grew from $433 a year to $646 — a gap 49.2% wider than it was in 2021. Accident-only slid from 30.7% of the accident-and-illness price down to 22.7%.

Embedded wellness was the highest-priced category in the table, not a demonstrated saving. In 2025, it averaged $578 more a year than accident-and-illness for dogs (69.1% more) and $424 more for cats (97.5% more). Those market averages do not prove that embedding routine benefits discounted them.

The obvious question is what the cheap tier gave up to stay cheap. That is the next section, and the answer starts in NAPHIA's own claim data.

Compare three quotes on the same settings. The worksheet lists every field that has to match before one price is genuinely lower than another — product tier, deductible amount and basis, reimbursement method, annual limit, fees, waiting periods and add-ons.
→ Open the three-quote worksheet

What the cheapest tier leaves on your side of the bill

Accident-only is cheap because it is narrower, not because it is a discount. It pays for eligible accident-related care and excludes illness. In NAPHIA's ten largest reported 2025 dog claims, two rows use plainly injury-type labels — bite wounds and wound — while the other eight labels do not state an injury event.

NAPHIA's one-line accident-only description includes foreign-body ingestion, lacerations, motor-vehicle accidents, ligament tears and poisoning. We screened the ten dog rows only for whether the published label uses an injury/event description that overlaps those examples. We did not infer cause or coverage from a diagnosis label.

The Claim Test: NAPHIA's ten largest 2025 dog claims, screened by published label

Scope: North America, dogs, calendar year 2025. Ten largest claims in NAPHIA's member-contributed table. Source: NAPHIA, State of the Industry Report 2026, Section 6, printed page 29. The screening is ours and records only whether the published condition label uses an injury/event description that overlaps NAPHIA's accident-only examples. These are extreme paid-claim examples, not a typical-claim distribution, a bill dataset, or a coverage decision.

Table 3 — Condition as NAPHIA reports it · Dog · Claim paid · Label-level screen
Condition as NAPHIA reports it Dog Claim paid Label-level screen
Undiagnosed illness — chronic Bernese Mountain Dog, 3 $66,600 No injury event stated
Undiagnosed hepatopathy Small mixed breed, 10 $60,100 No injury event stated
Bite wounds Toy Poodle mix, 4 $59,700 Injury-type label
Renal failure — acute Medium mixed breed, 6 $56,700 No injury event stated
Anemia Old English Sheepdog, 9 $54,700 No injury event stated
Kidney disease Medium mixed breed, 13 $46,700 No injury event stated
Valvular heart disease Jack Russell, 13 $43,600 No injury event stated
Wound Greyhound, 10 $43,400 Injury-type label
Heart disease Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, 10 $42,600 No injury event stated
Undiagnosed illness — acute Shetland Sheepdog, 13 $42,300 No injury event stated

Method: we recorded whether each published condition label uses an injury/event description that overlaps NAPHIA's accident-only examples. We did not read the claim file, medical record or issued policy, and we did not infer cause or coverage from a diagnosis label. A real coverage decision turns on the event, record, definitions, exclusions, state form and endorsements.

Eight of the ten labels do not state an injury event. The two injury-type labels account for about 20% of the $516,400 those ten reported claims paid. That is a label screen, not a finding that the other eight claims could not have involved an accidental cause.

The cat list has the same label-level limitation. Of the ten largest 2025 cat claims, one uses a clear injury/event label — trauma, $37,400, about 10% of the $365,600 total. A $50,000 corneal-ulcer label does not state a cause. The other eight labels name cancer, hepatopathy, urinary disease, kidney disease, pyelonephritis, pneumonia or azotemia without stating an injury event.

NAPHIA's common-condition list is a weaker test because it publishes broad categories, not causes. For dogs the twelve labels are gastrointestinal problems, ear infections, skin conditions, anxiety and behavioral or neurological issues, allergies, growths and masses, eye and vision disorders, diarrhea, urinary tract infections, musculoskeletal problems, exam and wellness visits, and vomiting. Musculoskeletal has the clearest label-level overlap with NAPHIA's ligament-tear example, but broad categories such as gastrointestinal or eye and vision disorders do not reveal whether an accident caused a particular claim. For cats the list is gastrointestinal problems, dental disease, urinary tract infections, anxiety and behavioral or neurological issues, respiratory illness, kidney disease, ear infections, hyperthyroidism, vomiting, arthritis, diabetes, and eye and vision disorders. None is itself an injury/event label, but those categories also do not establish cause.

Where accident-only genuinely fits. It is a real product with a real use. If accident-and-illness is not affordable, or a pet cannot obtain illness coverage, an accident layer can preserve some coverage for eligible injuries. It does not turn illness into a covered event. AKC Pet Insurance also states there is no maximum age limit on its accident coverage, which matters when age blocks or narrows other enrollment paths. The mistake is buying accident-only while believing it is a cheaper version of full coverage.

See exactly what accident-only excludes, carrier by carrier. That record holds the exclusion analysis, product terms and the cases where the tier can fit.
→ Read the accident-only coverage record

"Accident-only covers ligament tears" — except where it doesn't

The industry's product description and current carrier language do not give “ligament injury” one universal meaning. NAPHIA's accident-only description includes ligament tears. Pets Best's current product page lists cruciate ligament injuries under What's Not Covered, and its current Georgia sample accident-only form excludes all “Cruciate Ligament Events.” AKC Pet Insurance lists sprains and ligament injuries as covered examples while separately warning that cruciate exclusionary periods still apply.

Scope: U.S. accident-only product descriptions and one identified Pets Best Georgia sample form. Each source was read on August 28, 2026. State forms, underwriters and effective dates can change the answer.

Table 4 — Source · What it says about ligament injury under accident-only · Evidence boundary
Source What it says about ligament injury under accident-only Evidence boundary
NAPHIA product description Accident Only includes “ligament tears.” Market-category description in State of the Industry Report 2026, Section 1, printed page 9; not a policy form
Pets Best Current page lists “Cruciate ligament injuries” under What's Not Covered. The current Georgia sample form excludes all “Cruciate Ligament Events.” Product page plus Georgia sample form IAIC-PB10001-ACC; another state form can differ
AKC Pet Insurance (PetPartners) Covered examples include “Sprains — ligament injuries.” The legal footer separately states that exclusionary periods for cruciate ligament injuries still apply. Company product page and legal footer; issued policy controls

Three phrases, three different boundaries. A buyer can reasonably read “ligament injury” as covered while a cruciate-specific exclusion or timing clause still changes the answer.

The lesson generalizes past this one injury: the product-tier label is a category; the issued policy and endorsements are the contract. For dog-specific orthopedic timing clauses, see pet insurance for dogs and the orthopedic coverage database. For cat-specific contract checks, see pet insurance for cats.

Why your quote doesn't match the average

A national average is a sanity check, not a price. NAPHIA's figure describes policies already in force across the country. It is not one frozen quote profile for one pet, one ZIP code, one date and one benefit design.

Carriers say the same thing in their own terms. Pets Best and AKC Pet Insurance state that premiums are based on, and may increase or decrease with, the pet's age, species or breed, and home address. Nationwide says new-enrollment premiums depend on breed, age, coverage type and ZIP code.

So a quote can land far above or below $836 without anything being wrong. Use the average only as a broad market benchmark. It cannot tell you whether your individual quote is fairly priced or unusual.

There is also a “starting at” price problem. A published floor proves one configuration was advertised at that number. It does not prove that comparable coverage is available to your pet.

Published starting prices are not a ranking

Scope: United States. Each figure is a company-stated advertised floor read on the named company's own website on August 28, 2026. These are not quotes, not independently tested prices and not comparable benefit designs.

Table 5 — Company · Advertised starting price · What the company's footnote says it is based on
Company Advertised starting price What the company's footnote says it is based on
Pets Best $9/month dogs; $6/month cats Accident-only; the page says the advertised floor is regardless of age and breed, and states $10 dogs and $7 cats in Washington
Nationwide $12/month One-year-old medium mixed-breed dog in ZIP 60615, Modular accident-only, $5,000 annual limit, 70% coinsurance, $250 annual deductible; fees and state surcharges can change total cost
Lemonade $10/month Base accident-and-illness; company states age, breed, location and coverage selections change the price

Limitation: advertised floors can change without notice and may not be available in your state or for your pet. Read the footnote — the footnote is the product.

Note the pattern. Two of these three floors are for accident-only, the tier that excludes illness.

Why the "cheapest company" rankings disagree with each other

Price rankings can use real quotes and still answer different questions. Change the pet ages, breeds, ZIP codes, quote dates, reimbursement rates, deductibles, annual limits, add-ons or availability rules, and the winner can change.

That last part is the real problem. If Policy A costs $23 a month at 30% reimbursement and Policy B costs $36 at 90%, A is not cheaper in any meaningful sense — it is a smaller purchase. Ranking them together makes a narrower product look like a better deal.

A larger sample can reduce noise. It cannot make unmatched benefit designs comparable.

What most owners get wrong: the rankings do not have to be fabricated to mislead you. The mistake is reading a result produced for someone else's sample as if it were a quote for your animal.

This is why the only comparison that settles anything for your pet is one you run yourself, with every field locked. Which brings us to the fields.

The four dials that set your price

Four coverage provisions sit at the center of low-price comparisons: the waiting period, the deductible, the coinsurance or reimbursement share, and the annual or lifetime limit. Under the NAIC model — and state laws that carry the same disclosure language — an insurer must disclose any provision that limits coverage through those fields. They are also common levers that can make a quote cheaper by moving more of a future bill back to you.

Definitions first, because the words get used loosely:

  • Deductible — what you pay before or as reimbursement is calculated. The amount matters less than the basis: an annual deductible applies once per policy year; a per-condition deductible can apply again for each new problem. The policy's calculation order also matters.
  • Reimbursement percentage or coinsurance — the share of an eligible charge allocated between insurer and owner. The formula matters too: some policies use the actual covered charge, some use a benefit schedule, and some apply a usual-and-customary limit.
  • Annual limit — the ceiling on what the policy pays in a policy year. Once it is reached, the rest is yours.
  • Waiting period — the time between the relevant effective date and when coverage for a category begins. Accident, illness and orthopedic rules can differ, and state law can restrict them.

What each lever saves, and what it costs you

Table 6 — Lever · Likely premium effect · What shifts back to you · What to check before you use it
Lever Likely premium effect What shifts back to you What to check before you use it
Raise the deductible Lower More spending before or during reimbursement The amount, basis and calculation order
Lower the reimbursement percentage Lower A bigger share of each eligible bill while that setting applies The percentage and the claim formula
Lower the annual limit Lower Everything above the cap in a bad policy year Whether the limit is annual, per condition, category-specific or lifetime
Drop exam-fee coverage Lower on some products The consultation fee on covered visits Whether exam fees are included, excluded or optional
Drop prescription coverage Lower on some products Eligible medication costs Whether prescription coverage is included, optional, formulary-limited or excluded
Drop wellness or routine add-ons Lower Routine-care benefits Whether the item is an insurance benefit or a separate noninsurance program
Pay annually instead of monthly May remove installment fees or trigger a discount A larger payment up front The total annual charge, refund terms and any installment fees
Use a multi-pet discount May lower household premium Usually no coverage change, but terms vary Total annual cost for every pet and whether each has a separate deductible
Change carriers on matched headline settings Varies New waits, exclusions, history treatment and policy language can still differ Product tier, form, endorsements, underwriter and every field in the worksheet

Two of those deserve a number.

The reimbursement percentage follows each eligible bill under that policy. On a $4,000 eligible bill with a $500 annual deductible, assuming the deductible is applied first:

Table 7 — Reimbursement · Insurer pays · You pay before premium
Reimbursement Insurer pays You pay before premium
90% $3,150 $850
80% $2,800 $1,200
70% $2,450 $1,550

Illustration only, using round numbers. Real policies differ in eligible charges, calculation order, sublimits and deductible basis. The issued policy controls.

The distance between 90% and 70% on that one illustration is $700. Choosing the lower rate to save a few dollars a month is a trade you should make on purpose, not by accident.

Some cheap plans don't give you the dials at all. AKC Pet Insurance currently publishes fixed limits on its AccidentCare plan: a $100 deductible, a $20,000 annual limit and 10% coinsurance. Fixed settings are not automatically bad, but you cannot tune them — and they make cross-carrier comparison harder, not easier.

Then shortlist by the terms that decide a claim, not by the logo. The underwriter register maps the marketing brand to the legal insurer named in current public materials.
→ See who underwrites each brand

The traps that make a low price expensive later

Most cheap-policy surprises are not hidden fees. They are structural: a different product tier, a repeating deductible, a payout formula you didn't read, a low annual cap, a waiting period, or a policy form that differs from the summary you compared.

Table 8 — What looks cheap · The variable underneath · Field to find · Why it matters
What looks cheap The variable underneath Field to find Why it matters
“$500 deductible” Annual or per condition Deductible basis It may apply once a year or once per problem
“80% reimbursement” The claim formula and calculation order Basis for determining claim payments Same percentage, different math, different check
“$5,000 coverage” Annual, per condition, category-specific or lifetime Benefit-limit basis Limits reset differently, or do not reset
“Covers illness” The exclusion list and state form Exclusions section and endorsements The category name is not the contract
“No waiting period” Which category and which date Waiting-period provisions Accident, illness and orthopedic clocks can differ
“Wellness included” Insurance benefit or separate program Product description and billing A separate wellness program is not pet insurance
Low monthly price Installment or transaction fees Payment and billing terms Compare annual totals, not monthly labels
Familiar brand A different legal underwriter Underwriter disclosure and declarations The legal insurer, not the logo, issues the contract
A great review A different state policy form Form number and endorsements The reviewer may have read another version
Low first-year price Renewal rating and filed rates Renewal and rate provisions First-year rank does not predict year five

Two of those need a plain-language warning.

A benefit schedule can cap what a claim pays regardless of your bill. If a policy uses one, it pays a listed amount for a covered item or condition, so an 80% headline can still leave you with most of a larger charge. Under the NAIC model and matching state law, the applicable schedule must be disclosed in the policy and the insurer's schedules must be linked from the insurer's or administrator's main page.

“Usual and customary” is a second kind of cap. It limits the reimbursement basis to prevailing veterinary charges as the policy defines them, which can be less than what your clinic charged. Under the model language, a policy using that basis must explain how it is determined and applied.

What state law makes them tell you — and where that's true

The latest separately published NAIC state chart located for this review is dated Summer 2025. It lists 16 jurisdictions in its “Model Adoption” column, but it is a research starting point — not a current 50-state legal opinion. New Jersey enacted a similar Pet Insurance Act on January 12, 2026, after that chart. Its law does not take effect until January 1, 2027.

The 16 jurisdictions in the dated NAIC chart are California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Set that charted list against NAPHIA's 2025 state distribution and those 16 jurisdictions account for 41.7% of insured U.S. pets. That is our arithmetic on two dated sources. It is not a claim that 16 is the complete current national count, and it is not a substitute for the law currently effective in your state.

Under the NAIC model — and in enacted state text that carries the same provisions — an insurer must disclose:

  • Any provision that limits coverage through a waiting period, deductible, coinsurance, or annual or lifetime limit.
  • Whether it reduces coverage or increases premium based on claim history, the pet's age, or a change in location.
  • A summary of the basis or formula used to determine claim payments, in the policy and through a main-page link.
  • Any benefit schedule it uses, and any usual-and-customary limitation and how it is applied.
  • Whether the underwriting company differs from the brand name used to market the product.

Where the enacted state text carries the model's full disclosure package, those provisions are summarized in a document with a fixed legal title: “Insurer Disclosure of Important Policy Provisions.”

That document is the shortcut when your state's law requires it. AKC Pet Insurance carries a link with that exact title in its footer. Pets Best carries a “Claim Payment Calculation” link, which addresses the formula piece. The policy, declarations page and state endorsements still control.

Florida, because the law is new and the market is large

Florida's Pet Insurance Act took effect January 1, 2026 (Fla. Stat. § 627.71545). NAPHIA's 2025 distribution puts Florida third among U.S. states by insured-pet share. Four provisions matter to a price shopper:

  • A pet insurer may not impose a waiting period for accidents.
  • A waiting period for illnesses, or for orthopedic conditions not resulting from an accident, may not exceed 30 days, and the insurer must provide an examination-based waiver path subject to the statute and policy requirements.
  • The insurer carries the burden of proving that a pre-existing-condition exclusion applies to the claimed condition.
  • Buyers get a 30-day right to examine and return the policy for a premium refund if the statutory conditions are met and no claim has been filed.

Free-look length is state-specific. Florida's verified period is 30 days. Louisiana and Washington use 15 days. New Jersey's enacted law uses 30 business days when it takes effect January 1, 2027. Your current state law and issued policy control the length, trigger, return method and no-claim condition.

An applicable free-look right makes the disclosure document actionable: you can read the issued contract and, if the statutory and policy conditions are met, return it inside the stated window. Do not assume every state uses the same period.

The six-line check on any cheap quote

Run this against the insurer's disclosure document where applicable, then against the policy, declarations page and state endorsements before any free-look period closes.

  1. Does it name a waiting period, deductible, coinsurance and annual or lifetime limit? Write down each one, including “none” or “unlimited” where that is actually stated.
  2. Does it say the insurer can reduce coverage or increase premium based on age, claim history or location? Read the actual state disclosure and renewal language.
  3. How are claims calculated — from the covered charge, a benefit schedule, or a usual-and-customary basis?
  4. Does the brand on the ad match the legal underwriting company on the declarations page?
  5. What exactly is excluded? If the plan is accident-only, look specifically for cruciate ligament, hip dysplasia and intervertebral disc language.
  6. How long is the free-look period, what starts the clock, and does filing a claim end the right?

If you can't answer all six from the documents, you don't yet know what the price means.

If you already have a policy and want a cheaper one

Do not cancel first. A replacement policy is a new contract with a new effective date, and its pre-existing-condition terms can apply to your pet's medical history as it stands today — including anything documented since you bought the policy you're replacing. Conditions your current policy covers may not carry over.

Table 9 — Check before you cancel · Why
Check before you cancel Why
Replacement effective date Avoid a gap with no coverage in it
New waiting periods New clocks may apply where the law permits them
The new pre-existing-condition definition Intervening history is evaluated under the replacement contract
Conditions your current policy covers The replacement may treat them differently
Policy form and endorsements for your state Marketing summaries hide state and version differences
The new deductible basis A lower headline amount can hide a structural change
The new annual limit A cheaper price can mean a lower cap
Any claim currently open Get the current insurer's written instructions before changing coverage
Free-look and cancellation terms on both policies Timing, notice and refund rules vary

This is not a quote moment. Read the replacement contract, then decide.

Cheap today is not the same as cheap in year five

The price you accept is a starting price. Two things can push it up over time, and neither is captured by a first-day ranking.

The first is the rating profile. Pets Best and AKC Pet Insurance state that premiums may increase or decrease with the pet's age, species or breed, and home address. Nationwide says new-enrollment pricing depends on age, breed, coverage and ZIP code.

The second is the carrier's rates and renewal terms. This page does not have a regulator-filing dataset or a renewal cohort, so it makes no carrier-level claim about how fast a premium rises or which company stays cheapest.

The practical consequence: when you compare quotes, you are comparing year one. A first-year ranking is not evidence about year five.

What we actually verified

Read directly and transcribed for this page:

Calculated or screened by us from the published material: the 2021–2025 percentage changes, monthly equivalents, accident-only-to-accident-and-illness gap and ratio, the injury/event-label screening of NAPHIA's top 2025 claims, and the 41.7% share for the 16 states in the dated NAIC chart. The inputs and method are printed so the work can be checked.

Not tested, and therefore not claimed here:

  • We did not run our own quote panel. No company is named cheapest.
  • We did not test any insurer's claims handling, appeal process, customer service or actual renewal behavior.
  • We have no regulator-filing or renewal-cohort dataset, so we make no carrier-level renewal-price claim.
  • We verified free-look periods only for Florida, Louisiana, Washington and New Jersey's enacted future-effective law.
  • Advertised starting prices are company-stated snapshots, not prices independently reproduced through enrollment.
  • No veterinarian, insurance professional or attorney has reviewed this page.

Refresh plan: recheck NAPHIA after each annual report; recheck the NAIC chart and cited state statutes at least twice yearly and after a legislative trigger; re-read carrier pages, footers, forms and advertised floors quarterly. Change Last verified only after those mutable fields are actually checked.

Educational information, not advice

This page is educational information for U.S. dog and cat owners. It is not veterinary advice, legal advice, insurance advice, or a recommendation to buy a specific policy. A veterinarian's examination and diagnosis determine treatment. Coverage is determined by the issued policy and endorsements, your pet's medical record, current law in your state, and the insurer's claim decision.

The Pet Treatment Index is an independent research publication. We are not a veterinary practice, an insurer, an insurance producer, a marketplace, or a government agency. We do not sell insurance and we cannot tell you which policy to buy.

Commercial status: this page contains no compensated links and no paid placements. If that ever changes, the disclosure will appear directly beside and before the paid action, not buried in a footer.

Found an error? Tell us. Our sourcing rules are in editorial standards and our coverage-analysis method is in insurance coverage methodology.

Questions owners ask

Who has the cheapest pet insurance?

No company is cheapest for every pet in every place. A useful answer names a species, breed, age, ZIP code, product tier, deductible, reimbursement percentage, annual limit and quote date. Anything shorter than that is a winner for somebody else's sample.

What's the cheapest type of pet insurance?

In NAPHIA's 2025 U.S. market averages, accident-only was the cheapest category: $190 a year for dogs and $112 for cats. It excludes illness, and only two of the ten largest dog-claim rows used plainly injury-type labels. Full details on the tier are in the accident-only record.

Can pet insurance really cost under $20 a month?

For some pets and configurations, yes. Pets Best currently advertises accident-only from $6 a month for cats and $9 for dogs in most states, with different Washington floors. Nationwide advertises $12 for one defined accident-only dog profile. Lemonade advertises base accident-and-illness from $10. A starting price does not prove the same product is available to your pet at that price.

Does cheap pet insurance cover illness?

Accident-only policies do not. Some lower-priced accident-and-illness policies do. Check which product category you are looking at before comparing premiums — that single field explains much of the price gap.

How do I lower my premium?

Raising the deductible, lowering reimbursement or lowering the annual limit moves more claim cost back to you. Dropping optional benefits removes coverage. Paying annually or using a discount may lower the charge without narrowing coverage, but the billing and discount terms vary. The lever table above shows which kind of trade each move makes.

Does pet insurance get more expensive as my pet gets older?

It can. Pets Best and AKC Pet Insurance state that premiums may change with age, species or breed, and address. Nationwide says new-enrollment pricing depends on age, breed, coverage and ZIP code. Your first quote does not tell you the renewal price years later.

Can I switch to a cheaper policy?

You can shop, but don't cancel first. The replacement contract has a new effective date, may have new waiting periods, and applies its own pre-existing-condition definition to your pet's history as it stands now. Work through the checklist above before ending existing coverage.

Will a new policy cover something already in my pet's record?

Don't count on it. A new policy is not a dependable way to pay for care connected to symptoms, veterinary advice, a diagnosis or treatment need that already exists. The issued policy, medical record, state law and insurer's claim decision control the outcome.

Is a wellness plan a cheaper way to do this?

This dataset cannot prove that. NAPHIA's insurance-with-embedded-wellness category averaged more than accident-and-illness in 2025 — 69.1% more for dogs and 97.5% more for cats — but that is a market-category comparison, not a test of every product. A separate wellness program is not pet insurance, and this page did not compare separate program prices.

Do this next

Pull three quotes for your own pet, in your own ZIP code, and hold every field constant: same product tier, same deductible amount and basis, same reimbursement percentage, same annual limit, same add-ons, and same payment schedule.

Then look for the “Insurer Disclosure of Important Policy Provisions” where your state's law requires it. Whether or not that exact document appears, open the policy, declarations page, state endorsements, exclusion section and claim-payment calculation. Run the six-line check before any applicable free-look period closes.

A free-look right is state- and policy-specific. The verified examples on this page use different periods and conditions. Read the first page of the issued policy for the return method and clock.

Open the three-quote worksheet. It lists every field that has to match, side by side, so you can see what still differs before you decide.
→ Compare three quotes on the same settings

Still unsure whether to buy at all? That is a different question, and it has its own page: is pet insurance worth it. Worried about coverage starting late? See waiting periods and immediate coverage. All of it sits under the pet insurance hub.