A SaaS company's general liability rarely gets used, but the enterprise contract does. Procurement forms bundle it with Tech E&O and cyber, so the value here is a fast certificate with the right additional-insured and primary-and-noncontributory wording, not a large limit.
General liability insurance for technology companies
Pays when your technology company injures a third party or damages their property in the physical world, and it is the baseline certificate a landlord, coworking space, or enterprise client asks for before you can sign.
Why Coverwatch
- Markets
- Business owners policy and general liability markets that write software, SaaS, and IT risk at the low-hazard rate it deserves, instead of lumping a desk-bound team in with the trades.
- Competition
- 60+ markets compete on the certificate turnaround and the additional-insured wording your lease and client contracts demand, not just the premium on the cheapest line in your program.
- Structure
- We line general liability up against your Tech E&O and cyber policies before you bind, so a client's financial loss or a data breach lands on the right policy instead of falling into the gap between them.
For technology
- What it covers
- Third-party bodily injury and property damage from your operations, like a client hurt in your office or gear you damage on their site.
- What it doesn't
- Financial harm your software causes a client, and any breach of the data you hold.
Trusted by 60+ carrier partners
What does general liability insurance cover for a technology company?
General liability insurance for tech companies covers third-party bodily injury and property damage, like a visitor hurt at your office or damage at a client site. For a software team, general liability insurance for technology companies is the cheapest line and the first certificate a landlord asks for. It never covers a data breach.
What general liability insurance for technology companies covers
General liability answers for physical harm your operations cause a third party, and for a software company that harm is rare but not zero.
It is the certificate everyone asks for first
A landlord, a coworking space, and most enterprise clients will not let you sign until you hand over a general liability certificate.
The physical exposure is small but real
A client trips over a cable in your office, a laptop bag knocks a monitor off a client's desk during an on-site install, a visitor slips in your lobby.
It stops where your product and your data start
General liability does not answer for a bug that costs a client money, and it does not answer for a breach of the records you hold.
How we get you covered
We take general liability for technology to 60+ markets, build it to fit your contracts, and keep your certificates compliant.
Read your risk
We map what could actually go wrong in your operation, where a claim would come from, and who would bring it.
Shop 60+ markets
We take your risk to the carriers that know your class and make them compete on price and terms.
Build the endorsements
We add the endorsement wording that decides whether the policy responds to a claim, beyond the base form.
Keep you compliant
We handle the COIs, additional-insured certs, and renewals, so you are never the one chasing paperwork.
Get a quoteFlat fee, no markup on your premium.
What's covered, and what isn't
In the policy
Third-party bodily injury
A client, courier, or visitor is hurt on your premises or by your operations, like a slip in your office lobby or a fall over equipment during an on-site visit.
Third-party property damage
Your staff damages someone else's property while working, such as knocking a monitor off a client's desk during an install or spilling into a customer's server…
Personal and advertising injury
Coverage B answers claims that your marketing libeled or slandered a competitor, infringed their copyright in an ad, or invaded someone's privacy.
Damage to premises you rent
Fire and certain damage to the office or suite you lease is covered up to the fire-legal-liability limit.
Legal defense costs
The policy hires and pays lawyers to defend a covered claim even when the suit is groundless, and defense is paid on top of your limit.
Not in the policy
Your software's financial harm to a client
A bug, an outage, or a missed deliverable that costs a client money is a professional-services failure, not physical damage.
Covered by Technology E&O / Professional Liability
A breach of the data you hold
Stolen customer records, a ransomware event, or the notification and lawsuits that follow are data exposures, not bodily injury or property damage.
Covered by Cyber Liability
Injuries to your own employees
A staffer hurt at their desk or a remote worker injured in a home office is excluded outright.
Covered by Workers Compensation
Claims against your directors and officers
An investor dispute, a down-round suit, or a management-decision claim targets the people running the company, not your premises.
Covered by Directors & Officers
Claims above your policy limit
A judgment larger than your each-occurrence or aggregate limit leaves the excess on you.
Covered by Commercial Umbrella
Get a quoteGet a policy built for technology.
Claims general liability pays
A software team files general liability claims rarely, but the ones it does file are predictable. These are the third-party claims a technology company actually brings, with the typical cost to defend and settle each.
ScenarioHow the claim happensTypical cost
Visitor slips in your office
A client, candidate, or courier slips on a wet lobby floor or trips over a loose cable in your workspace and is injured.
$15K–$75K+
Damage at a client site during an install
Your team is on-site deploying hardware or running a workshop and knocks over a monitor, damages a server, or cracks a glass wall.
$10K–$50K+
Advertising or defamation claim
A competitor alleges your campaign, landing page, or comparison chart defamed them or used their material without permission.
$30K–$250K+
Coworking or lease liability dispute
A coworking operator or landlord is named alongside your company after a visitor is hurt in shared space you occupy.
$20K–$150K+
Ranges are typical defense and settlement bands for these claim types, not a quote. Actual exposure depends on office footprint, on-site work, advertising activity, and limits.
Get a quoteGet covered before a claim lands.
What technology buyers are required to carry
The limits contracts and statutes set for this line, and what moves your premium and terms.
What buyers require
- Office or coworking lease
- $1M occ / $2M agg
- Enterprise client vendor form
- $1M occ / $2M agg
- Partner or reseller agreement
- $1M / occurrence
The common floor a landlord or coworking operator sets before move-in, with the operator named as additional insured and damage to premises rented set at the lease amount.
Enterprise security and procurement teams routinely require general liability at this level, alongside Tech E&O and cyber, before a vendor clears onboarding.
Channel, integration, and reseller contracts often require proof of general liability naming the partner as additional insured before the relationship goes live.
What sets your cost and terms
- Office footprint and visitor traffic
- Underwriters price general liability partly to your physical space and how many people cross it.
- On-site and installation work
- A team that deploys hardware or runs workshops on client property carries property-damage exposure a purely remote team does not.
- Payroll, revenue, and class code
- Clerical and software class codes are among the lowest-hazard ratings there are.
- Advertising activity
- Aggressive comparison marketing and high-volume content raise the personal-and-advertising-injury side of the rate.
How this changes by technology segment
The policy is the same product; the exposure, the limit, and the exclusions to watch shift by segment.
MSPs and managed IT
An MSP is on client property constantly, racking hardware and running cabling, so the third-party property-damage side of general liability is live in a way it is not for a pure-software team. On-site work and client visits raise the premises and operations exposure, even though the aggregation risk that defines an MSP lives in Tech E&O and cyber.
IT consultants
Project-based IT consulting means a certificate on demand for nearly every new engagement, often naming the client as additional insured before work starts. General liability answers the on-site slip or the damaged equipment, while the advice-and-implementation exposure a consultant is really sued over routes to professional liability.
Endorsements that close the gaps
The base form is the start. These add-ons are where the policy gets built to fit technology.
Additional insured, managers or lessors of premises
CG 20 11Names your landlord or coworking operator as additional insured on the general liability for the leased space.
Primary and noncontributory
Makes your policy respond first and not seek contribution from the landlord's or client's own insurance.
Waiver of subrogation
CG 24 04Bars your carrier from recovering against a landlord, client, or partner after it pays a claim.
Blanket additional insured for clients
A blanket form automatically extends additional-insured status to any client your written contract requires it for.
By the numbers
The form numbers, contract mechanics, and coverage boundaries that surface when a technology company gets quoted for general liability or has to hand a certificate to a landlord or client.
- Base form behind general liability
- ISO CG 00 01
- Standard medical payments limit
- $5,000 per person
- Professional services excluded from GL
- E&O fills the gap
- Certificate of insurance
- Proof, not coverage
- Additional insured status
- Names a third party on your policy
General liability for a technology company is written on the standard ISO commercial general liability coverage form, an occurrence form with Coverage A for bodily injury and property damage, Coverage B for personal and advertising injury, and Coverage C for medical payments.
The ISO commercial general liability form carries a default medical payments limit of five thousand dollars per person, a no-fault grant that settles a minor third-party injury on your premises before it becomes a lawsuit.
Standard general liability forms exclude liability arising from the professional services a company sells, which is why a technology company's software errors and omissions are covered by a separate professional liability or Tech E&O policy rather than its general liability.
A certificate of insurance is the one-page evidence a landlord, coworking operator, or client asks for to confirm your general liability is in force. It summarizes limits and additional-insured status but does not itself grant coverage, which lives in the policy.
An additional insured endorsement extends your general liability to a landlord, coworking operator, or client so a suit naming both is defended under your policy. It is the specific mechanism a lease or vendor contract relies on when it demands to be named.
Common questions
about general liability for technology insurance
Rarely by law, almost always by contract. A software team's physical-injury risk is low, but a coworking space, an office landlord, and most enterprise clients will not let you sign until you show a general liability certificate, often naming them as additional insured. It is also the cheapest line in a tech program, so meeting the requirement costs little. The exposure is small, but the contract requirement is real.
General liability covers physical harm: a visitor hurt in your office or property you damage at a client site. Tech E&O, or technology professional liability, covers financial harm your product or service causes a client, like a bug, an outage, or a missed deliverable. The professional services exclusion removes those software claims from general liability, which is the exact gap Tech E&O fills. Most tech companies carry both.
No. A breach of the customer data you hold, the notification you owe, and the lawsuits that follow are data exposures, not bodily injury or property damage. General liability excludes them, and that fallout runs through a cyber policy instead. Assuming general liability covers a breach is one of the most common and expensive mistakes a technology buyer makes, because the two policies answer completely different losses.
Because a visitor hurt in space you occupy can name the property owner alongside you. Requiring your general liability certificate, with them added as additional insured and your policy set to respond first, pulls that claim onto your coverage instead of theirs. It is a standard lease condition, and the certificate is usually the first proof of insurance a landlord or coworking operator asks for before you move in.
Two inputs set the number, and you carry the higher of the two. The first is the floor your contracts require, and most leases and enterprise vendor forms begin at one million per occurrence and two million aggregate. The second is what a serious third-party claim could cost, weighing your office traffic, on-site work, and advertising exposure. When a large client or lease pushes past your primary limit, an umbrella over the policy is the usual fix.
Focus on the work.
We'll be your risk team.
Send us your policy and a licensed advisor checks your general liability against 60+ carriers, flagging gaps and overpricing. If your limits already hold up, we'll tell you.
Your quote
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