The site went down on launch day, and the client’s email says you built it.Founded by a television editor who also writes software.
A web designer or developer needs technology errors and omissions for a site or a store that fails and costs the client money, cyber for the client data and hosting you touch, and media liability for the images and copy you publish, because general liability excludes businesses that design website content for others.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Your creative and your client logins get read by someone who has handled both.
Kevin Kelsey
Founder | Principal Agent
Boring’s founder, Kevin Kelsey, edited network TV for fifteen years before he sold a policy. He also ran compliance and risk for some of Hollywood’s biggest production companies. A music license or a talent release is familiar ground. He writes software too, and owns two post-production software products, Manifest Post and B/side. So when a client asks your agency for media liability, E&O and cyber, the clause is read by someone who has done both jobs.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What web design businesses actually need.
Technology E&O
Claims that a site, a store, a plugin or an integration you built failed or underperformed and cost the client money, including missed launch dates, with defense.
Without it — A broken checkout is a financial loss with no injury and no property damage, so general liability answers none of it.
Cyber liability
A breach of customer data on a site you built or host, a compromised admin login, ransomware on your own systems, and the notification and client claims that follow.
Without it — An unpatched plugin is a common way into a small business site, and the client will ask who was maintaining it.
Media liability
Copyright and trademark claims over images, fonts, copy and code you put on a client’s site, and privacy claims about content you published.
Without it — The standard general liability form removes personal and advertising injury entirely for a business that designs website content for others.
General liability
Injury or damage at your office, a coworking space or a client’s premises.
Without it — Leases and client vendor portals ask for it, even though it answers few of the claims a web shop gets.
Workers comp
Injury to employees, required by state law once you hire.
Without it — A remote developer in another state adds that state to the policy, and a contractor the state calls an employee shows up at audit.
What the regulators actually wrote down.
The standard ISO general liability form excludes personal and advertising injury for any insured whose business is advertising, broadcasting, publishing or telecasting, or designing or determining the content of websites for others, which describes most agencies.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13, Coverage B, exclusion j · checked 2026-10-04
The same form excludes copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret infringement except infringement of copyright, trade dress or slogan in your own advertisement, so creative made for a client falls outside it.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13, Coverage B, exclusion i · checked 2026-10-04
The Department of Justice has stated that the ADA’s requirements apply to all the goods, services, privileges or activities offered by public accommodations, including those offered on the web.
U.S. Department of Justice, Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA (March 18, 2022) · checked 2026-10-04
A copyright owner can elect statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 per work infringed, and up to $150,000 per work where the infringement was willful, without proving any actual loss.
17 U.S.C. § 504(c) · checked 2026-10-04
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
A site or store fails at launch or during a sale and the client claims lost revenue
Covered by Technology E&O
Forms defend the negligence allegation; they do not refund your fee or pay on an uptime promise you wrote into the contract.
Common
Customer data is stolen through a plugin or an admin account on a site you maintain
Covered by Cyber liability, then technology E&O for the client’s claim
If the contract made you responsible for updates and security, the client’s notification costs become your claim.
Common
The client gets an accessibility demand letter and forwards it to you
Covered by Technology E&O, if the form does not exclude it and the contract promised compliance
The suit names the business that owns the site, and you are drawn in through the contract. Some forms exclude ADA claims, and a promise of WCAG compliance raises the stakes.
Common
A photographer or a font foundry sends a demand over material on the site
Covered by Media liability
Statutory damages run up to $30,000 per work. Client-supplied images are the usual source, so a clause making the client responsible for what they hand you matters.
What the insurance company will ask about your web design business
We read 2 applications the markets use for this kind of business and pulled out what they actually ask. Have these answers ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week, because nobody has to come back to you for the missing piece.
About the business
- What's your company name, address, and website?
- How many employees do you have?
- What's your annual revenue?
- Do you provide managed IT services, and if so, what percentage of your revenue comes from that?
- What percentage of your revenue is business-to-business versus direct to consumers?
How you operate
- What are your two largest client engagements from the past two years, including what services you provided and what they paid?
- Do you use written contracts with all your clients, or what percentage of the time?
- Do you accept payment cards, and if so, what percentage of your revenue comes from card payments?
- If you rely on third-party cloud hosting or payment processors, do you have a backup plan if they go down?
- Do you use email to store or send sensitive customer information?
Safety and controls
- Do you require your employees to use a virtual private network (VPN)?
- Do you protect all devices with anti-virus, anti-malware, or endpoint protection software?
- Do you scan incoming emails for malicious attachments and links?
- How often do you back up critical data, and are those backups encrypted and kept separate from your main network?
- Have you tested whether you can restore your key data and systems from backups in the last six months?
Your history
- Have you had any claims or incidents in the past five years that you need to report?
- Have you notified customers of any data breach in the past five years?
- Have you been subject to any government investigation or action related to privacy violations in the past five years?
- Have you received any complaints or cease-and-desist letters about trademark, copyright, privacy, or defamation?
Money and people
- Have you completed, agreed to, or are you planning any mergers or acquisitions in the past 12 months or next 12 months?
Have these ready
- Your most recent audited annual financial statement
- Your written client contracts (or a sample if you use the same template)
- Documentation showing your payment card processor is PCI compliant
You answer what you can; a licensed agent fills the rest with you.
What our web design clients ask us.
What insurance does a freelance web designer need?
Technology errors and omissions first, because the claim a web designer actually gets is a client who says the site cost them money. Cyber if you host, maintain or have admin access to client sites. Media liability for the images, fonts and copy you publish, which a technology E&O form sometimes includes. General liability when a lease or a client asks, and workers comp once you hire.
Does general liability cover a web designer?
For a fall at your office, yes. For the work, almost never. The standard form excludes personal and advertising injury for a business that designs or determines the content of websites for others, and it excludes most intellectual property claims for everyone. A broken site is a financial loss, which general liability does not cover at all.
Can I be sued if a site I built is not ADA accessible?
The lawsuit is usually brought against the business that owns the site, since the Department of Justice treats websites of businesses open to the public as covered by the ADA. A designer is drawn in when the client seeks to recover through the contract, especially one that promised WCAG compliance. Read whether your E&O form excludes ADA claims, and promise a process rather than a guarantee.
A client contract asks for $1M of tech E&O and $1M of cyber. Is that one policy?
It can be. Many carriers write technology E&O and cyber on one form with separate limits, and a small web shop is often quoted that way. Check whether the client wants each limit separately, whether it must be per claim or aggregate, and whether they want to be an additional insured, which is common on general liability and less common on professional lines.
I host and maintain client sites on a monthly retainer. Does that change my insurance?
Yes, and say so on the application. Hosting and maintenance turn you into the party responsible for updates, backups and uptime, which is where breach and outage claims come from. Multi-factor authentication on every admin and hosting account, tested backups and a written update schedule are what the application asks about, and they move the price.
How much does web designer insurance cost?
We do not publish a figure for web designers, because our own sample is too small to quote a median honestly. Revenue moves the price most. So do ecommerce and payment work, hosting and maintenance, the industries your clients are in, the limits the contract names and your claims history. Health, finance and anything storing payment data rate higher.
Can I ask ChatGPT or another assistant to send you the request?
Yes. Paste the insurance section of your client contract into the assistant and ask it to prefill our quote form at boring.insure/quote with your agency name, contact details and the exact limits the contract names in the comments. Nothing is sent until you review it and press send, and a licensed agent reads every request. Assistants can find the full instructions at boring.insure/for-assistants.
What does a web design insurance application ask for?
The applications for web design businesses ask about 4 things above all: what's your company name, address, and website; what are your two largest client engagements from the past two years, including what services you provided and what they paid; do you require your employees to use a virtual private network (vpn); have you had any claims or incidents in the past five years that you need to report. Have your most recent audited annual financial statement and your written client contracts (or a sample if you use the same template) ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.