- Insurance
- Lead Generation
- Speed to Lead
How Much Do Insurance Leads Cost?
Josh Pocock
7 min read
Ask five vendors "how much do insurance leads cost?" and you will get five different answers, because agents pay for leads in four different ways. The price on the invoice also says very little about what a bound policy will cost you, so it helps to know which kind of lead each price refers to.
Most personal-lines insurance leads cost about $15 to $100 shared and $40 to $200 exclusive, live transfers run $75 to $300, and aged leads $3 to $40, according to LeadGen Economy's 2025 benchmarks. Your real cost is the cost per bound policy.
Below are the lead types, the prices by line, the math that turns a lead price into a cost per policy, and what it costs to generate your own leads instead.
The four ways insurance leads are sold
Shared leads are quote requests sold to several agencies at once. They are the cheapest live leads, and every buyer races to call first. LeadGen Economy says insurance leads are commonly shared with 4 or 5 buyers.
Exclusive leads go to one agency only. You pay more because you cover the whole cost of producing the lead, and you are the only one calling.
Live transfers (also sold as pay per call) put the shopper on the phone with your agent, usually after a short screening by the vendor's call center. They cost the most per lead and need someone free to take the call.
Aged leads are old leads resold weeks or months later, often at 30 to 90 days. They are cheap because most of those people have already bought, changed their mind or stopped answering.
Insurance lead prices by line
All figures below are from LeadGen Economy's insurance CPL benchmarks, published November 2025 and updated March 2026. They are published by a lead-industry company, so treat them as market ranges, not quotes.
| Line | Shared | Exclusive | Live transfer | Aged (30-90 days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto | $15-35 | $40-100 | $100-200 | $3-15 |
| Home | $20-50 | $50-120 | $100-175 | $5-20 |
| Term life | $25-55 | $50-125 | $100-250 | $8-25 |
| Final expense | $30-50 | $45-70 | $75-150 | $8-20 |
| Whole and universal life | $50-100 | $75-200 | $150-300 | $15-40 |
| Health (ACA), open enrollment | $40-80 | $60-150 | $80-175 | $10-30 |
| Medicare Advantage, fall enrollment | $50-80 | $75-125 | $125-200 | $15-35 |
| Medicare Advantage, rest of year | $30-50 | $45-70 | $75-150 | $10-25 |
| Medicare Supplement | $40-75 | $60-100 | $100-175 | $12-30 |
| Small commercial | $50-125 | $75-200 | $175-300 | $15-40 |
Two patterns stand out. Exclusive leads cost roughly 1.5 to 3 times the shared price for the same line. And health and Medicare leads get much more expensive during enrollment season, because every agency in the country wants them at the same time.
What moves the price of an insurance lead
- Line of business. Commercial and permanent life leads cost more because a single policy is worth more.
- Season. Medicare and ACA leads jump during their enrollment periods, as the table shows.
- State and city. Competitive metros and states with high premiums cost more.
- Filters. Asking for homeowners only, multi-car households, a certain age band or a minimum coverage amount raises the price per lead.
- Exclusivity and freshness. One buyer costs more than five. A real-time lead costs more than one delivered an hour later.
- Volume. Vendors discount larger orders, which can tempt you into buying more than your team can call.
How to work out your cost per policy
A lead price only becomes useful when you divide it by what actually happens to the leads. The formula:
Cost per bound policy = lead price ÷ (contact rate × quote rate × bind rate)
Elevarus (May 2026) works one step of this for life insurance: a $22 shared lead with a 40% contact rate costs $55 per contact, while a $90 exclusive lead with an 85% contact rate costs about $106 per contact. The shared lead wins per contact in that example. Whether it wins per policy depends on what happens next.
Here is an illustrative auto example with made-up rates. Plug in your own.
| Shared lead, called in 1 minute | Shared lead, called in 1 hour | Exclusive lead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead price | $30 | $30 | $70 |
| Contact rate | 35% | 20% | 70% |
| Quote rate (of contacts) | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| Bind rate (of quotes) | 25% | 25% | 25% |
| Cost per bound policy | $686 | $1,200 | $800 |
The fast shared lead is the cheapest per policy. The same lead called an hour later becomes the most expensive. Speed changes the answer more than the vendor does, which is why speed to lead matters so much with shared leads.
What it costs to generate your own insurance leads
The other route is your own ads, which makes every lead exclusive by default.
On Google, the closest public benchmark is LocaliQ's 2026 search report: finance and insurance averages $3.39 per click, a 2.64% conversion rate and $74.44 per lead. That category also includes banks and lenders, so treat it as a rough guide. Quote searches in big cities can cost far more.
On Facebook and Instagram, we did not find a reliable public cost-per-lead figure for insurance. LocaliQ's 2026 Facebook benchmarks give an all-industry average of $27.39 per lead, but no insurance number, so we will not guess one.
Own leads cost setup time and testing, and they still need instant follow-up. In return you know which ad produced each lead and nobody else is calling it. See Google Ads for insurance agents, Facebook ads for insurance agents and our broader approach to lead generation for insurance agents.
Consent rules when you buy insurance leads
Calling and texting leads falls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). A few points worth knowing:
- In January 2025 a federal appeals court struck down the FCC's one-to-one consent rule before it took effect (Morrison Foerster summary). Consent that names your agency is still the cleanest record to keep.
- The FCC has said calls in an AI-generated voice count as artificial voice calls under the TCPA, so they need the same consent as prerecorded calls (FCC 24-17).
- Some states add stricter rules on calling hours and call counts.
This is a summary of the rules, not legal advice. Ask each vendor how consent was captured and get a sample of the consent page before you buy.
Questions to ask an insurance lead vendor
- How many agencies receive each lead, and is that cap in the contract?
- How fast is the lead delivered after the person submits it?
- Will the lead be resold later as an aged lead?
- How is consent captured, and does it cover calls and texts from my agency?
- What can I return, and how fast are credits issued?
- Can I see recent source pages and a sample of leads?
Our exclusive vs shared leads guide goes deeper on buyer counts and aged leads, and how much does lead generation cost compares the pricing models across industries.
FAQ
How much do insurance leads cost?
Most personal-lines leads cost about $15 to $100 shared and $40 to $200 exclusive, per LeadGen Economy's 2025 benchmarks. Live transfers run $75 to $300 and aged leads $3 to $40.
How much are final expense leads?
LeadGen Economy lists final expense leads at $30 to $50 shared, $45 to $70 exclusive, $75 to $150 as live transfers and $8 to $20 aged.
How much are Medicare leads?
Medicare Advantage leads run $50 to $80 shared and $75 to $125 exclusive during fall enrollment, and less the rest of the year. Medicare Supplement leads run $40 to $75 shared, per LeadGen Economy.
What is a live transfer insurance lead?
A live transfer is a shopper put through to your agent on a live call, usually after a short screening by the vendor. It costs more than a web lead and needs someone free to answer.
Are exclusive insurance leads worth it?
They are worth it when their higher contact and close rates make the cost per bound policy lower than shared leads. Track both for a month, called at the same speed, before deciding.
Is it cheaper to generate your own insurance leads?
Sometimes. Google search leads for finance and insurance average $74.44 per lead in LocaliQ's 2026 data, which is close to an exclusive bought lead. Your own leads are never shared, and you control the follow-up.
Book a Stride Scaling Call
Executive Stride runs ads and AI follow-up for insurance agencies and other service businesses, with 400+ clients served. If you want to know what your leads really cost per policy, book a Stride Scaling Call and we will look at your sources and response times with you. More guides like this one are in our cost guides.
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