What insurance does a web designer need?
There's no one-size answer. The right mix depends on how you work, who you work for, and what your contracts ask for. These are the coverages a web designer typically looks at first:
Professional liability
The core coverage for development work: claims that a coding error, a missed launch, or a bug cost a client revenue, with limits up to $1,000,000 per claim typically available.
Cyber liability
A vulnerability introduced in a client's site or systems during your work can expose their customer data, and this addresses the breach response costs that follow.
General liability
What client contracts and coworking leases ask for, with the $1,000,000 per-occurrence limit procurement teams typically request.
Coverage always depends on your specific situation. The fastest way to see what fits is to get a quote and review your options.
What does it protect against?
The risks that matter aren't abstract. They're the everyday accidents of the work. A few scenarios that turn into real claims:
A coding mistake crashes the site during peak sales
A checkout bug ships with a site update, and a client's e-commerce store goes down during a big sales weekend. The client says the crash cost them the weekend's revenue, and that is the professional liability claim web development work is exposed to.
A missed launch date costs a seasonal window
A site rebuild runs past the agreed launch date and misses the client's holiday or seasonal campaign entirely. Professional liability is designed to help cover the resulting claim that the delay cost the client money.
A vulnerability in the build exposes customer data
A misconfigured plugin or an unpatched dependency introduced during your build lets an attacker into a client's site, exposing their customers' data. Cyber liability is built for the breach response costs and third-party claims a leak like this can trigger.
A client contract stalls on proof of insurance
A signed statement of work sits waiting because procurement wants a certificate of insurance first. For many web designers, the first policy gets bought because a contract already won demanded it.
Certificates of insurance
For web designers, the certificate of insurance request usually arrives with the contract: agencies and enterprise clients routinely require proof of professional liability and general liability at stated limits before a statement of work is signed, and cyber increasingly comes up for projects that touch customer data or payment systems. Olli's general liability policies include instant certificates, so vendor onboarding doesn't stall on paperwork.
New to certificates? Start with our guide to the certificate of insurance: what's on one, who asks for it, and how to provide yours.