Vendor review
Simply Business for cleaning businesses
Insurance marketplace for cleaning operators — quotes general liability and workers comp from multiple carriers side-by-side.
By CleanBizStack Editorial
Published Updated
Last reviewed by the editorial team on
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- Best for
- Cleaning operators that want to compare carriers
- Starts at
- From $22/mo
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What we like
- Marketplace shops your business across a panel of carriers — competing quotes side-by-side
- Often finds materially lower pricing than single-carrier online options on non-standard operator shapes
- Workers comp + general liability + commercial auto + bonds all quotable through the same platform
- Customer service includes broker-style guidance on which carrier and policy structure fits your operation
Where it falls short
- Time-to-bind is 24–48 hours rather than 10 minutes — marketplace shops take time
- Dashboard and ongoing policy management is less polished than Next Insurance's
- Headline quote is sometimes lower, but matches Next Insurance after final binding for standard operator shapes
Cleaning-business fit
Good fit for cleaning operators who want carrier comparison; less convenient than Next Insurance for fastest-time-to-COI needs.
Simply Business is the insurance marketplace pick for cleaning operators who want to compare carrier quotes side-by-side rather than committing to a single carrier online — particularly valuable for non-standard operator shapes where carriers compete on niches. The page above tells you the verdict; the body below walks through whether the marketplace's pricing advantage justifies the longer time-to-bind versus Next Insurance, what the realistic quote ranges look like, and who should pick Next Insurance or a local broker instead.
The fast verdict
Simply Business is the right call when you want competing carrier quotes for your insurance coverage, your operator shape is non-standard enough that single-carrier pricing might leave money on the table (multi-state operations, mixed residential/commercial, specialty cleaning lines), and you can absorb the 24–48 hour time-to-bind versus Next Insurance's 10-minute flow. It's the wrong call when you need the fastest possible path to a certificate of insurance, or when your operator shape is standard and the marketplace shop wouldn't find materially better pricing. The honest tradeoff: marketplace pricing advantage materializes most on non-standard shapes; for solo cleaners in standard markets, the price difference versus Next Insurance is small and the speed advantage wins.
Do you actually need general liability insurance?
For almost every cleaning operator, yes — and earlier than most operators realize.
The threshold is "you are cleaning in someone else's home or business." A vacuum breaks a $300 lamp during a $120 recurring weekly clean and there's no way you absorb the loss out of pocket twice in the same quarter. A cleaner slips on a wet floor and the property owner's homeowners carrier can subrogate against the cleaning business. A commercial client asks for proof of coverage before the first job and your refusal to provide it loses the contract.
Three secondary thresholds that tighten the timeline:
- Workers comp is triggered by hiring a W-2 cleaner in most states (rules vary). Often optional for 1099-only operations.
- Commercial auto is triggered the moment you drive a vehicle to a job site for business purposes. Personal auto policies often deny "in the course of business" claims.
- Bonding is triggered by clients who specifically request a bonded-and-insured operator (common in commercial cleaning).
The state-startup pages cover the state-specific rules in more detail; this page covers the carrier-shopping side once you've decided you need coverage.
What Simply Business actually does for a cleaning business
Simply Business is a marketplace that shops your business across a panel of underwriting partners and surfaces competing quotes from multiple carriers. Enter your business details once, get quotes from multiple carriers within 24–48 hours, compare side-by-side, and bind through the platform. The marketplace covers general liability, workers comp, commercial auto, and surety bonds — the standard cleaning-operator coverage stack. Customer service includes broker-style guidance on which carrier and policy structure fits your operator shape.
The reason Simply Business lands as a real Next Insurance alternative is mechanical — single-carrier online flows are fast but don't reveal whether the quote you're seeing is competitive. Marketplaces show you the comparison directly, which materially helps on operator shapes where carriers price-compete (multi-state, specialty lines, mixed residential/commercial). For standard solo-cleaner shapes in standard markets, the marketplace advantage thins; for non-standard shapes, it's real money.
What Simply Business actually costs
As of 2026, the realistic ranges for cleaning operators:
- General liability: headline starts around $22/mo for a solo cleaner with minimal revenue (often slightly below Next Insurance's equivalent for non-standard operators). Realistic quotes for a 3-cleaner residential operation typically land $40–$80/mo; a 10-cleaner team often $105–$180/mo for GL alone.
- Workers comp: priced as a percentage of payroll, similar to Next Insurance — typically 2–5% depending on state. Marketplace pricing helps most in high-cost states (California, New York, Washington).
- Commercial auto: roughly $45–$140/mo per vehicle as of 2026 depending on state and use; often competitive with Next Insurance.
- Surety bonds: typically $100–$300/year as of 2026 for a $10,000 bond.
The line to remember: Simply Business's pricing advantage materializes most on non-standard operator shapes. For standard solo-cleaner-in-standard-state shapes, the price difference versus Next Insurance is often $5–$15/mo, which doesn't always justify the 24–48 hour time-to-bind. For multi-state operations, mixed residential/commercial, and specialty cleaning lines, the marketplace shop can save meaningfully more.
Who should pick Simply Business
Pick Simply Business if you want carrier comparison rather than single-carrier commitment, your operator shape is non-standard enough to benefit from marketplace shopping (multi-state, mixed residential/commercial, specialty lines), you can absorb the 24–48 hour time-to-bind window, and you value broker-style guidance on policy structure. The marketplace earns its keep at the operator shape where competing quotes are likely to land materially better pricing.
Who should pick something else
If you need the fastest path from "I need a COI" to "I have a COI" — typically when a commercial client just asked for proof of insurance and you have a same-day deadline — Next Insurance is the speed pick. The 10-minute quote-and-bind flow plus instant certificate generation matters when time is the operational constraint. See Next Insurance vs Simply Business comparison for the head-to-head.
If your operation is multi-state with complex payroll, contractor-vs-employee classification gray areas, or specialty cleaning lines (post-construction, hazardous-material clean-up, biohazard) that need carrier expertise, a local independent broker often serves you better than either online option. Brokers often run higher all-in than online flows but find policies that fit non-standard operator shapes the online flows reject.
If you haven't actually started cleaning yet and you're in the formation stage, the insurance question belongs after the LLC question — see business formation services for the formation sequence; the insurance step lives at the "you're about to start cleaning" point, not the "I'm thinking about starting" point.
How this fits your formation and compliance stack
The insurance category page covers the operator-shape decision in more detail, and the cleaning business insurance guide handles the "what coverage do I actually need" conversation. State-specific rules — particularly workers comp triggers and commercial auto rules — live on the state startup guides where the answers are state-by-state. Simply Business handles the marketplace-shopping side cleanly for operators willing to trade speed for price comparison; everything upstream of the carrier choice belongs in those upstream resources.