Web hosting insurance
You keep client sites and data online. Public liability covers injury and damage; professional indemnity covers claims about your work.
Public Liability from €7.55 per month
Professional Indemnity from €10.80 per month
Cover for data processing and web hosting services, from single servers to managed hosting
Business insurance, done differently.
Fully online business insurance in Ireland.
A few questions and you're covered.
No lock-in, no long contracts.
Excess from €0, up to €6.5 million of cover.
Why take out business insurance as a web hosting business?
Hosting other people's sites and data puts your liability on the line every day. Here is why dedicated web hosting insurance matters:
Your clients depend on you: A configuration error or a mistake in a migration can cost a client money. Professional indemnity takes care of your defence costs and the compensation owed.
You work on client sites and in third-party facilities: Visiting a client office in Dublin or a data centre in Cork brings your people into contact with others and their property. Public liability covers injury or damage you cause to third parties.
A clear framework so you can work with confidence: Your cover matches the services you declare when you get your quote, from data processing and data entry to managed hosting and domain management.
What is Public Liability insurance?
If a third party, like a client or a member of the public, holds you responsible for an injury or for damage to their property, public liability insurance takes care of your defence costs and any compensation due.
What does it cover?
Injury or property damage caused to others in the course of your hosting and data processing work. You choose a cover limit of €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year. Optional cover can be added: Employers' Liability (€13 million per claim) if you have staff.
Cover that fits your profession
You describe your services fully at sign-up, and your cover matches what you actually do: data processing and data entry, hosting, managing and maintaining websites, and registering domain names.
Is it mandatory?
Public liability isn't required by law in Ireland. In practice, clients, landlords, data centre operators and public tenders often require proof of cover before they will work with you, and some set a minimum cover limit you have to meet. Cover starts from €7.55 per month.
Who needs it?
Any web hosting or data processing business whose people visit clients, third-party premises or data centres.
What is Professional Indemnity insurance?
Professional Indemnity covers the purely financial loss a client suffers because of a professional mistake: wrong advice, a misconfiguration, a missed detail, or an error in something you delivered. It doesn't cover injury or damage to property (that's Public Liability); it's specifically about the financial damage your client suffers because of your work.
What counts as a professional mistake?
A misconfigured server a client relied on, an error made during a migration, a domain renewal that was missed, or advice about a hosting setup that turns out to be wrong.
Who is it for?
Businesses whose work is expertise, service delivery and deliverables rather than physical work. For a web hosting business, that is the hosting, data processing and website maintenance your clients pay for.
How does the cover respond?
It's written on a claims-made basis: the claim must be made and reported to us while your policy runs.
Switching to us from another insurer?
Work from up to 5 years back is covered, provided your previous policy would have covered the claim.
Leaving?
Claims about work done while you were insured must be reported before your policy ends, unless run-off cover is arranged.
Cover that fits your profession.
You select your services when you apply, so the policy and its exclusions match what you actually deliver. You choose a cover limit from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year; cover starts at €10.80 per month.
What it does not cover
Professional indemnity covers your liability to clients. It does not cover damage to your own servers, hardware or data, and Insify offers no cyber or business interruption cover in Ireland.
What does our insurance cover for web hosting businesses?
Our cover for web hosting businesses is built around public liability, with professional indemnity and an optional employers' liability cover you can add to match your situation.
Public Liability: Protects you if a client or another third party suffers an injury, or their property is damaged, in the course of your work. It takes care of your defence costs and any compensation due. You choose a cover limit of €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim.
Professional Indemnity: Covers financial loss a client suffers because of your professional work, for example a misconfiguration or a missed domain renewal. Cover limits from €125,000 to €1.25 million per claim.
Employers' Liability (optional): If you employ staff, this covers your liability as an employer, with a limit of €13 million per claim.
Not covered: Your own servers, hardware and data. Insify offers no property, cyber or business interruption cover in Ireland.
Which cover do you need?
Most web hosting businesses are exposed to both. One covers injury and damage, the other financial loss from your work. You can combine them in one Insify policy.
Public Liability insurance
Covers claims when your work injures someone or damages something that belongs to them. For example, someone trips over your equipment, or you damage a floor while working at a client's premises.
- Choose your cover: from €1.25 million up to €6.5 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year
- Excess from €0, depending on your turnover
- Staff? Add optional Employers' Liability with €13 million cover per claim
- Most relevant when your work brings you into contact with clients, the public, their premises or their belongings
Professional Indemnity insurance
Covers purely financial loss a client suffers through a professional mistake, oversight or wrong advice, with no injury or property damage involved. Think of work a client claims was unfit for purpose and cost them money.
- Choose your cover: from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year
- Excess from €0, depending on your turnover
- Most relevant when clients pay you for advice, programmes and plans
What's covered:
Hosting websites, applications, and data, including cloud services
Managing and maintaining websites
Registering domain names, and setting up and maintaining name servers
Data processing and data entry
Running training courses, seminars and events
Working at client sites and travelling for the job
The premises you work from
Optional: employers' liability once you have staff, with €13 million of cover per claim
Promising or guaranteeing a result, such as a yield or a profitability figure
A contract clause that increases your liability beyond what the law would impose, such as a penalty, a warranty, or a performance commitment
Financial services, such as arranging or selling insurance or investment products
Running a social media platform or a streaming service
Software for machines that directly control a manufacturing process, such as programmable logic controllers, or for airport baggage handling systems
Errors that are entirely a third party's responsibility, or a third party's internet or telecoms failure, where you have given up your right to claim against them
Cover and exclusions shown are indicative and non-contractual. Only the terms of your policy apply.
Claim examples
A configuration error during a server migration takes a client's online shop offline for 2 days. The client claims for the sales they lost. Professional Indemnity takes care of your defence costs and the compensation due to the client.
A domain renewal for a client is missed and their website and email go down until the domain is recovered. The client claims for the revenue lost in the meantime. Professional Indemnity covers your defence costs and the compensation due to the client.
While installing hardware at a client's office in Galway, one of your engineers knocks a monitor off a desk and injures a member of the client's staff. Public Liability covers your defence costs and the compensation due.
A configuration error during a server migration takes a client's online shop offline for 2 days. The client claims for the sales they lost. Professional Indemnity takes care of your defence costs and the compensation due to the client.
A domain renewal for a client is missed and their website and email go down until the domain is recovered. The client claims for the revenue lost in the meantime. Professional Indemnity covers your defence costs and the compensation due to the client.
While installing hardware at a client's office in Galway, one of your engineers knocks a monitor off a desk and injures a member of the client's staff. Public Liability covers your defence costs and the compensation due.
Examples are for illustrative purposes only. Compensation depends on the exact circumstances of the claim. No rights can be derived from these examples.
Your business insurance with Insify SmartGuide
Taking out insurance can be quick. Making sure you have the right cover is another matter. With Insify SmartGuide, you don't sign a contract blindly. You ask all your questions, and get clear, immediate and personalised answers, before you take out a policy.
Are you covered if you accidentally damage a client's equipment while working?
What excess should you choose?
Are you protected in the event of a dispute with a client?
Insify SmartGuide guides you step by step to understand what's covered, what isn't, and why. In just a few clicks, you build insurance that's truly tailored to your business, with complete confidence. Try Insify SmartGuide. Understand your insurance before you need it.
How to choose the right insurance as a web hosting business?
Criteria to compare:
The cover offered: Match the policy to the real risks of the work: mistakes in a migration or a configuration that cost a client money, and injury or damage you might cause at a client site or a data centre. Check that every service you sell is covered, from data processing to managed hosting and domain management.
The price: Compare premiums, but an attractive price can hide exclusions that matter for hosting work. Look at what a policy leaves out before you compare the monthly figure.
The excess: Find out what stays at your own expense when a claim happens, whether it is a client claim about your work or damage at a third-party site.
The exclusions: Watch for exclusions specific to technology businesses: undeclared services, work that shades into software development for industrial control, and marketing that promises guaranteed results such as uptime figures you cannot stand behind.
The service: A claim can arrive at any moment. Choose an insurer that is easy to reach and understands technology businesses. At Insify, our online support team knows the specifics of your work.
Mistakes to avoid: Don't settle for a generic policy that ignores how hosting work actually goes wrong, and make sure the services you sell are the services you declared. To secure your business today, discover our Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance.
More than 40,000 entrepreneurs trust us
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Answers to your questions about our insurance for web hosting businesses
The price depends on your turnover, the services you declare, your headcount and the cover limit and excess you choose. At Insify, public liability for a web hosting business starts from €7.55 per month and professional indemnity from €10.80 per month. A personalised quote takes a few minutes online, and you can adjust the cover limit and excess to see how they affect your premium.
It is not required by law, but it is the cover that matches how a hosting business is most likely to be sued. Professional indemnity responds when a client loses money because of a mistake in your work, for example a misconfiguration during a migration or a domain renewal that was missed. Public liability does not cover that, because no injury or property damage is involved. Many hosting businesses hold both, and client contracts and public tenders often ask for professional indemnity specifically.
Public liability isn't required by law in Ireland. What drives the decision in practice is other people's requirements: clients, landlords, data centre operators, local authority permits and public sector tenders regularly ask for proof of cover before they will let you on site or award you work. Public tenders and larger clients often set a minimum cover limit, so it is worth checking what they ask for before you choose yours.
The two products we sell in Ireland cover your liability to other people, not your own losses. Damage to your own servers, hardware or data is not covered, and Insify offers no cyber, property or business interruption cover in Ireland. Professional indemnity covers a client's financial loss caused by your work; it does not restore your own systems after an incident. Some services are excluded outright, including operating social media websites and operating streaming services, so declare what you actually do when you get your quote. Terms, conditions and underwriting criteria may apply.
Professional indemnity is usually the core cover for a hosting business, because the likeliest claim is a client losing money through a mistake in your work. Public liability sits alongside it and covers injury or property damage you cause to third parties, which matters as soon as your people visit client offices or data centres. If you employ staff, employers' liability can be added to your public liability cover, with a limit of €13 million per claim. Which combination fits depends on how you work, and you can get a quote for both online in minutes.
Public liability covers injury or property damage you cause to others in the course of your work, for example an engineer damaging equipment at a client's office. Professional indemnity covers purely financial loss a client suffers because of your professional work, with no injury or property damage involved, for example downtime caused by a configuration error. Note that promising or guaranteeing results, such as an uptime figure you cannot stand behind, is excluded, so keep your contracts and your marketing realistic. Many hosting businesses combine the two.
It depends on why it went down. If the outage was caused by a mistake in your work, and the client suffers a financial loss as a result, that is what professional indemnity is for: it covers your defence costs and the compensation due. If the outage was caused by a third party, for example a failure in an internet or telecommunications service you resell, cover can fall away where you have waived your right of recourse against that provider. And an outage that costs you money rather than your client is not covered at all, because Insify offers no business interruption cover in Ireland.
The excess is the part of a claim you pay yourself. For example, if a claim settles at €4,000 and your excess is €500, you pay €500 and Insify pays €3,500. The options are €0, €250, €500, €1,000 and €2,500, with €0 and €250 available up to €500,000 annual revenue; above that the minimum is €500. A higher excess usually lowers your premium but means more out of pocket when a claim happens; a lower excess costs a little more each month and limits surprises.