🏆 Top 5 insurance providers for the self-employed
Here is our comparative selection of the best insurance providers suited to the needs of the self-employed: Orus, Wemind, Caravel, Alan and Simplis.
📊 Detailed comparison
Compare the key features of each tool at a glance.
| Criterion |  Orus From €13/month (professional liability, French offer) |  Alan From €50/month (French offer, may differ locally) |  Simplis Professional liability from €9.99/month · ten-year construction liability from €69 incl. VAT/month (French offer) |
|---|---|---|---|
| RC Pro | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Mutuelle santé | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Prévoyance | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Épargne retraite (PER) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Souscription 100% en ligne | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Essai / engagement | Sans engagement | — | — |
- RC Pro
- ✓
- Mutuelle santé
- ✓
- Prévoyance
- ✓
- Épargne retraite (PER)
- ✗
- Souscription 100% en ligne
- ✓
- Essai / engagement
- Sans engagement
- RC Pro
- ✗
- Mutuelle santé
- ✓
- Prévoyance
- ✓
- Épargne retraite (PER)
- ✗
- Souscription 100% en ligne
- ✓
- Essai / engagement
- —
- RC Pro
- ✓
- Mutuelle santé
- ✗
- Prévoyance
- ✗
- Épargne retraite (PER)
- ✗
- Souscription 100% en ligne
- ✓
- Essai / engagement
- —
💡 Why a freelancer needs real protection
As a freelancer, you are both your own boss and your own HR department. Nobody takes out insurance for you: your business, your health and your income depend on your choices. Unlike an employee, you have no mandatory company health plan, no comfortable daily sick-pay benefits, and no legal safety net provided by an employer.
Three risks come up in 80% of the claims reported by freelancers: a professional mistake that costs a client dearly (faulty deliverable, overrun, data leak), a health problem that stops you invoicing for several weeks, and a dispute with a client or supplier. Without suitable insurance, these situations are settled from your personal account, and can be enough to put the business at risk.
The right reflex: split your protection into four pillars (RC Pro, health cover, income protection, retirement) and pick a specialist for each, rather than a generic all-in-one policy. That is what the best-covered freelancers do.
Professional risk
A client believes your deliverable made them lose money and holds you liable. Without RC Pro, you pay the damages yourself, which can exceed several tens of thousands of euros on a sensitive project.
Health risk
If you stop working for 30 days, the SSI pays very low benefits (and only after a waiting period of 3 to 7 days depending on your status). Without health cover and income protection, your revenue collapses while medical costs pile up.
Retirement risk
Self-employed workers contribute less than employees, so they receive less in retirement. Without dedicated savings (such as a PER), you can lose up to 60% of your income once retired. The earlier you start, the more compounding makes up for it.
🔍 The 4 types of insurance to know when you are self-employed
Before choosing a tool, you need to know what each product really covers. Here is the standard breakdown of the French market in 2026.
🛡️Professional liability (RC Pro)
- What it covers
- Covers damage you could cause to a third party (client, supplier, partner) in the course of your work: mistake, omission, negligence, breach of contract, breach of confidentiality.
- Who is it for?
- Recommended for all freelancers. Mandatory for some regulated professions: investment advisers, legal, accounting and health professionals, estate agents, accredited trainers.
- How much it costs
- €100 to €500 per year for most service activities. More for high-risk trades (architecture, strategic consulting for large accounts).
🩺Health cover (mutuelle)
- What it covers
- Reimburses the share of healthcare costs that social security does not cover: consultations, extra-billing by doctors, optical, dental, hospital stays, alternative medicine depending on the contract.
- Who is it for?
- Any self-employed person who wants to avoid out-of-pocket costs. Without health cover, a specialist's extra fees or a pair of glasses can quickly reach several hundred euros.
- How much it costs
- €30 to €80 per month for a single person, €80 to €150 per month for a family depending on the cover chosen. Deductible from your profit if you are on the actual-expenses regime (au réel).
💼Income protection (prévoyance)
- What it covers
- Pays you a benefit in case of sick leave, disability or death. It is what keeps your revenue going when you can no longer invoice: social security for the self-employed alone is never enough.
- Who is it for?
- Essential as soon as your fixed monthly costs (rent, loan, family) exceed what the SSI would pay during sick leave. In practice: almost all freelancers who live off their business.
- How much it costs
- €40 to €120 per month depending on your age, revenue, profession and the level of benefits you want (often set at 70 to 100% of net income).
🌱Retirement savings (PER)
- What it covers
- A Plan Épargne Retraite (PER, French retirement savings plan) lets you build capital for retirement while reducing your income tax (contributions are deductible up to about 10% of taxable profit).
- Who is it for?
- All self-employed workers, especially those with a high marginal tax rate (30% or more). The earlier you start, the more compounding works in your favour.
- How much it costs
- No fixed premium: you choose how much you pay in. A PER's management fees run between 0.6% and 2% per year depending on the provider.
🧭 How to choose your insurance well as a freelancer
Five concrete criteria to compare offers without being caught out by nice marketing promises.
- 1
The real scope of cover
Never rely on the contract title alone. Read the cover limits, the excesses and above all the exclusions. An RC Pro at €100 a year with a €100,000 limit does not really protect you if your client can put the loss at €300,000. Aim for at least a €1M limit, €5 to €8M if you work with large accounts.
- 2
Freelance specialisation
Some insurers (Orus, Simplis, Wemind, Alan, Caravel) are designed for the self-employed. The cover, sign-up process and customer service are tailored to your status. A generalist contract copied from the corporate world can contain unsuitable clauses (references to business premises, a payroll headcount, a minimum revenue).
- 3
Price transparency
A good insurer shows its starting price and gives you a firm quote in under 5 minutes. Beware of unjustified “price on request” offers, hidden fees in year 2, or 12-month commitments that renew automatically. The Hamon law lets you cancel at any time after 1 year: choose a provider that accepts this from the start.
- 4
Quality of customer service
When a claim happens, this is what makes the difference. Check Trustpilot reviews, support availability (chat, phone, hours), the average reimbursement time and whether you get a dedicated contact. A service that answers in 5 minutes on a Tuesday at 11am is not worth the same as an insurer that leaves you alone for 48 hours after a problem.
- 5
Compatibility with your status
Auto-entrepreneur, EURL, SASU, micro-BNC: each status has its own tax and social specifics. Check that your insurer can handle yours and that premiums are deductible if you are on the actual-expenses regime. Also check the intermediary's ORIAS number (the register of insurance brokers): it is the guarantee that it is regulated by the ACPR.
💰 How much does a freelancer's insurance really cost in 2026?
Prices depend on your activity, revenue and cover. Here are the ranges seen on the French market in 2026.
A properly covered freelancer spends on average between €100 and €300 per month on all their insurance (RC Pro + health + income protection). That is between €1,200 and €3,600 per year: a significant expense, but largely tax-deductible if you are on actual-expenses income tax or corporate tax. Add the PER (not an expense but tax-advantaged savings) to prepare for retirement.
RC Pro ~€15/month (Orus, Simplis) + solo health ~€40/month (basic Alan) + light income protection ~€30/month. The PER can wait a year or two.
High-limit RC Pro ~€40/month + comfort health ~€70/month + strong income protection (80% of income) ~€90/month. PER at 5 to 10% of profit for tax savings.
RC Pro + multi-risk business cover for equipment ~€50/month + health ~€50/month + income protection ~€50/month. Ten-year warranty on top if in construction.
RC Pro ~€25/month + family health ~€120/month + income protection + death capital ~€100/month. PER often around €200 to €400/month in savings.
🎯 Which insurance should you pick for your profile?
💼Freelancer providing intellectual services
If you do consulting, development, design or writing, your physical risks are almost nil but your mistakes can cost a client dearly (data loss, unusable deliverable, contractual delay). RC Pro is your absolute priority, ideally with legal protection included. A digital health plan like Alan or Wemind is enough for health, and income protection becomes necessary as soon as you live 100% off your business. Realistic budget: between €80 and €200 per month for the full bundle, depending on your revenue and age.
🌱New freelancer or auto-entrepreneur with small revenue
When you are launching, you want the right cover-to-price ratio without a long commitment. Go for low-cost RC Pro such as Simplis (from €9.99/month) or Orus (from €13/month), cancellable at any time. For health, keep a light plan but avoid having no cover at all. Income protection and the PER can wait a few months if your revenue is still very variable, but watch the €30k annual revenue mark: above it, going uncovered for sick leave becomes unreasonable.
🚀Consultant or established freelancer with high revenue
Above €80k of annual revenue, you become vulnerable on several fronts: an unhappy client can put a price of several tens of thousands of euros on a loss, and a 2-month break can mean €15,000 to €20,000 of lost income. Aim for RC Pro with high limits (€8M or more), income protection that maintains 80 to 100% of your income, and a PER fed regularly to optimise your tax savings. Wemind covers everything with a single contact, which simplifies management.
🔧Self-employed in crafts or retail
Your risks are mostly physical assets: broken equipment, an accident on a site, stock theft, damage in a business premises. RC Pro alone is not enough: you need operating liability cover, multi-risk business insurance for the premises and equipment, and depending on your trade a ten-year warranty insurance (décennale, mandatory in construction). Health cover remains essential, and if you employ an apprentice or an employee, work-accident cover becomes mandatory. Expect an insurance budget of €150 to €400 per month depending on the nature of the business.
👨👩👧Freelancer with a family and heavy fixed costs
If you have children, a loan or a dependent partner, income protection moves to the top of the list. A death capital and a disability annuity protect your family if things go wrong. Family health cover also becomes better value than individual cover. And the PER really makes sense: it cuts your tax today and builds capital for your children's studies or your own retirement. Target a total insurance budget of around €200 to €350 per month for comfortable cover.
🏁 Our verdict: which tool for which need?
Rather than a single “best tool”, here is which provider to pick depending on what you want to cover.
Simplis starts at €9.99/month and Orus at €13/month (with the FreelanceKit discount). Online sign-up in a few minutes, no commitment, immediate certificate. Ideal to get started or for a freelancer whose risks stay contained.
Wemind bundles RC Pro (up to €8M), health cover, income protection and a works council in a single interface. More expensive per product, but you save time on management and users rate the service very highly.
Over a million members, an app rated 4.8/5, reimbursements within 24 hours, online clinic included. A pure health specialist: no RC Pro, so pair it with Simplis or Orus on the business side.
Digital PER focused on long-term performance, funds aligned with the Paris Agreement, management fees of around 1.6% (half the price of a traditional bank). Lets you cut tax on up to 10% of your profit.
Frequently asked questions
RC Pro is not legally mandatory for all self-employed workers, but it is strongly recommended. Some regulated professions must take one out: legal, accounting and health professionals, estate agents, investment advisers, accredited trainers, construction trades (ten-year warranty insurance). Check with your profession's professional body or union for the specific requirements.
The cost generally varies between €100 and €500 per year depending on your sector, revenue and cover. For a dev or designer freelancer with modest revenue, expect €13 to €25/month. For a senior consultant with high limits, more like €30 to €60/month. High-risk trades (architecture, strategic consulting) can exceed €100/month.
No, the auto-entrepreneur status provides no professional insurance. You have to take out your own RC Pro, health cover and income protection. Only social security (attached to URSSAF/SSI) is automatic, but it covers sick leave very poorly. That is why private income protection is almost always essential.
Yes, if you are on actual-expenses income tax or corporate tax. RC Pro, legal protection, professional equipment insurance and Madelin income protection are deductible. Health cover is deductible under the Madelin rules (TNS, self-employed workers) with an annual cap. Keep the invoices for your tax return. Under micro-BIC/BNC (flat-rate allowance), you deduct nothing: the allowance already covers all expenses.
Health cover (mutuelle) reimburses your everyday medical costs: consultations, medicines, optical, dental, hospital stays. Income protection (prévoyance) pays you a replacement income in case of sick leave, disability or death. The two complement each other: health cover pays for care, income protection covers lost income. A properly protected freelancer has both.
There is no legal threshold, but the practical rule is: as soon as your freelance activity makes up 70% or more of your income, you become vulnerable to sick leave and serious insurance becomes essential. For RC Pro, even modest revenue deserves protection if you work with clients able to put a price on a loss, which is often the case as soon as you invoice intellectual services.
For RC Pro and income protection, freelance-specialist insurers (Orus, Simplis, Wemind) are almost always more relevant: tailored prices, fast online sign-up, cover calibrated for the self-employed, support that understands your status. A traditional company can make sense if you want to centralise several contracts (car, home, business) with the same contact, but you will generally pay more.
Since the Hamon law (2014), you can cancel most insurance contracts at any time after the first year, with no fees or justification. For RC Pro and health cover, your new insurer can usually handle the cancellation for you (the “cancellation mandate”). If your contract is less than a year old, you can cancel at renewal with notice (often 2 months). Always check the cancellation terms before signing up.
Both are well-rated independent specialist insurers. Insify focuses on professional liability, with solid cover and 100% online sign-up. Orus covers a wider scope (RC Pro, but also health cover and income protection) and offers a discount through FreelanceKit (RC Pro from €13/month). The right reflex: if you only want RC Pro, ask both for a quote and compare limits, exclusions and price for your exact activity; if you want to centralise several protections with a single contact, Orus has the multi-product advantage.
The most affordable offers on the market start around €10/month: Simplis advertises RC Pro from €9.99/month and Orus from €13/month (FreelanceKit discount), both with no commitment and an immediate certificate. Be careful, though: the cheapest is not always the best covered. Check the cover limit (aim for at least €1M, even €5 to €8M if you work with large accounts) and the exclusions before deciding on price alone. A low-cost RC Pro capped at €100,000 may be insufficient on a sensitive project.