Best for: People looking for instant coverage

Our take: Bestow comes out on top for a quick and seamless application process. After answering just a few questions about your health and lifestyle choices, you can get a quote and purchase coverage.

Bestow is a relatively young insurer that offers term policies. It’s financially stable, according to rating firm A.M. Best, and provides insurance at a competitive rate. Bestow offers people an expedient life insurance application and quick turnaround time. Your coverage is active immediately after your application is approved. If you want coverage now, Bestow is the way to go.

What Bestow has to say: Today’s customers expect a frictionless online buying experience for everything, including life insurance,” says Melbourne O’Banion, Bestow’s co-founder and chief executive officer.

Pros:

  • Delivers a quick and easy application process
  • Offers immediate coverage with no waiting period
  • Provides a live chat service

Cons:

  • Doesn’t offer riders

Bestow’s third-party ratings

Trustworthiness
A+
Financial Strength
A+
Customer Experience
4.6

Trustworthiness: The Better Business Bureau evaluates businesses on their behavior, trustworthiness, and performance. A business with a high ranking from the BBB can be trusted to meet its commitments. The BBB gives Bestow an A+.

Financial strength: A.M. Best evaluates a company’s financial health and its ability to meet its financial obligations. A.M. Best gives Bestow an A+.

Customer experience: Trustpilot is an online platform for individuals to provide reviews of companies and their customer experience. Trustpilot gives Bestow a rating of 4.6 out of a possible 5. Scores as of October 4, 2022.

How Bestow stacks up against selected competitors

Third-party ratings Bestow Haven Life Ladder Vantis Life
Trustworthiness A+ A+ A+ A+
Financial Strength A+ A++ A A+
Customer Experience 4.6 4.6 4.8 4.7

More details about Bestow life insurance

Policies offered:

  • Life products offered: Term life

Rates:

  • Start at $11 a month.

Insurance partners:

  • Bestow works with Munich Re and North American Company for Life and Health Insurance to provide coverage to policyholders.

Other details:

  • Ages and coverage limits: Anyone 18 to 60 years old can apply for 10- to 30-year term policies offering up to $1.5 million in coverage. You must be a U.S. citizen or hold a green card to be eligible.
  • Waiting period: There is no waiting period. Coverage is in force as soon as the policy is approved and payment is made.
  • Medical requirements: The company offers life insurance without a medical exam, although the company requires people to provide their medical history when applying for a policy.
  • Application time: The company says it can provide customers with quotes in seconds and insurance in a day.



Additional product line details: At this time, Bestow only offers one product, its online term life insurance policy.

The company offers a four-step application process. You enter your email, address and Social Security Number; provide basic life information, such as your citizenship and medical history; pick a beneficiary; and then, if approved, choose your coverage amount and term length and purchase the policy.

You can get coverage the same day that you apply — sometimes within minutes.

“We are constantly improving our product and platform. Our plan is to bring the same underlying approach to new products: frictionless experiences and affordable products that serve the mass market of consumers in any channel,” O’Banion says.

How much does Bestow life insurance cost?

For healthy non-smokers:

The following table shows Bestow monthly rates by age and gender for healthy non-smokers purchasing 20-year term policies. Note: Applicants age 55 who smoke are only eligible for 10-year policies.

Age Gender $500,000 in coverage $1,000,000 in coverage
25 Female $17.67 $29.33
25 Male $27.25 $48.50
35 Female $23.08 $40.17
35 Male $30.58 $55.17
45 Female $44.75 $83.50
45 Male $58.50 $111.00
55 Female $81.00 $156.00
55 Male $107.67 $199.33

For smokers:

The following table shows Bestow monthly rates by age and gender for smokers purchasing 20-year term policies. Some older smokers are not eligible for coverage.

Age Gender $500,000 in coverage $1,000,000 in coverage
25 Female $55.58 $105.17
25 Male $99.33 $192.67
35 Female $89.75 $173.50
35 Male $141.42 $276.83
45 Female $223.50 $441.00
45 Male $308.92 $611.83
55 Female N/A N/A
55 Male N/A N/A

How its rates stack up:

The following table shows how Bestow’s monthly rates for a healthy 35-year-old compares with selected competitors for $500,000 in coverage.

Gender Bestow Ladder Wyshbox Fabric
Female $23.08 $20.10 $20.03 $20.62
Male $30.58 $22.80 $28.96 $23.72

Company background: The company was founded by entrepreneurs Melbourne O’Banion and Jonathan Abelmann. O’Banion says that getting life insurance has traditionally been a four- to six-week process that involved medical exams and working with an agent. “We just thought that was crazy,” he says.

Bestow says it differs from other online life insurance companies in that it uses its own technology to underwrite the policies it offers — allowing it to accelerate the underwriting process.

Interesting tidbit: In July 2022, the insurer partnered with Empathy, a company that developed a bereavement-care platform. Bestow customers can access Empathy’s app, which helps simplify tasks, such as the end-of-life paperwork and estate administration, that arise when a loved one dies.