Best Life Insurance in Australia

Best for competitive pricing – NobleOak

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Whether you're in your 20s or your later years, NobleOak is likely to have something for you.

• At $81.16 per month on average, NobleOak offered the cheapest policy*.
• NobleOak also had a maximum sum insured of up to $15,000,000. This was 6 times higher than any of the other 15 other brands we looked at.
• It was 1 of only 2 insurers that offer a fully underwritten policy (the other was Zurich).

HBF came second with an average price of $94.29 per month, while ANZ was placed third at $95.56 monthly.

Read more on the benefits and features offered by NobleOak.

*We requested quotes from 16 different insurers, using 8 different smoker profiles. All figures shown here are average costs for $500,000 of cover for a non-smoker. We also took into account policy features – the more valuable the features, the higher the overall score.

Best for over 50s – TAL

Go to TAL Accelerated Life Insurance's website

TAL is our pick as it's a brand that tailors its policies to meet the needs of older Australians:

• TAL will cover 74-year-olds, while several insurers only offered a maximum entry age of 64.
• TAL offers a comparatively high policy expiry age of 100.
• You can also choose a comparatively high funeral benefit of $25,000 with this provider.

Read more on the features and benefits of TAL.

Best policy for families with kids – Guardian

If you're looking to add cover for your children, you can get insurance in the event of a serious medical conditions or passing.

We selected Guardian as our best pick for families* for the second year running as:

• It was 1 of only 6 brands to offer opt-in cover for children of up to $50,000.
• It was 1 of only 5 brands to offer premium suspension for financial hardship, which could be very helpful for parents.
• Guardian covers the most serious injuries or illnesses compared with other providers we analysed.

• See the 12 serious injuries/illnesses covered

  • Meningitis
  • Cancer
  • Encephalitis
  • Kidney failure
  • Hearing loss
  • Major brain injury
  • Major skin burns
  • Major organ transplant
  • Brain or spinal cord tumours
  • Paralysis
  • Permanent loss of a limb
  • Vision loss

Find out more about Guardian Life Insurance in our review.

*We looked at 21 brands and 6 of those offered child cover. Most offer cover up to $50,000 for each child so we also reviewed the number of conditions covered. We awarded each insurance brand a score that correlates to its performance across all categories.

Best for claims experience – NobleOak

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We chose this category based on the latest bi-annual claims data from Moneysmart, a government site run by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

NobleOak took the spoils for its claims experience* because:

• It scored an impressive 98.1% paid claims rate. This was higher than the industry average of 91.5%.
• Westpac came in second, paying 95.7% of claims, while OnePath was third with 95.5%.
• NobleOak also registered 0 disputes per 100,000 lives insured – the industry average was 16.9 disputes.
• NobleOak also had a claims processing time of just 1.1 months. This was less than half as long as the industry average of 2.8 months.

*The Moneysmart figures are for Death Cover bought directly from an insurer between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021.

Best for lifestyle rewards – AIA

We chose AIA Life Insurance for its flagship wellbeing program, AIA Vitality. By signing up to a life cover plan with AIA, you'll enjoy automatic eligibility for the rewards. It means you can:

• Score an immediate discount of 12.5% on your policy by signing up.
• Stay active and unlock a host of lifestyle rewards with your membership.
• These include up to 50% cashback on Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines flights; 50% savings on gym memberships at Virgin Active and Fitness First; movie vouchers; spa and beauty e-Gift cards, and more.

Other reward schemes we liked were OnePath/Qantas frequent flyer points and TAL Health Sense, both of which you can read more about in our guide to life insurance rewards programs.