Guardian received 4.48 out of 5.0 stars and tied with State Farm for the No. 6 spot in our Best Life Insurance Companies ranking. The insurer has a high AM Best score and a low level of consumer complaints.
Kara McGinley has over 6 years of experience writing, editing, and reporting on insurance and the insurance industry. She's been a licensed property and casualty expert in New York since 2021. Kara has been featured in several national publications, including USA TODAY, MSN, LifeHacker, Kiplinger, PropertyCasualty360, Policygenius, Rental Housing Journal, and WRAL.
Nupur Gambhir is an insurance expert and managing editor of Insure.com. She specializes in life and health insurance content, and has experience as a marketing consultant.
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Guardian tied with State Farm for the No. 6 spot in our 2025 Best Life Insurance Companies ranking with 4.48 stars out of 5. AM Best gave Guardian an A++ (Superior) score, indicating that it is a financially strong company. Guardian policies cost slightly higher than the national average of $377 per year but are still competitively priced at $395 annually.
Customers that we surveyed gave Guardian high marks for policy offerings and customer service.
Below is our review of the full company and its line of life insurance products. It’s based on third-party metrics and an in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.
AM Best's Financial Strength Rating is an independent opinion of an insurer's financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations.
About 93% of surveyed customers reported being satisfied with Guardian’s customer service. It also scored second in J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction study, receiving 685 out of 1,000 points.
The nationwide average for a 20-year term policy for a 35-year-old non-smoker with a $500,000 death benefit is $377 per year. Guardian’s policies are slightly more expensive, costing $395 annually.
About 90% of the Guardian customers we surveyed said they are satisfied with the company’s ease of service. This is one of the highest marks of any company in our best life insurance analysis.
Out of the 16 companies that made our best life insurance companies ranking, Guardian received the highest score for policy offerings, with 97% of surveyed customers saying they were satisfied.
Trust is important when it comes to an insurance company. Of the customers we surveyed, 80% said they trust Guardian. While this is a high percentage, it is the lowest score among the companies that made our best life insurance analysis.
Customer loyalty is a good indication that an insurance company is meeting its customers’ expectations. Guardian performed okay here, with 77% of its customers planning to renew. Most companies performed well for renewals, with four companies receiving scores of 100%. Those companies are Lincoln Financial, Mutual of Omaha, Northwestern Mutual and Prudential.
Note: Guardian is available in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. However, products and coverage availability varies by location.
Guardian was formed in 1860 by civil rights attorney Hugo Wesendonck. Guardian provides a wide product line, including life and health insurance solutions for individuals and businesses.
After a merger with Berkshire Life in 2001, Guardian significantly expanded its disability insurance market nationwide and celebrated its 160th anniversary in 2020.
J.D. Power. “Individual Life Insurance Study.” Accessed March 2025.
Insure.com in the fall of 2024 surveyed more than 1,750 insurance consumers (973 people with life insurance). The survey was conducted by online market research company Slice MR.
Respondents were asked to name their life insurer and then grade it in the following categories:
The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.
We then asked respondents to provide a yes or no response to indicate their agreement with the following statements:
The percentage of respondents who said yes is presented in the results.
The editors compiled the survey results and then selected – based on the number of survey responses – the top companies for further evaluation.
They then collected AM Best data, which measure financial strength, and National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives. The Insure.com team identified the NAIC codes of each underwriting company for each carrier and calculated a weighted average complaint index, weighted by the annual written premium. The associated NAIC complaint index score was used in the calculations.They also collected insurance rate data from Compulife.
With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., Managing Director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For life insurers, we took the following and gave each a weight.
Each insurer was awarded between half a star and 5 stars. No company in the ranking received less than half a star in any category, and 5 stars was the most any insurer could receive.