Disclaimer: Pawlicy Advisor is not affiliated with PetInsuranceReview.com in any way.
Pet insurance is a wonderful way to have peace of mind about your pet’s health care costs. However, many pet parents struggle to figure out which pet insurance plan is best for their unique pet.
As with most online shopping experiences, people look to product reviews and testimonials when comparing plans. Two popular places pet parents go to comparison shop include PetInsuranceReview, a company founded in 2005 that aggregates pet insurance reviews, and Pawlicy Advisor, an online pet insurance marketplace endorsed by veterinarians.
Both help pet parents compare pet insurance plans, however they each take very different approaches. You’ll want to consider these key differences when shopping for pet insurance.
A Quick Glance at PetInsuranceReview vs. Pawlicy Advisor
PetInsuranceReview and Pawlicy Advisor both help pet owners shop for pet insurance. Both services generate personalized quotes based on a handful of questions about your pet. Nonetheless, there are some key differences in how easy the services are to use, the number of pet insurance plans available to browse through, and how personalized the recommendations are.
Here is a quick comparison chart to check out the differences between Pawlicy Advisor and PetInsuranceReview.
The comparison chart
| Features | Pawlicy Advisor | PetInsuranceReview |
|---|---|---|
| # of pet insurance partners | 5 | 10 |
| Generates quotes based on questions about your pet | Yes | Yes |
| # of pet insurance brands that generate quotes simultaneously | 5 | 10 |
| # of quotes viewable at a glance | 191+ | 10 |
| See top recommended plan based on breed-specific health risks | Yes | No |
| See coverage highlights for each plan side-by-side | Yes | Yes |
| Personalized ranking for coverage level and lifetime price | Yes | No |
| Personalized comparison charts | Yes | No |
| Lists types of coverage for each plan | Yes | Yes |
| See coverage details for each plan | Yes | Yes |
| See real emergency examples for specific types of coverage | Yes | No |
| Copy/pastes insurance provider reviews from other websites | No | No |
| Provides a Buyer's Guarantee | Yes | No |
| Real human support | Yes | Yes |
There’s already a wide variety of differences, so let’s break down the specifics of each feature and why it’s important in helping you find the best pet insurance plan.
Pet Insurance Partner Companies
PetInsuranceReview.com has a disclaimer stating that the company “receives compensation from the third parties included on this site which includes payment for clicks from the Service to Insurance Providers’ sites and quote requests generated.” Like Pawlicy Advisor, they are independent of all their partnering insurance providers (which is a good thing).
Pawlicy Advisor also partners with insurance companies, AND they all pay the same standardized fee when pet owners enroll through pawlicy.com. This means when Pawlicy Advisor recommends an insurance policy, it's 100% because the analysis shows it will provide better lifetime value for that customer and their pets. Pawlicy Advisor’s recommendations are not financially biased - and vets LOVE that about pawlicy.com.
Pet Profiles and Personalization of Quotes
Both Pawlicy Advisor and PetInsuranceReview have you fill out a short form with questions like your pet’s age, breed, and location to generate pet insurance quotes.
PetInsuranceReview generates a handful of quotes, one from each of the providers they’ve partnered with. The pet insurance policy quotes are shown with checkmarks next to what is and isn’t included with the particular policy. This provides a quick look at the pros and cons of each policy.
PetInsuranceReview’s quotes did not have the option to sort or filter based on coverage, price, etc. This made looking for specific policy features more tedious, in my opinion, as you have to click through each policy manually.
They do flag three policies at the top of their search results meant to highlight Popular, Comprehensive, and Budget options based on reviews from their users.
Pawlicy Advisor generates all quotes available from each pet insurance brand on the platform, resulting in nearly 200 personalized quotes to compare side-by-side. To make finding the right plan easy, Pawlicy Advisor highlights a “top recommend plan” that’s selected based on a personalized scoring of both coverage for your breed and expected lifetime costs.
To sift through all other quotes generated, Pawlicy Advisor allows you to filter by specific prices, reimbursement rates, deductibles, and more.
There’s even a user-friendly option to quickly sort by “recommended,” “best coverage,” or “lowest cost” - and these pre-set search categories are personalized to your pet’s specific breed, location, age, and your indicated financial standing.
Pawlicy Advisor offers, in my opinion, a more comprehensive search experience.
Number of Quotes Generated
When using the exact same search parameters, PetInsuranceReview offered only 10 instantly visiable policy quotes total (one from each insurance partner), which is significantly less than Pawlicy Advisor’s 191+ instantly viewable personalized quotes.
You can see additional quotes when you "customize" the plans that are presented, but there's no way to see all you options side-by-side at a glance.
In addition to filter and sort options mentioned in the prior section, should you ask Pawlicy Advisor to reveal more quotes you’ll be asked three more questions to help steer you toward your best fit options without overwhelming you. These questions included what was most important to you right now in a pet insurance plan, what your goals were today (research, value hunting, or purchasing a plan immediately), and if you need routine care add-on.
NOTE: Routine care “Wellness add-ons” include reimbursement for routine vet appointments, dental cleanings, and vaccinations - and is something I personally could not find on PetInsuranceReview.com.
In my opinion, Pawlicy Advisor's ability to see more quotes side-by-side and search filters to quickly narrow in on your optimal policy make it a better experience.
Coverage Details
Knowing exactly what is covered in a pet insurance policy is critically important when choosing the best plan for your pet. Both Pawlicy Advisor and PetInsuranceReview offer more information on the coverage details, but the difference between the breakdowns is notable.
When clicking on any of the personalized policy quotes, PetInsuranceReview takes you to a checklist breakdown of what is included in the particular policy. This is great for a quick overview of the coverage options, but unlike Pawlicy Advisor, there are no specific examples of what these coverage terms mean in the real world.
Pawlicy Advisor also offers a quick bird’s eye view of what is and isn’t covered by a particular pet insurance policy, however, there is much more specific information on what each aspect includes.
As you can see below, accidents are covered in this particular plan. The complete list of accident services is then listed and marked as covered or not covered. This is helpful for anyone trying to get a complete idea of what each policy will cover. Examples are also provided to demonstrate the savings and potential circumstances where you would use this type of coverage.
NOTE: Pawlicy Advisor also presents “real emergency examples” to help pet owners understand how the policy will impact their out-of-pocket vet costs.
Pet Insurance Plan Comparisons
They do offer a chart for dog and cat insurance that compares topical plan details, but this is not personalized to your pet, so the price ranges vary greatly as well as what coverage highlights are important.
On the other hand, Pawlicy Advisor allows you to easily compare plans with a single click.
When viewing a specific plan, Pawlicy Advisor also suggests similar plans with the closest deductible, reimbursement rate, and annual coverage. This makes it super simple to assess the pros and cons of multiple, similar plans at once.
But Pawlicy Advisor’s instant, personalized comparison charts are the real goldmine here.
Customer Service
Customer service is a crucial part of choosing any service because no one wants to waste time waiting for support or getting a sales rep instead of objective guidance.
PetInsuranceReview’s contact page only offers an email contact form, but no customer service phone number, and the website lacks any online chat or live support.
Pawlicy Advisor has email support, a responsive customer service phone number, and live chat support.
On top of Pawlicy Advisor’s amazingly helpful search features and comparison tool, the customer support is an easily accessible premium experience.
What Customers are Saying
Despite being around since 2005, I couldn't find many accessible online reviews for the website itself. They offer a review function for users to review individual pet insurance providers on their website but don’t seem to have any reviews for their own company on Facebook.
Pawlicy Advisor has an easily accessible review page on the Pawlicy Advisor Facebook page with a 5 out of 5-star review overall. Lucas reviewed Pawlicy Advisor on Facebook citing it for being, “easy to use and fast. Great for comparing options/pricing”.
Other reviews noted that Pawlicy Advisor is “super easy to use” and “did the work of comparing plans for me!”
Pawlicy Advisor is also the only pet insurance marketplace actively endorsed by veterinarians. Pawlicy Advisor’s data-driven, personalized approach to educating pet owners comparing pet insurance plans makes it ideal for finding and buying the best pet insurance plan at the best price.
Which Is Best For Pet Insurance Shopping?
While both services offer personalized quotes, I personally believe Pawlicy Advisor is on another level when it comes to the number of quotes, the depth of information about a policy’s coverage, the personalization features, and the ability to filter and quickly compare pet insurance plans.
PetInsurnanceReview aggregates customer reviews for each insurance brand. However, pet insurance reviews should not be the deciding factor when enrolling in with a provider. Negative reviews can very well be the result of a poor fit rather than a poor plan. If you enroll in a plan and then find out that there's a fine-print note that excludes certain risks relevant to your breed, of course you’re going to be mad. But that same plan might be perfect for someone else with a different breed.
This is why Pawlicy Advisor scans hundreds of policy variations and their fine-print to find the best option for your specific breed, even offers personalized information that points out specific coverage options that are especially important for your pet’s breed.
Pawlicy Advisor makes the job of finding pet insurance easier, faster, and compares far more quotes for you. Generating a personalized analysis takes less than 5 minutes, and you can get started here.
PetInsuranceReview offers several pet insurance policy options, but ultimately lacks Pawlicy Advisor's user-friendly filters and comparison tools to help you quickly sort through them.
