When you save up for a vacation, the last thing you want is for your money to go to waste because of a sudden travel disruption like a flight delay or an injury. A travel insurance plan can protect your investment in a trip, but you don’t need to shell out a small fortune for that peace of mind, as many providers offer budget-friendly policies. While travel insurance can’t prevent travel problems, even the most basic plan can help reimburse you for nonrefundable trip costs, compensate you for missing luggage, pay for emergency medical care and more.
To determine the most affordable travel insurance companies, U.S. News created sample traveler profiles for three different trips to domestic and international destinations, ranging in price from $6,500 to $10,500. Using that information, we requested quotes from all the top travel insurance companies to find the cheapest policy cost for each trip from the most basic plan with 100% trip cancellation protection, among other key coverages.
Our rankings, ratings and product reviews are unbiased. We do not rank or rate products or services based on our financial relationships with the companies that produce them. Our in-house research team collects extensive information used in our evaluation process, although we may not cover all options available in the marketplace. See our full methodology.
Please note: All data was accurate at the time of publication and the ratings are based on data collected in October 2025. User ratings can fluctuate as more reviews are posted to independent websites. Also note, every plan may not be available for residents of every state.
Key Takeaways
- Trawick International is the Most Affordable Travel Insurance Company with an average plan cost of about $226. Its cheapest plan covers trip cancellations and interruptions, medical emergencies, lost or delayed luggage, and more.
- Even the most basic plans may allow you to add on certain extra coverages such as rental car protections, but be prepared to pay extra for those upgrades.
- Compared to higher-tier plans, the most budget-friendly options have lower coverage limits and fewer add-on options. Most basic plans also do not cover preexisting conditions.
Trawick International offers eight single-trip travel protection plans with varying coverage limits and upgrade options. The Safe Travels Protect plan is the insurer’s most cost-effective policy for U.S. travelers heading to both domestic and international destinations.
This plan includes most of the same travel protections as the higher-tier options, just with lower coverage amounts. However, Safe Travels Protect only has one upgrade option: accidental death and dismemberment coverage. You cannot add cancel for any reason or interrupt for any reason coverage, rental car protections, or sports activity coverage. It also does not allow you to cover any preexisting conditions. You will get 24/7 travel assistance services and a free look period after you purchase the plan, during which you can choose to cancel your policy and get a full refund for it if you haven’t departed on your trip.
The Safe Travels Protect plan includes:
- Up to 100% of trip cost covered for trip cancellations (maximum of $14,000); up to 100% trip interruption coverage (maximum of $14,000)
- Up to $300 for trip delays; missed connection coverage worth up to $250
- Up to $500 for lost, damaged or stolen baggage; maximum $200 for baggage delays
- Up to $25,000 for emergency medical and dental issues with $100 deductible ($250 dental sublimit)
- Up to $250,000 for emergency medical evacuation and medically necessary repatriation; up to $350,000 for repatriation of mortal remains
If you need rental car or adventure sports coverage, Trawick’s other basic plan, Pathway Essential, may cost slightly more than Safe Travels Protect but offers those benefits as add-ons.
With nine insurance plans to choose from, Tin Leg offers a variety of options, including specialty plans for cruises or adventure travel. Tin Leg’s Economy plan is the most cost-effective policy. Its trip protections cover hurricanes, employment layoffs, canceling for medical reasons, fees for missed activities and more.
However, this plan does not cover preexisting conditions and has a 180-day look-back period to determine whether a condition is preexisting. The Economy plan also does not come with any optional add-ons, such as rental car or cancel for any reason insurance. Unlike some of the higher-level Tin Leg plans, you won’t have coverage for terrorism, financial default of a travel supplier, cancellations for work reasons, or medical issues resulting from adventure sports and activities.
Here’s what you will get with the Economy plan:
- Up to 100% trip cancellation coverage (up to $100,000); up to 100% trip interruption coverage
- Up to $500 for travel delays; up to $100 for missed connections
- Up to $500 for lost baggage or personal items; maximum $200 for delayed baggage
- Up to $20,000 for emergency medical expenses
- Up to $100,000 for emergency medical evacuation and repatriation
The Basic plan from Tin Leg is another cost-effective option that may be worth considering if you’re on a budget; it has higher limits for medical expenses and evacuation.
Berkshire Hathaway offers comprehensive travel insurance with its ExactCare Value, ExactCare and ExactCare Extra plans. This provider also has specialty travel insurance options for cruises, air travel, adventure travel and luxury travel. For travelers on a budget, ExactCare Value provides all the standard travel protections at the lowest cost.
This basic policy does not cover certain travel issues that the higher-tier options may include, such as missed connections, tarmac delays, flight departure delays, accidental death and dismemberment, or cancellations for work reasons. However, unlike basic policies from many other insurers, ExactCare Value does provide optional rental car coverage and a waiver for the preexisting conditions exclusion, meaning your preexisting conditions may be covered if you meet the requirements of the waiver.
The ExactCare Value plan also comes with:
- Trip cancellation coverage up to 100% of trip cost ($20,000 maximum); trip interruption coverage up to 100%
- Up to $500 for travel delays; no coverage for missed connections
- Up to $750 for lost luggage; up to $200 for delayed luggage
- Up to $15,000 for medical costs
- Up to $150,000 for emergency medical evacuation and repatriation of remains
If you are only looking for travel medical coverage, ExactCare Lite is an even more affordable plan from Berkshire Hathaway because it doesn’t include coverages like trip cancellation.
This provider’s iTravelInsured Choice, iTravelInsured SE and iTravelInsured LX policies provide comprehensive trip protection and emergency medical coverage. IMG also has a range of travel medical-only plans. If you’re looking for a basic plan, iTravelInsured Choice provides full protection at a low cost – just with lower coverage limits than the higher-tier plans.
With this affordable plan, a preexisting conditions exclusion waiver is available if you meet the criteria, and you’ll have more add-on options than many other insurers offer with their lowest-tier plans. For example, you can add cancel for any reason or interrupt for any reason coverage to this plan; just be aware that any upgrades will raise the cost of your premium. The iTravelInsured Choice policy also provides telehealth and travel assistance services.
Here are some of the main coverages of iTravelInsured Choice:
- Up to 100% trip cancellation coverage (up to $10,000); up to 150% trip interruption coverage
- Up to $1,000 for trip delays; up to $500 for missed connections
- Up to $1,000 in luggage protection; up to $300 for luggage delays
- Up to $100,000 to cover emergency medical expenses
- Up to $500,000 for emergency medical evacuation and repatriation of remains
Another budget-friendly policy from IMG that offers similar coverage is iTravelInsured Lite.
AXA’s trip protection plans come in three tiers: Silver, Gold and Platinum. These plans offer different levels of coverage for trip cancellations, interruptions and delays, as well as luggage mishaps and medical emergencies. The Silver policy is the most affordable plan with trip cancellation coverage.
Unlike the higher-tier AXA plans, Silver does not cover preexisting conditions or nonmedical emergency transportation, nor does this plan have any optional add-ons like rental car coverage. Policyholders do get complimentary access to 24/7 worldwide travel assistance, concierge services and identity theft services.
Highlights of the Silver plan include:
- Trip cancellation coverage up to 100% ($10,000 maximum); trip interruption coverage up to 100%
- Up to $500 for trip delays; up to $500 for missed connections
- Up to $750 in coverage for lost, damaged or stolen baggage; $200 for baggage delays
- Up to $25,000 for emergency medical issues ($5,000 dental sublimit)
- Up to $100,000 for emergency medical evacuation
If you don’t need full trip protections but want more substantial medical coverage, the Bronze plan is another affordable option from AXA. It only includes a small amount of trip interruption and baggage delay coverage but has higher medical limits than the Silver policy.
In addition to travel medical, post-departure and cruise insurance plans, WorldTrips offers three Atlas Journey plans that include comprehensive trip cancellation coverage: Escape, Explore and Elevate. The two higher-tier plans have more optional upgrades available, such as cancel for any reason or pet care coverage, but the lowest-tier Escape plan only has a rental car add-on. Atlas Journey Escape is the cheapest option and has the most basic coverage.
However, you will be able to get preexisting conditions coverage with the Escape policy if you buy it within 14 days of your initial trip deposit. The plan also includes travel assistance services, single occupancy coverage if your travel companion cancels, and accidental death and dismemberment coverage.
With the Atlas Journey Escape plan, you’ll also get:
- Up to 100% coverage for trip cancellations ($10,000 maximum); up to 125% coverage for trip interruptions
- Up to $500 for travel delays; up to $500 for missed connections
- Up to $750 for luggage damage or loss; up to $200 for luggage delays
- Up to $50,000 for emergency medical problems
- Up to $250,000 for medical evacuation and repatriation of remains
If you need affordable coverage at the last minute or even after you’ve departed on your trip, Atlas On-the-Go provides limited benefits for trip interruptions and medical emergencies.
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Worldwide Trip Protector Essential, Deluxe and Platinum provide varying levels of coverage for a single trip. The Essential plan is the most affordable option from Travel Insured International. All three plans, including Essential, allow you to add optional bundles for rental cars, pet care, theme parks, cruises and flights. However, cancel and interrupt for any reason add-ons are not available with Worldwide Trip Protector Essential.
The Essential plan includes all the standard coverages you would expect in a basic travel insurance policy. Unlike the higher-tier plans, it does not have coverage for political or security evacuations, natural disaster evacuations, or 24-hour accidental death and dismemberment.
Worldwide Trip Protector Essential comes with:
- Up to 100% trip cancellation coverage (up to $25,000); up to 100% for trip interruptions
- Up to $500 for trip delays; up to $500 for missed connections
- Up to $750 in baggage coverage; up to $200 for baggage delays
- Up to $50,000 in emergency medical coverage
- Up to $200,000 for emergency medical evacuation and repatriation
The following describes our approach to researching and analyzing travel insurance companies to guide prospective consumers. U.S. News & World Report rates the most budget-friendly travel insurance providers to help travelers find an affordable policy that will help them protect their investment in their vacation.
To determine the Most Affordable Travel Insurance Companies, we first scoured the web for all providers that offer travel insurance plans. In total, we assessed 45 companies. To be considered for the Most Affordable Travel Insurance Companies rating, a company must be available to U.S. residents, must allow anyone to purchase travel insurance, and must specifically offer trip cancellation and interruption protection.
We collected data across multiple sources – Professional Ratings & Reviews, Consumer Ratings & Reviews, and Credit Ratings – which are all weighted equally and averaged to determine each travel insurance company’s Overall Rating.
- Professional Ratings & Reviews: Our travel insurance ratings take into account the top credible expert sources that have vetted and recommended specific travel insurance companies and plans. These expert sources are reviewed annually before data collection begins to ensure they are offering up-to-date information and accolades. Our team reviewed the methodologies of these expert outlets to look for data-driven rankings that were editorially independent. There are 10 expert sources that are factored into the 2026 ratings, including NerdWallet, Business Insider and MarketWatch, among others. Professional sources often recommend different options. U.S. News believes it benefits consumers to pool and analyze independent reviews as a group, to factor in multiple data sources and provide the most robust look at the top travel insurance companies. To be considered a Most Affordable Travel Insurance Company, the provider must appear on a minimum of one expert list. While budget travelers are more concerned with price over reputation, we still feature companies that receive at least one accolade from an expert source to ensure a high quality overall rating. Our team tallies the number of accolades a travel insurance company receives from these 10 expert sources, and converts them into points. Points earned for the number of accolades are outlined below:
- 7 or more accolades: 5 points
- 5 to 6 accolades: 4 points
- 3 to 4 accolades: 3 points
- 1 to 2 accolades: 2 points
- Consumer Ratings & Reviews: U.S. News also researched published consumer ratings on travel insurance companies. Our research team collected and analyzed review data from SquareMouth and Trustpilot, which are independent third-party reviews sites that collect verified reviews from travel insurance users. Travel insurance companies must have at least 20 reviews on one of these sites to be considered. Providers must have a consumer rating score (the averaged rating of the two review sites) of 3.5 or higher to make the Most Affordable Travel Insurance Companies list.
- Credit Rating: A.M. Best provides financial strength ratings of insurance companies that indicate providers most likely to weather major global travel disruptions. Only travel insurance companies with an A- rating or better are considered for this rating. Points earned for the A.M. Best ratings are detailed below:
- A++: 5 points
- A+: 4.5 points
- A: 4 points
- A-: 3.5 points
- Cheapest Average Quote for 100% Trip Cancellation: U.S. News created sample traveler profiles for three separate eight-day trips to different destinations (the Cayman Islands, Spain and California) at a range of price points ($6,500, $10,500 and $8,500, respectively). We used that information to get quotes for the cheapest option that includes 100% trip cancellation coverage for each trip. We then calculated the average cost of the trips. The travel insurance companies that made our rating offer a lowest average cost of $300 or less.
The Overall Rating is the average of the professional rating, consumer rating and credit rating scores. Travel insurance companies with an Overall Rating of 3.0 or greater and a lowest average cost of $300 or less among the sample trips during data collection made the 2026 Most Affordable Travel Insurance Companies rating.
These ratings are updated once per year. However, pricing and plans displayed on the page are updated occasionally throughout the year. This is to ensure we are presenting the most accurate quotes and rates possible for consumers to consider.
Catriona Kendall is a writer and editor at U.S. News & World Report. She has been at U.S. News since 2022 and is a fact-checking, AP style and grammar expert who has written, edited and reviewed dozens of travel insurance and homeowners insurance pieces. She has eight years of editing experience.
Erin Evans is the managing editor of U.S. News Travel. She has been on staff since 2013 and has become an expert in travel insurance since the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the industry. She aims to make it easy for everyday travelers to understand the ins and outs of travel insurance and why it’s beneficial, especially in today’s world. She has 15 years of writing and editing experience.
