Pendwell Life/Reports/Lead costs, September 2026

Life insurance lead costs, September 2026

What agencies bid for a life insurance lead click in Google Ads — 88 keywords, September 1, 2025 - August 31, 2026. This is the latest edition.

How much does a life insurance lead click cost?

Across 88 life insurance lead keywords in Google Keyword Planner for September 1, 2025 - August 31, 2026, the median top-of-page bid in the United States was $16.81 a click, ranging from $8.89 to $48.89. Half the keywords sat between $14.18 and $23.17. That is the price of one visitor — not one lead, and not one policy.

The distribution

Top-of-page bid, high rangePer click
Lowest$8.89
25th percentile$14.18
Median$16.81
75th percentile$23.17
Highest$48.89

On the low side of Keyword Planner's range, the median was $5.27. The head term, life insurance leads, ranged $5.17 to $16.04 at high competition.

What that means per policy

A click has to become a lead, the lead an appointment, the appointment an issued policy. At an illustrative 10% / 50% / 20% funnel — 1% end to end, so 100 clicks — the median bid comes to about $1,681 of media cost per issued policy. Those rates are an illustration, not a benchmark: run your own, and the argument is here.

Every keyword

All 88 keywords in this edition, sorted by the high end of the bid range.

KeywordLowHighCompetition
best life insurance lead sources$11.74$48.89High
life insurance leads direct$7.87$40.15High
real time life insurance leads$4.68$37.07Medium
lead vendors for life insurance$9.37$36.50Medium
life insurance lead providers$4.29$30.83High
life insurance lead generation$8.57$30.45Medium
life insurance lead programs$8.59$28.39Medium
insurance live transfer leads$6.84$28.21High
life insurance lead generation system$8.69$27.98High
life insurance and annuity leads$10.45$27.65High
live insurance leads$6.00$27.27High
best annuity lead companies$7.50$26.95High
life insurance lead sources$4.70$25.50High
medicare supplement leads generation$7.50$25.00Medium
high intent life insurance leads$5.77$24.51High
life insurance agent leads$6.56$24.41High
life insurance leads for agents$6.56$24.41High
insurance life leads$7.70$24.09High
life insurance lead vendors$6.67$23.33High
best way to generate life insurance leads$5.27$23.26High
best way to get life insurance leads$5.27$23.26High
best exclusive life insurance leads$5.97$23.21High
best life insurance lead vendors$8.96$23.04High
affordable life insurance leads$4.09$21.49High
cheap life insurance leads$4.09$21.49High
low cost life insurance leads$4.09$21.49High
get life insurance leads$7.64$21.16High
best life insurance leads for agents$7.63$20.89High
annuity lead companies$9.06$20.83Medium
life leads$6.02$20.66Low
best life insurance lead companies$5.50$19.87High
life insurance leads for sale$6.01$19.62Medium
final expense insurance lead$6.88$19.55High
aged life insurance leads$6.22$19.07Medium
aged leads life insurance$5.39$18.84High
life insurance lead generation companies$8.81$18.83Medium
best place to buy life insurance leads$4.99$18.18High
free life insurance leads$6.16$17.82High
quality life insurance leads$7.20$17.77High
final expense life insurance leads$6.50$17.05High
term insurance leads$5.25$16.93High
term life insurance leads$5.25$16.93High
buy life insurance leads$5.00$16.85High
purchase life insurance leads$5.00$16.85High
best life insurance leads$5.26$16.77High
good life insurance leads$5.26$16.77High
smart financial life insurance leads$5.44$16.60Medium
iul leads$5.20$16.55Medium
free life insurance leads for agents$5.23$16.23High
inbound life insurance leads$5.16$16.08Medium
annuity leads for sale$3.78$16.05Medium
life insurance leads$5.17$16.04High
aged mortgage protection leads$4.74$15.96Medium
mortgage life insurance leads$4.59$15.96High
mortgage protection leads for sale$5.24$15.96High
everquote life insurance leads$6.97$15.93Low
exclusive life insurance leads$5.14$15.64Medium
buy life insurance leads online$6.49$15.55High
buy aged life insurance leads$4.94$15.54High
mortgage protection life insurance leads$5.25$15.29High
term life leads$4.81$15.29Medium
life and health insurance leads$4.68$14.74High
warm life insurance leads$4.01$14.66High
aged direct mail leads$5.76$14.63Medium
live transfer mortgage protection leads$3.68$14.62Medium
life settlement leads$3.84$14.25High
best live transfer life insurance leads$4.51$14.15High
live life insurance leads$3.72$14.04High
$1 life insurance leads$5.71$13.66High
high quality life insurance leads$5.71$13.58High
mortgage protection insurance leads$3.55$13.42High
whole life insurance leads$6.51$13.34High
family first life leads$4.56$12.75Medium
live transfer final expense leads$5.00$12.38Medium
live transfer life insurance leads$4.49$11.91High
life insurance companies that provide leads$2.64$11.82Medium
live transfer annuity leads$7.24$11.39High
exclusive life leads$3.32$10.87High
best life insurance leads to buy$3.91$10.86Medium
annuity insurance leads$4.90$10.75Medium
final expense live transfer$3.60$10.35Medium
spanish final expense leads$2.40$10.35High
spanish life insurance leads$4.55$10.35High
scott brooks annuity leads$5.74$10.16Medium
warm transfer life insurance leads$6.71$9.95High
life insurance leads cost$3.27$9.04Low
local life insurance leads$5.42$8.93High
life insurance live transfers$3.12$8.89Medium

Method

  • Source. Google Keyword Planner, United States, covering September 1, 2025 - August 31, 2026. Pulled September 20, 2026.
  • Which keywords. Every keyword in the export containing "lead" or "live transfer" that carried bid data: 88 of them.
  • Which figure. The high end of Keyword Planner's top-of-page bid range, unless stated otherwise.
  • Rounding. Computed in whole cents; rounded half up.

Two caveats that matter

A bid is not a price paid. Keyword Planner reports what advertisers are bidding to appear at the top of the page. It is a floor on the price of a click, not a record of what anyone was charged.

Search volume here is too coarse to rank by. Without an active spending campaign, Keyword Planner reports volume in buckets rather than counts. In this export 219 of 254 keywords (86%) read exactly "50", and only 4 distinct values appear at all. This index therefore reports bids only and ranks nothing by volume.

Citing this

Pendwell, Life insurance lead cost index, September 2026. https://pendwell.com/life/reports/lead-costs/2026-09/

The index is refreshed from a new export each quarter, and every edition keeps its own address, so a figure quoted from this page stays checkable after a newer one is published. If something here looks wrong, tell us.

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