If you’re a frequent traveler, annual travel insurance may be something you’ve been considering. Unlike single-trip insurance, annual travel insurance plans can cover you for an entire year, no matter how often you’re on the road.

Let’s look at the five best yearly travel insurance companies, why we choose them and the coverage you can expect.

Factors we considered when picking travel insurance companies

We used the following criteria when choosing which companies we thought were best:

Cost. Annual plans can be expensive — depending on the type of coverage you choose — so we wanted ensure that they stayed affordable.

Types of coverage. Travel insurance for annual travelers can be limited in its coverage. We picked the ones with the broadest range of coverage for possible travel disruptions.

Coverage amounts. Annual trip insurance isn’t worth much if your limits are too low. Instead, we wanted plans with reasonable coverage amounts.

Customizability. If your travels take you to different places, you’ll want the ability to customize your plan. The best annual travel insurance plans can provide this.

An overview of the best annual travel insurance

We gathered quotes from various travel insurance companies to determine the best annual travel insurance policies. In these examples, we used a year-long trip by a 22-year-old from Alabama. We indicated the main countries of travel as France and Malaysia, and when asked, put the total trip costs at $6,000.

The average cost for an annual travel insurance plan came out to $192, though you may notice that Seven Corners' basic coverage cost of $386 drove the average up. The plans ranged from $83-$200 otherwise.

Top annual travel insurance options

Let’s take a closer look at our top five recommendations for annual travel insurance.

Allianz Travel

What makes Allianz travel insurance great:

Lower than average cost.

Provides health care and travel insurance benefits.

Includes rental car insurance up to $45,000.

Here’s a snippet from our Allianz Travel insurance review:

“AllTrips Basic (annual plan) is suitable for those who would like emergency medical coverage while abroad but don't need trip cancellation and interruption benefits. The AllTrips Prime, Executive and Premier plans provide an entire year of comprehensive travel insurance benefits.

The Executive and Premier plans offer various levels of trip cancellation and interruption benefits. The Executive plan is specifically designed for business travelers since it offers protection for business equipment.”

World Nomads

What makes World Nomads great:

Absolute lowest cost.

Provides travel medical coverage.

Includes sports and adventure activities.

Here’s a snippet from our World Nomads review:

“World Nomads offers the Standard and Explorer travel insurance plans and excels in sports/activity related travel insurance coverage while offering solid trip delay, baggage delay and lost luggage protections.”

Seven Corners

What makes Seven Corners great:

Offers up to $20,000 for acute coverage of pre-existing conditions.

Includes up to $1 million for emergency medical evacuation.

Optional add-on for adventure sport activities.

$0 deductible available.

Here’s a snippet from our Seven Corners review:

“Seven Corners offers one annual policy called Travel Medical Annual Multi-Trip. The policy can be customized depending on how long you plan to be away from home for any one trip. You can travel as much as you like during the 364 days, so long as any one trip doesn’t exceed the option selected — 30, 45 or 60 days.”

IMG

What makes IMG great:

Good customizability with medical evacuations and sports coverage.

Low $250 deductible.

Includes coverage for semi-private hospital rooms.

Here’s a snippet from our IMG review:

“Some policies provide emergency medical evacuation coverage, while others skip this benefit entirely. This benefit may be more important to you if you travel to a remote location or engage in physical activity such as trekking.

More comprehensive plans may include other benefits such as assistance with acquiring a new passport, reimbursing reward mile redeposit fees or coverage for pre-existing conditions. If these are something you’re interested in, be sure to check that your policy includes these options.”

Trawick International

What makes Trawick International great:

100% coverage for trip cancellation and trip interruption.

Emergency medical evacuation included.

Trip delay reimbursement coverage.

Here’s a snippet from our Trawick International review:

“Trawick International is a comprehensive travel insurance provider that offers trip delay and cancellation insurance, baggage delay coverage, medical coverage and medical evacuation, rental car damage protection, and even COVID-19 coverage among its various policies.

Trawick covers trips for worldwide destinations, including for foreign nationals coming to the U.S.”

What does travel insurance cover?

You’ll find a wide variety of coverage types offered by travel insurance policies. This is true whether you're purchasing a single-trip or annual travel insurance plan. Here are some common types you can expect to find:

Common types of travel insurance

Accidental death insurance.

Baggage delay insurance.

Cancel for Any Reason insurance.

Emergency evacuation insurance.

Lost luggage insurance.

Medical insurance.

Rental car insurance.

Trip cancellation insurance.

Trip interruption insurance.

How to choose the best annual travel insurance policy

While we’ve highlighted some of the best annual travel insurance companies, the truth is that the best plan for you isn’t going to be the best plan for someone else. If you’re interested in buying annual travel insurance, you’ll want to collect a variety of quotes to see which policy best fits your needs.

This may mean opting for a plan that covers pre-existing conditions or one that specifically includes high-risk activities. Or, if you’re in a country where health care is notoriously expensive, you may want to choose a policy with higher maximums.