Free tool — for anyone comparing pet-insurance quotes
Pet-Insurance Plan Comparison Scorer
Compare two pet-insurance plans side by side. This free comparison tool scores each one across five weighted criteria and returns one score apiece on a 1–5 scale — no email, no signup, one click to download. It uses those five because every quote leads with a monthly premium, and the premium settles nothing: what decides whether a policy was worth buying is what it pays back when a bill arrives. So you rate what a plan actually leaves you paying, how broad the coverage is, what it excludes and how long it makes you wait, its reimbursement and deductible terms, and its payout ceilings. It names no insurer, recommends none, and earns nothing from your choice. Use it here in your browser, take the starter spreadsheet away for your own quotes, or print the PDF and read the method with the policy document open.
Score two pet-insurance plans on five weighted criteria
Pre-filled with a fictional worked example — two of the paid workbook's own invented plans, its cheapest quote (Example A) against its top tier (Example C). Type your own plans over them and rate each one 1–5. No insurer is named here, and nothing on this page earns a referral fee.
| Criterion | Weightfixed · 80 total | Example A — cheapest quote | Example C — top tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it actually costs youNot the premium — what you're left paying once the deductible, the reimbursement rate and the annual cap have all been applied | 22 | ||
| Coverage breadthWhether hereditary and congenital conditions, dental illness, behavioral treatment and exam fees are in or out | 16 | ||
| Exclusions & waiting periodsHow much is carved out, how long before it pays, and how far back the pre-existing look-back runs | 16 | ||
| Reimbursement & deductible termsThe rate, whether the deductible is annual or per-condition, and whether it reimburses your vet's bill or a schedule | 14 | ||
| Payout limitsThe annual, per-condition or lifetime ceilings, and what they do to one big claim | 12 |
Weights total 80 and are read-only here — you rate the plans, not the weights. The free spreadsheet below lets you type your own over them; the paid workbook adds three more criteria and lets you spread 100 points across all eight.
Each score is every rating multiplied by its weight, added up, then divided by 80.
Margin: 2.52 points. That's a clear call under this scoring.
This free scorer rates plans; it doesn't do the arithmetic. It won't compute what each plan would actually pay back on your vet bills, apply waiting periods and exclusions to those bills, run the same bills again once the waiting periods have been served, or project the premium as your pet ages — those are what the paid workbook adds.
A decision aid, not insurance, financial or veterinary advice, and no substitute for reading the policy document. The two example plans and their ratings are fictional.
Take it with you — free, no signup
Direct download. No email, no account — just the files.
What it does
- Scores two pet-insurance plans at once across five weighted criteria — what it actually costs you, coverage breadth, exclusions and waiting periods, reimbursement and deductible terms, and payout limits.
- Returns one weighted score per plan on a clean 1–5 scale. The browser scorer declines to name a winner when the two land less than 0.1 apart; the spreadsheet and the printable both add a rank alongside the score.
- Comes pre-loaded with a fictional worked example in which the plan with the cheapest monthly quote loses on all five criteria: 1.33 against 3.85.
- Uses five fixed weights — 22, 16, 16, 14 and 12, totaling 80. They are five of the paid workbook's eight criteria carrying their real weights, left unrescaled. The browser scorer shows them read-only; the downloadable spreadsheet lets you type your own over them.
- Rates plans — it does not do the arithmetic. It computes no payout on a real vet bill, applies no waiting period or exclusion to one, runs no year-one-against-year-two comparison and projects no premium. Those calculations live in the paid workbook.
- Names no insurer and carries no affiliate link or referral fee — the ranking is your ratings and nothing else.
- Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere, and nothing is saved.
Related reading
Own it, don't rent it
Comparing more than two plans, or wondering what they'd actually pay?
This free scorer rates two plans across five criteria. It does not do the arithmetic. The full Pet-Insurance Plan Decision Helper compares up to four plans across eight criteria you weight yourself, and computes what each one would actually pay back on the vet bills you choose to test — the annual deductible taken once, then the reimbursement rate, then the annual payout cap, with a condition still inside its waiting period or excluded paying nothing. It runs those same bills twice, in year one and again once the waits are served, because the winner can change between them; projects each premium across a fifteen-year grid, for as many of those years as you say you expect to keep insuring; and answers whether insuring beats setting the same money aside. An eight-tab workbook you keep (Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice) plus three guides.
A one-time purchase you keep and re-run whenever a renewal quote lands — no seat, no subscription, and no account that stops working when you stop paying.
A decision aid, not insurance, financial, or veterinary advice, and no substitute for reading the policy document, the schedule of benefits and the exclusions list. A weighted score is a tool for thinking, not a verdict. Coverage, exclusions, waiting periods and pricing vary by insurer, jurisdiction, species, breed and age, and they change — confirm every figure in writing before you buy. The example plans are fictional, and every figure attached to them is invented for illustration. Once you have filled it in, the scorecard holds your own quotes and ratings — clear them before you pass a copy on. Free to use; please don't resell or redistribute.