Figo vs Healthy Paws vs Trupanion vs Lemonade: How the Top Pet Insurers Actually Compare

Figo, Healthy Paws, Trupanion, Lemonade, Pets Best, and Spot all sell accident-and-illness pet insurance. They price and structure it differently enough that picking by brand name alone is a bad plan. The biggest divide is Trupanion's lifetime per-condition deductible versus everyone else's annual deductible. The second-biggest divide is which insurers actually offer an unlimited annual payout.

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This post is the brand-by-brand breakdown. Read Is Pet Insurance Worth It? first if you haven't worked out whether insurance beats a self-funded emergency fund for your situation. It walks through the premium-versus-emergency-bill math using NAPHIA's 2026 premium averages: $836/year for dogs, $435/year for cats. Want to understand why any given quote lands where it does? How Insurers Price Pet Insurance Premiums covers the breed, age, and location inputs behind the number. Size your own emergency-fund alternative on the calculator first. Then you'll have a number to compare the premiums against.

Why brand name isn't the right first filter

The six insurers below all sell customizable accident-and-illness plans. That sounds like a commodity. It isn't. The deductible structure alone changes what a policy is worth over a pet's lifetime. The exclusions list changes what "covered" actually means for a specific diagnosis.

Two structural differences matter more than the logo on the policy:

1. Deductible type. Trupanion resets its deductible once per condition, for the life of the policy. Figo, Healthy Paws, Lemonade, Pets Best, and Spot reset the deductible once per policy year, regardless of condition.
2. Annual limit. Healthy Paws, Figo, and Spot offer an unlimited annual payout option. Lemonade and Pets Best cap the year at a chosen dollar limit instead. Lemonade's top tier still reaches $100,000, per Pawlicy Advisor's Lemonade review.

Brand-by-brand comparison table

Sample premiums below are each insurer's own published or reported sample quote at a similar deductible/reimbursement tier. They aren't a guarantee of what you'll pay. Your actual quote depends on breed, age, and ZIP code — How Insurers Price Pet Insurance Premiums covers those inputs in more depth.

Insurer	Sample monthly premium (dog / cat)	Deductible	Reimbursement	Annual limit	Waiting period (illness)
Trupanion	~$139 / ~$72 at $500 deductible, per U.S. News' 2026 Trupanion review	$0-$1,000, lifetime per-condition	90%, fixed	No cap once deductible is met	30 days, 5 days for accidents, per Trupanion's own FAQ
Figo	~$75-$79 / ~$25-$40, per Figo's Custom plan pricing and Forbes Advisor's Figo review	$100-$1,000 annual	70%/80%/90%/100%	$5,000, $10,000, or unlimited	14 days, 1 day for accidents, per NerdWallet's Figo cost breakdown
Healthy Paws	~$66-$139 / ~$34-$48, per U.S. News' 2026 Healthy Paws pricing table	Annual, tied to reimbursement tier	50%-90%	$5,000, $7,000, or unlimited	15 days, plus 12-month wait for hip dysplasia under age 6, per Healthy Paws' waiting-period disclosure
Lemonade	~$46-$54 / ~$28-$41 at $500 deductible, per Insurify's Lemonade review	$100-$1,000 annual	70%/80%/90%	Up to $100,000, per Pawlicy Advisor's Lemonade coverage summary	14 days, 2 days for accidents, 6 months for cruciate events, per Lemonade's waiting period guide
Pets Best	~$38 / ~$23 at $500 deductible, per U.S. News' 2026 Pets Best pricing table	$100-$1,000 annual	70%/80%/90%	$5,000, $10,000, $20,000, or unlimited on top plans	6 months for cruciate ligament (30 days in some states), per Pets Best's cruciate waiting-period policy
Spot	~$30-$50 / ~$18-$25, per Hepper's Spot pricing breakdown	$100-$1,000 annual	70%/80%/90%	$2,500-$10,000 or unlimited	14 days, per Spot's own FAQ

All quotes are the insurer's or a dated comparison outlet's published sample rate for a specific age/breed combination, not a universal price — treat every number in this table as a starting point for your own quote, not a quote itself.

Trupanion: lifetime per-condition deductible, no annual cap

Trupanion's deductible works differently from every other insurer in this comparison. You pick a per-condition deductible between $0 and $1,000. You pay it once for a given condition, over your pet's lifetime, not once per policy year, per Trupanion's own deductible explainer. Once that condition's deductible is met, Trupanion reimburses 90% of eligible vet bills for that condition for life. There's no annual coverage cap.

That structure favors pets with an ongoing condition, like a torn ligament that needs a second surgery years later. You don't re-pay the deductible for the same diagnosis. It's a worse fit for a healthy pet that racks up several small, unrelated claims across different years, since each new condition triggers a fresh deductible.

Does Trupanion cover dental cleaning? No. Routine dental cleanings are excluded as an expected expense. Trupanion doesn't sell a wellness add-on that covers them either, per Trupanion's dental coverage page. It does cover treatment for new dental illnesses and injuries — a fractured tooth or an abscess, for example. But that coverage only applies if your pet has had a vet dental exam within the past 12 months and you followed the vet's dental care advice.

Waiting periods are short: 5 days for accidents, 30 days for illnesses, per U.S. News' 2026 Trupanion overview. Trupanion also offers direct vet payment at checkout, through its Trupanion Express integration at partner clinics. The other five insurers here don't match that — they reimburse you after you pay and file a claim.

Figo: high annual-limit ceiling, fast claims app

Figo lets you choose an annual limit of $5,000, $10,000, or unlimited. Reimbursement goes up to 100%, the highest ceiling of any insurer here, per Figo's own coverage page. Sample Custom plan pricing runs about $79/month for a mixed-breed dog and $25/month for a mixed-breed cat, at $10,000 of annual coverage, a $250 deductible, and 80% reimbursement, per Figo's published dog insurance page.

Figo's illness waiting period is 14 days. Accidents wait only 1 day, one of the shortest accident waits in this group, per NerdWallet's Figo review. Orthopedic conditions carry a 6-month wait. Figo offers a waiver that removes it if you act within the first 30 days of the policy.

Dental coverage mirrors Trupanion's approach: Figo pays for non-routine dental treatment tied to an injury or illness (fractured teeth, tooth abscesses, oral tumors) but excludes routine cleanings and exams unless you add its routine-care rider.

Healthy Paws: unlimited payouts, narrower plan menu

Healthy Paws sells one core plan structure. You pick a deductible, reimbursement rate, and annual limit of $5,000, $7,000, or unlimited. There are no accident-only or add-on tiers to configure, per Healthy Paws' own FAQ. Choosing unlimited means no cap on payouts for eligible claims at all. That matters most for large-breed dogs prone to expensive chronic conditions.

Sample premiums for a $500-deductible, 90%-reimbursement policy run about $66/month for a dog and $34/month for a cat, per U.S. News' 2026 Healthy Paws review. Broader averages across all ages and breeds run higher, up to roughly $139/month for dogs. The 15-day general waiting period is standard. But hip dysplasia carries a 12-month wait for pets enrolled before age 6 — one of the longest orthopedic waits among the six insurers here, waived only in Maryland and New Hampshire.

Figo vs Healthy Paws vs Spot, the three unlimited-annual-limit insurers, differ mainly on plan flexibility. Figo and Spot let you dial in a specific dollar cap if you don't want unlimited. Healthy Paws keeps the menu to three tiers instead. Want the fewest decisions at quote time? Healthy Paws is simpler. Want to tune the limit tightly to a budget? Figo or Spot give more options.

Lemonade: fast claims, AI-driven pricing, no per-condition option

Lemonade markets speed. The company reports that half of its claims are processed and paid within 24-48 hours, using an AI claims model, per CNBC Select's Lemonade review. Deductibles run $100-$1,000 on an annual basis. Reimbursement choices are 70%, 80%, or 90%, and annual limits reach $100,000 on higher tiers.

A sample quote for a 1-year-old, 55-pound mixed-breed dog in New York City, at a $500 deductible, 80% reimbursement, and $50,000 annual limit, came to $54.40/month. A comparable cat quote was $40.68/month, per CNBC Select's reporting. Waiting periods run 2 days for accidents and 14 days for illness. Orthopedic conditions wait 30 days, and cruciate ligament events carry a longer 6-month wait, per Lemonade's own waiting period guide.

Lemonade vs Pets Best comes down to deductible ceiling and claim speed versus price. Lemonade's fast-claims model and higher annual-limit options suit owners who want a bigger cushion. Pets Best's lower sample premiums (below) suit owners optimizing for monthly cost instead. Lemonade vs Spot is a similar trade. Spot's unlimited-annual-limit option beats Lemonade's capped-at-$100,000 tiers for a worst-case scenario, but Lemonade's claims turnaround is faster on paper.

Pets Best and Spot: the value-tier options

Pets Best posted the lowest sample premiums in this comparison: about $38/month for a dog and $23/month for a cat, at a $500 deductible and 90% reimbursement, per U.S. News' 2026 Pets Best review. Its deductible range ($100-$1,000, annual) and reimbursement choices (70%/80%/90%) match the rest of the field. Dental illness coverage excludes periodontal disease if a pet was enrolled at 6 months or older, per Pets Best's own FAQ. That's a narrower dental exclusion window than Figo's or Trupanion's.

Spot sits in a similar price band: roughly $30-$50/month for dogs and $18-$25/month for cats, at an 80% reimbursement, $500 deductible, $5,000 annual limit, per Hepper's Spot pet insurance review. It also offers an unlimited annual-limit option that Pets Best's lower tiers don't match. Spot's waiting period is a flat 14 days for both accidents and illness. There's no separate short accident wait like Figo's or Trupanion's.

A framework for choosing, not just comparing specs

Don't pick the insurer with the lowest headline premium. Work through these four questions in order:

1. Does your pet already have a chronic or recurring condition risk? If yes, Trupanion's lifetime per-condition deductible is worth the often-higher premium, since you avoid re-paying the deductible every year for the same diagnosis.
2. Do you want a hard ceiling on your own out-of-pocket cost in a catastrophic year? If yes, prioritize an unlimited annual-limit insurer — Healthy Paws, Figo, or Spot — over a capped plan, even one with a high cap like Lemonade's $100,000 tier.
3. How much can you actually afford monthly, and does that number beat your emergency-fund alternative? Compare the sample premiums above against your own breed's expected costs on the calculator, and cross-check the math against Is Pet Insurance Worth It?.
4. Does the policy cover the specific things you're worried about? Dental illness treatment, cruciate ligament surgery, and hip dysplasia all carry different waiting periods and exclusions insurer by insurer — read the specific condition's terms, not just the headline reimbursement percentage, before you buy.

None of these six insurers is a bad choice in the abstract. The mismatch happens when a deductible structure or annual limit doesn't fit how you'd actually use the policy. A healthy young cat doesn't need Trupanion's per-condition deductible. A large-breed dog with joint risk shouldn't settle for a $5,000 annual cap.

Sources

Every source cited inline above, gathered in one place: NAPHIA's State of the Industry Report 2025 for market-wide data; Trupanion's own deductible explainer and dental coverage page; Figo's coverage page and dog insurance pricing page; Healthy Paws' support FAQ; Lemonade's waiting period guide and its claims-speed reporting on CNBC Select; Pets Best's customer FAQ; Spot's policy FAQ; and U.S. News' 2026 insurer-by-insurer editions covering Trupanion, Healthy Paws, and Pets Best.