Canstar’s 2026 Direct Life Insurance Award

Canstar releases its
2026 Direct Life Insurance Awards.

Released: 19 May, 2026

About the winners

(Winners are listed alphabetically)

Budget Direct
Direct Life Insurance – Outstanding Value Award

Budget Direct offers a white label (or rebranded) version of NobleOak’s direct life insurance policy, which stands out due to its low-priced premiums and the generous features on offer. The only difference between Budget Direct and NobleOak is in some support features, most notably the fact that Budget Direct doesn’t offer access to online self-service, whereas NobleOak does.

NobleOak
Direct Life Insurance – Outstanding Value Award

NobleOak has once again received an Outstanding Value Award in 2026. NobleOak offers low-cost premiums, especially for younger customers, and its policies come with a number of stand-out features. One of these is the terminal illness benefit, which pays out 100% of your life insurance lump sum if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness likely to cause death within 24 months. This puts NobleOak ahead of its competitors, many of whom only pay this benefit at 12 months. NobleOak also provides a comprehensive family and carer support benefit–to help your family provide care if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness–as standard. In addition to these features NobleOak also offers $250,000 for guaranteed future insurability events. If you have a specific life event (for example, a marriage or divorce) or bring a new child into the family, you can increase your sum insured without further medical tests and questionnaires.

TAL
Direct Life Insurance – Outstanding Value Award

TAL has earned an Outstanding Value Award for the third year in a row. Performing best for consumers over the age of 40, TAL provides a standout array of features. Among these are an increased funeral benefit if you pass away overseas, and guaranteed future insurability for business events (for example, if your financial interest in a business partnership grows or your business loan liability increases). TAL also pays a child’s critical illness benefit–a lump sum payment if your child suffers a specified condition, including certain heart and neurological conditions and cancers–as standard.

About this year’s awards

Over the past decade, the life insurance industry in Australia has moved towards a new approach to underwriting, which is the process of evaluating risk. If you’ve already had a life insurance policy for a while, then now could be the time to do a health check, to make sure you’re clear on what you’re covered for.

In the past, many insurers worked on a ‘partial’ or ‘post claim’ model, and would sell policies with guaranteed acceptance. Instead of reviewing your medical history upfront, they would only do this after you made a claim. This meant you could see your claim denied for something you didn’t even know was an exclusion.

Understandably, this made life insurance confusing for consumers. In fact, a 2018 review from ASIC found that 66% of direct life insurance policy-holders did not understand policy exclusions, or how they applied.

These days, a number of life insurers have shifted to an ‘upfront’ model of underwriting, which means that they do an assessment of your health before accepting you as a customer.

This makes the application process for life insurance more detailed. Before you’re approved, an insurer will ask you a series of questions about your medical and family history, and maybe even require you to do a blood test.

The trade-off for this is certainty. Once an insurer has accepted you as a customer, they cannot later deny a claim based on information that you disclosed when you signed up. This means you know where you stand when you start paying your premiums, and not just when you need to make a claim.

Some life insurers in Australia still offer guaranteed acceptance policies. If you have one of these already, then for your own peace of mind, it may be worth reading your PDS carefully or contacting your insurer, to find out what exactly you’re covered for.

If you’re signing up for a direct life insurance policy for the first time, or if you think it may be time to switch, then choosing a policy with ‘upfront’ underwriting may offer you more certainty.

One additional fact worth knowing about the life insurance industry in Australia is a number of providers offer a so-called ‘white label’ policy. This means they offer the same underlying cover, underwritten by the same insurer, but sold under other brand names.

For example, Budget Direct, RACWA, and nib Life Insurance all offer policies underwritten by NobleOak. While the cover is very similar across these products, premiums and features can differ, as can the quality of customer service. This means it’s worth comparing across brands to find a policy that suits you.

How we assessed value

Life insurance policies are all built differently, much like we are. A policy that represents great value for a 30-year-old non smoker may not offer the same value to a 55-year-old. For this reason, we assess direct life insurance policies across 20 consumer profiles, spanning different ages, genders and smoking statuses. We assess each policy at multiple coverage levels, from $250,000 to $1,000,000.

When calculating our scores, we consider each policy from two key angles:

• Price (70% of the total score): For price, we compare the cost of monthly premiums across consumer profiles. The lowest-cost policy within each profile receives the highest score.
• Features (30% of the total score): For features, we evaluate what the policy covers and how it works. This includes the definition of terminal illness, funeral benefits, guaranteed future insurability (your ability to increase your coverage without undergoing more tests) and the application and claims process.

A cheap policy with narrow cover isn’t necessarily better value than a slightly more expensive one with stronger protections at claim time.

Who we looked at

We set the eligibility criteria for our awards to make sure we’re comparing like-for-like. This means every policy we consider: 

• Must be one you can buy directly, without going through a financial advisor.
• Must cover both sickness and accident (not accident-only).
• Must be available to any Australian, and not restricted to specific professions and organisations.  

Providers must have been in the market for at least 12 months with quotes publicly available.

After applying these criteria, Canstar assessed 17 policies across 17 providers this year before naming our three Award winners, Budget Direct, NobleOak and TAL.

What to keep in mind when considering direct life insurance

Upfront underwriting gives you certainty: These days, most direct life insurers assess your health before accepting you, which means they can’t deny a claim later based on something you told them upfront. If your policy was taken out under the older ‘guaranteed acceptance’ model, it may be worth reviewing your cover to see what exclusions apply, and whether it’s as comprehensive as you’d like it to be.

Price varies significantly by age: Some insurers offer more competitive prices for younger customers, whereas others perform better for customers over 40. When comparing, take a deeper look to see what prices are like within your age range, rather than looking at headline pricing alone. It’s also worth keeping in mind that a policy that’s great value for someone at age 30 may not be the same for someone aged 50, if it has features you won’t need at your stage of life.

You may already have cover through super: Most super funds provide life and total permanent disability insurance, so you may already have all the cover you need through your superannuation. For your peace of mind, it’s worth checking the cover you have already and comparing it against what a standalone life insurance policy can offer you, so you’re not doubling up or taking out more cover than you need.

Features differ more than you’d expect: Life insurance is not uniform, and providers can differ in their definitions of terminal illnesses, as well as family support benefits and guaranteed future insurability limits. These details can make a real difference at claim time, so it’s worth comparing beyond just the premium.

What this award is and isn’t

What this award is:

• A measure of value: Each eligible direct life insurance policy reviewed for the Canstar Outstanding Value Direct Life Insurance Award is assigned points for its comparative pricing and for the array of features attached to the policy.
• A level playing field: All eligible life insurance providers are assessed under the same methodology and benchmarked against peers within each consumer profile.

What this award isn’t:

• Personal advice: Our Star Ratings are based on general consumer profiles, and do not take your individual situation, needs and circumstances into account.
• The only thing to look at: Review each life insurance provider’s terms and conditions, and consider your own circumstances, before deciding on a policy.
• A list of every provider in Australia: While we try to include the majority of the market, some smaller providers or those that don’t meet our eligibility criteria may not be included.

Does Canstar rate other products?

About Canstar

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About: Luke Clyburn, Research Analyst

Bachelor of Commerce (Finance), Griffith University

With a background in Telecommunications and Financial Planning, Luke brings a breadth of experience to his mainly insurance based portfolio of Star Ratings and Awards.
Returning to university to complete his Bachelor during Covid, Luke is passionate about
delivering actionable data to assist Australians in making informed financial decisions. Luke is delighted to discuss the minutia of each product he researches, determined to fully comprehend the details. He revels in improving efficiency, adopting new technologies and methods to better achieve high quality results.

Luke values expertise in all forms and is excited to have found a group of like minded
individuals in the Canstar Research Department.

Connect with Luke on LinkedIn.

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