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We earn a commission if you apply through the links on this page. It did not buy a favourable review, and nothing here is financial, insurance or legal advice.
Ethos sells term and whole life insurance online with no medical exam, in 49 states and the District of Columbia. It is not an insurer; it is a licensed producer that routes you to carriers including Banner Life, Protective, Ameritas and TruStage. The application takes minutes and every policy carries a 30-day money-back window. For readers here the important number is not the monthly premium. It is the gap between rate classes: by Ethos’s own published estimate, a 40-year-old man pays $643 a year at Standard and $415 at Preferred for identical $500,000 cover. That is $4,560 over a 20-year term, decided largely by numbers that change when your weight does.
What It Is and Who It Is For
Ethos Technologies Inc. is a digital insurance agency and third-party administrator. You answer health, lifestyle and financial questions online, their underwriting engine decides which product you qualify for, and if you accept, a carrier issues the policy. Term cover is offered up to $3 million on the consumer site, whole life up to $100,000, and there is a guaranteed-acceptance whole life product for older applicants.
The intended buyer is someone who wants term life quickly and without a paramedical visit. On its own how-it-works page Ethos says applications take about five minutes and are often processed instantly, and that no Ethos policy requires a medical exam.
We are reviewing it for a more specific reader: someone whose weight is changing. Life insurance is one of the few purchases where that fact is worth real money in a direction most people never calculate, and it is also one where an incorrect answer on a form can cost your family a claim. Both of those get a section below.
Why Timing Matters More Than Brand
Term life premiums are locked for the length of the term. Ethos states this plainly: rates stay the same for the entire 20 years no matter how your health changes. That single fact drives everything else.
It cuts both ways. Lock in a rate at a higher weight and you are paying that rate for twenty years even after you lose the weight. Lock it in after the weight has come off and stayed off, and you keep the better rate for twenty years even if some of it comes back.
Set against that: premiums rise with age every year you wait, and being uninsured while you wait is a real risk with a real cost. There is no universally right answer, only a trade-off worth doing the arithmetic on.
Ethos’s own page on this topic is reasonable and we would not argue with most of it. It says a high BMI does not automatically disqualify you, that insurers assess overall health rather than weight alone, that people with a BMI of 30 or above may pay more, and that stable weight over time signals lower risk. All fair.
What it does not give you, and what no agency publishes, is the build chart — the carrier’s table of maximum weight per height for each rate class. Those are internal underwriting documents and they differ between carriers. It means you genuinely cannot know in advance which class you will land in, only that the boundary exists and that a few pounds either side of it is worth the numbers in the next section.
What a Rate Class Is Worth in Dollars
These are Ethos’s own published estimates for a man buying $500,000 of 20-year no-exam cover. The right-hand column is ours: the difference multiplied across the full term.
| Age | Standard | Preferred | Annual gap | Over 20 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | $379 | $264 | $115 | $2,300 |
| 30 | $403 | $277 | $126 | $2,520 |
| 40 | $643 | $415 | $228 | $4,560 |
| 50 | $1,506 | $976 | $530 | $10,600 |
A Preferred class costs roughly 30 to 35 percent less than Standard at every age in that table, for identical coverage. Ethos labels these as estimates that vary by insurer, exact BMI and medical history, which is the correct caveat, and we would add one of our own: the same site elsewhere describes Standard as the class for people with health problems, which is not quite right. Standard is the ordinary, average class. Preferred and Preferred Plus sit above it.
We cross-checked those annual figures against a second table on the same site, which gives monthly ranges of $38 to $69 for a 40-year-old man at $500,000. Converted, the Standard and Preferred annual numbers sit within or just below that band, so the two tables broadly agree. That is worth saying because on plenty of sites they do not.
The Question Ethos Never Answers
We searched every Ethos page we downloaded, including the one written specifically about life insurance for overweight people, for any mention of GLP-1 medications, semaglutide, tirzepatide or weight-loss prescriptions. There were none. The single biggest change in this underwriting question in the past three years does not appear on the page about that question.
That is a content gap, not a trap, and here is what fills it. Ethos’s own pages tell you everything you need to reason about it:
- The application asks for current prescription information, and Ethos explains why: it gives them a clear picture of your health without a medical exam.
- Their underwriting page says insurers cross-verify applications against medical records, prescription databases and services such as MIB, checking for information that is misstated or omitted.
- Their how-it-works page lists claim exclusions including fraud, misstatements, or material misrepresentations of information provided in the application.
- A policy is contestable for roughly its first two years, during which the insurer can investigate and deny for undisclosed information.
Put those four together and the conclusion is unavoidable. A GLP-1 prescription sits in the pharmacy databases underwriters check, on a product line whose whole selling point is that it skips the exam and leans on those databases instead. Answer the medication question accurately. A policy bought with an inaccurate answer is a policy your family may not be able to collect on, and that is a far worse outcome than a higher premium.
None of that is a reason to avoid applying. Disclosed medication use is ordinary underwriting information; concealed medication use is a contestable claim. If you want to know how a specific carrier treats a specific prescription, that is a question for a licensed agent who can shop multiple carriers, and it is one of the genuine arguments for using a broker rather than a single digital funnel.
How It Works, Step by Step
- Estimate. A widget asks gender, age, ZIP, self-rated health (Average, Great or Excellent) and nicotine use, and returns a price range in seconds.
- Apply. About five minutes. You need a driver’s licence, Social Security number for identity verification, personal and family medical history and current prescription information. Questions cover health, legal and driving history, health insurance history, employment and income, lifestyle and hobbies, and drug and alcohol use.
- Underwriting. Their engine routes you to a product and checks your answers against records. No medical exam for any product.
- Offer. Ethos tells you the coverage amount and premium before issuing anything. You can withdraw at any point up to signing, without penalty.
- Sign and activate. Electronic signature; coverage can start immediately, often the same day.
- 30-day free look. Cancel within 30 days for a full refund. After that, cancel any time with no fees, by requesting a surrender form.
What It Costs
Published monthly ranges for a 20-year term, non-smoking adults in average health, from Ethos’s internal data as of 23 June 2026.
| Age | $250K male | $250K female | $500K male | $500K female |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | $13 – $23 | $12 – $19 | $21 – $39 | $16 – $30 |
| 30 | $14 – $23 | $12 – $20 | $23 – $40 | $17 – $31 |
| 40 | $22 – $38 | $18 – $31 | $38 – $69 | $29 – $50 |
| 50 | $49 – $85 | $41 – $65 | $89 – $158 | $70 – $119 |
There is no separate consultation fee, no application fee and no shipping — the premium is the cost. Ethos says the application is free and does not affect your credit score. Optional riders such as accelerated death benefit, accidental death benefit and return of premium add to the premium; Ethos says so on the term pages.
Note how wide the ranges are. At 40, $500,000 spans $38 to $69 a month — the top of the range is 81 percent above the bottom. That spread is the rate class, and it is the same money the Standard versus Preferred table above is describing from a different angle.
The Quote Is Not the Price
Printed directly beneath the quote widget on the how-it-works page:
Please note that all prices quoted are subject to change, including due to underwriting.
We are quoting that approvingly. It is the honest version of a sentence many competitors bury, and it explains the most common complaint pattern in this whole category: someone gets an attractive estimate from four inputs, then a different number after the engine has read their records, and feels misled. The estimate was never a price.
The protection Ethos gives you against that is real and worth using. They must tell you the coverage and premium before issuing; you can walk away at any point before signing at no cost; and even after signing you have 30 days to change your mind and get your money back. Treat the estimate as a screening tool and the post-underwriting offer as the actual decision point.
Eligibility, and the New York Gap
Ethos does not operate in New York. Its home page says it is licensed in 49 US states and the District of Columbia excluding New York, and its published licence table backs that up exactly: 50 jurisdictions listed, New York absent. New York regulates life insurance under its own statute and many national digital insurers stay out of it. If you live there, this is not a near miss, it is a hard no.
On age and residency the site gives three different answers depending on which page you land on, which is worth knowing before you assume you qualify:
| Page | Who can apply | Term versus guaranteed issue |
|---|---|---|
| Home page FAQ | US citizens and permanent residents, 20 to 85 | 69 and under can own term to age 80; over 69, guaranteed issue whole life |
| How it works | US citizens, 20 to 85 (permanent residents not mentioned) | 20 to 65 term; 66 to 85 guaranteed issue |
| Help centre FAQ | US citizens or legal permanent residents resident in the US for the past 6 months | Not stated |
None of those is alarming on its own, and the differences are the kind that creep in when marketing pages and help articles are maintained separately. But the boundary between term and guaranteed issue moves by four years between two pages, and for anyone in their mid-sixties that is the difference between a policy that pays in full from day one and one with a two to three year waiting period. Confirm which product you are being offered.
What They Actually Sell
Level term life, simplified issue term life, simplified issue whole life, whole life, guaranteed acceptance whole life, and an indexed universal life product through one carrier. Term lengths on the agent-facing FAQ are 10, 15, 20 and 30 years. The consumer site also publishes guides to 25-year and 40-year term, which are educational articles about the concept rather than evidence that Ethos sells those lengths.
Coverage maximums are stated inconsistently: the home page says term up to $3 million and whole life up to $100,000, while the agent FAQ says up to $2 million in face value. Those may reflect different channels. If you need more than $2 million, get the number confirmed before you apply.
On guaranteed issue whole life, Ethos does something we rarely see. Its page explains the graded death benefit properly: a two to three year waiting period during which death from natural causes returns your premiums with interest rather than the full benefit, while accidental death is generally covered in full from the start.
It then goes further and advises against its own product: if you are in your 50s and in average health, it says, you should usually explore other options first, because simplified issue or traditional term often provides significantly higher coverage at lower premiums with immediate full benefits. That is advice against interest, published on the product page, and it earned them a meaningful part of this review’s score.
Who Actually Insures You
This is the part people miss. Ethos does not insure you. It describes itself accurately as a licensed producer and third-party administrator that leaves the actual insuring to established insurance companies. The carrier on your policy is who pays the claim, and it is who you should look up.
| Carrier | What Ethos routes to it | A.M. Best rating as Ethos states it |
|---|---|---|
| Banner Life | Fully underwritten and simplified issue term | A+ (Superior), no date given |
| Protective Life | Term, direct to consumer | A+ (Superior), as of March 2025 |
| North American | Indexed universal life | A+, as of 13 August 2025 |
| TruStage (CMFG Life, MEMBERS Life) | Term and whole life, no exam | A (Excellent), as of December 2025 |
| Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. | Simplified term, no exam | A (Excellent), as of 15 May 2024 |
These are large, long-established insurers, and naming them with ratings and dates is more disclosure than most digital agencies offer. Note that an agent-facing FAQ names only three carriers while the consumer carriers page names five, so treat the carriers page as the fuller list.
One Carrier Rating That Does Not Match
We checked the two carrier ratings we could verify at the source. Ameritas holds up: its own site publishes S&P A+ as of 8 April 2026 and A.M. Best A (Excellent) as of 25 June 2026, and the letter grades match what Ethos publishes, although Ethos dates them to 2024.
Banner Life does not.
| Source | A.M. Best rating for Banner Life | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Ethos carriers page | A+ (Superior) | None given |
| Banner Life’s own financial strength page | A (Excellent) | Updated 13 March 2026 |
A+ and A are different categories on the A.M. Best scale, and Superior and Excellent are the words A.M. Best attaches to them. Ethos is publishing a carrier’s financial strength one notch above what the carrier itself currently publishes, and Banner Life is the only carrier on that page whose ratings carry no as-of date. The most likely explanation is stale copy rather than anything worse. It is still the wrong figure in the one place where accuracy is the entire product, and it is the single clearest thing on this site that should be corrected.
A smaller version of the same problem on the same page: Ethos describes the A.M. Best scale as having 13 ratings in the Ameritas section, 15 in the Protective section and 16 in the TruStage section. Three different sizes for one scale, on one page.
For what it is worth, Banner Life at A (Excellent), with Fitch A+ and S&P A, is a financially strong carrier by any reasonable reading. Nobody should be alarmed about the underlying company. The criticism is about the accuracy of the claim, not the strength of the insurer.
Licensing and Legitimacy
Ethos publishes a full state-by-state licence table, listing for each jurisdiction the legal entity, any DBA, the producer licence number and the third-party administrator licence number. We parsed it: 49 states plus the District of Columbia, with New York absent, and licence numbers present throughout. In some states the DBA is Ethos Life Insurance Services.
Publishing licence numbers is unusual and good. It means anyone can check a specific number against their own state insurance department rather than take a trust badge on faith, and it is the single strongest legitimacy signal on the site.
The Better Business Bureau lists Ethos Technologies, Inc. with an A+ rating, accredited since 12 July 2022, business started 7 July 2016, at 1606 Headway Circle in Austin, with principals Lingke Wang and Peter Colis as co-founders and Paul Ramirez as manager. A second BBB record for the same company name at the same address carries a D+. We could not open that second profile to see what drives the lower grade, so we are reporting its existence without explaining it. Duplicate BBB records are common; a D+ alongside an A+ for one company is still worth a reader knowing about.
What Independent Signal We Could Find
Ethos displays a Trustpilot rating of 4.8 out of 5 from 4,000-plus reviews as of 2 April 2026 and a Google rating of 4.6 from 2,000-plus reviews as of 21 July 2026. We could not verify either independently because Trustpilot blocked automated access.
What we can credit is how they cite them. Every superlative in the home page footnote carries a dated attribution: the Trustpilot figure, the Google figure, a Business Insider best-no-exam mention as of March 2025, an App Store ranking as of January 2025, a Forbes reference as of August 2025. Dating a marketing claim is a small discipline that a surprising number of brands skip, and it lets a reader see that the Trustpilot number is four months old.
The reviews visible on the BBB profile were less flattering, and their themes are worth naming because they are predictable rather than mysterious: a refund that took around two months, a customer who felt they were not told about a premium increase and struggled to cancel by phone, and someone who disliked being moved from an online flow to a phone call without a price. Read alongside the subject-to-change disclosure above, the second of those is what an estimate turning into an underwritten rate feels like from the customer’s side.
The Free Will, and What It Is Not
Ethos bundles online wills and trusts with a policy and values a will and trust for policyholder and spouse at $898. Three things from their own small print before you weigh that in the decision:
- It is provided by Ethos Estate Planning, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary, and is separate and distinct from the insurance products.
- That subsidiary is not a law firm and states it does not provide legal, financial, investment, accounting or tax advice.
- The complimentary service comes through a perks rider that is not available in Washington or South Dakota, and execution requirements vary by state.
A document-generation tool is genuinely useful for a straightforward estate and genuinely not a substitute for a lawyer if yours is complicated. Choose the insurance on the insurance.
How It Compares
| Route | Speed | Carrier choice | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethos | Minutes, often same-day cover | Their engine picks from their panel | Straightforward health picture, want it done today, no exam |
| An independent broker | Days to weeks | Shops many carriers, including ones with friendlier build charts | High BMI, a recent prescription, or a health history that needs placing |
| Direct from a carrier | Weeks, often with a paramedical exam | One carrier only | You want fully underwritten pricing and can wait for it |
| Employer group life | Immediate at enrolment | None | Free or cheap baseline cover — but usually low, and it ends with the job |
The honest framing: a fully underwritten policy with an exam can price a healthy applicant lower than a no-exam product, because the insurer is pricing you rather than a risk band. No-exam underwriting buys speed and convenience, sometimes at a small premium. If your numbers are good and you are not in a hurry, it is worth getting one quote of each kind before deciding.
Who Should Apply Now and Who Should Wait
Apply now if:
- You have dependents and no cover. Being uninsured is the expensive option, not the safe one
- Your weight has been stable for six months or more and you are near where you expect to stay
- You want it done today, without booking a paramedical visit
- You are approaching a birthday. Age raises the price every year, permanently for the term
Consider waiting, or use a broker instead, if:
- You are mid-journey and expect a materially different weight within a year. A rate class locked today is locked for twenty years — but weigh that against a year of being uninsured
- You have a complicated health history or a prescription you are unsure how a carrier will treat. A broker who can shop multiple build charts is worth more than a fast funnel
- You need more than $2 million and want the maximum confirmed first
- You live in New York, where Ethos does not operate at all
- You are in your 50s and being steered towards guaranteed issue. Ethos itself says to explore other options first
A middle path that costs almost nothing: buy a modest policy now so you are not uninsured, and apply again once your weight has been stable for a year. If the second policy comes in at a better class, cancel the first — there are no cancellation fees or penalties, which Ethos states explicitly. Just never cancel the old policy until the new one is actually issued and in force.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Full state-by-state producer and TPA licence numbers published for checking
- No medical exam on any product; application in about five minutes
- 30-day free look with money back, then cancel any time with no fees
- Carriers named, with ratings and mostly with dates
- States plainly that quoted prices are subject to change due to underwriting
- Explains the graded death benefit and advises 50-somethings to look elsewhere first
- Every marketing superlative carries a dated attribution
- Publishes real rate tables rather than a single headline number
- BBB A+ and accredited since July 2022; contestability and exclusions explained
Cons
- Banner Life A.M. Best rating published as A+ Superior; the carrier publishes A Excellent
- The A.M. Best scale described as 13, 15 and 16 ratings on one page
- No mention of GLP-1 or weight-loss medications anywhere, including on the overweight page
- Three different eligibility statements across three pages
- Coverage cap given as $3M in one place and $2M in another
- Term versus guaranteed-issue age boundary differs by four years between pages
- Not available in New York at all
- A second BBB record at the same address rated D+, which we could not open
- Complaint themes include slow refunds and premium surprises after underwriting
- Free will comes from a non-law-firm subsidiary and is unavailable in WA and SD
Limitations of This Review
Everything here was checked on 8 August 2026 against ethos.com, including its home page, how-it-works, licences, carriers, underwriting, guaranteed issue, term and overweight-applicant pages and help-centre FAQs, plus the Better Business Bureau and the published financial strength pages of Banner Life and Ameritas. Rates and policies change; Ethos dates its own rate tables to 23 June 2026 and its Trustpilot figure to 2 April 2026.
We did not complete an application, so we have not seen the full question set, the underwriting outcome, or what an actual offer looks like. Every price in this review is an Ethos published estimate, not a quote we obtained. The 20-year totals in the rate-class table are our own arithmetic on their annual figures and assume the premium stays level for the term, which is how level term is designed to work.
We could not independently verify the Trustpilot score, because Trustpilot blocked access, and we could not open the second BBB record. We verified A.M. Best letter grades for two of the five named carriers from the carriers’ own websites; A.M. Best’s own site blocked automated access, so the remaining three ratings in our carrier table are as Ethos states them, not as we confirmed them.
Nothing in this review is insurance, legal, tax or financial advice, and none of it is medical advice. How a specific carrier treats a specific prescription, medical history or BMI is a question for a licensed agent or the carrier, not for a review. What we can say with confidence is the general principle: answer every question on an insurance application accurately, and get the policy details in writing before you sign.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Ethos life insurance cost?
Checked 8 August 2026. Ethos publishes monthly ranges for a 20-year term for non-smoking adults in average health, drawn from its own internal data as of 23 June 2026. For $500,000 of cover: a 30-year-old man pays about $23 to $40 and a woman about $17 to $31; at 40 it is roughly $38 to $69 and $29 to $50; at 50 it is roughly $89 to $158 and $70 to $119. For $250,000 the ranges are about half those figures. The application itself is free and does not affect your credit score.
Is there really no medical exam?
Correct. Ethos states plainly that no one needs a medical exam and that every policy it sells is underwritten from health, lifestyle and financial questions instead. That does not mean no one checks. Their own underwriting page says insurers cross-verify what you write using medical records, prescription databases and services such as MIB. So the exam is gone, the verification is not.
Which insurance company actually issues the policy?
Ethos is a licensed insurance producer and third-party administrator, not an insurer. Its carriers page names Banner Life, Protective Life, North American, TruStage (made available by CMFG Life Insurance Company and MEMBERS Life Insurance Company) and Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. Which carrier you get depends on which product their underwriting engine routes you to. Ask which carrier is on your policy before you sign, because the carrier, not Ethos, pays the claim.
Is Ethos available in every state?
No. Ethos operates in 49 states and the District of Columbia and excludes New York, which it states on its own home page and which its published licence table confirms: it lists producer and third-party administrator licence numbers for 49 states plus DC, with New York absent. If you live in New York you need a different route entirely.
Does my weight affect the price?
Yes, and by a lot more than most people expect. Ethos publishes an estimate for a man buying $500,000 of 20-year no-exam cover: at 40, $643 a year at Standard rates against $415 a year at Preferred. That is $228 a year, or $4,560 across the full term, for the same coverage. At 50 the gap is $530 a year, or $10,600 across the term. Height, weight and BMI are among the first things any life underwriter looks at.
Should I tell them I am taking a GLP-1?
Yes. Answer every question accurately, including current prescriptions. Ethos asks for current prescription information on the application and its own underwriting page says insurers verify applications against prescription databases and medical records. A policy is contestable for roughly its first two years, and Ethos states that claims can be denied for misstatements or material misrepresentation in that period. An inaccurate answer is the one thing that can turn a paid claim into an unpaid one, and it is the reason to be careful rather than a reason to avoid applying.
Can I get my money back if I change my mind?
Yes. Every policy carries a 30-day free look with a money-back guarantee, so cancelling inside 30 days of purchase gets a full refund. After that you can cancel any time, for any reason, with no cancellation fees or penalties, by requesting a surrender form. That is genuinely good and it is worth using: it means you can lock in a rate and still have a month to reconsider.
Will the price I am quoted be the price I pay?
Not necessarily. Under its own quote widget Ethos prints: all prices quoted are subject to change, including due to underwriting. The estimate is generated from a handful of self-reported inputs; the binding number arrives after their engine has checked your records. Ethos does tell you the coverage amount and the premium before issuing anything, and you can withdraw at any point without penalty, so nothing is committed until you sign.
What is the free will worth?
Ethos values a will and trust for a policyholder and spouse at $898 and provides it through Ethos Estate Planning, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary. Two caveats in their own small print: that subsidiary is not a law firm and does not give legal, tax or financial advice, and the complimentary service is delivered through a perks rider that is not available in Washington or South Dakota. Treat it as a useful extra, not a reason to choose an insurer.
Is Ethos legitimate?
Every checkable credential we tested held up. Ethos publishes a full state-by-state table of its producer and third-party administrator licence numbers, the named carriers are large established insurers, and two of the carrier financial-strength ratings we independently verified at the carriers own websites matched at the letter grade. The Better Business Bureau lists Ethos Technologies, Inc. with an A+ rating, accredited since 12 July 2022. A second BBB record at the same Austin address carries a D+ and we could not open it to see why.
Verdict
3.9 / 5
One of the more transparent operators in a category that rewards opacity — with one carrier rating on its own site that the carrier contradicts.
Ethos does the hard things well. It publishes licence numbers you can check, names its carriers, prints real rate tables instead of a single teaser figure, dates its marketing claims, tells you in plain words that your quote can change under underwriting, explains what a graded death benefit actually does, and advises a whole segment of its own customers to buy something else. Set against the norm for online insurance funnels, that is a good record.
What it gets wrong is documentation discipline. A carrier’s financial strength published one notch high and undated, three sizes for one rating scale, three eligibility statements, two coverage caps, and an age boundary that moves by four years between pages. None of that costs a customer money directly. All of it makes the site harder to trust in exactly the places where trust is the product.
For readers here, the practical advice does not depend on any of that. Do not stay uninsured while you wait for a better number. Do get a second quote from a broker if your health picture is complicated. Do answer the prescription question accurately, because a contested claim is worse than any premium. And do the arithmetic in the rate-class table before you decide when to apply, because for a 40-year-old it is $4,560 and for a 50-year-old it is $10,600.
Review date and disclaimer
Rates, eligibility, licensing, carrier ratings and policy terms in this review were read from ethos.com and from public sources on 8 August 2026. Insurance products, pricing and state availability change — check the live pages and your own state before applying.
Nothing here is insurance, legal, tax, financial or medical advice, and no outcome is promised. Coverage decisions, rate classes and claims are determined by the issuing carrier, not by Ethos and not by us. Talk to a licensed agent about your own circumstances, and to a clinician about any medication.
Before You Apply
Answer the prescription question accurately, treat the quote as an estimate rather than a price, ask which carrier is on your policy, and use the 30-day free look if you need time to think.