You build technology that other businesses depend on. When your software miscalculates, your integration corrupts data, or your platform goes down and a client loses money, they're going to look to you for compensation. Tech E&O is the policy that covers claims arising from mistakes, oversights, and failures in the technology services you provide and the technology products you deliver. It's not about physical damage. It's about the financial harm your professional work can cause.
Last reviewed April 24, 2026 · Reviewed by the Corgi Insurance team
Your code runs in production. When a bug costs your client real money, this is the policy that answers the phone.
Coverage structure under form CORG-TECH-0500. How claims-made coverage works, what counts as a wrongful act, and where the boundaries are. Limits shown are illustrative. Important: The coverage descriptions on this page are general summaries for informational purposes only. They do not constitute a policy, binder, or guarantee of coverage. Coverage is provided only under the terms, conditions, exclusions, and limits of the issued policy. Always refer to your actual policy wording and declarations page for the governing terms and conditions. If there is any conflict between this summary and the policy, the policy controls.
Technology E&O
What this policy pays for.
Your analytics platform has a calculation error. A retail client relies on your demand forecasts and over-orders $500K in inventory they can't sell.1
Your policy covers claims alleging that an error in your technology services caused your client financial loss. The defense costs and any resulting damages come out of your policy limit. Because this is a claims-made policy, the claim must be made during the policy period and the error must have occurred after your retroactive date.
A routine code update causes a 48-hour outage on your SaaS platform. Your largest client sues for the business revenue they lost during the downtime.2
When your technology service fails (including maintenance, updates, and hosting) and a client suffers financial loss as a result, your policy covers the resulting claim. The client's lost business revenue, your legal defense, and any settlement all draw from your policy limit.
You build a custom integration between your client's ERP and their payment processor. A bug in your code corrupts three months of their financial records.3
Claims arising from errors in custom development, systems integration, and data migration fall within your Tech E&O coverage. Your policy covers the defense and damages when your professional technology work causes harm to a client's data or systems.
Scenario notes
Tech E&O is a claims-made policy. This means the claim must be first made against you during the policy period (or any applicable extended reporting period), and the wrongful act must have occurred after the policy's retroactive date. If you switch carriers, you need to coordinate retroactive dates carefully. Ask your Corgi advisor about this.
Defense costs are within the policy limit, meaning every dollar spent on lawyers reduces the amount available for settlements or judgments. This is different from CGL, where the insurer's defense obligation is in addition to the policy limits. A consent-to-settle provision applies: if you refuse a settlement the insurer recommends, your share of subsequent costs may increase. Refer to your policy for the specific terms.
Tech E&O covers financial harm caused by your professional technology work. It does not cover bodily injury (that's CGL), data breaches or unauthorized access (that's Cyber), defamation or media offenses (that's Media Liability), or employment disputes (that's EPLI).
Policy notes
Claims arising solely from breach of contract, such as failing to meet an SLA, are excluded. A narrow exception exists: if your negligent act caused the contractual failure AND would have independently created liability even without the contract, the negligence portion may be covered. SLA penalties, liquidated damages, credits, and refunds are not covered even under this exception. This is a fact-specific determination.
Intellectual property infringement, data breach liability, and AI-related claims are not covered under the standard policy. See the add-on section below for endorsements that can extend coverage to these areas.
The scenarios above are illustrative examples only and do not guarantee coverage for any specific claim. Actual coverage depends on the facts and circumstances of each claim and the specific terms of your issued policy. Results may differ based on policy endorsements, exclusions, limits, and applicable law.
Tech E&O, CGL, Cyber Liability each respond to a different claim trigger and coverage boundary.
What triggers it: A mistake in your professional technology work causes a client financial harm Type of harm covered: Financial loss from errors, omissions, or negligent acts in your tech services or products Common scenario: Your code update causes a 48-hour outage and your client loses $200K in revenue Key difference: Covers the quality of your work. Did your technology fail to perform as it should? That's Tech E&O.
What triggers it: A physical-world incident, meaning someone gets hurt or their property gets damaged Type of harm covered: Bodily injury, property damage, and certain advertising offenses Common scenario: A prototype falls off a demo table and breaks a visitor's laptop Key difference: Covers the physical world. If no one was physically injured and no tangible property was damaged, CGL isn't the right fit.
What triggers it: A data breach or network security failure leads to third-party claims Type of harm covered: Third-party liability from unauthorized data access or network compromise Common scenario: Hackers steal customer records and affected individuals file a class action Key difference: Covers the breach. If the core issue is unauthorized access to data or systems, that's Cyber, even if the breach was caused by your own negligence.
Wrongful Act: Negligent Error responds when your analytics platform has a calculation error. A retail client relies on your demand forecasts and over-orders $500k in inventory they can't sell.
Tech E&O is a claims-made policy. This means the claim must be first made against you during the policy period (or any applicable extended reporting period), and the wrongful act must have occurred after the policy's retroactive date. If you switch carriers, you need to coordinate retroactive dates carefully. Ask your Corgi advisor about this. Defense costs are within the policy limit, meaning every dollar spent on lawyers reduces the amount available for settlements or judgments. This is different from CGL, where the insurer's defense obligation is in addition to the policy limits. A consent-to-settle provision applies: if you refuse a settlement the insurer recommends, your share of subsequent costs may increase. Refer to your policy for the specific terms.
Available add-ons include AI and Algorithmic Liability Endorsement (CORG-TECH-0038), Copyright and Trademark Infringement Endorsement, Breach of Contract / SLA Carveback Endorsement, Subcontracted Technology Services Endorsement. Endorsements are required where noted and availability may vary by jurisdiction and underwriting.
A modular endorsement for companies using AI, machine learning, or automated decision-making. You select the modules you need, each with its own limit and retention. Available modules include: algorithmic bias liability, AI hallucination/defamation, training-data misuse, data poisoning/adversarial attacks, autonomous-AI bodily injury, deepfake and synthetic media, service interruption, AI intellectual property, regulatory investigation defense, and civil fines (where insurable). For example: your AI lending engine is accused of discriminatory credit decisions (Algorithmic Bias module). [Endorsement required: coverage applies only to selected modules]
Extends coverage to claims alleging your technology infringes a third party's copyright or trademark rights. Patent infringement and trade-secret misappropriation remain excluded. For example: a photographer sues alleging your AI model was trained on their copyrighted images. [Endorsement required]
The standard policy excludes breach-of-contract claims. This endorsement broadens the existing negligent-act exception to provide additional coverage when a contractual failure, such as an SLA breach, results from a covered wrongful act. SLA penalties, liquidated damages, service credits, and refunds are still excluded. For example: your coding error causes downtime that breaches your uptime SLA, and the client sues for actual business losses (not the SLA credit). [Endorsement required]
Extends coverage to technology services performed by subcontractors and outsourced development teams on your behalf. Important if you use freelance developers, offshore teams, or third-party integrators. [Endorsement required]
Tech E&O is the operational policy for software companies. Layer in CGL, Cyber, D&O, and more: modular coverage that grows with you.
Protects your business against third-party claims for bodily injury, property damage, and personal or advertising injury arising from your operations.
Protects against losses and claims resulting from data breaches, cyberattacks, and network security failures.
Covers claims alleging your technology products or services failed to perform as intended, causing financial harm to a client.
Covers claims made against company leaders for alleged wrongful acts in managing the business.
Protects against claims alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, or other employment-related issues.
Protects your company and plan fiduciaries against claims alleging mismanagement of employee benefit plans, including retirement and health plans.
Protects against claims arising from your published or distributed content, including allegations of defamation, copyright infringement, or invasion of privacy.
Provides liability coverage when employees use rented or personal vehicles for company business.
Key terms from the policy language and approved coverage summary.
Go deeper on Tech E&O and the rest of the startup insurance stack.
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