A broken checkout, and it's your name on the invoice
You build and maintain the site the client's revenue runs through, so when something breaks, whether it's the launch itself, a plugin update, or a form leaking what it collects, the client comes looking for you. Professional indemnity and cyber cover, built for web work.
Where a web developer actually gets exposed
It's rarely a dramatic hack. More often it's an ordinary mistake in shipping and maintaining a site that makes someone else money. A launch that breaks at the wrong moment. A plugin you installed that turns out to be the weak point. A form that quietly collects more than it should. Standard business insurance doesn't touch any of it.
The launch that broke checkout
You replatform a client's site and push it live during a promotional weekend. A configuration error breaks the checkout flow for several hours before anyone notices.
The client loses the sales the promotion was built around and sends you an invoice for the lost revenue, arguing the launch should have been tested properly.
The plugin update that took the site down
A third-party plugin you recommended and installed pushes an update that conflicts with the client's theme. The site goes down for days while it's diagnosed and rolled back.
The client loses trading time and search rankings, and holds you responsible for choosing and maintaining the plugin.
The breach through a contact form
A vulnerability in a form plugin you built the site around lets an attacker scrape submitted details: names, emails, phone numbers. Under the Privacy Act, your client has to notify everyone affected.
They say your build was the cause and look to you for the response costs.
Who's going to ask you for it
It's often a condition of the build
For web developers, cover increasingly shows up as a contract requirement rather than a nice-to-have:
- Agencies and platform partners. Shopify Plus and larger e-commerce partners often require proof of professional indemnity before you're approved to build on their platform.
- Client build contracts commonly name $1M–$2M professional indemnity for a standard site, more for an e-commerce build.
- Government and education tenders set minimum PI and cyber limits and want a certificate of currency before you're engaged.
The exclusion web developers assume is covered
Two things catch developers out. First, infrastructure you don't control: if a shared host or third-party service goes down, that outage sits with the hosting provider, not you. But if you contractually promised an uptime figure you don't actually control, that gap becomes yours.
Second, known bugs at go-live: a claim arising from an issue you knew about and shipped anyway is typically excluded. Cover responds to what you didn't see coming.
Common questions
I'm a solo freelancer, do I really need this?
If you build or maintain sites for paying clients, yes. A single broken launch or plugin conflict can cost a client far more than your fee, and more agencies and platform partners now ask for a certificate of currency before they'll work with you.
Isn't this just professional indemnity?
PI is the core, but web work also carries cyber exposure. The site collects and stores data the moment it has a contact form or checkout, so ICT cover combines professional indemnity with cyber and tech-specific extensions so there isn't a gap between policies.
What limit should I get?
Match it to your contracts. Read the insurance clause in the client's build agreement or the platform partner's requirements, it will usually name a minimum. If you're unsure, we'll read it with you before you buy.
Does it cover a site I built before I was insured?
Professional indemnity is claims-made and usually responds to claims first made while you're insured, provided the issue wasn't already known to you. It's worth having cover in place before a dispute surfaces, not after.
A client wants a certificate of currency, how fast can I get one?
Once you're bound, a certificate is quick to issue. If a project is waiting on it, tell us and we'll prioritise it.