They may sound like they’re similar, but commercial umbrella insurance and excess liability insurance have one important difference.

Excess liability insurance provides additional coverage for one of your liability insurance policies, typically general liability insurance or errors and omissions insurance (E&O). It activates when that policy reaches its limit.

Commercial umbrella insurance provides additional coverage for several of your liability insurance policies. It kicks in when one of the underlying policies reaches its limit.

Both commercial umbrella insurance and excess liability insurance will likely have the same coverage terms, conditions, and exclusions as the underlying policy. They provide coverage when the underlying policy’s per-occurrence or aggregate limits are exhausted.