World Nomads Insurance Review

Travel insurance can cover a whole world of unforeseen issues. From a broken arm in the Alps to lost luggage in Thailand, it’s there to ensure that you aren’t left in dire straits or out of pocket when an accident or snafu occurs.

Of course, there’s a lot of variation in what policies cover. According to a report released earlier this year, medical emergencies were the number-one claim type in 2024, closely followed by trip cancellations – but not all insurers aimed at the digital nomad community cover travel-related issues.

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World Nomads is one company that can protect you in both these eventualities. Working with different underwriters depending on the geography, they offer policies that cover people from more than 140 nations, whether the issue is illness, a sport-related injury or damaged electronics.

The depth of their coverage is heavily dependent on your country of residence, but in some cases, you could receive a generous payout limit of $5,000,000 for less than $25 a month.

What Is World Nomads Insurance?

World Nomads was founded more than 20 years ago to service independent travelers. Their bread and butter are footloose and fancy-free adventurers, although they do offer coverage for families and people up to the age of 69 as well.

While their product may be insurance, the company has a distinct brand ethos, weaving destination guides, safety advice and survival tips into their website. It’s kind of like a one-stop shop for anyone wanting to get the most out of their holiday, providing info on everything from Argentine wine country to the Bulgarian Balkans.

The company is big on responsible travel, offering advice on how to holiday respectfully as well as funding charities and NGOs around the world through their Footprints program. People who purchase World Nomads travel insurance are given the opportunity to donate a small amount during the sign-up process, so they can contribute to the initiative.

Key Features & Coverage

The coverage available through World Nomads differs depending on your country of residence – and there’s quite a bit of variation. That makes it difficult to summarize thoroughly, but we’ll give it a go!

A person resident in the United Kingdom, for example, can access an Annual Multi-Trip package that covers all territories (excluding sanctioned nations). However, they cannot claim against any pre-existing conditions.

A person resident in Australia, on the other hand, will need to specify all the countries they hope to visit before receiving a quote. On the plus side, they will be able to claim for some pre-existing ailments if they meet certain criteria, including asthma, diabetes and epilepsy.

In this post, we are going to try to give a general idea of the available coverage. If you want to check out the specific terms for your country of residence, you will need to get a quote. Fortunately, this is a piece of cake, and you don’t need to create an account just to satisfy your curiosity, as you do with some insurers.

In general, there are two main tiers of World Nomad insurance: Standard and Explorer. While both plans cover the basics such as medical emergencies, they differ in comprehensiveness and maximum claim limits.

One of the places where digital nomads probably don’t want to go with Standard or Explorer packages is the US, as these only apply to single trips. Instead, US residents can go for an Annual plan that protects customers for multiple overseas jaunts.

✅ Medical Coverage

• World Nomads covers urgent treatment, including hospitalization, visits to a registered medical practitioner, certain diagnostic tests and prescriptions, and ambulance services.
• The Standard tier offers a generous $5,000,000 maximum in many countries (e.g., UK, Australia, Germany), although the limit can be as little as $100,000 for some nationalities (US Annual). The Explorer tier raises the bar to $10,000,000 (UK, Germany) or even unlimited (Australia).
• Emergency dental treatment is capped (e.g., $750 for US, $1,000 for Australia).
• Some Explorer policies will also cover clinical psychology, physiotherapy and alternative therapies like acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments.
• Sports like skiing and snowboarding are covered as standard in most geographies, but you’ll need to pay additional premiums to cover more risky activities like abseiling or canyoning.

✅ Emergency & Evacuation Coverage

• Medically necessary evacuation and repatriation is covered by most World Nomad policies. This can vary from $100,000 (US) to $500,000 (Australia, Germany) for the Standard tier, with more allocated under the Explorer tier.
• Natural disasters and political crises that necessitate evacuation are also covered in some geographies to a lesser amount.

✅ Travel-Related Benefits

• Trip cancellations will be reimbursed, with the available funds ranging from $5,000 (US Annual) to unlimited (Australian Explorer).
• Trip interruptions (i.e., where you are forced to cut short your vacation) are also covered, though the amount reimbursed is generally less generous.
• Most Standard policies do not provide any cash if your flights are delayed, although most Explorer tiers, as well as the US Annual package, will fork out some money (e.g., $50 per 12 hours).
• Lost luggage can be reimbursed up to $2,000, with a maximum limit per item.
• Some policies also come with personal liability. For Australians, for example, World Nomads will cover your legal fees and compensation costs up to $1,000,000 if you accidentally injure someone or damage their property. For UK citizens, the maximum is even higher at £2,000,000.

✅ COVID-19 & Pandemic Coverage

• In most cases, World Nomads will cover any COVID-related medical expenses, including hospitalization and evacuation. There are two notable exceptions to coverage: 1) if your symptoms are related to a pre-existing COVID diagnosis; 2) if you are visiting a country with an active travel warning in place.
• If you sign up to the higher-tier Explorer plan, World Nomads will also fork out for certain costs related to holiday cancellation, trip interruption and quarantine caused by COVID.

Pricing & Plans

The cost of a World Nomads policy varies depending on your country of residence, as well as being influenced by factors like age and regions covered. For the purposes of this World Nomads insurance review, we have provided quotes based on a few different scenarios, just to give you some idea of the price range.

• US-based travelers signing up for an Annual plan that covers countries worldwide pay a flat fee of $506 per year, regardless of age. This covers unlimited trips abroad per year, with each trip lasting a maximum of 45 days. It is important to note that this is designed as secondary coverage, meaning it only covers you once any other insurance or reimbursement that you are entitled to is exhausted.
• Australia-based travelers can sign up for either a Standard or Explorer plan. Premiums go up according to age and regions visited. For example, anyone up to the age of 29 working and travelling around Southeast Asia might pay A$20 (Standard) or A$275.88 (Explorer) per month, while someone aged 30-49 would pay A$244.42 (Standard) or A$290.40 (Explorer), with prices going up again for 50-59 and 60-69. However, tack on a European country and the prices are automatically more.
• UK-based travelers can sign up for an Annual Multi-Trip Plan with Standard or Explorer coverage, which protects them worldwide. As with residents of Australia, prices go up according to age bands, with the added quirk that youngsters up to the age of 25 have to pay more than those aged 26-35 or 36-50. For example, a 23-year-old digital nomad would have to pay £240.11 (Standard) or £269.39 (Explorer) per year, while a 35-year-old nomad would only pay £149.11 (Standard) or £172.51 (Explorer). There are also increasingly steep premiums for anyone aged 61 and over, topping out at £1,020.47 (Standard) or £1,144.88 (Explorer).

Something to bear in mind: World Nomads provides premiums in local currency for many geographies. In this post, we’ve kept all quotes in their original currency, since presumably if you’re an Aussie reading this, you’d prefer to know the price in AUD rather than USD.

HOWEVER, this isn’t the case for all regions. For instance, premiums for residents of Japan are stated in dollars. That means that if the exchange rate fluctuates from month to month, so will the amount of yen that you have to pay. Obviously, that’s not ideal, so it’s something to look into wherever you are on the planet before taking out a policy with World Nomads.

How does pricing compare to competitors?

World Nomads is one of the cheapest policies around – for some people. As you can see from the examples above, if you live in the US or the UK, you can get a great deal for worldwide coverage, but Aussies are going to be forking out quite a lot more.

Age can also be a massive factor. For an American 69-year-old, for example, $42.17 per month is an extraordinarily good deal. A Brit of the same age would pay £85.04 – still a good deal, but not extraordinary.

Pros & Cons of World Nomads

???? Pros

✅ Affordable pricing for multiple trips
✅ Includes travel-related benefits
✅ Common adventure sports covered

???? Cons

❌ Most policies don’t cover pre-existing conditions
❌ The length of your stay abroad is limited by your policy
❌ No coverage for people over the age of 69

How to Sign Up & Use World Nomads

As with everything on World Nomads, there is some variation in the processes depending on your country of residence. Mostly, however, the steps are very similar.

• Sign-up process:

1. Select your country of residence. If you input United States, you will also be asked to specify your state.
2. Enter your travel plans, including the start and end date of your trip. Depending on your country of residence, you may be able to select an Annual Multi-Trip plan, which is ideal for people going to multiple countries over the course of 365 days. Otherwise, you will have to select all the countries you plan to visit during your period of coverage. At this stage, you’ll also be asked your age and if you are travelling with anybody else that requires insurance.
3. Select either the Standard or Explorer tier if available.
4. Choose any add-ons.
5. Specify if you would like to include a donation to one of World Nomad’s charities as part of your payment.
6. Enter your details, including your name, email, date of birth, address and contact information.
7. Enter your payment information.

• How to file a claim and get reimbursed:

1. Log in to the member portal, which can be accessed via the top righthand corner of the World Nomads website.
2. Select the policy you want to make a claim against.
3. Fill in details about your medical emergency or trip snafu, including the date, time and location where it occurred.
4. List all the claimable expenses that you wish to apply for, then attach the associated documentation. This should include receipts as well as medical reports if applicable.
5. Sign the claim form with an e-signature and submit. World Nomads handles most claims within 10-15 days business days, but it can take up to 30.

• User experience:

Applying and paying for a policy is incredibly easy, with very few steps and transparent premiums. The UI might not be the fanciest thing on the market, but it is incredibly user-friendly. It’s hard to see how even someone who struggles with using the internet would struggle with the World Nomads site!

There isn’t a World Nomads app currently, but the website works just fine on mobile. That said, it’s definitely easier to navigate the page via a laptop than a smartphone.

World Nomads vs. Competitors

*To provide a more direct comparison, we’ve scaled all prices to be equal to roughly 1 month of coverage. Quotes vary based on age, trip duration, destinations and several other factors, so only treat this as a rough estimate.

Customer Reviews & Ratings

World Nomads has a strong Trustpilot score of 4.2 out of 5, which is better than most travel insurers. On the other hand, they also have a relatively high number of 1-star ratings, with 23% of reviewers giving them the lowers possible marks.

What people like:

• The affordability. A lot of people are satisfied that they are getting a good deal with their World Nomads policy.
• Easy to use. Customers have plenty of praise when it comes to the functionality of the website, which makes it simple to get a quote and purchase a plan.
• The explanation of coverage. Users are very complimentary about how easy they find it to understand the terms of their policies before purchasing, with assistance available from customer reps when required.

What people don’t like:

• The length of time it takes to process a claim. Some clients have noted that World Nomads has a longer claims-handling timeline than other insurers.
• Lack of coverage for expensive items. Although additional coverage can be purchased for high-value equipment, it isn’t included as standard.
• The difficulty of making changes to the policy. A number of people have been dissatisfied with the challenges associated with correcting or adding information, even when their policy is within the 10-day cancellation window.

Who Should & Shouldn’t Use World Nomads?

• Recommended for → Nomads on a budget, travelers making multiple short trips a year
• Not ideal for → Long-term expat healthcare, retirees aged 70+

Final Verdict: Is World Nomads Worth It?

For most travelers, World Nomads offers unbeatable premiums. It’s up there with SafetyWing as the best digital nomad insurance for people on a budget.

Of course, due to the variation in prices and policies based on the country of residence, World Nomads is never the sure-fire best option. We’ve already highlighted a couple of examples in this post where the company might not be the top choice, such as for Australian citizens or Brits under the age of 26.

While their mix of coverage for medical emergencies and travel mishaps is ideal for nomads who make trips abroad for less than 45 days at a stretch, it’s not as handy for long-term expats. Anyone who intend to be overseas for longer periods may be better served by Allianz or Cigna Global.

Whether or not World Nomads is for you, it’s at least easy to figure that out using their website! Unlike some of their competitors, they have a very easy quotation and purchasing process, which means it’s really no skin of your nose to check out what they have to offer.

Sign up for World Nomads.