Best Home Warranty Companies

American Home Shield is our top home warranty provider pick because it has excellent reviews and some of the most comprehensive coverage on the market. AHS does not require a home inspection, and you can get a plan at any time, regardless of the age of your home’s systems and appliances. For the price, it's one of the better options.

Choice Home Warranty is known for its network of professional technicians and customer support. The company works with more than 25,000 contractors across the country and says it has covered more than a million homes and processed more than 4 million service requests. Choice starts a service response within four hours of a request.

Of the home warranty companies on ConsumerAffairs.com that offer roof leak coverage, Select Home Warranty has the highest percentage of 5-star reviews that mention roofs.

Select Home Warranty’s roof leak coverage pays out if there is a leak in any occupied area of your home. It has some exclusions, including metal roofs, chimney components, shingles, tiles and patios.

The roof coverage add-on is $99 annually, but the company often runs specials for free roof coverage when you buy any plan. You can also get a discount for signing up for multiple years of protection.

At $55, American Residential Warranty’s service call fee is one of the lowest. We like that the company is transparent about rates and fees, but some plan options vary slightly by state.

One potential downside is that some appliances' annual limits are relatively low (capped between $300 and $500 for certain items). It’s best to contact the company for the most accurate pricing and coverage information in your area.

With Cinch Home Services, you can submit a claim through the company's online portal or over the phone 24/7. After you request service, the company sends a professional technician to your house to complete repairs. You can expect Cinch Home Services to contact an independent contractor within two hours after you request service.

We like that Cinch repairs have a 180-day workmanship guarantee, which is longer than the industry average. Customers can get discounts when they buy new brand-name appliances.

America’s 1st Choice Home Club has a service guarantee even longer than Cinch's. In fact, it has the longest service guarantee period of any company we’ve seen.

Clients can request service as often as they need without limits on the number of claims. Requesting frequent service also doesn’t affect your rate. New customers get a five-year guaranteed rate on coverage.

HomeServe makes it easy to get coverage for a few specific items for a relatively low cost. You can find plans starting at $7.99 per month and combo plans with an average price of $58.33 per month. HomeServe offers a convenient app for tracking and scheduling repairs.

With a plan, homeowners don’t have to worry about finding a contractor, getting multiple bids or paying the final bill. Some plans come with a 90-day repair guarantee. Other repairs are guaranteed for a full year.

On average, home warranty costs are between $36 and $68 a month, or $264 to $1,425 annually. Combo plans average about $60 per month. Depending on the coverage you choose, you may pay a little more or a little less. 

You might get a discount if you pay in full upfront or opt for a multiyear plan. In addition to your premium, you pay a service call fee any time you make a claim and the company sends a service technician to your home to diagnose an issue. Service call fees range from $55 to $150 per visit.

To find the best home warranty company for you, look for a provider you trust that has a plan that covers the home systems and appliances you consider essential. The price — whether you pay monthly or annually — also needs to be in your budget.

If you're buying a home warranty, here are three tips for comparing coverage and finding the right plan:

1. Take inventory to determine coverage needs.

Many home warranty providers offer three primary types of plans: appliances, home systems and combination plans. An appliance plan covers items like your dishwasher and refrigerator. A home system plan covers a home’s plumbing, electrical and other systems. A combination plan covers your home appliances and systems.

Some companies have add-on options for things that don’t typically fall under the appliance and system categories, such as swimming pools and roof leaks. Most customers opt for a combination plan, but some prefer coverage for appliances or systems only.

There are different types of home warranties for buyers and sellers. For example, a homebuilders warranty is for newly constructed homes and covers more than a typical plan. If most of your home appliances are new and still covered under a manufacturer warranty, you may want to opt for a systems-only plan.

2. Compare quotes to find a plan in your budget.

Providers generally charge from $36 to $68 a month for a home warranty. If cost is a significant factor for you, shop around for the best deal and consider choosing less coverage or a higher service call fee to reduce the price. You can save money if you get a warranty that only has coverage for the items that need it.

Be sure to get quotes from multiple companies — some home warranty companies may offer price matching. As you research, we recommend comparing:

• Monthly and yearly costs
• Service call fee options
• Plan options
• Number of covered systems and appliances
• Available add-on coverages
• Waiting periods
• Service recall period (the length of time a warranty company guarantees a repair)
• Coverage limits

Warranty plans come with a cost, but paying a monthly premium could be much less expensive than paying hundreds or thousands of dollars out of pocket for a system or appliance repair or replacement.

3. Read reviews and sample contracts.

Not all home warranty companies are created equal. After analyzing 1-star reviews about multiple providers, we noticed some commonalities between many of the poorly rated companies, including patterns of denying claims, misleading or aggressive marketing tactics, hidden fees and service delays.

Systems and appliances of any age qualify for coverage.

Always read a home warranty contract thoroughly before you sign. Look for details about coverage, exclusions and limits.

• Understand what’s covered: Your contract should list what items and parts it covers and when coverage applies. It should also explain how to request service and how long it takes before the company sets up service with a technician.
• Look for exclusions: A “covered” appliance or system may only be covered for certain parts. A contract will list exclusions under each covered item or under a separate section. Make sure you understand what components of each system or appliance qualify for repair and replacement after a breakdown. Also examine the circumstances when you can be denied coverage (e.g., an appliance is still under manufacturer warranty; a system was improperly installed).
• Check coverage limits: Providers have annual payout limits or per-item caps. Check the contract for these maximum amounts. You are expected to pay out of pocket for expenses that exceed the dollar limit listed in the contract. There may also be limits regarding matching brands or colors if an item needs to be replaced.

For more advice, read about questions to ask a provider before purchasing a plan.

ConsumerAffairs carefully collects in-depth, verified reviews to tell each customer’s experience with a company. We believe customer experiences are a crucial indicator when evaluating companies, so these reviews are a significant factor when selecting our top picks.

To choose our top home warranty companies, we started with a list of the 24 home warranty companies on this guide. To narrow it down, we first eliminated those with overall satisfaction ratings below 3.5 stars (as of Oct. 13, 2021).

The ConsumerAffairs Research Team compared the 16 remaining companies on multiple factors, including:

• Plan cost: We gave preference to companies with average or below-average premiums and fees.
• Availability: We prioritized companies that provide service nationwide.
• Coverage options: We gave preference to companies that offer multiple plans.

To dig a little deeper, the ConsumerAffairs Research Team analyzed more than 36,000 reviews submitted by verified home warranty customers over the past year (Oct. 13, 2020, through Oct. 13, 2021).

We used this review data to ultimately select the top seven home warranty companies. Five-star review data also informed some of our top-pick recommendations as well. For example, Cinch Home Services is our pick for “easy claims process” because our research team observed a higher-than-average frequency of 5-star reviews mentioning this topic.

To make our final rankings, we scored companies based on their percentage of 5-star reviews and the difference between the number of 5-star and 1-star reviews.