Is a COI proof of insurance?

A Certificate of Insurance is evidence that a policy existed and describes what it said on the date the certificate was prepared. It is not the policy itself, and it does not guarantee the policy is still active, that a claim will be paid, or that coverage has not been cancelled since. Only the insurer or the broker who issued it can confirm current status.

How can I tell whether a COI is expired?

Each coverage row on an ACORD 25 has its own effective and expiration date. Compare today against the expiration date of the specific coverage you care about — not the certificate date at the top, which only records when the document was produced. A certificate issued last week can show a policy that expired last month.

What information appears on a COI?

A standard ACORD 25 shows the producer (broker), the named insured, the insurers providing each coverage, policy numbers, effective and expiration dates, coverage types, the limits for each, the certificate holder, a description of operations, and any additional-insured or waiver-of-subrogation indications.

Do I need an account to use this?

No. There is no account, no email, and no signup. You can upload a certificate and read the result without identifying yourself.

What happens to the file I upload?

The certificate is read in memory during a single request and is not written to storage or a database. It is not sent to any AI service or third-party subprocessor — the extraction runs on our own server using deterministic PDF parsing. The page preview is rendered locally in your browser and is never uploaded for that purpose. We keep a rate-limit counter tied to a one-way hash of your IP address for up to 24 hours; that counter contains nothing about the document.

Does this confirm the vendor actually has insurance right now?

No, and no document reader can. This tool reads what the certificate states. Confirming that a policy is currently in force requires contacting the insurer or the broker named on the certificate.

What if the certificate is a scan or a photo?

This checker reads certificates that contain a text layer, which covers PDFs produced by a broker’s system. A flat scan or a phone photo has no text to read, and the tool will say so rather than guess at values.

Free tool · No signup · No AI

Check a Certificate of Insurance

Upload a COI to see the policy dates, coverages, limits, and carriers it lists — and anything it’s missing. Click any value and the exact spot it was read from is outlined on your own certificate.

What this does and doesn’t do. This reads the information shown on the certificate. It does not independently confirm coverage with the insurer — only the carrier or the broker named on the document can do that.

UploadDrop a COI here, or browseACORD 25 · PDF · up to 15 MBNo AI · not stored · confirmed only by you

Don’t have one to hand? — synthetic, no real policy data.

ACORD 25 · PDF · up to 15 MB. The file is read in memory and not stored. Exactly what happens to it.

How it works

Upload the certificate

Drop in the ACORD 25 PDF the vendor or their broker sent you.

It reads the fields

Named insured, carriers, policy numbers, effective and expiration dates, limits, certificate holder.

Check the value against the page

Click any field and the exact spot it was read from is outlined on your own certificate.

What to check on a certificate

The tool surfaces the values. Deciding whether they satisfy your contract is still a judgment call — these are the seven things worth looking at, in the order they usually matter.

1
Is it still in force?
Compare today’s date against each policy’s expiration date. A certificate can be recent and still show a policy that lapsed — the certificate date and the policy dates are different things.
2
Does the named insured match the company you hired?
A certificate in the name of a parent company, a DBA, or an owner personally may not cover the entity on your contract.
3
Are the coverages you require actually listed?
General liability, automobile liability, umbrella/excess, and workers’ compensation are separate policies with separate dates. One being current says nothing about the others.
4
Do the limits meet what your contract requires?
Read the per-occurrence and aggregate figures separately — an aggregate that satisfies your requirement can sit above a per-occurrence limit that does not.
5
Are you the certificate holder?
If the holder box names someone else, the certificate was issued for another relationship and was not prepared for you.
6
Is the additional-insured or waiver-of-subrogation wording there, if you require it?
The checkbox columns and the description-of-operations box are where this appears. A checkbox alone is not the endorsement — ask for the endorsement form if your contract requires it.
7
Who issued it?
The producer is the broker who prepared the certificate. The insurers are the carriers actually writing the policies.

A certificate is evidence of what a policy said when the document was prepared. It is not the policy, and it is not a guarantee that a claim will be paid. If a coverage question actually matters to a decision you’re making, confirm it with the broker or carrier named on the certificate.

Were you asked to provide a COI?

Then you’re on the other side of this — and you don’t buy anything to solve it. Ask your insurance broker or agent for a Certificate of Insurance; issuing one is part of what they already do for you and is normally free. Give them three things and you’ll usually get it back the same day:

The exact legal name and address of the company requesting it — this becomes the certificate holder.
The coverages and limits they told you to carry, quoted from their contract or email.
Whether they require additional-insured status or a waiver of subrogation, which are endorsements your broker has to add to the policy, not boxes to tick on the certificate.

You can upload the certificate here once you have it, to check it says what they asked for before you send it on.

What happens to the certificate you upload

Specifically, because “we respect your privacy” means nothing:

It is not stored.: The PDF is held in memory for the duration of one request and is not written to a storage bucket, a database row, or a log. When the request ends, it is gone.
No AI service sees it.: Extraction on this page runs two deterministic engines — the PDF’s own form fields, then its positioned text layer. No language model is involved and the document is never sent to an external subprocessor.
The preview never leaves your browser.: The certificate image you see, and the outline over it, are rendered locally by your own browser from the file you picked. That render involves no upload at all.
What we do keep.: A rate-limit counter: a one-way hash of your IP address and a timestamp, kept up to 24 hours so the tool can’t be run in a loop. It holds nothing about the document, and the address cannot be recovered from it.

Frequently asked

Is a COI proof of insurance?: A Certificate of Insurance is evidence that a policy existed and describes what it said on the date the certificate was prepared. It is not the policy itself, and it does not guarantee the policy is still active, that a claim will be paid, or that coverage has not been cancelled since. Only the insurer or the broker who issued it can confirm current status.
How can I tell whether a COI is expired?: Each coverage row on an ACORD 25 has its own effective and expiration date. Compare today against the expiration date of the specific coverage you care about — not the certificate date at the top, which only records when the document was produced. A certificate issued last week can show a policy that expired last month.
What information appears on a COI?: A standard ACORD 25 shows the producer (broker), the named insured, the insurers providing each coverage, policy numbers, effective and expiration dates, coverage types, the limits for each, the certificate holder, a description of operations, and any additional-insured or waiver-of-subrogation indications.
Do I need an account to use this?: No. There is no account, no email, and no signup. You can upload a certificate and read the result without identifying yourself.
What happens to the file I upload?: The certificate is read in memory during a single request and is not written to storage or a database. It is not sent to any AI service or third-party subprocessor — the extraction runs on our own server using deterministic PDF parsing. The page preview is rendered locally in your browser and is never uploaded for that purpose. We keep a rate-limit counter tied to a one-way hash of your IP address for up to 24 hours; that counter contains nothing about the document.
Does this confirm the vendor actually has insurance right now?: No, and no document reader can. This tool reads what the certificate states. Confirming that a policy is currently in force requires contacting the insurer or the broker named on the certificate.
What if the certificate is a scan or a photo?: This checker reads certificates that contain a text layer, which covers PDFs produced by a broker’s system. A flat scan or a phone photo has no text to read, and the tool will say so rather than guess at values.

After you’ve checked it

This tells you the expiration date. It can’t remind you about it.

Reading one certificate is a two-minute job. Remembering that a vendor’s policy expires in eleven months is the part that fails. COI Tracker watches each vendor’s expiry date and emails you 30, 14, and 7 days ahead. Free for your first 3 vendors.

Track your first 3 vendors free See pricing

Tracking a whole list at once? Scan your vendor spreadsheet for expired COIs — also free, also no signup.