MGA insurance software: what to look for, plus 7 platforms to compare

MGA insurance platforms can look similar on the surface, but they can cover different parts of the business. Some focus on certain tasks of the workflow, while others aim to run most of an MGA’s operation in one system.

The right choice depends on how your MGA operates, which carriers you work with, the products you sell, and how quickly you need to launch and scale. It also depends on how well the software handles carrier rules, reporting, integrations, and the manual work that comes with each.

In this article, we compare seven leading MGA platforms, starting with Federato, our AI-native core that runs the full MGA workflow on a single foundation, followed by Guidewire, Duck Creek, Vertafore, Insly, BindHQ, and Novidea.

What to look for in MGA insurance software

Some MGA software is built to do one job well, like a rating engine, a bordereau reporting tool, or a document manager, and relies on integrations to connect to everything else in the stack. 

Other platforms try to cover the full policy lifecycle in one place. Often, though, the provider built the system by acquiring one solution after another and bolting each onto what it already had. That leaves blind spots between modules that were never designed to talk to each other, bridged by a communication layer that's complex to build and expensive to maintain.

The strongest platforms are built from the ground up to run the full range of MGA functions, including underwriting, claims, compliance, and finance, on a single foundation. 

That single foundation is what enables the following four capabilities.

Proof of underwriting discipline for carriers

MGAs underwrite the business, but carriers take the financial risk. That means every renewal and capacity decision ultimately comes down to one thing: Does the carrier trust how the MGA has been underwriting?

That's why MGA insurance software should include: 

• Carrier constraints that convert into automatic guardrails. Binding limits, class restrictions, and aggregate caps should apply at the point of underwriting, rather than living in a binding agreement that only gets checked when a submission looks unusual. If a program caps windstorm exposure in a coastal county at $20 million, for example, the system should flag or block a submission that would breach that limit.
• Guardrails set per program or carrier, rolled into one consolidated view. A single blanket appetite setting won't reflect what's actually been agreed with each partner. An MGA writing commercial property for three different carriers, each with its own limits and class restrictions, needs the system to enforce all three sets of rules independently while still giving leadership one combined view of how the total book is performing.
• Audit-ready reporting that doesn't require manual assembly. When a carrier asks for evidence that underwriting decisions followed the agreed guidelines, or a reinsurer wants to see how a program has performed, that report should easily be available. Otherwise, someone may have to manually audit data from several systems.
• Continuous tracking of adherence, not just after-the-fact visibility. MGAs have historically had to work from bordereau data that arrives weeks or months after the fact, which means they find out about problems at the same time as the carrier does. A platform that tracks adherence in real time reverses that dynamic, letting the MGA catch and address an issue before it shows up in a report for the carrier.

Without these capabilities, an MGA is always reacting to what a carrier has already found. Delegated authority depends on the carrier trusting the MGA to stay within its agreed limits without constant oversight.

MGA growth that stays within appetite

More collected premium isn't automatically good news. If an MGA's growth causes it to drift outside the classes, geographies, or risk types a carrier agrees to, it actually erodes the relationship rather than strengthening it. 

The best tools set four requirements: 

• Measure a submission's impact against the current portfolio position. A program might have appetite for $50 million of restaurant exposure in a given region under the guidelines set in January, but if $46 million is already written, a new $10 million submission needs to be evaluated against that live number, or the MGA risks approving a risk that pushes the book past what the carrier agreed to.
• Catch drift as it happens. Concentration can build gradually in a single class, geography, or limit band as individual submissions get approved one at a time. Without ongoing tracking, that pattern often only becomes visible at a scheduled review, by which point hundreds of bad-fit risks may already be on the books.
• Distinguish chasing volume from chasing the right volume. A system that only speeds up intake will process more submissions, but not necessarily better ones. What matters is prioritizing the deals that are both in-appetite and winnable, so growth comes from writing more of the right business rather than simply writing more.
• Offer referral as a third option, not just accept or decline. Some submissions won't be a clear yes or no — like a risk that fits the class and geography but exceeds a typical limit. Guardrails that only support a binary decision will either wave that risk through on autopilot or leave it sitting in a queue with no clear next step. The best software can be configured to route it to a human who can make a clear, fast judgment call instead.  

Speed to a priced quote

If an MGA takes too long to respond, the deal can be placed elsewhere before its quote is even considered, no matter how competitive the eventual price might have been. Speed earns an MGA the chance to compete, which means the software behind it needs to do more than move submissions through a queue.

• The platform should produce an actual, priced quote, not just a triaged list. That means pulling data from the submission itself and from third-party sources, running the rate, and drafting terms automatically.
• The reasoning behind the quote should be visible. An underwriter reviewing a system-generated quote needs to see where each figure came from — whether that's the submission itself, a third-party data source, or a specific underwriting rule — so they can trust the output and explain it to a broker, a manager, or a carrier if asked.
• Declines should be dealt with at the same speed as quotes. A confident, fast “no” on a submission that's clearly outside appetite is worth as much to an MGA trying to compete and expand as a fast “yes”, since it frees up time for the deals worth pursuing.
• Speed should come from the guardrails. A platform that returns a quote quickly because it's skipping appetite or portfolio checks hasn't solved the speed problem. It's just reached the wrong answer sooner. Real speed means the carrier constraints and portfolio checks from the sections above happen automatically and instantly, not that they get bypassed.

Service and turnaround after the bind

Underwriting isn't the only work an MGA may take on for a carrier. Depending on the program, an MGA may also bill and collect premiums, pay broker commissions, and handle claims within an agreed settlement authority. When it does, the carrier judges that work on speed and accuracy too: how quickly and correctly premium is billed, collected, and remitted, and how quickly and correctly claims are handled and paid.

For MGAs that take on this work, the software should include:

• Agency bill the carrier can reconcile. Under agency bill, the MGA collects premium from the policyholder on the carrier's behalf, keeps its commission, and remits the carrier's share on the schedule set in the agreement. The software should track each payment, commission, and remittance against the policy it belongs to. This way, both parties get a clear, accurate view of the financial picture and greater confidence that everything has been accounted for correctly. 
• Billing that updates when the policy does. Endorsements, cancellations, and renewals all change what's owed. When billing runs in a separate system, each change has to be passed across and checked, and small invoice and commission errors build up over time. A mid-term change should update the invoice, the commissions, and the amount due to the carrier automatically.
• Claims handled on the same system as the policy. Where an MGA has claims authority, adjusters need the policy wording, endorsements, and underwriting file in front of them to make a fast, accurate coverage call. Each decision should be documented with the clause and reasoning behind it, so the MGA can show the carrier that claims were paid within its authority and in line with the policy.

Late remittances and inconsistent claims decisions erode a carrier's confidence as quickly as business written outside appetite. For an MGA that handles this work, turnaround after the bind belongs in the same case it makes to carriers for renewed capacity.

With these criteria in mind, below are the top 7 MGA insurance software platforms: 

1. Federato: an AI-native core for MGAs

Federato is an AI-native core that runs the full MGA workflow, including submission intake and triage, appetite screening, quoting, billing, and claims, on a single foundation.

Because every stage reads from and writes to the same record, each carrier’s constraints can be enforced as a risk is underwritten, before out-of-bounds business makes it onto the books.

For an MGA, there’s another benefit: the same system used to underwrite and manage the business also keeps a clear record of whether each decision followed the carrier’s rules. That means the MGA doesn’t have to piece together separate reports later to prove it stayed within its authority.

Below, we look at how that plays out across the parts of the platform MGAs use most. 

Carrier constraints become live guardrails inside the underwriting workflow

Control Tower turns carrier constraints and program strategy into live rules that run inside the workflow, rather than sitting in a delegated authority agreement that's only checked at renewal. 

With Federato, guardrails can be set differently for each program while rolling up into one consolidated view of the portfolio, so a blanket appetite setting doesn't stand in for what was actually agreed with each capacity provider. 

This runs through three components:

• Objectives turn portfolio objectives into measurable targets, such as a 6% average rate increase, set at the level of a line of business, a geography, or a broker relationship.
• Controls act as submission-level guardrails, clearing in-appetite risk automatically, flagging borderline submissions for referral, and declining ones outside appetite as soon as they arrive.
• Insights show how underwriters and Federato's AI agents are performing against those Objectives and Controls, and support the audit trails and reporting an MGA owes carriers and capacity providers.

Because guardrails run on live portfolio data, guidance updates the moment a carrier's constraints change or a segment nears its limit. If a program is approaching its aggregate limit in a specific class of business mid-quarter, the relevant Control can tighten immediately, catching drift before it affects loss ratios.

One portfolio view spans every carrier and program an MGA writes for

Federato supports different appetite guardrails for each carrier or program. An MGA running a professional liability program for one carrier and a general liability program for another can hold both sets of underwriting rules and referral thresholds separately, even where the two overlap in the classes of business they write. This is especially valuable for MGAs relying on property and casualty insurance software, since it keeps carrier-specific rules distinct even as the underlying classes of business converge.

At the same time, Federato rolls that activity into one consolidated view of the total portfolio, with real-time exposure monitoring and performance traceability across the insurance lifecycle. 

That means leadership can spot patterns that only show up at the whole-book level, such as a class of business that looks fine individually across two programs but represents a much larger combined exposure than either carrier realizes on its own. This is what makes it possible for an MGA pursuing growth to show a partner exactly how a new program would sit alongside what's already being written. 

AI screens, scores, and drafts a quote before an underwriter opens the file

When a submission arrives, Federato puts it through an AI-powered triage process. It reads the message and its attachments, works out whether it's new or correspondence on an existing deal, and classifies each attachment by type. It then runs a different extraction process for each type, since the data that needs to be pulled from a statement of values, for example, isn't the same as what matters in a narrative loss run. 

Federato then checks the submission against the program's guidelines, historical data, and current portfolio position to determine appetite fit at that precise moment. Clear non-fits can be auto-declined, so underwriting time isn't spent on business that was never going to be written, and carriers get a fast, clear answer. Submissions that clear appetite are then scored for winnability using:

• Account size and risk details specific to the submission.
• Historical performance on similar deals that were quoted, won, or declined.
• Referral patterns, and how that MGA's brokers and agents have engaged on past submissions.

For the best-fit deals, Federato then drafts a priced quote from the program's own rates, wording, and current portfolio position, showing its reasoning alongside the draft so an underwriter can see how the number was reached. This compresses the time between a submission landing and a quote going back out, without asking underwriters to trust a number they can't trace back to its source. 

Nina Chiapetta, VP of Business Development at Velocity Risk (a hybrid MGA/carrier), described the effect once quotes could be prepared in advance:

"We set a goal that by noon each day, each underwriter should have quoted the best three or four deals on their desk. To do that, they have to focus on what's in-appetite and winnable, rather than which brokers are most vocally calling for a quote. That puts the power in their hands to be more selective and write the best business quickly, and to spend more time on the deals and relationships where their particular skills can come into play."

Velocity Risk also reported an 89% decrease in its average time to quote, from 21 days and 11 hours to 2 days and 8 hours once a submission is modeling-complete, and a 3.7x increase in the share of its bound policies that meet its own definition of high appetite.

Brokers and producers work from the same live data as underwriters

Most brokers don’t need to change how they submit business to work with Federato. MGAs can give brokers a dedicated email address for submissions, and Federato reads the incoming message and attachments, extracts the relevant information, and brings it into the underwriting workflow automatically.

For MGAs that want to give brokers and wholesale partners more direct visibility, Federato’s Producer Portal lets them track submission progress, see outstanding requirements, and check policy status without chasing the MGA for an update.

The portal also shows balances, invoices, and billing and payment activity, with commissions recalculating as policies change and payments settle.

Producers can also initiate policy changes and service requests on behalf of policyholders, moving routine work, such as adding a vehicle to a fleet policy, out of the MGA’s service team and into the hands of the producer managing the relationship.

Because submission, underwriting, policy, and billing data stay connected, brokers can continue using familiar channels like email while the MGA gets structured data inside Federato and can offer self-service visibility where it makes sense.

Billing, remittance, and claims run on the same foundation as the policy

Federato built billing and claims on the same foundation as underwriting and policy administration, rather than acquiring them and bolting them on. That means the work an MGA does after the bind doesn't depend on passing data between systems.

Endorsements and renewals update billing automatically, and cancellations calculate minimum earned premium and commission clawbacks. Every transaction is logged in real time in purpose-built sub-ledgers, so finance teams work from a live picture of what's owed instead of reconstructing one at month-end close. Automated notifications alert policyholders and the MGA to missed payments, helping prevent cancellations, and delinquency and cancellation patterns by segment feed back to underwriting leadership.

Federato supports both direct bill and agency bill. For an MGA collecting premium on a carrier's behalf, that means premium remittance to the carrier and commission payments to brokers run from the same system that manages the policy, without separate reconciliation. Commissions are calculated and allocated with funds available promptly.

For MGAs with claims authority, Federato Claims keeps first notice of loss (FNOL), documents, notes, reserves, and payments in one claim record on the same platform as the policy. An AI agent guides FNOL intake and structures the claim for the adjuster. As new facts come in, Federato checks them against the applicable policy language and flags missing information or conflicts before the claim is paid, while brokers and policyholders can check a claim's stage and outstanding items in their portals without calling the adjuster.

Every coverage decision is documented with the specific policy clause and the reasoning behind it, which gives the MGA the same kind of record for claims that it keeps for underwriting. Claims data can feed back into underwriting while claims are still being handled, giving underwriters earlier insight into loss trends that can inform pricing and appetite decisions.

Product changes carry through quoting, issuance, and renewal automatically

Product Studio holds rating, forms, eligibility, coverages, deductibles, and limits for an MGA's insurance products in one structured definition, on a single data model that stays consistent across every line of business, including specialty insurance programs. That structured foundation gives Product Studio the capabilities MGAs typically look for in insurance core systems, while keeping every program on Federato tied to the same underlying data model. 

A single change carries through automatically:

• The rater reflects it at the point of quote.
• Forms and endorsements update at issuance.
• Underwriting decisions follow the same rule at both submission and renewal.

For MGAs and program administrators launching new programs or adjusting delegated authority terms, this replaces work that has traditionally required IT involvement to keep every connected system in sync. With Federato, product teams can update pricing and rules directly, shortening speed to market for a new program from months to weeks.

Product definitions are also versioned, with full traceability of what was in force and when, and forms are version-locked so a global update can't change a version that's already live. This means a carrier reviewing how a policy was written can be shown the exact rules that applied at the time, rather than the MGA reconstructing what the guidelines said after the fact, which is essential for MGAs specifically given how directly their authority depends on that kind of proof.

Request a live demo to see how Federato helps MGAs prove discipline while writing more of the business they want.
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2. Guidewire: Enterprise-grade governance built for delegated authority

Guidewire is a cloud-based P&C insurance platform covering policy administration, billing, claims, underwriting, and related insurance operations. Its core offering, InsuranceSuite, combines PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, and ClaimCenter, while InsuranceNow provides a more packaged cloud core for insurers looking for a faster implementation path.

For MGAs, Guidewire offers a broad set of core capabilities rather than a narrowly MGA-specific system. Its strength is the depth and scale of the platform, although that breadth can also make it a heavier option than smaller or more specialized MGA platforms.

Key features:

• InsuranceSuite for policy administration, claims management, and billing.
• InsuranceNow, an all-in-one cloud platform built for quick implementation.
• Guidewire AI / ProNavigator, which embeds AI-powered insurance expertise in core applications.
• Guidewire Cloud, the platform underlying the full product suite.

3. Duck Creek: A core system paired with MGA underwriting orchestration

Duck Creek is a cloud-based core system covering policy, rating, billing, and claims, sold standalone or as a suite. Its specialty insurance line is the part of the platform most relevant to MGA-style business, aimed at carriers and MGAs writing complex, evolving risks that need more configurable rating and coverage than standard commercial lines.

Duck Creek recently acquired Send, an underwriting orchestration engine, and now positions the combined platform as covering commercial, specialty, MGA, delegated authority, reinsurance, and London Market operating models specifically. That acquisition brings the connective layer between submission intake, data, and underwriting decision-making into the same platform as the core policy, billing, and claims system.

Key features:

• Send Underwriting, connecting underwriting workflows, data, and AI in one experience.
• Policy, Rating, Billing, and Claims core applications, covering claims processing alongside policy administration, sold standalone or as a suite.
• Agentic Orchestrator (MCP) to connect AI agents, systems, and workflows across the platform.

4. Vertafore: A set of MGA-focused products under one umbrella

Vertafore is a long-established insurance technology provider with a dedicated section of its site for MGAs, built from several named products rather than a single unified system. The platform lists AIM for underwriting, accounting, and claims, MGA Systems for policy administration, NetRate for ISO-based rating, and Surefyre, an AI-driven underwriting workbench and agent portal, alongside ImageRight for document generation and document management.

Vertafore also offers a knowledge database aimed at underwriting research, and a set of AI agents layered on top of these products, including agents aimed at submission intake and processing.

Key features:

• AIM centralizes underwriting, accounting, and claims for MGAs and MGUs.
• MGA Systems handles policy administration for complex distribution models.
• NetRate, an ISO-compliant rating engine.
• Vertafore Velocity AI Platform, with embedded AI aimed at automating repetitive work across Vertafore's products.

5. Insly: A modular platform MGAs can build to their own scope

Insly is a modular insurance software platform for MGAs, insurers, and brokers. Its products cover insurance product configuration, distribution, accounting and reporting, and claims management, allowing MGAs to use individual modules or combine them into a broader operating platform.

Its Product Builder supports low-code product configuration, while open APIs connect the platform with distribution partners, capacity providers, and external data sources. Insly also offers AI capabilities for tasks such as document data extraction, broker follow-up, underwriting guideline lookup, and submission triage.

Key features:

• Product Builder to configure and launch new insurance products.
• Product Distribution for automated distribution across multiple channels.
• Accounting and Reporting, which automates financial workflows for insurance businesses.
• Claims Management for standalone or integrated claims handling.
• Nora and Socrates, the named AI agents targeting specific workflow pain points.

6. BindHQ: Built by an MGA, with a pipeline view across every market

BindHQ is an insurance operations platform built for MGAs, MGUs, and wholesale brokers. It covers submissions, quoting, policy issuance, endorsements, accounting, document management, and reporting in a single workflow, combining functions that would otherwise sit across separate AMS, PAS, and back-office systems.

For delegated-authority business, BindHQ can enforce carrier-specific limits, line sizes, and territory restrictions at the point of bind, automate carrier-ready bordereaux, and maintain an audit trail of quotes, binds, endorsements, and cancellations.

The platform also includes prebuilt templates for lines such as general liability, property, homeowners, and dwelling fire, while supporting custom products with their own rules, rating logic, forms, and workflows.

Key features:

• Quote-to-bind workflow, from submission through underwriting, issuance, and reporting.
• Built-in taxes, billing, and accounting, which are automated through integrations with payment platforms.
• Insurance product templates for fast customization of new specialty programs.
• API access for integrations with external accounting and reporting systems.

7. Novidea: A Salesforce-native platform built around CRM and distribution

Novidea is a cloud-based insurance management platform built on Salesforce for brokers, MGAs, MGUs, and coverholders. It brings front-, middle-, and back-office functions into one system, covering workflows from quote to bind as well as policy administration, bordereaux management, and reporting.

For MGA and delegated-authority operations, Novidea supports risk, premium, and claims bordereaux in Lloyd’s 5.2 format, along with multilingual and multi-currency capabilities for businesses operating across multiple territories.

Because the platform is built on Salesforce, it uses Salesforce’s workflow, automation, and low-code configuration capabilities for processes such as referrals, peer reviews, authority approvals, CRM, and distribution management.

Key features:

• Quote-to-bind, policy issuance, and claims covered end-to-end on one platform.
• Bordereaux production covering risk, premium, and claims data in Lloyd's 5.2 format.
• 360-degree view of customer and policy data across the full lifecycle.

Federato covers the full MGA workflow, from submission to carrier reporting

Four things separate the MGA insurance software platforms worth shortlisting from the rest: 

• Guardrails that act on carrier constraints in real time rather than a document only checked at renewal.
• Visibility into a submission's impact on the current portfolio rather than static guidelines.
• The ability to produce a priced quote and respond quickly to carriers rather than just sorting the queue.
• Billing, remittance, and claims handling that run on the same foundation as the policy rather than in separate systems reconciled at month-end.

Federato does all four on one data foundation, driven by AI that acts and advises. It's the only AI-native core platform that spans the full policy lifecycle. Federato's Federated Context Graph maps how guidelines, underwriting decisions, product definitions, claims histories, and billing insights fit together, so an AI agent working on a renewal can draw on the account's claims and billing history and the program's live exposure, not just the submission in front of it. 

AI added on top of separate modules can only work with the context each module happens to capture, which makes the system a little faster without making it any smarter. With Federato, what the business learns in claims and billing feeds back into appetite and pricing, so every decision improves the next one. The result is less time spent gathering data and reconciling systems, and a stronger case to carriers that the business is run with discipline. 

Request a live demo to see how Federato can work for your MGA.