Exclusive vs shared vs aged life insurance leads (and where data leads fit)
Exclusive vs shared vs aged leads: what's the difference?
Exclusive leads go to one agent and cost about $50 to $150 each. Shared leads go to several agents at once for about $20 to $45. Aged leads are opt-in leads weeks or months past their first sale, priced $0.25 to $4.50. Exclusive leads reach the most people per lead, shared leads make you race other agents, and aged leads trade a low price for more dialing. Public-record data leads, around $1, are fresh and exclusive but nobody asked to be called.
How do exclusive, shared, aged and data leads compare?
| Lead type | Price (2026) | Age at delivery | Who else gets it | Consent status | Contact rate to expect | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exclusive web | $50 to $150 | Minutes | Nobody | Opt-in form fill | High: 50% to 65% (one FE benchmark) | Producers who call within minutes and close well |
| Shared web | $20 to $45 | Minutes | Often 3 to 8 agents | Opt-in form fill, shared across sellers | Middle: 25% to 40% (same benchmark) | Agents with fast dial habits and strong first calls |
| Aged | $0.25 to $4.50 | Days to a year | Often several earlier buyers | Captured on the original form; ask the vendor what it covers | Lower and highly variable | Grinders with open dialing hours and a long follow-up cadence |
| Direct-mail MP | $25 to $60 | 1 to 2 weeks after the drop | Nobody, if fresh and exclusive | Mailed-back reply card | High for a returned card | Mortgage protection specialists who run appointments |
| Live transfer | $55 to $200+ | Live, on the phone | Nobody, if exclusive | Interest checked on the call | The call comes to you | Agents who want to talk, not dial |
| Public-record data (Leadality) | $1.00 to $1.38 | Days after the mortgage records | Nobody, never resold | None: public record, manual dial only | Lower than opt-in; no public benchmark yet | Manual dialers who want fresh, exclusive volume at low cash cost |
Sources: ActiveProspect, insurance lead cost guide (Sept 2026); WorkAgedLeads, life insurance lead price sampling; Aged Lead Store, life insurance lead price table; InsureLeads, life insurance leads pricing (updated Aug 2026); Elevarus, final expense lead cost per lead 2026 (May 2026); Dataman Group, how to generate mortgage protection leads; Insurance Marketing Hub, exclusive mortgage protection leads. Contact-rate bands are Elevarus's published 2026 final expense benchmarks from its own buyer accounts, the only public bands we found; life and mortgage protection results vary.
What is an exclusive life insurance lead?
An exclusive lead is sold to one agent only. In 2026 exclusive real-time web leads list at about $50 to $150: InsureLeads publishes $65, a four-vendor sample found a $50 median, and ActiveProspect puts the range at $75 to $150.
- Pros: no race with other agents, higher contact and close rates, a cleaner first impression.
- Cons: each missed contact is expensive; exclusivity is a promise you can't audit, so ask how the vendor enforces it and what happens if a lead was resold.
- Best for: agents who can call within minutes during working hours and already close well.
What are aged life insurance leads?
Aged leads are opt-in leads resold after their real-time window. The Aged Lead Store price table runs from $4.50 for 3 to 30 day leads in small orders down to $0.25 for 86 to 365 day leads at 25,000 or more.
- Pros: the lowest price per lead among opt-in sources, and some people who said no then are ready now.
- Cons: stale numbers, prior agents' calls and wide swings in quality between vendors and batches. Consent was captured for the original sale; ask what it covers before you dial.
- Best for: agents with dialing hours, a long follow-up cadence and the patience to build a pipeline.
Where do public-record data leads fit?
Data leads aren't built from a form at all. Leadality reads new mortgage filings from public county records, matches each owner to a carrier-verified mobile, screens it against the Do Not Call list before delivery and sells each record to one agent. They are fresh like real-time leads and exclusive like the expensive ones, at around $1. The tradeoff is intent.
- Pros: days old, never resold, a strong life event (a new mortgage) as your reason to call, and a recording date on every lead so you can see its age.
- Cons: not opt-in and no stated interest, so expect lower contact-to-appointment rates than opt-in leads. No date of birth. Manual dial only, which rules out autodialers, prerecorded or AI voice and texting without your own consent. Live only in Hillsborough County (Tampa), FL today.
- Best for: independent mortgage protection and term agents in Florida who dial by hand. Not a fit for captive agents whose carrier bans outside leads, or for final expense specialists, who usually do better with leads built for that market.
More detail on the data itself lives on the new homeowner leads page.
Which lead type costs less per sale?
| Lead type | Cost of 100 leads | Conversations | Appointments | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aged lead (31 to 85 days old) | $125 | 20 | 5 | 1.5 |
| Shared real-time web lead | $2,200 | 35 | 10.5 | 3.2 |
| Exclusive real-time web lead | $6,500 | 55 | 22 | 7.7 |
| Direct-mail mortgage protection lead | $5,300 | 60 | 30 | 10.5 |
| Live transfer | $16,000 | 100 | 100 | 20 |
| Public-record data lead (Leadality Growth plan) | $119 | 25 | 3.8 | 0.9 |
Example assumptions, not measured results from Leadality or any vendor. Rates per type are listed in the lead-cost guide and were set inside or below published planning bands.
| Lead type | Leads per sale | Lead cost per sale | Dials per sale | Cost per sale with your time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aged lead (31 to 85 days old) | 66.7 | $83 | 267 | $350 |
| Shared real-time web lead | 31.7 | $698 | 127 | $825 |
| Exclusive real-time web lead | 13 | $844 | 52 | $896 |
| Direct-mail mortgage protection lead | 9.5 | $505 | 29 | $533 |
| Live transfer | 5 | $800 | Calls come to you | $800 |
| Public-record data lead (Leadality Growth plan) | 106.7 | $127 | 427 | $554 |
Example assumptions. Time is priced at $40 an hour at 40 manual dials an hour; live transfer time is not counted.
Read the two tables together. In these examples an exclusive web lead produces a sale every 13 leads at about $844 in lead cost, while a shared lead needs 31.7 leads and about $698. Aged and data leads cost far less in cash per sale ($83 and $127) but ask for 267 and 427 dials. Once your time has a price, the gap narrows and the right answer depends on how many open hours you have. Run your own numbers in the cost-per-sale calculator.
Which type should you buy?
- Small budget, lots of time: aged or data leads. You get enough conversations to learn your numbers for under $100 a month.
- Full calendar, little dialing time: exclusive web, direct mail or live transfers. Pay for intent so your hours go to appointments.
- Mortgage protection specialist: blend fresh data leads for volume with direct-mail leads for prime hours. See the mortgage protection leads page and our playbook for working them.
- Wants to use a dialer or texting: only leads whose consent covers it, after a check with your counsel. Data leads are not one of them.
For prices across every format, read how much life insurance leads cost in 2026, or start at the life insurance leads hub.
Where Leadality fits
Public-record data leads. Not opt-in, manual dial only: no autodialers, texts or prerecorded messages without your own consent. Scrub against the National Do Not Call Registry and honor opt-outs. Every plan starts with the Data Lead Agreement.
Exclusive vs shared vs aged leads: FAQ
What is the difference between exclusive and shared life insurance leads?
An exclusive lead is sold to one agent. A shared lead is sold to several agents at the same time, often three to eight. Exclusive leads cost more, about $50 to $150 versus $20 to $45 for shared web leads in 2026, but you are the only agent calling, so contact and close rates are usually higher.
Are aged leads better than shared leads?
They answer a different question. Aged leads cost a few dollars or less and suit agents with lots of dialing time. Shared real-time leads cost more but the person filled out a form minutes ago. Compare them on cost per sale including your hours, not on price per lead.
How old is an aged life insurance lead?
Vendors usually call a lead aged once it is a few days to a few weeks past its real-time sale. Price tiers commonly run 3 to 30 days, 31 to 85 days and 86 to 365 days, with prices falling from about $4.50 to $0.25 as leads age and order size grows.
Do exclusive leads really convert better?
Usually, because nobody else is calling. One 2026 vendor benchmark for final expense puts contact rates at 50% to 65% for exclusive web leads versus 25% to 40% for shared. Results still depend on speed to contact and follow-up, and exclusivity is only as good as the vendor's word.
What are data leads and how are they different?
Data leads are built from records, not from a form. Leadality builds them from public mortgage filings, so each one is fresh and exclusive, but the homeowner never asked to be called. They are not opt-in, are manual dial only and convert from contact to appointment at lower rates than opt-in leads.
Which type of lead is best for a new life insurance agent?
Most new agents do best with low-price, high-volume leads they can practice on, such as aged or data leads, plus a small number of higher-intent leads once their scripts are sharp. Spending heavily on exclusive leads before you can convert them is the most common way to burn a lead budget.
Can I call shared or aged leads with an autodialer?
Only if the consent behind the lead covers that kind of call to you, and only with your own counsel's sign-off. Ask the vendor for the consent record. Public-record data leads have no consent at all, so they are manual dial only. This is general information, not legal advice.
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Last updated by the Leadality team.