September 2026
An agency owner researching this for the first time will find the three words used as synonyms, including by organisations that are clearly one and not the others. Here is the distinction as the industry generally draws it.
Cluster
The least structured arrangement: a small group of agencies, often local and often self-managed, combining volume for one or two carriers. Ownership usually stays with the individual agency but the arrangements can be informal, which is fine until somebody wants to leave.
Aggregator
Larger and more formal. Volume is pooled across many carriers, there is a real contract, and the organisation usually takes a share of commission. The ownership and exit clauses are where aggregators differ most from each other, and where the least reading gets done.
Network or alliance
Usually national, usually with the deepest service layer: training, placement, marketing, perpetuation help. The trade is that more structure means more to read before signing.
The only four questions that matter
- Do I own my book, unconditionally, from day one?
- What does it cost, in fees and in commission?
- What happens to my appointments if I leave?
- What do I get beyond access to markets?
Any organisation that cannot answer all four in writing, before you sign, has told you something useful.
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