These two coverages are confused more than almost any others, and the confusion is expensive because they do not overlap. One covers physical harm. The other covers financial harm. A claim that lands in the gap between them gets paid by no one.
General liability: physical harm to others
General liability responds when your business causes bodily injury or property damage to a third party. A customer slips in your store. Your crew damages a client’s property. Someone is hurt by your operations. It also covers the legal defense, which arrives whether or not the claim has merit. What it does not cover is harm caused by your professional work itself.
Professional liability: financial harm from your work
Professional liability, also called errors and omissions, responds when your advice, design, or service causes a client a financial loss. A missed deadline, a flawed recommendation, a service that did not perform as promised. These claims are about money, not physical injury, which is exactly the kind of claim general liability excludes. For accountants, consultants, designers, technology firms, and real estate professionals, this is the coverage that meets how they actually get sued.
Why most service businesses need both
If your business can both hurt someone physically and cost a client money through a mistake, you have both exposures. A contractor whose work injures a bystander needs general liability; the same contractor whose design error causes a loss needs professional liability. Carrying one and not the other leaves a predictable gap.
Getting the split right
The cleanest way to avoid the gap is to map your real exposures and confirm which policy responds to each. A coverage review does exactly that, and it often surfaces a contract requirement you did not realize you were missing.