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The Best Business Loan Comparison Sites

The Best Business Loan Comparison Sites
Latest posts by Amanda DeVos (see all)

For many aspiring entrepreneurs, qualifying for a business loan is the difference between staying in that nine-to-five and going out on your own to achieve your dream. For current business owners, it might take you to that next step so you can finally start expanding. 

However, it can be a challenge to find the perfect lender for your situation. Comparison sites help a lot here, aggregating several lenders so you can evaluate them against each other. It’s understandable if you’re a little wary of these sites since they make their money through affiliate links, but the best sites keep the user’s needs at the forefront, not just spam you with ads. 

With that in mind, here are some of my favorite sites for comparing business loans. 

Best Business Loan Comparison Sites

At a Glance

Best ForLender CoverageRatings and ReviewsLoan Matching Quiz?
LendioMarketplace-style comparisonsHighNoneYes
LendingTreeHigh lender coverageHighEditorial and userYes
BestMoneyUsabilityModerateEditorialYes
NerdWalletRate data and calculationsModerateEditorialYes
FinderSide-by-side comparisonsHighEditorialNo

Lendio: Best for Marketplace-Style Comparisons

Lendio: Best for Marketplace-Style Comparisons

Lendio is entirely dedicated to small business funding, covering a range of use cases and hosting in-depth content. While it’s a comparison site, it’s better described as a marketplace — you can submit an application through the site, which Lendio shares with its lender network to find the best fit for you. 

Loan Coverage and Filtering

Lendio boasts over 75 lenders in its network, so it gives you plenty of options. While it doesn’t have a traditional filtering system, it still does a good job of sorting the lenders by use case. When I clicked on its list of the best small business loans, it showed me 13 lenders, stating the loan type, loan amount, minimum credit score, and funding time. 

Then, it gives you some top picks for each use case under a “best for” moniker. These include lines of credit, term loans, SBA 7(a) loans, equipment financing, revenue-based financing, and invoice factoring.

Personalized Loan Matching

Lendio has an application you can fill out to be matched with lenders that could work for your needs. The application is fairly detailed, asking questions about your industry, how much you’re looking to borrow, your personal credit score, when you started your business, and your business’s monthly revenue. It’s free to submit the application, and there’s no hard credit check involved. 

Ratings and Reviews

Unlike many competing sites, Lendio doesn’t publish lender ratings or reviews. So, if you want to read through an editorial team’s take on each lender, you’ll have to go elsewhere. 

Loan Resources and Tools

Lendio has plenty of educational content on small business loans, including a business loan calculator that gives you an idea of what a loan would actually cost, as well as calculators specific to ACH loans, business credit cards, lines of credit, short-term loans, SBA loans, commercial mortgages, and equipment loans. Lendio’s Lending Library contains several loan-related articles, and there is also a comprehensive guide to small business loans. 

Pros

  • Thorough lending application
  • Large lender network
  • Extensive article library

Cons

  • No ratings or reviews
  • No filters
  • Application can be time-consuming

LendingTree: Best for Lender Coverage

LendingTree: Best for Lender Coverage

Loans are LendingTree’s main niche, although it also has resources on other types of financial products like insurance and credit cards. Like Lendio, it can pair you with offers from the lenders it partners with — in this case, over 300. However, you can also go through and compare without seeking out a personalized match.

Loan Coverage and Filtering

Under the category of business loans, LendingTree has multiple lists for you to look through. There’s an overall list of the best small business loans, and it also presents options for business lines of credit, working capital loans, equipment financing, and payroll loans. Each list shows you the top lenders for each category, and it assigns superlatives like “best for startups” or “best for fast funding.” 

LendingTree gives you enough options, but few enough that it doesn’t have any filters for you to use. Instead, it presents the lenders within a table, along with characteristics like the starting rate, loan amount, and loan term. 

Personalized Loan Matching

For personalized options, LendingTree has a quiz you can take, where you’ll provide information about various aspects of your business, such as your business structure, how much you need to borrow, your reason for financing, how quickly you need the money, and your monthly revenue. The quiz isn’t overly lengthy, with LendingTree saying it can match you with offers in under two minutes. 

Ratings and Reviews

LendingTree’s editorial team publishes reviews on many of its business lenders, discussing factors like financing options and borrower requirements. Customers can also write reviews and assign scores out of five stars. 

Loan Resources and Tools

Besides matching with a lender, you can use LendingTree to learn more about business loans in general. The same pages with the lists of lenders also have detailed educational resources, covering topics like the average small business loan rates, the types of small business loans, business loan requirements, how to apply, and alternative funding options. Plus, there are two calculators: one for business loans in general, and another for SBA loans. 

Pros

  • High lender coverage
  • Several loan categories
  • Both editorial and user reviews

Cons

  • No filters
  • No side-by-side comparison
  • Some lenders are unreviewed

BestMoney: Best for Usability

BestMoney: Best for Usability

BestMoney is a financial comparison site without any particular specialty. You can use it to compare all sorts of financial products, including bank accounts, home insurance, and investments. The site is also a great resource for learning about loans, both for personal and business use. 

Loan Coverage and Filtering

When you click to compare business loan providers, you’re presented with a list for your state (I got 10). For each lender, it tells you the loan amount range, as well as requirements for the time in business, monthly revenue, and minimum credit score. 

Since the list isn’t overly lengthy, you can go through it manually, though there are also filters to narrow it down further, such as your desired loan type, your monthly revenue, your time in business, and your credit score. 

Personalized Loan Matching

BestMoney has an optional questionnaire you can complete to get matched with appropriate lenders for your situation. It asks questions like how much funding you’re seeking, how many years your business has been operating, whether you have a business bank account, and what you’ll use the loan for. 

Ratings and Reviews

BestMoney reviews each of its lenders, assigning a score out of 10 points and giving you a detailed look at the loan features and customer experiences. The scores factor in popularity, brand reputation, features, and benefits, while the reviews cover additional characteristics like the application process, rates and fees, and security. 

Loan Resources and Tools

BestMoney has an article library for business loan tips and information, covering topics like how to get a business loan with bad credit, why business loans get denied, and the debt service coverage ratio. While BestMoney has calculators for some of the other product categories, it doesn’t have any for business loans. 

Pros

  • User-friendly site
  • Can filter through the list of lenders
  • Detailed ratings and reviews

Cons

  • Fewer lending options than some competitors
  • No business loan calculators
  • No user reviews

NerdWallet: Best for Rate Data and Calculations

NerdWallet: Best for Rate Data and Calculations

With NerdWallet, you can compare both personal and business-related financial products. It’s not loan-specific, spanning categories like credit cards, banking, insurance, investing, and taxes. However, under the small business umbrella, it has in-depth resources on funding options. 

Loan Coverage and Filtering

NerdWallet publishes a curated list of lenders for business loans (I saw 13 here), SBA loans, lines of credit, startup loans, and grants. For every lender, it presented the maximum loan amount, minimum time in business, minimum interest rate, term length, and who the lender is best for. While there isn’t a thorough filtering system, you can sort the list by each characteristic, from low to high. 

Personalized Loan Matching

To be matched with personalized loan options, you can fill out a quiz, providing details like how much money you need, when you started your business, your monthly revenue, your credit score, and what you’ll use the loan for. 

Ratings and Reviews

NerdWallet’s team rates and reviews many of the lenders on its site, considering factors like lending practices, cost, the impact on a business’s credit score, transparency, and the customer experience. The published reviews are detailed, providing a look at where each lender excels and where it falls behind. 

Loan Resources and Tools

NerdWallet has plenty of educational resources for all areas of small business, including business loans. In addition to the articles they’re known for, they offer calculators that include general business loans and SBA, and the site presents rate data for both loan types.

Pros

  • Several loan categories
  • Detailed editorial reviews
  • Loan calculators and rate information

Cons

  • Fewer lending options than some competitors
  • No filters
  • Some lenders are unreviewed

Finder: Best for Side-by-Side Comparisons

Finder: Best for Side-by-Side Comparisons

Finder is committed to helping you find the best deals you can for financial products. Some of this takes the form of limited-time offers from partners, while some of it is through traditional comparison.

Loan Coverage and Filtering

Finder lets you compare features of over 40 lenders, neatly presenting each one’s minimum amount, maximum amount, APR, and requirements — all factors that you can sort and filter by.

Finder also lets you filter by loan type, annual revenue, loan amount, credit score, and time in business. For the loan type, you can choose from SBA loans, term loans, lines of credit, equipment financing, merchant cash advance, invoice financing, invoice factoring, vehicle financing, and commercial real estate loans. You can also select up to four lenders to compare side by side.

Personalized Loan Matching

Finder is unique from the other sites listed here because it doesn’t have any sort of formal quiz to take that matches you with lenders. If you want this sort of tool, you’ll need to visit another site. 

Ratings and Reviews

For many of its lenders, Finder assigns a score out of 10 points and publishes detailed reviews. Several factors go into the overall business loan score, with some of them being the minimum and maximum loan amounts, prequalification, the turnaround time, fees, and customer service. The lender reviews discuss who the lender is best for, loan details, how to qualify, and how to apply. There’s also a section for users to leave reviews, but there are currently no user reviews for any of the business loan options.

Loan Resources and Tools

If you want to learn more about business loans as a whole rather than specific lenders, Finder has a comprehensive guide covering the basics, like types of loans, the debt service coverage ratio, approval rates, and financing for high-risk industries. Plus, Finder has a step-by-step guide on how to get a business loan, and there’s a business loan calculator that will show you your estimated monthly payment and your loan’s total cost. 

Pros

  • Can compare up to four lenders side by side
  • Plenty of filters
  • Detailed loan guides

Cons

  • No loan matching tool
  • Some lenders are unrated and unreviewed
  • No user reviews for business loans

What’s the Best Site for Comparing Business Loans?

Best Business Loan Comparison Sites

It’s important to take your time before deciding on something as consequential as a loan. Not all lenders are the same, and some lenders are appropriate for certain businesses but not for others.

While a quick Internet search will show nearly endless comparison options to help you narrow your options down, the quality can vary greatly, with some sites being more devoted to advertising than to helping their users. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses, so it’s worth visiting them all to get a well-rounded look at the market.