Business Valuation Software: The Best Business Valuation Tools, Compared
Six products, four different buyers, and a lot of marketing that blurs the difference. Here is who each tool is actually built for, what it costs, and which methods it runs.
Estimated business value
Method breakdown
What moves this number
Estimate, not a certified appraisal. Your figures are not stored.
In short
Business valuation software estimates what a company is worth by applying valuation methods to its financials, and the products split cleanly by who they are sold to. BizEquity serves financial advisors and banks. ValuAdder is desktop software for brokers and appraisers producing formal reports. Equidam and Eqvista serve startups valuing on projections or filing 409As. Businessappraisal is the self-serve option for owners and buyers of established, cash-flowing businesses, triangulating a revenue multiple, an EBITDA or SDE multiple, and a discounted cash flow from $29 a month. No software on this list replaces a certified appraisal when a lender, a court, or the IRS has to rely on the number.
The comparison
Business valuation tools compared by who they are built for
| Tool | Best for | Methods | Pricing | How you buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Businessappraisal (us) | Owners and buyers who want their own number in minutes | Revenue multiple, EBITDA/SDE multiple, DCF, triangulated | From $29/mo, published, month to month | Self-serve signup |
| BizEquity | Financial advisors and banks presenting reports to clients | Broad algorithmic model, reported at ~143 data points | Not published. Directory listings disagree widely | Demo request or through an advisor |
| ValuAdder | Brokers, CPAs, and appraisers building formal reports | Worksheet-driven income, market, and asset approaches | One-time desktop license, historically low hundreds | Direct purchase, install required |
| Equidam | Startup founders raising capital on projections | Scorecard, Berkus, VC method, forward DCF | Free starter tier, paid one-off reports | Self-serve |
| ValuSource | CPAs and credentialed appraisers producing formal reports | Full model control, working papers, report writer, industry data | $135/mo or $1,465/yr single user, Titanium $465/mo | Self-serve subscription, annual commitment |
| Peak Business Valuation | Owners who need a certified report for an SBA loan or estate filing | Credentialed appraisal engagement (ABV, CVA, ASA, CFA, CBA) | Typically $2,500 to $8,000+, quoted upfront | Consultation, 5 to 20 business days to deliver |
| BizBuySell | Sellers and buyers who want real US sold-comp benchmarks | Market comps from 150,000+ for-sale and sold listings | Free quick estimate, report bundled with a listing | Self-serve, report tied to the marketplace |
| Exitwise | Owners above roughly $5M who want a human deal team | DCF, comps and precedent transactions, analyst prepared | $5,000 flat certified valuation, advisory quoted | Discovery call, 2 to 6 weeks to deliver |
| Eqvista | Venture-backed startups needing 409A valuations | Analyst-prepared 409A, cap table and waterfall modeling | Published, from roughly $990 per year by stage | Self-serve plus analyst engagement |
| Business broker or CPA | Anyone who needs a number a lender or court will accept | Full documented engagement, professional standards | Free broker opinion, or ~$1,500 to $15,000 formal | Scheduled engagement, days to weeks |
We build one of these products, so read the table with that in mind. Everything stated about the others is drawn from their public materials and reporting, and where a vendor does not publish a price we say so rather than guess. Vendors change pricing and positioning, so verify before you buy. Last updated July 2026.
How to choose
Start with who you are, not with the feature list
You own an established, profitable business
You need earnings-based methods benchmarked to comparable sales, and you need them without a sales call. An EBITDA or SDE multiple cross-checked against a revenue multiple and a cash-flow view is the right shape. Startup tools will mis-price you because they lean on projections.
You are buying a business
The asking price is an opinion. Run the seller financials through the same methods a lender would and see whether the number holds. Pay attention to the drivers that justify negotiating down: owner dependence, customer concentration, and earnings that only exist after generous add-backs.
You are a founder raising capital
Trailing earnings are not your story yet, so projection-driven methods fit better. Equidam is built for that conversation. If you need a 409A for option pricing, that is a separate, analyst-prepared engagement, which is what Eqvista and its peers sell.
You are an advisor or appraiser
You are producing reports for other people, so you want control, defensibility, and branding. Desktop software gives you worksheet-level control; advisor platforms give you a polished client-facing report and a way into the succession conversation.
What business valuation software actually does
Underneath the interfaces, every one of these products does the same four things in some order: normalize your earnings, pick a method, apply a multiple or a discount rate, and present the result. The differences that matter are how much of that they show you, how good the benchmark data is, and whether the output is built for you or for someone selling to you.
Normalization is where most of the accuracy lives and where most tools are quietest. Your tax return understates your true earnings if you run personal expenses through the business, and overstates them if the owner is not paying themselves a market salary for the work they do. A tool that just ingests a revenue figure and multiplies is skipping the step that decides whether the answer is off by 10% or by half. That is why calculating SDE correctly matters more than which multiple you pick.
The second differentiator is benchmark data. A multiple is only meaningful relative to what comparable businesses actually sold for, and comparable transaction data is expensive and uneven. Tools that show you the comparable sales behind their number are making a checkable claim. Tools that show you only a number are asking for trust.
Why one method is never enough
Any single valuation method can be made to say something flattering. Apply a generous revenue multiple to a business with thin margins and you get a number the owner enjoys and no buyer will pay. Run a discounted cash flow with an optimistic growth assumption and a low discount rate and you can justify nearly anything. Buyers know this, which is why they triangulate.
Running three methods together does something a single method cannot: it tells you when they disagree, and disagreement is information. If your revenue multiple says $4M and your EBITDA multiple says $1.8M, your margins are below what your revenue implies and a buyer will price the lower number. If a discounted cash flow comes in far above both, you are relying on growth you have not yet delivered.
That spread is the honest answer. A range with an explanation of why the methods diverge is far more useful in a negotiation than a confident single figure, because it tells you which argument you can actually defend and which one the other side will dismantle. The guide to business valuation methods walks through each approach in detail.
When to stop using software and hire someone
The line is not about accuracy, it is about reliance. Software is fine when you are the only one acting on the number: deciding whether to explore a sale, sanity-checking an offer, planning which drivers to fix over the next two years, or settling an internal argument between partners about what the business is worth.
You need a credentialed appraiser the moment somebody else has to depend on the figure. SBA financing above the lender threshold requires an independent valuation. Estate and gift tax filings need a qualified appraisal the IRS will accept. Divorce and shareholder disputes need a methodology that survives cross-examination. ESOPs require it by statute. In those situations a software estimate is a preparation step, not a substitute, and the cost of a broker or CPA valuation is money well spent.
The efficient sequence is to estimate first and engage second. If the estimate lands nowhere near your expectations, you have learned that cheaply, and you can spend the next eighteen months raising the value instead of paying several thousand dollars to be told the same thing.
Questions
Business valuation software questions people actually ask
What is the best business valuation software?
There is no single best one, because the products are aimed at different buyers. Advisors and banks use BizEquity. Appraisers and brokers use desktop tools like ValuAdder. Startup founders raising capital use Equidam or Eqvista. Owners and buyers of established, cash-flowing businesses want a self-serve tool that values on earnings and comparable sales.
Is there free business valuation software?
Free calculators exist, and most are lead magnets for a broker or advisor who wants the conversation that follows. They typically apply one multiple to one number and skip the comparable sales and driver analysis that make a range defensible. They are fine for a rough gut check and weak as a basis for a real decision.
How much does business valuation software cost?
Self-serve tools for owners run from roughly $29 a month. Desktop software for professionals is usually a one-time license in the low hundreds of dollars. Advisor platforms are quoted per seat and rarely published. A formal appraisal from a credentialed professional is not software at all and commonly costs $1,500 to $15,000.
Can software replace a certified business appraisal?
No, and any tool claiming otherwise is overselling. Software produces an educational estimate. A certified appraisal is a documented engagement by a credentialed appraiser that a lender, a judge, or the IRS can rely on. Use software to size the decision, then commission an appraisal when a third party needs to depend on the number.
What valuation methods should the software use?
At minimum an earnings multiple (EBITDA or SDE), a revenue multiple as a cross-check, and a discounted cash flow view. Any one method in isolation is easy to flatter. A tool that runs several and shows you where they disagree gives you a range you can defend, which is how buyers and brokers actually think about price.
Do I need valuation software if I am buying a business?
It helps, because the asking price is the seller's opinion and you need an independent one. Running the seller financials through earnings and cash-flow methods, benchmarked to comparable sales, tells you quickly whether a listing is in line with the market or stretched. It also surfaces the risk drivers worth negotiating against.
What is the difference between valuation software and a business valuation calculator?
A calculator usually applies one multiple to one input and returns a single number. Valuation software normalizes earnings, runs multiple methods, benchmarks against comparable transactions, and explains what moved the result. The gap matters most when the answer is close to a decision you are about to make.
Last updated July 2026
Detailed comparisons
Head to head
The methods
Try the one you can actually buy today
Enter your numbers and get an estimate from three methods in minutes, benchmarked against comparable sales, with the drivers explained. An educational estimate, not a certified appraisal.