Compared
Businessappraisal vs BizEquity for Business Valuation
BizEquity discontinued self-service valuations and now reaches owners through advisors and banks. Businessappraisal is built for you to run the numbers yourself. Here is what that difference means in practice.
Last updated July 2026
Estimated business value
Method breakdown
What moves this number
Estimate, not a certified appraisal. Your figures are not stored.
The short answer
Businessappraisal and BizEquity both estimate business value with more than one method, but they reach you differently. BizEquity is a capable engine that mostly comes to owners through advisors, banks, and a sales-led channel. Businessappraisal is built for the owner or buyer to use directly: triangulate three methods, see the comparable sales behind the multiple, get plain-English reasons for the number, and see the price on the page. Both produce educational estimates, not certified appraisals.
| Dimension | Businessappraisal | BizEquity |
|---|---|---|
| Self-serve, no advisor or sales call | Yes | No |
| Three methods triangulated in one result | Yes | Yes |
| Comparable-sale benchmarks shown | Yes | Partial |
| Plain-English driver explanations | Yes | Partial |
| Transparent public pricing | Yes | No |
| Educational estimate, not a certified appraisal | Yes | Yes |
BizEquity stopped selling to business owners directly
This is the single fact that decides the comparison. BizEquity discontinued self-service valuations for owners. The platform is now sold through advisors, banks, and enterprise channels, with names like TD Bank, UBS, PNC, Northwestern Mutual, and Goldman among the institutions in that distribution. The site now speaks to professionals asking what a client business is worth, not to the owner asking about their own.
Practically, that means you cannot type in a card and run a valuation tonight. You go through whoever licenses it. If your wealth advisor or your bank already offers it, that is a short and often free-feeling conversation. If they do not, there is no door for you.
The engine itself is capable. BizEquity is built around roughly 143 data points per business and multiple valuation approaches, and years of distribution through financial institutions have made it one of the better known names in the category. None of that is in dispute here. The question is access.
Businessappraisal sells to the owner and the buyer directly. You sign up, enter financials, and get a range that triangulates a revenue multiple, an EBITDA multiple or SDE multiple, and a discounted cash flow view, with the comparable sales shown. $29 a month, month to month, no advisor required, no free tier. Both outputs are educational estimates, not certified appraisals.
Why nobody can tell you what BizEquity costs
Search for BizEquity pricing and you will find confident numbers that disagree with each other by a factor of ten. Software directories quote figures anywhere from about $99 per month to about $999 per month, and older articles cite per-report prices in the hundreds to low thousands. These are not reconcilable, and we are not going to pick one and present it as fact.
The reason is structural. Enterprise and advisor licensing is negotiated per institution, bundled with seats, white labeling, and lead-generation features. There is no list price for an individual because individuals are no longer the customer.
| Question | Businessappraisal | BizEquity |
|---|---|---|
| Can an owner buy it directly? | Yes, self-serve signup | No, advisor and enterprise channels only |
| Published price | $29 per month on the pricing page | Not published; directory figures range wildly and are unreliable |
| Time from decision to a number | Minutes | Depends on your advisor availability |
| Who sees your financials | You | You and the institution running it for you |
| Commercial motive of the provider | A software subscription | Often a relationship or a product conversation |
| Output status | Educational estimate | Educational estimate |
That last row deserves attention. When a valuation arrives free through a bank or a wealth manager, it is usually funded as a client engagement tool, which is fine as long as you know it. The same dynamic shows up with brokers, which we cover in our broker valuation comparison. For the full landscape of what different providers charge, see the business valuation software roundup.
A $6.5M distribution business: the advisor route versus doing it yourself
Say you own a plumbing and HVAC supply distributor. Revenue is $6.5M, adjusted EBITDA is $720,000, inventory on the balance sheet is $1.3M, and you are two years from wanting out. You want a number before you tell anyone you are thinking about selling.
The advisor route: you call your banker, they offer to run a valuation, you send financials, and a report arrives after a call or two. It may cost you nothing directly. It also means a bank now knows you are contemplating an exit, and the conversation that follows will include their products. For plenty of owners that is a fair trade. For an owner who has told nobody yet, including the general manager, it is not.
The self-serve route on the same company:
| Method | Applied to the distributor | Indicated value |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue multiple | 0.45x on $6.5M | $2,925,000 |
| EBITDA multiple | 4.2x on $720,000 | $3,024,000 |
| Discounted cash flow | Working capital drag from inventory reflected | $2,780,000 |
| Reconciled range | Inventory-heavy model pulls the multiple down | $2.8M to $3.1M |
The useful output is not $2.9M. It is the reason: $1.3M of inventory means a buyer is funding a large chunk of the purchase price in working capital before they earn a dollar, and that suppresses the multiple. Aged stock, slow turns, and supplier concentration are the levers to work on, which is why we surface value drivers rather than just a figure. Two years is enough time to move a distributor from 4.2x toward the high fours if inventory turns improve.
Illustrative numbers, not a quote. Your region, product mix, and customer contracts change the outcome.
When to go through an advisor anyway
The advisor channel is genuinely better in some situations, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest:
- Your bank or wealth manager already offers it at no direct cost and you are comfortable with them knowing your plans.
- You want a human to walk you through the output and answer follow-up questions.
- The valuation is part of a broader estate, succession, or insurance conversation that needs a professional anyway.
- You need institutional letterhead on the document for a specific internal audience.
Do it yourself first when:
- Confidentiality matters and you have not told your team, your family, or your bank.
- You want to know the range before anyone has an incentive to shape your expectations.
- You are the buyer rather than the seller, and no advisor is going to run their tool for you.
- You want to test five scenarios in an afternoon instead of scheduling five meetings.
The realistic sequence for most owners is a self-serve estimate to establish the range, then a credentialed appraisal when the transaction is real. See certified appraisal versus estimate for where the line sits, and our BizEquity alternatives page for other tools an owner can still buy directly.
Questions
BizEquity questions people actually ask
How much does BizEquity cost?
BizEquity does not publish pricing for business owners. Third-party directories quote figures ranging from roughly $99 per month to $999 per month, and those numbers conflict badly enough that none should be trusted. Pricing is negotiated with advisors, banks, and enterprise buyers rather than listed publicly.
Can business owners still use BizEquity directly?
No. BizEquity discontinued self-service valuations for owners and now sells through advisors, banks, and enterprise partners including institutions like TD Bank, UBS, PNC, Northwestern Mutual, and Goldman. To get a BizEquity valuation you generally need a professional who already licenses the platform.
Is BizEquity accurate?
BizEquity uses roughly 143 data points and multiple valuation approaches, which is a serious methodology. Like any software, accuracy depends on whether the financials fed in were properly normalized. Its output remains an educational estimate rather than a certified appraisal, the same as ours.
Is a free business valuation from a bank really free?
It usually costs nothing in dollars, but it is funded as a client engagement tool. The institution learns you are considering an exit, and a product conversation typically follows. That is a fair trade for some owners and a problem for anyone who has not told their team yet.
What is the best BizEquity alternative for a business owner?
Look for a tool you can buy yourself, that publishes its price, and that runs more than one method. The key tests are whether it shows the comparable sales behind the multiple and whether it explains which factors are moving your number, rather than handing you a single figure.
Verdict
The bottom line
Pick BizEquity if you are working through an advisor or bank that already offers it and prefer that guided channel. Pick Businessappraisal if you want to run the numbers yourself, see the comparable sales behind the multiple, and know the price up front.