Compare your options
Three routes to knowing your exit number
Use the free tool for information, a broker for process, and neither until your numbers are real.
What you are buying
A range and a plan.
Define the deliverable: a credible price range plus the two or three changes that would move you toward its top. The route you choose determines how much of your data you reveal to get it.
Four criteria
Cost, disclosure, rigour, exit.
Cost: a free calculator versus a priced listing versus negotiated fees.[8]
Rigour: vendor convention (a profit multiple) versus a bespoke appraisal.[4]
Evidence base: comparable sales versus a personal network.[2]
Disclosure: minutes and no login versus an engaged process you cannot quietly undo.[3]
Conditional fit
Trigger selects route.
No trigger: wait. A trigger and clean books: run the calculator, then read the listing rules. A trigger, complexity or confidentiality needs: talk to advisers first.
The vendor's own guide-only labelling is the honest boundary of the free route.[5]
Documented and unknown
Rules published; outcomes not.
Caps and conventions are published rules, not opinions.[7]
Sale probability and time-to-close for your category are unknowable in advance. Even the vendor's headline completion statistics are self-reported across a heterogeneous marketplace.
Reversible step
Run the calculator once.
Run one calculator session with real figures, save the output, and make no further commitment for thirty days.
The shortlist
Compare fit, limits and real cost.
These are conditional options, without a universal winner. Pricing reflects the stated unit and observed date.
Scroll horizontally to compare limits and cost. Keyboard: focus the table and use the arrow keys.
| Approach | Choose when | Avoid when | Cost basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decide later, with better dataPostpone the sale decision and track your own margins, churn and effort for one more quarter. | The only trigger today is curiosity about a number. | Buyer demand for your exact model is time-sensitive, or you are already losing interest in operating. | Confirm cost No cost; the risk is a worse market or a tired owner, which only you can weigh. |
| Flippa free valuation, then a real processStart with the free calculator against comparable sales; treat it as a conversation opener with a marketplace, not an appraisal. | You want a fast, evidence-anchored sanity check against real sale history before talking to anyone. | You need a defensible valuation for lenders, partners or tax, or your revenue is not verifiable through platform connections. | USD 29 / one-time Self-Service Entry · entry self-service listing for a 60-day term, before the percentage success fee on completion Higher asking-price bands carry higher listing fees, and a success fee of 10% applies at the entry band; a free valuation itself costs nothing. USD self-service table published on the pricing page. Checked 14 September 2026. Pricing source |
| A traditional advisor or brokerEngage a professional intermediary for a confidential, negotiated sale process. | The business is large enough that confidentiality, complexity or stakeholder management justify fees. | You cannot yet produce clean, verifiable financials any process will demand. | Confirm cost Advisory fees are negotiated individually; request comparative engagement letters before choosing. |
Decide later, with better data: what supports the fit
A valuation cannot make a business more sellable; operational quality - clean accounts, low owner-dependence - is what raises outcomes, and those take time rather than tools.
Flippa free valuation, then a real process: what supports the fit
The calculator is published as free, instant and requiring no login.[1]
Flippa states the valuation is based on over one hundred thousand comparable business sales across more than one hundred countries.[2]
The stated completion time is under three minutes.[3]
Flippa's own guidance recommends starting from 2 to 2.5 times annual net profit and describes the calculator output accordingly.[4]
The help centre explicitly calls the valuation a guide only.[5]
Help-centre listing rules cap asking and reserve prices, starting from $9,999 for pre-revenue or template-type assets.[6]
For businesses under a million dollars of annual revenue the documented cap is 8x verified annual revenue.[7]
Self-service listing starts at a $29 flat fee for a 60-day term on the published table.[8]
The published pricing page shows a 10% success fee on the entry asking-price band.[9]
Whether your business actually sells, and at what price, cannot be known from a calculator - buyer competition decides. Flippa's own disclaimer language and caps exist precisely because the estimate is not a promise; treat the output as a range to argue with.
We may earn a commission if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you.
Get a free valuation on Flippa (affiliate link)A traditional advisor or broker: what supports the fit
Advisers sell process and discretion rather than reach; their cost is justified by deal complexity, not by the size of the spreadsheet.
Some vendor links on this page are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Commercial relationships do not determine our recommendations or ordering. Full disclosure.
The decision
Let your constraints choose the path.
If you are only curious about a number
Run the free calculator, read the range as a guide, and close the tab until a real trigger exists.
Keep in mind: Garbage in, garbage out: the estimate inherits the accuracy of the figures you typed.
If you might actually sell
Before committing to any listing, check your numbers against the marketplace's own asking-price caps and data-verification requirements.
Keep in mind: Verification needs read-only access to real accounts; assemble that evidence before, not during, a live listing.
Sources & research method
Documentation research by Vetted SaaS Blueprint, retrieved on 14 September 2026 from Flippa's valuation page, help-centre articles on valuation guidance and listing price requirements, and the self-service pricing table. Those pages establish the free calculator's claims, the profit-multiple convention, the asking-price caps, the $29 entry listing fee and the 10% success fee band. Sale outcomes and calculator accuracy are unknowable in advance and marked unknown. No valuation was run and no listing made for this guide.
Reviewed 14 September 2026. Vendor capabilities and terms can change; check the linked source before committing. No first-hand product test is implied.
- Free valuation
Flippa · Retrieved 14 September 2026
- Sell
Flippa · Retrieved 14 September 2026
- Sell
Flippa · Retrieved 14 September 2026
- Valuation guidance
Flippa Help Center · Retrieved 14 September 2026
- Valuation guidance
Flippa Help Center · Retrieved 14 September 2026
- Listing price requirements
Flippa Help Center · Retrieved 14 September 2026
- Listing price requirements
Flippa Help Center · Retrieved 14 September 2026
- Pricing
Flippa · Retrieved 14 September 2026
- Pricing
Flippa · Retrieved 14 September 2026