Best Small Business Loans of 2023

If you’re in the market for a small-business loan, you’re in the right place.
Best Overall for Business Loans
Lendio
Lendio
  • pro
    Loans from $1,000 to $5 million
  • pro
    Personalized loan matching
  • pro
    Wide variety of funding options
Best for Repeat Borrowers
OnDeck
OnDeck
  • pro
    Fast and easy lending
  • pro
    Excellent reputation with borrowers
  • pro
    Discounts for repeat customers
See Loan OffersLoans available via Lendio marketplace
Best for Fast Funding
BlueVine
Bluevine
  • pro
    Loans up to $250,000
  • pro
    Financing for various needs and qualifications
  • pro
    Simple, quick application process
See Loan OffersLoans available via Lendio marketplace
Best for Flexible Repayment
Backd
  • pro
    Loans from $10,000 to $2 million
  • pro
    Same day approval
  • pro
    Quick access to funds
Best for SBA Loans
SmartBiz
SmartBiz
  • pro
    One application for many lenders
  • pro
    Simplified SBA application
  • pro
    Low interest rates
See Loan OffersLoans available via Lendio marketplace

We use Lendio's marketplace to help business owners find which alternative lender has the best loan option for their unique needs.
Data effective 6/7/23. At publishing time, loan amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.
*Does not represent the typical rate for every borrower, and other fees may apply.

We are committed to sharing unbiased reviews. Some of the links on our site are from our partners who compensate us. Read our editorial guidelines and advertising disclosure.

With all the financing options out there, trying to compare business loans can feel overwhelming. You can borrow from traditional lenders (banks or credit unions) to get the best deals, or you can borrow from online lenders for lower loan qualifications. You can choose from term loans, lines of credit, invoice financing, microloans, and more. It’s a lot. 

Which is why we’ve taken all those financing options and narrowed them down to the best small-business loans out there. In this roundup, we’ll tell you what makes these lenders great and help you decide which is the best fit for your business.

Ready to find your funding?

Have you been in business less than six months?

Your best chance of securing funds is with a personal loan because of their looser borrower requirements.

We've included 2 options for young businesses: Avant and Upstart.

Compare the best small business loan providers

Lender
Best for
Min. revenue
Min. time in business
Get a loan
Business loans$96,000/yr.6 mos.
Repeat borrowers $100,000/yr.1 yr.
Fast funding$120,000/mo.6 mos.
Flexible repayment $300,000/yr.2 yrs.
SBA Loans $50,000/yr.2 yrs.
Personal loanNo min. revenueNo min. time in business
Personal loanNo min. revenueNo min. time in business

We use Lendio's marketplace to help business owners find which alternative lender has the best loan option for their unique needs.
Data effective 6/7/23. At publishing time, loan amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.
*Does not represent the typical rate for every borrower, and other fees may apply.


Our top-rated lender: Lendio

Lendio partners with over 75 lenders, which improves your odds and efficiency to get the funding you need.

Qualifications:

Money Approach

$50k in revenue

Calendar Approach

6 mos. in business

Analysis Approach

560 credit score


5 Best Small-Business Loans

Lendio: Best overall for small business

Lendio
Lendio

Starting at 4.25% interest

  • Lines of credit, term loans, & more
  • Loan amounts from $1,000 to $5 million
  • Min. credit score: 560
  • Funding in as little as 2 days

Data effective 6/7/23. At publishing time, loan amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.

Bottom line: Lendio offers the best loans for most small-business owners.

As a lending marketplace, Lendio partners with more than 75 lenders. Just fill out its 15-minute application, and within 72 hours, Lendio will get back to you with a list of loan offers. Pick your favorite option, finalize your application, and enjoy your new loan.

Lendio loan details

Loan type
Min./max. loan size
Lowest listed rate
Repayment term
Get a loan
Term loan

$5,000/$2 million

6%

1–5 yrs.

Line of credit

$1,000/$500,000

8%

1–2 yrs.

Commercial mortgage

$250,000/$5 million

4.25%

20–25 yrs.

Invoice financing Up to 90% of receivables 2% factor rate

Up to 1 yr.

Data effective 6/7/23. At publishing time, loan amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.

Lendio partners with over 75 lenders (including some on this list), which improves your odds—not to mention your efficiency. Those lenders offer everything from short-term business loans to merchant cash advances to equipment financing to real estate loans. (The table above shows just a small sampling of Lendio’s financing options.)

Given its many options and personalized loan matchmaking, Lendio should be a no-brainer for just about any business.

Strengths
pro Fast application
pro Wide variety of funding and lenders
pro Personalized guidance and expertise
Weaknesses
con High interest rates on some loans
con Reports of hard credit inquiries

OnDeck: Best for repeat borrowers

OnDeck
OnDeck
  • Lines of credit and term loans
  • Min. credit score: 625
  • Min. revenue: $100,000/yr.
  • Min. time in business: 1 yr.

Data effective 6/7/23. At publishing time, loan amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.

If you think you’ll need plenty of credit over the next few years, you may want to give OnDeck a look. OnDeck offers unique perks for repeat borrowers, making it a good deal for business owners who expect to seek more funding in the future. These benefits include reduced loan origination fees, lower interest rates and even waived interest on existing loans.

Keep in mind, though, that OnDeck is far from the cheapest loan option out there, even with those perks. It has a high starting APR (annual percentage rate), so even if you’ve got a great credit score, you won’t get a low interest rate. But to be fair, plenty of other online lenders have pricey loans too.

That means that OnDeck can still be a good deal for businesses that will have more credit needs in the future.

Strengths
pro Perks for repeat borrowers
pro Reporting to business credit bureaus
pro Excellent reputation with borrowers
Weaknesses
con High starting APR
con High borrower qualifications
con Required lien and personal guarantee

Bluevine: Best for fast funding

BlueVine
Bluevine

Starting at 4.8% interest

  • Invoice factoring & lines of credit
  • Loan amounts up to $5 million
  • Min. credit score: 530
  • Funding as fast as same day

Data effective 6/7/23. At publishing time, loan amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.

If you need funding right away―like you can’t wait two days―Bluevine is the lender you want. It offers same-day funding with its line of credit and next-day funding through invoice factoring. Put simply, it’s fast.

It all starts with an automated application process. You submit information about your business, and Bluevine can make a decision on your loan application near instantly or within a few hours. Then, if you opted for the line of credit, you can pay a small wire transfer fee to get your funds in just a few more hours. Otherwise, your funds should show up the next day via ACH transfer.

And to be clear, Bluevine has more going for it than just fast funding times. It offers two flexible kinds of working capital, lines of credit and invoice financing. And while it has stricter revenue requirements than other lenders on this list, Bluevine has relatively lax application requirements otherwise―three months in business and a 530 personal credit score can get you invoice factoring.

That means that whether you need fast funding or just good working capital, Bluevine can help.

Strengths
pro Same-day funding option
pro Low personal credit score requirements
pro Large loans available
Weaknesses
con Limited availability in some states
con High revenue requirements

Backd: Best for flexible repayment

Backd
  • Lines of credit and working capital
  • Loans up to $2 million
  • Min. credit score: 640
  • Funding as fast as next-day

Data effective 6/7/23. At publishing time, loan amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.

Backd offers lines of credit with flexible repayment terms that allow you to repay weekly in 6 months or 12 months. But unlike other lenders that offer lines of credit, Backd also offers working capital loans. Working capital makes it easy to bridge any cashflow issues you might have while you are committing to more long-term funding.

Backd makes it so easy to apply for funding. It's just an online application that takes less than five minutes to fill out. You will get a response within 24 hours. To secure funding for your business, Backd requires proof of ownership and bank verification. You will also have to present your most recent tax return and your year-to-date profit and loss and/or balance sheet accounts receivable.

While Backd’s lines of credit aren’t the cheapest out there, its accessibility makes it a great option for businesses that can’t qualify for low-interest term loans.

Strengths
pro Automated application
pro Low approval requirements
pro Fast funding
Weaknesses
con Higher minimum credit score than competitors
con Not available for all industries

SmartBiz: Best for SBA Loans

SmartBiz
SmartBiz

Starting at 4.75% interest

  • SBA 7(a) loans only
  • Loan amount from $30,000 to $5 million
  • Min. credit score: 640
  • Funding as fast as 1 week

Data effective 6/7/23. At publishing time, loan amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.

If you’re interested only in U.S. Small Business Administration loans, then give SmartBiz a try. It claims to simplify the SBA application process with its loan marketplace. Much like Lendio, SmartBiz delivers your one application to multiple lenders, matching you with your best options. 

Unlike other lending marketplaces, SmartBiz deals exclusively in government-backed SBA loans. That makes its application requirements stiffer, but it also means you can get super low rates.

If your business meets the qualifications for SBA loans, use SmartBiz to streamline your application process.

Strengths
pro One application for many SBA lenders
pro Simplified SBA loan application
pro Low interest rates
Weaknesses
con Potentially long, involved process
con High application requirements

Avant: Best personal loan for business

Avant
Avant

Starting at 9.95% APR

  • Personal loans only
  • Min. credit score: 600
  • Min. revenue: N/A
  • Min. time in business: N/A

Data effective 6/7/23. At publishing time, loan amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.

Don’t think you’ll qualify for a small-business loan quite yet? Try a personal loan from Avant instead.

Unlike many personal lenders, Avant lets you use its personal loans for your business. And since it’s a personal lender, not a business lender, Avant doesn’t care about things like your business revenue and business age (as long as you meet other requirements, of course). That makes Avant easier to qualify for than many lenders on this list.
But Avant’s personal loans max out at well under $50,000, making them too small for many business uses. And while the starting APR isn’t that high, you can definitely find cheaper business loans. So overall, we do recommend using a business loan if you can.

But if you want to use a personal for your business, Avant is the best lender to do it with.

Strengths
pro Excellent customer reviews
pro Next-day funding
pro Low borrower requirements
Weaknesses
con Small maximum loan size
con Short repayment terms

Upstart: Best personal loan lending experience

Upstart
Upstart

Starting at 5.42% APR

  • As fast as next-day funding
  • 3 or 5 yr. loan terms
  • Monthly payment schedule
  • 0–8% origination fee

Data effective 6/7/23. At publishing time, loan amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.

There’s a lot to like about Upstart, and we’re not the only ones to think so: Upstart has the best customer reviews of the lenders on this list.

Upstart has a 4.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot, giving it an excellent score.1 That’s not from a handful of customers, either― 32,000 people have reviewed Upstart, with 97% of them giving it an excellent score.

What do these rave reviews say? Well, they praise a lot of the things you’d expect: fast approval and funding, helpful customer service, and fair pricing. (We saw many reviews praising Upstart’s competitive rates and fees.) In other words, people like pretty much everything about Upstart―even though it doesn’t have the lowest rates or the biggest loans.

If you’re looking for a tried-and-true lender for your personal loan that also happens to have a super low credit score requirement, then give Upstart a try. See our full review here.

Strengths
pro Excellent customer reviews
pro Next-day funding
pro Low starting APR
Weaknesses
con High maximum APR
con High max. origination fees

Choosing the right small-business financing

As you’ll see throughout this article, you’ve got tons of business financing options. So how do you choose the right lender and loan type for your business?

We suggest you consider a few key factors as you look at lenders:

  • Borrower requirements
  • Types of financing offered
  • Loan amounts
  • Rates and fees
  • Funding times

Borrower requirements may be the most obvious way to tell if a lender will work for you or not. After all, if a certain online lender only funds businesses that have been around for three years, and you’ve got a one-year-old business, you’ll know to move on to a different lender. The same applies to things like minimum credit scores and revenue requirements.

Then you can look at what kinds of financing a lender offers. If you have your heart set on a business term loan, for example, you won’t want to go with a lender that has just merchant cash advances. Likewise, if you just want a short-term loan to free up some cash flow, a lender with super long loan terms may not be the best fit. 

And of course, the same thing applies to loan amounts. You’ll want to find a lender that offers a large enough loan size for your small-business financing needs.

Once you’ve narrowed your choices down a bit, you’ll want to start looking at loan costs. In most cases, you’ll want to look for the lowest interest rates and fewest fees.

Finally, funding times can help you further narrow things down. If you’re not in a big rush, most lenders can work just fine. But if you need to grab a time-sensitive deal on inventory, for instance, then you’ll probably want a lender that can get you money ASAP.

FAQS about small-business loans

To figure out which loan is best for you and your business, you need to compare things like types of loan, loan amounts, interest rates, fees, and repayment terms. You’ll want to figure out both what kind of loan you need as well as what kind of deals you can qualify for.

For example, if you’re making a big commercial real estate purchase, you’ll want a big real estate loan rather than a small line of credit—but the qualifications on the real estate loan might be stricter.

We’ve done a lot of the legwork for you with our rankings, but remember that lenders may not offer you the lowest rates or the biggest loan amounts. So before you accept a loan offer, make sure you understand the details of your offer. (This is one of the reasons we like Lendio: it lets you compare loan offers for your specific business.)

Want more help narrowing things down? We’ve got a guide to choosing a business loan.

Direct lending means that you get your business loan directly from a financial institution, like banks or alternative lenders. With peer-to-peer lenders, on the other hand, your “lender” is really a platform that connects you with investors—and those are the people actually giving you money.

For more nitty-gritty details, you can take a look at our explanation of peer-to-peer lending.

Not exactly; the same anti-discrimination laws that keep lenders from denying someone because she’s a woman also keep companies from approving someone because she’s a woman. That being said, there are small-business lending companies that have programs to help women access loans or that have loans that might work well for women business owners.

You can find out more in our guide to business loans for women.

There used to be several loans specifically for veterans, but most of those programs have expired. But it’s not all bad news; there’s still several grants, franchising opportunities, and business programs for veterans—all of which we round up in our article on financing for veteran-owned businesses.

Sure, you can. In fact, some personal loan companies (like Prosper) advertise their personal loans for business use. But is it a good idea? Maybe. A personal loan won’t build business credit, which could make it harder to get business financing in the future. But if you can’t qualify for a business loan yet, you might find that a personal loan is better than nothing.

We can’t tell you what’s right for your business; we trust you to figure it out, though. And if you need a little more guidance, we’ve got a guide to using personal loans for business.

Methodology

We researched more than 60 online and traditional lenders to come up with our list of the best small-business loans. We scored lenders based on factors such as loan amounts, interest rates, borrower requirements, customer reviews, funding times, and more. These scores formed the basis of our rankings as well as our recommendations.

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.