The Best Short-Term Business Loans in 2023

Short-term loans can offer a great way to get working capital without taking on long-term debt. But where should you get short-term funding for your business?

For most businesses, the answer is Lendio. It offers a variety of short-term funding options, and it gives you personalized loan offers. But if you like having choices, don’t worry―we found nine other lenders that can help with your short-term lending needs.

Let’s find the right one for your business.

Technically speaking, a short-term business loan is a loan that gets repaid via fixed, scheduled payments over a period of three to eighteen months.

But other kinds of short-term financing often get lumped in with short-term loans, like lines of credit, invoice factoring, and even merchant cash advances. They all tend to have short repayment terms (18 months or less). (We’ve included some of these on our rankings.)

Pretty much all short-term financing will have similar pros and cons.

• Pros: Short-term lenders tend to offer fast approval and funding times, and they usually have lower borrower requirements than long-term lenders.
• Cons: Short-term loans usually come with higher interest rates and loan fees than their long-term cousins do, making them an expensive funding option.

You’ll want to carefully weigh those pros and cons as you make borrowing decisions for your business.

And one final thing to note: Few traditional lenders (banks) offer short-term loans. So all the lenders on this list are online lenders (also known as alternative lenders).

For business owners in need of a short-term loan (that’s you), Lendio offers the best options overall.

You see, Lendio isn’t your run-of-the-mill lender. Rather than offering financing itself, it serves as a financing marketplace, matching business owners with lenders. (Lendio even works with some of the other lenders ranked here.) Think of it as a dating site (without the tireless games and uncertainty).

That means you can get approved for a short-term loan through Lendio―or for a line of credit, invoice factoring, or merchant cash advance. And all it takes is just one simple application. Take a few minutes to fill that out, and then Lendio will match you with relevant loan offers. In addition, you'll get the chance to compare offers, so you can feel confident you’re getting a good deal on your short-term financing.

Now, because Lendio has to match you with appropriate loan options, it does move a little slower than some of the other lenders below. You can still get funded quickly―within a couple days of applying―but speed is not guaranteed.

With some patience, Lendio’s marketplace can match you with great short-term loan options―which is why it’s our top lender for short-term business loans.

Fundera by Nerdwallet is another lending marketplace (meaning it matches borrowers with lenders), and it’s a solid alternative to Lendio.

Sure, Fundera by Nerdwallet works the same way as Lendio does. You submit one application, and Fundera works some magic to find you matching lenders and loans. You still get to compare loan offers, and you may still get offered more than one kind of short-term financing.

But Fundera and Lendio do work with a slightly different set of lending partners (though you will find overlap). So if there’s a lender you care a lot about, or if Lendio just doesn’t hit you right, give Fundera by Nerdwallet a go. Just remember, you’ll need to plan for some extra time for matchmaking.

With lots of short-term lenders and loan options available in its marketplace, you can’t go wrong with Fundera by Nerdwallet.

Don’t have time to spare? Then apply with Bluevine ASAP.

Unlike slower lending marketplaces, Bluevine is a direct lender. Since everything happens in-house (no matchmaking or anything), Bluevine can move quickly. In fact, you can get approved for a line of credit within minutes of submitting your application. And if you’re willing to pay a small extra wire transfer fee, you can get funded that very day.

Note that Bluevine offers just lines of credit, not loans. Any draws have to get repaid within 12 months, so they definitely qualify as short-term funding. We also want to point out that Bluevine has pretty high revenue requirements compared to other lenders on this list.

But if you’ve got the revenue to qualify, Bluevine can set you up with funding in no time.

While it doesn’t have the lowest loan requirements out there, OnDeck offers borrowers one advantage: discounts for repeat borrowing.

With benefits ranging from lower interest rates and discounted loan fees to its repeat borrowers. And if you take out a second OnDeck loan before you finish repaying your first, you may be able to waive the remaining interest on your first loan. That means that OnDeck gets better as you borrow more.

One notable downside to this short-term lender? Its rates. The APR on OnDeck term loans starts at the low double-digits. That’s not unusual for an online lender, but it is still expensive. So keep in mind that OnDeck may cost you a fair bit―especially the first time you borrow.

All the same, OnDeck’s long-term benefits make it a solid choice for short-term borrowing.

Worried your business’s young age will keep you from getting short-term financing? With Fundbox, it doesn’t have to.

Fundbox has pretty moderate borrower requirements overall, but we especially like that it’s willing to flex them. Take its time-in-business requirement. Fundbox asks for six months in business, but its website says it will accept younger businesses. Fundbox can work with businesses as young as two months old―way younger than other lenders would even look at.

Of course, you’ll want to have a decent credit score and revenue to offset your business’s young age. And no matter your qualifications, Fundbox lines of credit don’t come cheap. Other lenders offer far more affordable financing.

Still, Fundbox’s willingness to lend to your young business makes it one of our favorite short-term lenders.

Don’t think you’ve seen the right short-term lender just yet? Then keep reading, because we’ve got even more options for you.

We don’t really like merchant cash advances as a whole, but they do offer more accessibility than most types of short-term financing. That’s because your credit score doesn’t really factor in. And as far as cash advance companies go, we like Lendr best. It has very positive customer reviews, it clearly states pricing information, and it offers invoice factoring too.

Still, watch out for the high costs, and make sure you fully understand how merchant cash advances work before committing to anything. If you can do that, Lendr can be a good choice for short-term funding.

One problem with short-term lenders? They usually go with weekly (and sometimes even daily) payment schedules. That can put more pressure on your budget, since you need enough cash flow for weekly payments. Kabbage, though, sticks with a more traditional monthly payment schedule on its lines of credit. That can mean more free funds during the rest of your month.

Kabbage uses monthly fees along with its monthly payments, and those fees can add up real fast. So if you do borrow with Kabbage, we recommend repaying your funds as quickly as possible. You can save a lot that way.

Square offers short-term business loans to some businesses that use it for credit card processing. You’ll receive a loan offer on your user dashboard if you qualify. Then just choose between the loan options you’re given, and you can get funding by the next day. It’s fast, and neither the application nor repayment take much effort on your part.

But as with many short-term loans, Square loans can get pricey. So make sure to review your offer carefully before agreeing to anything. And note that Square automatically takes a percentage of your future sales (until you’ve repaid the loan). That’s convenient, but make sure your budget can handle it.

PayPal Working Capital works just like Square Loans―meaning it’s for customers that already use PayPal to process credit cards. Likewise, PayPal offers you a loan if it feels you qualify. There’s no other way to apply. Happily, though, you don’t need to process too much to qualify. PayPal may offer you a loan with just $15,000 to $20,000 in annual PayPal processing.

Unfortunately, PayPal doesn’t list its loan fees. As you can probably guess, that’s generally a sign that they’re high. So as with other lenders, we urge you to carefully review your PayPal loan offer. If you can afford it, though, PayPal offers a convenient way to borrow short-term funds.

Use Stripe for credit card processing (instead of Square or PayPal)? Then Stripe Capital could be the short-term lender for you. It works the same way as the two lenders above. Depending on how much you process, Stripe may decide to offer you financing. If you accept, you’ll get funding within a day or two. Then payments will come out of your future Stripe sales.

But again, costs can be an issue. Stripe doesn’t publish any fees or other loan costs, so you’ll want to pay close attention to any loan offer you do get. And as we’ve said with other lenders, make sure the automatic payments won’t hurt your cash flow too badly.

We live in a fast-paced world, which means that, sometimes, you need a lending option that gives you access to capital sooner rather than later.

After exploring many short-term loan options, we truly believe Lendio is the best short-term financing lender on the market. Not only does the platform offer over 75 lender options, but it also boasts a streamlined application process and fast funding.

You can also go with Fundera by Nerdwallet’s lending marketplace if Lendio doesn’t feel like the right fit. For faster funding, we suggest BlueVine. Business owners that intend to borrow more later may want to start working with OnDeck. And Fundbox can help even the youngest businesses get short-term funding.

Whatever lender you go with, use our business loan calculator to figure out how much your short-term loan will cost you.

We researched over 50 traditional and online business lenders to find which ones offered short-term loans (or similar funding products). Then we used our standardized lender scoring system to grade lenders on factors from interest rates to customer reviews―and ultimately to create our rankings and write our reviews.

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.