Valuation
Business Valuation Calculator: Get Your Value Range
Free business valuation calculator using real 2025-2026 closed-deal multiples. See your SDE or EBITDA range, then bridge it to actual cash at close.
A range you can defend.
Type in your numbers below and you'll get a range, not a price. That distinction matters more than anything else on this page. A calculator can tell you where similar businesses have sold based on recent closed-deal data. It cannot tell you what a specific buyer will pay for your specific company, because that number only gets set through a competitive process with real buyers, real financing, and real diligence on your books.
What this tool does well: it applies the correct earnings basis (SDE or EBITDA, not net income), pulls a source-dated multiple for your size and industry, and bridges enterprise value down to something closer to what actually lands in your account after debt, fees, and deal structure. What it can't do: verify your add-backs, price customer concentration precisely, or account for a buyer who wants your business specifically for a synergy no formula captures.
If you sell dental, HVAC, or another specific vertical, our dental practice valuation page walks through sector-specific multiples in more depth than a general calculator can.
01
How the math actually works
Every credible valuation follows the same chain: reported profit, normalized to a real earnings number, times a multiple pulled from actual closed transactions in your size and industry band, produces enterprise value. Enterprise value then bridges down to what you actually walk away with.
Step one: pick the right earnings number. For an owner-operated business, that's Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE): pretax profit plus one working owner's compensation and benefits, interest, depreciation, amortization, and documented one-time or personal expenses. SDE assumes the buyer replaces you personally. It's the standard for most Main Street deals under roughly $2 million in business value.
Above that size, buyers start using adjusted EBITDA instead: operating profit before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization, adjusted for market-rate management compensation (not your discretionary pay) and any missing recurring costs. The switch matters because an institutional or PE buyer isn't stepping into your chair. They're paying for cash flow that survives after a hired manager runs the place. Multiply SDE by an EBITDA multiple and you'll double-count your own compensation, which is the single most common mistake we see in DIY valuations.
Step two: apply a real multiple. Not a rule of thumb pulled from a forum post. A multiple sourced from actual 2025-2026 closed transactions at your size and in your sector.
Step three: bridge to what you'll actually receive. Enterprise value is not your check. Subtract debt, add back excess cash, adjust for working capital, and you get equity value. From there, subtract seller notes, earnouts, rollover equity, escrow holdbacks, transaction fees, and taxes, and you get cash at close. In the IBBA's Q4 2025 survey, sellers received between 76% and 89% of total consideration as cash at close, depending on deal size. The rest sits in structure that carries risk.
02
What inputs actually move the number
The calculator asks for more than revenue and profit because the multiple range only means something once it's anchored to your specific situation:
- Industry and size. A $400,000-SDE local service business and a $10 million-EBITDA platform don't share a multiple table, even in the same industry.
- Recurring revenue and retention. Contracted or subscription revenue with low churn pushes value up. One-off project work pushes it down.
- Customer concentration. A single customer above roughly 10% to 15% of sales is a red flag buyers price into a lower multiple. A concentration or owner-dependence problem can strip 0.5x to 2.0x off an otherwise applicable multiple; strong recurring revenue or a clear strategic fit can add a similar amount back.
- Owner dependence. If the business can't run without you personally selling, delivering, or holding the license, that caps what a buyer will pay and how they'll structure the deal.
- Growth and margin. Revenue growth and EBITDA margins both above 10%, with management depth in place, support the top of the range.
- Financial quality. Clean accrual books that reconcile to your tax returns, with defensible add-backs, are worth real money. Cash-only records or returns that don't support your claimed earnings are not.
- Capex and working capital. Heavy maintenance capex or working-capital consumption eats into what an earnings multiple implies.
None of these are additive rules you can plug into a spreadsheet formula. They shift a base range up or down within a size and sector band, and a real buyer's diligence team will test every one of them.
03
Why ranges differ by industry and size
Multiples are not one number. They move by deal size, by whether SDE or EBITDA is the right basis, and by how institutional the buyer pool is. These are practical current bands built around 2025 closed-deal benchmarks from BizBuySell, the IBBA/M&A Source Q4 2025 survey, and GF Data's PE-sponsored transaction set. Ranges are marked as estimates because public sources report averages, not full quartile distributions.
| Deal size | Earnings basis | 2025 benchmark point | Practical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $500,000 | SDE | 2.0x | 1.5x to 2.8x |
| $500,000 to $1 million | SDE | 3.0x | 2.4x to 3.6x |
| $1 million to $2 million | SDE | 3.1x | 2.8x to 4.0x |
| $2 million to $5 million | Adjusted EBITDA | 4.1x | 3.5x to 5.2x |
| $5 million to $50 million | Adjusted EBITDA | 5.5x | 4.5x to 7.0x |
| $10 million to $500 million (PE-sponsored) | Adjusted EBITDA | 7.2x | 6.0x to 9.0x |
A few things worth knowing about this table. IBBA's bands switch from SDE to EBITDA at around $2 million in business value, while GF Data's PE population runs $10 million to $500 million in enterprise value; the two don't blend into a single average. GF Data's broader size ladder also shows a premium at the top: companies with $3 million to $5 million in trailing EBITDA averaged 6.7x in 2025, rising to 8.3x above $10 million, though the curve isn't perfectly smooth (the $8-10 million band actually dipped to 6.8x on a thin sample). Revenue multiples exist too, but they're a sector-specific cross-check, not a standalone method. The 2025 cross-market average across BizBuySell's reported sales was 0.69x revenue, with the average cash-flow multiple at 2.61x.
If you sell in the UK, don't apply US multiples to your numbers. UK deals run on pounds, HMRC tax treatment, and different buyer conventions, so we keep a separate UK calculator rather than converting currency on a US tool.
04
A worked example
Say your business generates $2.4 million in revenue with $480,000 in SDE, after adding back your salary, benefits, interest, depreciation, and a few documented one-time expenses. You're at the top of the SDE range, close to the SDE/EBITDA size crossover, with one owner and light customer concentration.
At 2.8x to 4.0x SDE, that's an enterprise value of $1,344,000 to $1,920,000. Say you carry $150,000 in business debt and have $40,000 in excess cash sitting on the balance sheet. Equity value comes to roughly $1,234,000 to $1,810,000. Now assume a typical structure where you receive 80% cash at close and the rest as a one-year seller note. Cash at close lands around $987,000 to $1,448,000, before transaction fees and taxes. That gap between the headline enterprise-value range and the actual cash-at-close figure is the part most free calculators skip entirely.
05
When a calculator isn't enough
This tool gives you a directional range. It is not an appraisal, a fairness opinion, a lender-approved valuation, or an offer, and it shouldn't be treated as one. You need a credentialed professional, not a calculator, if you're dealing with:
- Estate, gift, or divorce proceedings, where a defined standard of value and valuation date apply.
- An ESOP transaction, which requires an independent fiduciary and a formal fair-market-value process.
- Litigation or a shareholder dispute, where the number needs to hold up as evidence.
- An SBA loan application, where the lender needs its own qualifying appraisal.
- Any situation where you're negotiating with a specific buyer and need a defensible number, not a screening range.
For those, or for a straight read on where your business actually sits before you talk to a buyer, our M&A advisory team runs a proper valuation grounded in your specific financials, not a generic size band. If you're weighing a sale process more broadly, our guide on how to sell a business covers the timeline and what buyers actually look for.
06
Frequently Asked Questions
Neither net income nor gross revenue by itself. Use normalized SDE if you're an owner-operator whom a buyer will personally replace, or adjusted EBITDA if a buyer needs to pay market-rate management to run the business without you. Net income before recasting interest, tax, depreciation, amortization, and owner pay will understate your business badly.
Match a closed-deal multiple to your industry, size, and buyer type. Broad 2025 US anchors run from about 2.0x SDE for deals under $500,000 to 5.5x adjusted EBITDA for the $5 million to $50 million range, with PE-sponsored deals from $10 million to $500 million in enterprise value averaging 7.2x EBITDA. Your specific sector may sit meaningfully above or below these anchors.
It doesn't change the quoted enterprise value, but it reduces your equity proceeds dollar for dollar unless a buyer explicitly assumes it. Working-capital shortfalls and other debt-like items can shrink the check further between signing and closing.
No. The calculator gives you enterprise value and a rough equity bridge. Actual cash at close depends on seller notes, earnouts, rollover equity, escrow, transaction fees, and taxes. Industry survey data from Q4 2025 showed sellers receiving 76% to 89% of total consideration as cash at close, depending on deal size, with the rest in structure.
It's a directional range, and its accuracy depends entirely on how well your earnings are normalized and how closely the comparable-deal population matches your business. Treat any tool that spits out one precise number, instead of a range with a confidence level, with skepticism. Real value only gets confirmed when qualified buyers actually bid.