Best Small Business Loans of 2022

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 10 best 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 small business.

Ready to find your funding?

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.

So with all that in mind, let’s dive into our top lender recommendations.

Lendio is the best business loan company for most businesses. That’s because Lendio is more like a loan matchmaker than a lender—which is great news for you.
All you have to do is fill out a 15-minute online application, then Lendio will use your loan application to match you with the right loans and lenders for your business. Within 72 hours, it gives you a list of loans you qualify for; you can choose the best loan and finalize things.

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.

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 want your money ASAP, 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. Bluevine interest rates start under 5%. That’s not quite as low as the rate you can get from a traditional lender (a bank or credit union), but it’s a much lower interest rate than you’ll find from most online lenders.

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

Fundbox offers lines of credit. But unlike other lenders that offer lines of credit, Fundbox is willing to work with young startups. So if your business is too new to get financing from other lenders, take a look at Fundbox.

While Fundbox prefers to work with businesses that have been around for at least six months (which is already a pretty competitive requirement), it will work with even younger businesses in some cases. In fact, Fundbox will consider businesses that have just two months of accounting software history or just three months of business checking history.

Of course, Fundbox is more likely to work with your very young business if you exceed its other borrower requirements. Fortunately, those are pretty moderate too. Fundbox accepts 600 credit scores and $100,000 in annual revenue.

While Fundbox’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.

If you think you’ll be taking out several term loans over the next few years, then take a good look at OnDeck.

This lender offers some sweet incentives to its repeat customers, like lower interest rates and reduced origination fees. That means you can get better deals the more you borrow. You can even get OnDeck to waive the remaining interest on your short-term loan when you take out a second short-term loan. Plus, OnDeck can build your credit, unlike many other online lenders, letting you qualify for better loans in the future.

That said, borrowing with OnDeck can get expensive. Its rates begin at 35% APR―a pretty pricey starting point. Still, the vast majority of OnDeck’s customers have great things to say about the company, so you’re likely to have a good experience as you borrow.

So whether you plan to borrow again with OnDeck or another lender, OnDeck can help you get better deals on repeat business borrowing.

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.

We think the five lenders above have the best loans for most businesses. But the following lenders have plenty going for them as well. So if you haven’t found the right lender yet, consider these honorable mention picks.

Kiva exclusively offers microloans—in this case, loans under $15,000. A lot of small businesses will want a larger loan, which is why Kiva isn’t in our top five. But if you’re in the market for a little loan, then it’s hard to go wrong with Kiva—it offers an unbeatable 0% interest rate. The catch? There’s a lengthy funding process that requires you to get your family and friends to contribute to your loan before you crowdfund the rest.

Still, that 0% interest rate makes Kiva a worthy crowdfunding platform for anyone who needs a smaller loan (and can wait a while to get it).

Funding Circle is another lending marketplace, much like Lendio. It does work a little differently, though, in that it has fewer types of loans and focuses on well-established businesses with high credit scores and revenue. Those higher requirements allow Funding Circle to offer more affordable financing with longer repayment terms.

Whether you apply for a term loan, line of credit, or SBA 7(a) loan, you can feel pretty confident that you’re getting a good deal through Funding Circle―assuming you can qualify.

If you’re interested only in SBA 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. But unlike other lending marketplaces, SmartBiz deals exclusively in 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.

Kabbage offers only lines of credit. Much like Fundbox, Kabbage has an automated application that just requires a connection with your bank account. That means you can get a response to your application in mere minutes, making Kabbage a fast, convenient way to apply for funding. But the application is just the beginning. Once you’re approved, Kabbage lets you access your line of credit through PayPal, your bank account, or a physical card. With PayPal, you can access funding in minutes.

So while Kabbage has high rates, its convenience makes it good for business owners that need fast, accessible working capital.

Lendr only offers non-loan types of working capital―invoice factoring and merchant cash advances, to get specific. Those types of funding come with higher costs and shorter repayment terms than traditional loans. But they also come with low credit requirements, making them an important source for some businesses. And Lendr is a better working capital provider than most. It’s got excellent reviews and fair borrower requirements.

Put simply, Lendr’s types of funding aren’t our favorite. But if you need working capital financing, Lendr is one of the better providers we’ve found.

We don’t expect these lenders to work for most of our lenders―but we think they’re worth mentioning anyway.

• Bank of America: Lowest interest rates
• National Funding: A popular online lender

You can get a lower interest rate from Bank of America than from any other lender on this list. Its rates start at under 3% APR (and remember, APR includes both interest and fees) on certain loans. But as a traditional bank, Bank of America asks for a lot from its borrowers. You’ll need a pretty good credit score to qualify, and Bank of America usually looks for older, higher-earning businesses than other lenders on this list.

But if your business meets those criteria, Bank of America can offer you some of the cheapest loans out there.

To be honest, National Funding doesn’t seem like a standout lender. It offers only working capital loans and equipment financing. And sure, it has generally positive customer reviews―but nothing exceptional. For some reason, though, it’s quite popular with small-business owners. Our data shows lots of business owners have interest in National Funding’s small-business financing.

So yes, we think you can do better elsewhere. But we trust business owners, and plenty of them think National Funding offers something special.

Small-business loans can get complicated. But at base, a small-business loan works like this:

• You submit a loan application to a business lender.
• The lender (hopefully) approves your loan application.
• You get a loan offer that includes an interest rate and fees.
• You accept the loan offer and finalize your application.
• The lender deposits funds into your business bank account.
• You use the loan proceeds for your business.
  You make regular, scheduled payments on your loan.

Now, the details can vary quite a bit. Sometimes you won’t apply with a lender, for example―you’ll apply with a lending marketplace instead. Or maybe you’ll apply for a type of small-business financing that doesn’t have interest but has a factor rate instead. And in some cases (like with equipment loans), the lender will send the loan money directly to a vendor instead of putting it in your bank account.

But generally speaking, your business asks for money, your business gets money, and your business repays the money.

With that said, you’ll want to pay close attention to both borrower requirements and loan details as you shop for a business loan.

• Borrower requirements include credit score, business age, revenue, and other minimum requirements to get approved by a lender.
• Loan details include things like your loan amount, interest rate, fees, repayment schedule, loan term, and other important factors that affect the cost of your loan.

For more details on how small-business loans work, check out our ultimate guide to small-business loans.

You may have noticed that some of our recommended lenders offer more than just term loans. That’s because the phrase small-business loans gets used as a catch-all for all kinds of small-business financing―including many things that aren’t loans at all.

So let’s talk about some of the different kinds of business financing.

Term loans are the classic type of business financing. You borrow a one-time sum of money and then repay your loan amount and interest over a set period of time.

You can get various kinds of term loans for your business. Long-term loans, for example, have long repayment terms (over five years) and usually have low interest rates. Short-term loans have much shorter repayment terms (often just a year or two) and higher rates, but they’re easier to qualify for.

Then you have SBA loans, or loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration. These heavily regulated loans offer low rates and long terms to business owners who can’t qualify for traditional bank loans―but your business does have to be at least a couple years old with $100,000 in revenue to qualify.

Unlike term loans, business lines of credit offer revolving credit―meaning you can borrow over and over again as you pay back the money you borrow (much like you can with a credit card).

Lines of credit offer tons of flexibility and can be a great way to handle unexpected expenses. They’re one of our favorite kinds of business financing.

As you can guess, equipment financing offers money specifically for equipment purchases and leases. These loans use your equipment as collateral, which keeps interest rates pretty low.

You can find equipment loans for all kinds of equipment, from heavy agricultural equipment to office equipment.

Invoice financing (or invoice factoring) lets you use unpaid invoices as collateral, making them great for B2B businesses. An invoice factoring will give you a percentage of the invoice’s value (often 80% to 95%) upfront. You repay the money (minus any fees) when your client pays their invoice.

Merchant cash advances give you, well, a cash advance in exchange for a percentage of your future credit card transactions. Merchant cash providers focus on your sales rather than your credit, which makes cash advances easy to get even with a bad credit score. But watch out―merchant cash advances cost a lot, and companies usually try to disguise their true price.

We recommend Lendio as the best small-business loan company for most businesses, thanks to its plentiful options and personalized matchmaking.

If you need money right away, Bluevine may be more your speed. If you’ve got a young startup, you might like the flexibility of Fundbox’s borrower requirements. Small-business owners that plan to borrow again will like OnDeck’s perks for repeat borrowing. And if you can’t qualify for a business loan just yet, Avant’s personal loans can work in the meantime.

But ultimately, you know your company best. With our ranking of the best small-business loans, you can find the lender and loan that fits your unique needs—and use that newfound working capital to grow your business.

Ready to apply? Check out our guides to understanding loan rates and avoiding common business loan mistakes.

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.

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.