How Much Is My Business Worth? (Free Calculator + 2026 Multiples)
The fast answer: your annual profit (SDE) times an industry multiple, usually 2 to 4 for most small businesses. This guide shows you how to compute your own SDE, which multiple applies to your industry in 2026, and what moves that number up or down.
The Fast Answer: Profit Times a Multiple
Business Value = SDE × Industry Multiple
SDE is your profit plus everything the business pays you. The multiple reflects how risky and transferable those earnings are.
2.0x - 4.0x
Typical SDE Multiple
$300,000
SDE in Our Example
$600,000 - $1,200,000
Resulting Value Range
5 min
Free Calculator
If you want a number today, that formula gets you 90% of the way there. A business generating $300,000 in SDE typically sells somewhere between $600,000 and $1,200,000 depending on industry and risk profile.
The multiple is not arbitrary. It comes from thousands of reported small business sales each year, and it varies by industry, size, growth, and how dependent the business is on you personally.
Bigger earnings earn bigger multiples. Businesses with SDE above $500,000 attract more sophisticated buyers and often price a half-turn to a full turn higher than smaller peers in the same industry.
Asking prices are not sale prices. Businesses routinely list high and sell lower. The multiples in this guide reflect where deals actually close, not where they are advertised.
Want your number without the spreadsheet?
The free BridgeBook business worth calculator applies current market multiples to your profit and adjusts for your industry. About 5 minutes, no cost.
What Is SDE, and How Do You Compute Yours?
Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) is the total financial benefit a single owner-operator takes out of the business in a year. It matters because your tax return is built to minimize profit, while a sale is built to prove it. SDE bridges that gap by adding back everything the business pays you and everything that would not carry over to a new owner.
The SDE formula
Start with net income from your tax return or P&L, then add back:
- Your salary and payroll taxes, the compensation you pay yourself, since a new owner sets their own
- Owner perks, personal vehicle, health insurance, cell phone, travel that is really personal, family members on payroll who do not work in the business
- Interest expense, the buyer will have their own financing structure
- Depreciation and amortization, non-cash accounting entries, not real annual costs
- One-time expenses, a lawsuit, a flood repair, a website rebuild, anything that will not recur
A full-dollar example
Say your service business shows $190,000 in net income on the tax return. Here is what the SDE build-up looks like:
That $190,000 tax-return business is really a $360,000 earnings business. At a 2.5x multiple it is worth about $900,000, at 3.0x about $1,080,000, and at 3.5x about $1,260,000. Nearly double what you would guess from the tax return alone, which is why computing SDE correctly is the single most important step in any small business valuation.
One caution: every add-back must survive a buyer's due diligence. Claim your actual salary and documented personal expenses, not aggressive guesses. If your business has SDE above roughly $700,000, buyers may switch to valuing it on EBITDA instead, which treats a manager's salary as a real cost. Our guide to SDE vs EBITDA explains which one applies to you and why the difference can change your number by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
2026 Multiples by Industry
These are typical SDE multiple ranges for owner-operated businesses, drawn from widely published market data on completed sales. Your business can land above or below its range depending on the factors in the next section.
| Industry | Typical SDE Multiple | What Pushes It Higher |
|---|---|---|
| HVAC | 2.5x - 4.5x | Service agreements, technician depth, commercial mix |
| Plumbing | 2.5x - 4.0x | Recurring commercial contracts, dispatch systems |
| Lawn care & landscaping | 2.0x - 3.5x | Recurring maintenance routes, low customer churn |
| Home health | 3.0x - 5.0x | Census growth, payer mix, clean surveys |
| Hospice | 3.5x - 6.0x | Stable census, ALOS in the 60-90 day range |
| Home care (non-medical) | 2.5x - 4.5x | Caregiver retention, private-pay percentage |
| Dental practices | 3.0x - 5.0x | Active patient count, hygiene recall rate |
| DME (medical equipment) | 2.5x - 4.5x | Payer contracts, referral relationships |
| E-commerce | 2.5x - 4.0x | Brand strength, repeat purchase rate |
| Amazon FBA | 2.5x - 4.5x | Account health, product and SKU diversification |
| SaaS | 3.5x - 6.0x+ | Net revenue retention, low churn, growth rate |
| Content & media sites | 2.5x - 4.0x | Traffic diversification, email list, aged domain |
| IT services & MSPs | 3.0x - 5.0x | Managed recurring contracts, low concentration |
| Cybersecurity services | 3.5x - 6.0x | Recurring security contracts, certifications |
| Marketing agencies | 2.0x - 3.5x | Retainer revenue over project work |
| Manufacturing | 3.0x - 5.0x | Order backlog, modern equipment, customer spread |
| Staffing & recruiting | 2.5x - 4.0x | Contract staffing mix, client diversification |
Most Main Street businesses (restaurants, retail, personal services) typically sell for 1.5x to 3.0x SDE. For deeper detail on any of these ranges, see our full business valuation multiples reference.
Not sure where your business falls in its range?
The free business valuation calculator applies your industry's current multiple to your numbers and adjusts for the risk factors buyers actually price.
The Five Factors That Move Any Multiple
Two businesses in the same industry with identical SDE can sell a full turn apart. These five factors explain almost all of that gap, and every one of them is in your control given enough time.
1. Owner Dependence
The biggest one. If customers call your cell, you quote every job, and nothing gets approved without you, the buyer is not buying a business, they are buying your job. A management layer or documented processes that run without you can add a full turn to the multiple.
2. Recurring Revenue
Contracts, subscriptions, service agreements, and retainers make next year's revenue predictable. A business with 60% recurring revenue prices meaningfully higher than one that starts every January at zero, even at the same SDE.
3. Customer Concentration
If any single customer is more than 10 to 15 percent of revenue, buyers discount for the risk that the customer leaves after closing. One customer at 40% of revenue can knock a half-turn or more off your multiple, or push the deal into an earnout.
4. Growth Trend
Three years of rising revenue and profit earns the top of the range. Flat is fine and prices mid-range. Declining numbers push you to the bottom of the range and invite deal structures that shift risk back onto you.
5. Clean, Verifiable Books
Buyers and their lenders pay for what they can prove. Monthly P&Ls that tie to tax returns and bank statements support a full-price offer with bank financing. Messy books, heavy cash sales, or add-backs you cannot document lead to lower offers, more seller financing, and deals that die in diligence.
Want a second opinion on where your business lands? Book a free 45-minute exit consultation, we will walk through your numbers and the factors above together.
Why an Online Estimate Is a Starting Point, Not a Sale Price
A well-built business worth calculator gives you a realistic range because it applies real market multiples to your profit. That is genuinely useful: it tells you whether selling now gets you to your number, and it anchors every conversation that follows. But a calculator estimates what businesses like yours sell for. A market process discovers what a specific buyer will pay for yours. Here is what the process adds:
Buyer competition
One interested buyer sets the price. Three interested buyers compete for it. Confidential marketing to a wide pool of vetted buyers, like the NDA-gated buyers on the BridgeBook marketplace, is how sellers end up at the top of their range instead of the bottom.
Add-backs that survive diligence
Every dollar of defensible add-back is worth 2 to 4 dollars at your multiple. An advisor who has seen hundreds of P&Ls will find legitimate add-backs you missed and cut the ones a buyer's accountant would reject, before those rejections cost you credibility and price mid-deal.
Deal structure
Two offers at the same headline price can differ by hundreds of thousands of dollars once you account for cash at close, seller financing terms, earnouts, working capital targets, and asset versus stock treatment. Structure is where inexperienced sellers give back what they negotiated on price.
What this costs with BridgeBook
BridgeBook is founder-led by Legend Atty and works on a success fee only: no retainers, no upfront charges, you pay nothing unless your business sells. The fee is tiered, 10% on the first $1,000,000 of the sale price, sliding down to 3% above $7,000,000. Two things reduce it further:
- Booking and attending a free 45-minute exit consultation locks in a $2,500 credit toward the success fee.
- Requesting your free valuation report adds another $1,000 credit, $3,500 in total, applied when BridgeBook sells your business.
How to Grow the Number Before You Sell
If today's estimate is short of your target, the answer is usually 12 to 24 months of deliberate preparation, not a lower target. The math is compelling: moving from 2.5x to 3.5x on $300,000 of SDE takes the price from $750,000 to $1,050,000. That $300,000 difference is a full year of profit, earned by making the business easier to buy.
In the next 90 days
- Get your books current and switch to clean monthly P&Ls that tie to your bank statements
- Stop running personal expenses through the business, every dollar hidden from profit costs you 2 to 4 dollars at sale
- List every task only you can do, then pick the three easiest to delegate or document
- Pull your customer revenue report and see whether anyone exceeds 15% of sales
In the next 12 to 24 months
- Convert one-off work into contracts, service agreements, or retainers wherever your industry allows
- Hire or promote a manager who can run daily operations, then take a real two-week vacation to prove it works
- Diversify your customer base so losing your largest account would sting, not sink you
- Document your core processes so the business transfers as a system, not as your personal know-how
- Renew or extend your lease, key contracts, and key employee agreements so nothing critical expires mid-sale
- Show a growth story: even modest, steady gains in revenue and margin move you up the range
One warning: do not slash necessary spending (marketing, maintenance, staff) to inflate profit in your final year. Buyers spot it in diligence, and it reads as a declining business dressed up for sale. Real improvements beat cosmetic ones every time.
When you are ready to run the full process, our step-by-step guide to how to sell a business covers everything from preparation through closing day.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is my business worth?
Most small businesses sell for 2 to 4 times their Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE). A business with $300,000 in SDE typically sells somewhere between $600,000 and $1,200,000, with the exact number driven by industry, growth trend, owner dependence, and revenue quality. Use a free business worth calculator to get a personalized range in about 5 minutes.
What is SDE and why does it matter for small business valuation?
SDE (Seller's Discretionary Earnings) is your net profit plus your salary, personal expenses run through the business, interest, depreciation, and one-time costs. It represents the total financial benefit one owner-operator gets from the business, which is why buyers of small businesses price deals as a multiple of SDE rather than net income.
Is revenue or profit more important when valuing a business?
Profit. A business with $2,000,000 in revenue but only $150,000 in SDE is typically worth less than a business with $800,000 in revenue and $350,000 in SDE. Buyers pay for the earnings they can take home, not the top line. Revenue mostly matters as evidence of scale, trend, and durability.
How accurate are online business valuation calculators?
A good calculator gets you a realistic range, usually within 10 to 20 percent of where deals actually price, because it applies real market multiples to your profit and adjusts for industry and risk factors. What it cannot do is create buyer competition, defend your add-backs in diligence, or structure the deal. Treat the estimate as your starting point, then validate it with an advisor before you commit to a number.
How can I increase what my business is worth before selling?
Focus on the factors that move the multiple: reduce owner dependence by delegating and documenting processes, build recurring or repeat revenue, spread revenue across more customers so no single one exceeds 10 to 15 percent, keep clean monthly financials, and show a growth trend. Moving from 2.5x to 3.5x on $300,000 of SDE adds $300,000 to your sale price, often more than a year of profit.
Get Your Number Today
Free. Confidential. Takes about 5 minutes. Real 2026 market multiples applied to your actual numbers.
Attending a consultation locks in a $2,500 credit toward the success fee, and requesting the free valuation report adds $1,000 more.