Flippa is the volume leader for online-business sales: free valuation, listings around $29–$499, success fees roughly 5–10%. Alternatives win by focus — Acquire.com for vetted SaaS deals, Microns for micro-deals, BizBuySell for traditional businesses, brokers for larger curated processes. And if you're months from selling, the best alternative is no marketplace at all yet.
- Selling a SaaS
- Acquire.com — built for software businesses, buyer vetting, closed-acquisition comps.
- Micro-deals under ~$100k
- Microns — small-scale listings, fees in the same $29–$499 range.
- Larger curated sales
- Broker routes — Empire Flippers, FE International and peers; commissions for qualification and process.
- Not selling yet
- EvalyMe — private estimate and a 90-day improvement plan before you become a listing.
The picks at a glance
| Alternative | Best for | Fees | Trade-off vs Flippa |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acquire.com | SaaS and software businesses | Free valuation; seller plans vary | More vetting, less volume; better buyer quality for software |
| Microns | Micro-SaaS and tiny online businesses | Listing fees roughly $29–$499 | Smaller buyer pool; fewer tire-kickers too |
| BizBuySell | Traditional main-street businesses | Calculator free; listing/broker costs vary | Different universe of businesses — not for websites |
| Broker routes | Larger online businesses (roughly $100k+) | Commissions, typically negotiated | More process and support; slower and pricier |
| EvalyMe | The months before you list anywhere | $0 calculator · Pro $14.99/mo | Not a marketplace — no buyers, just the pre-work that raises the price |
1.Acquire.com
- Best for
- SaaS and recurring-revenue software
- Fees
- Free valuation; seller subscription plans vary
- Strength
- Buyer vetting and closed-deal comps in the SaaS segment
For pure software businesses, Acquire is the focused alternative: founders-sized SaaS deals, buyer qualification, and a valuation tool grounded in closed acquisitions. Less noise than a general marketplace.
The catch: subscription-shaped seller costs, and a narrower catalog if your asset isn't clean recurring-revenue software.
2.Microns
- Best for
- Micro-deals and tiny online businesses
- Fees
- Listing fees roughly $29–$499
- Strength
- Right-sized for sub-$100k assets
Microns keeps the same rough fee band as Flippa listings but calibrates everything to small deals — less ceremony, a buyer pool that expects micro-prices.
The catch: the pool is small in both directions. Great for a $20k project; wrong for anything with real earnings.
3.BizBuySell
- Best for
- Traditional businesses (trades, retail, local services)
- Fees
- Free calculator; listings usually via brokers
- Strength
- The largest US business-for-sale marketplace
Included for completeness, because a surprising number of "sell my online business" searches are really traditional businesses. If you're selling a physical or local business, this is the volume marketplace, not Flippa.
The catch: it's a different ecosystem — broker-heavy, SDE-priced, and indifferent to websites.
4.Broker routes (Empire Flippers, FE International, and peers)
- Best for
- Larger online businesses, roughly $100k+ in earnings
- Fees
- Commissions, typically negotiated
- Strength
- Curation, qualification, and managed process
Above a certain size, self-serve listing stops being the bottleneck — buyer quality and process management become the job. Content-site and e-commerce specialists like Empire Flippers and SaaS-focused shops like FE International typically offer free valuations and take commissions on close.
The catch: commissions are real money, minimums exclude smaller deals, and "free valuation" comes with an obvious incentive to flatter the listing price.
5.EvalyMe ours
- Best for
- The pre-listing window: three to eighteen months out
- Price
- Calculator free · Pro $14.99/mo
- Strength
- Private factor diagnosis and a 30/60/90-day improvement plan
The alternative to marketplaces isn't another marketplace — it's not selling yet. Run a private estimate, see which factor caps the range (usually churn or concentration), work the playbook for a quarter or two, and list into any of the above from a stronger position. Same logic as staging a house before the open home.
The catch: we will not sell your business. When you're ready, pick a marketplace from this page — including Flippa, which remains a perfectly good answer for many online businesses.
How to choose between them
- Clean SaaS with MRR: Acquire.com first; Flippa second for speed.
- Project or micro-asset under ~$100k: Microns.
- Content site / e-commerce with real earnings: Flippa is still the default — or a broker at larger sizes.
- You're not actually ready: no marketplace. Improve first; sell later; keep more of the check.
Questions
Which marketplace has the lowest fees? +
Among the options here, Microns lists marketplace fees roughly in line with Flippa's listing fees ($29–$499) for much smaller deals, while broker routes like Empire Flippers charge commissions but with more hand-holding. Success fees are negotiable more often than founders assume — ask before you list anywhere.
I'm selling a SaaS, not a content site. Where do I list? +
Acquire.com is built for software businesses and vets buyers; Flippa covers a broader and more variable crowd. For sub-$100k micro-SaaS, Microns is a reasonable third door.
Do I need a broker? +
For most sub-$2M online businesses, no — marketplace self-serve works, and brokers typically add value through qualification and negotiation rather than price discovery. Above that range, or if the business is complex, broker routes (Empire Flippers, FE International and peers) earn their commissions more often.
What should I do before listing anywhere? +
Clean up the metrics a buyer will diligence — churn, customer concentration, owner-dependence, tidy financials. A few months of that work moves real money at closing. (EvalyMe's playbooks exist exactly for this window, but any disciplined plan beats listing unprepared.)
Competitor details from public sources, checked October 2026. EvalyMe outputs are estimates, not appraisals or investment advice.