Most main-street businesses sell for 1.5 to 2.5 times the owner's true annual earnings (SDE). Online businesses are priced on profit instead, usually between 2 and 5 times a year. Both tables are below, drawn from reported closed sales rather than asking prices, and every figure is sourced.
Last updated: August 17, 2026
| Business type | Revenue multiple, low | Revenue multiple, high | SDE multiple, low | SDE multiple, high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hair salon / Barbershop | 0.35x | 0.65x | 1.5x | 2.5x |
| Cleaning service | 0.5x | 0.9x | 1.8x | 2.8x |
| Landscaping / Lawn care | 0.45x | 0.85x | 1.8x | 2.8x |
| Restaurant / Cafe | 0.25x | 0.45x | 1.3x | 2.2x |
| Auto repair / Detailing | 0.4x | 0.75x | 1.9x | 3.1x |
| Retail shop | 0.3x | 0.6x | 1.8x | 3x |
| Other service business | 0.35x | 0.7x | 1.5x | 2.5x |
Priced on profit rather than revenue, because margins online vary too much for a revenue multiple to mean anything. Small website and store deals are conventionally quoted per month; SaaS and agencies per year. Both columns describe the same thing.
| Business type | Annual profit multiple | Monthly equivalent | Reported benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-commerce store (Shopify, Amazon FBA) | 2.5x to 4x | 30x to 48x | 3.98x |
| Content or affiliate site | 1.8x to 2.8x | 22x to 34x | 2.32x |
| Micro-SaaS or small software business | 3x to 4.5x | 36x to 54x | 3.9x |
| Marketing or services agency | 2.5x to 4x | 30x to 48x | 3x |
| Marketplace or directory | 1.6x to 2.8x | 19x to 34x | 2.02x |
Read the benchmark column first. It is what deals actually closed at, and it is the only figure in this table taken directly from a published report. The range around it describes how much a business can move off that benchmark: the top end is an unusually strong one, with low churn, no single customer carrying the revenue, and an owner the business can do without. Most sellers land near the benchmark, not above it.
No multiple is published for newsletters or AI-services agencies. Neither has a traceable set of closed comparable sales, and a number without a source behind it is worse than no number. Work out your online business's range.
A business is usually priced from the stronger of two answers: a multiple of its yearly revenue, or a multiple of what the owner really earns. If the owner's true earnings are known, the SDE math usually gives the higher and more defensible number. SDE means seller's discretionary earnings: salary, plus profit, plus the personal expenses the business pays for.
These ranges are built from reported closed sales, not asking prices. Sellers ask more than buyers pay, and the gap is real: on salon sales the median asking price was $125,000 against a median sale price of $115,500. Anyone quoting listing multiples is quoting hope, not evidence. Full sources are listed below.
They are starting ranges, not appraisals. A specific business's documented number comes from its own tax returns. We review this table and update the date above whenever the ranges change.
Want the number for your business? Use the free calculator or get it documented from your tax returns.
Every figure on this page traces to one of the sources above. Where no primary dataset exists for a category, we publish nothing rather than repeat a number we cannot stand behind.