Compare the best unsecured small business loans in Australia with SmallBusinessLoansAustralia.com. The ultimate guide for Australian small business owners looking for business finance comparison and business lender information. Whether you’re looking to compare business loans by features, compare business loan interest rates or make your own small business loan comparison based on a business lender’s credibility and client reviews, we have you covered. Need to compare business loans in Australia fast? These companies came out top of our business finance comparison.

Compare Australian Business Loan Lenders

Side by Side for 2023

	🎓 Rating: 97%	🎓 Rating: 94.8%	🎓 Rating: 93.1%	🎓 Rating: 90.7%
Unsecured Loans	✅	✅	✅	✅
Secured Loans	✅	✅	✅	✅
Line of Credit	✅	❌	✅	❌
Founded	2011	2002 (Launched in Australia 2008)	2013	2007 (Launched in Australia 2015)
Number of Businesses Funded	29,400+	7,500+ (Globally)	N/A	110,00+
Value of Business Loans Issued	$1.5bn+	$500,000,000+ globally ($100,000,000 estimated in Australia)	$300,000+	$13bn+ Globally
Experienced Directors	✅	❌	✅	✅
Number of Reviews	6,045	415	296	2617
Review Score	4.9 / 5	4.7 / 5	4.9 / 5	4.8 / 5
Loan Amount	$5,000 -$300,000	$5,000 – $300,000	$5,000 – $750,000	$5,000 – $250,000
Best Use	🎯  Great For: Virtually all Australian SMEs	🎯 Great For: Business Loans & Merchant Cash Advance	🎯 Great For: Larger, more established SMEs	🎯 Great For: Business Loans & Free Credit Check
Review	🔍 Prospa Review	🔍 Capify Review	🔍 Shift Review	🔍 OnDeck Review
Get Quoted	⏫ Expedited Application	⏫ Expedited Application	⏫ Expedited Application	⏫ Expedited Application

Manual Business Loan Comparison or Automated Finders / Marketplaces?

If you’re looking for small business financing and simply want to discover which is the best online lender for your business, then you have two steps you can take right now. 

You can make a fast 5 minute application with a Business Loan Marketplace. This option is likely to be significantly quicker – you just have to trust you’ll be matched with the best lender for your business. With the use of advanced algorithms and a team of lending experts, a business loan marketplace will compare financing options for you and base its recommendations on the information you’ve provided and the finance you desire. Once they’ve analysed your information, they’ll match you with only the most appropriate lenders.

Secondly, you can continue to read our in-depth business finance comparison and business lender reviews in order to reach your own conclusion as to the most suitable lender and type of financing for your business. This will provide you with an informative and rounded view of the online small business lending market in Australia.

Small Business Loan Comparison – What’s Important

When looking to compare unsecured business loans in Australia, a lot will depend on your individual business circumstances and what it is you’re looking to achieve. Are you looking for a lender that specialises in asset finance or a lender that can provide you with a working capital facility? Or perhaps a lender that can provide you with both? Given the sheer variety in financing requirements, our small business loan comparison considers a number of factors:

• Product offering comparison
• Lender credibility comparison
• Loan compatibility comparison (i.e. how easy to access)
• Client review comparison
• Business finance rates comparison (compare business loan interest rates, factor rates and origination fees)
• Business overdraft interest rates comparison
• Compare asset finance

You could also focus on comparing online lenders who operating in your area. Below are our local guides:

• Business Loans & Financing in Sydney
• Business Loans Queensland / Brisbane
• Business Loans & Finance NSW
• Business Loans & Finance Melbourne

Product Comparison

If we conduct just an unsecured business loans comparison then the current market-leader, Prospa, is always worth a mention. Small business loans are available for up to $300,000 though it should be noted any loans above $100,000 will require asset security. This is the same for Lumi who similarly asks for collateral when issuing loans over $100,000. Capify, on the other hand, will offer unsecured business loans all the way through to $300,000. You won’t have to secure the loan against an expensive business asset but you will have to provide a personal guarantee as the majority owner of the business.

We have specifically included Max Funding in our business finance comparison by product as they offer by far the biggest variety of small business loans. These are mainly secured solutions, such as; franchise loans, caveat loans, and even low doc business loans. These can be particularly appropriate for startups who are yet to generate the revenue to qualify for an unsecured business loan.

Business finance compared across the full spectrum of lending products shows us there’s one Aussie lender that stands out from the rest – Shift (formerly, GetCapital). Shift has a rich variety of financing solutions that will rival any Aussie bank, let alone other online lenders. Crucially, you still get the flexibility and speed of working with an online lender – just the variety of financing options you would normally only see from a bank.

Credibility Comparison

Our small business loan comparison based on credibility will look at both the age and size of the lender as well as the overall interpretation we get of the management team, i.e. the amount of experience they have in the Australian business lending market. The value of business loans issued are reported in AUD, unless otherwise stated.

Compare Business Loans in Australia 2023

The following online lenders appearing on our comparison are the top rated on our best small business loans chart.

If we conduct a business finance comparison by credibility then we can see there are a handful of lenders who have been issuing business loans in Australia for almost a decade. Given that online business lending is a relatively new market in Australia, most of the major providers have been involved since it was first established. In fact, it was Capify who were one of the first non-bank lenders to offer online business loans in Australia and the very first to offer a Merchant Cash Advance.

OnDeck is a global lending giant and has easily issued the most loans to small businesses and lent the highest amount of capital around the globe. The majority of OnDeck’s loans however have been issued in the US – Australia accounts for only a small fraction of the overall total. If we compare business loans in Australia alone, it’s Prospa who has been able to support the highest number of SMEs. Easily leading the charge by helping over 29,000 businesses with over $1.5bn in funding.

We’re sure both Max Funding and Capify Australia have an experienced management team but it’s Prospa, OnDeck and Shift who are much more forthcoming in sharing details of its experienced management team. Shift in particular has a team full of experience in the Australian lending industry. 

Loan Compatibility Comparison

Different lenders have slightly different minimum requirements that borrowers are asked to meet in order to qualify for a small business loan. These can be quite similar from lender to lender but a small business loan comparison on compatibility shows us there are some key differences. 

An unsecured business loans comparison shows us that Lumi has the most accessible minimum terms. In order to qualify for an unsecured business loan, Lumi requires SMEs to have been trading for the least amount of time (6 months), paired with the lowest annual turnover requirements ($50,000 per annum). Given Prospa is the industry leader, it too has a relatively low compatibility threshold.

A business finance comparison for startups shows us there are very limited options for businesses to access business loans at this early stage in their development. Max Funding is the only option actually, although they do have a number of secured loan options that startups can access. Other financing avenues might need to be explored – see our guide to startup funding.

Business finance compared for bad credit borrowers shows us there are reduced options available in Australia. Max Funding again is a very realistic option in this case. OnDeck is perhaps the surprise inclusion here – it asks borrowers to have a minimum credit score of 500 which is technically defined as a ‘bad credit’.

Client Review Comparison

This section of our SME loan comparison focuses purely on client feedback. We list here the five online lenders who have garnered the most client reviews in Australia.

If we compare business loans in Australia by client reviews then we can clearly see Prospa has gathered by far the highest number of client reviews. In fact, Prospa has more reviews than the four other highest reviewed small business lenders combined. To date, Prospa has funded over 29,000 small businesses, so a review sample of over 6,000 equates to roughly 1 in 5 clients and more than enough to make a fair assessment.

The client reviews of Max Funding are extremely positive, though the review platform they utilise is not as well known as that used by the other four lenders. There is not one single review which rates the firm under four stars which we find a little surprising. Some customers are bound to have had a negative experience and we would at least expect a handful of negative reviews.

Our client review business finance comparison also shows us that the largest online Aussie lenders achieve some of the highest client review scores. OnDeck comes in lowest with a client review score of 4.7 / 5 but this is still very impressive, particularly given they are all financial services companies (who tend to fare worse on client review platforms).

Business Loan Rates Comparison

Interest rates are dependent on a number of factors. The major ones being the risk profile of your business, whether a loan is secured or unsecured, how much finance it is you’re looking to achieve and the timeframe you plan to repay your loan. With each borrower’s rate unique to them, this makes conducting an unsecured business loans comparison based on rates tricky. Still, there are some fees which are universal to all borrowers and we can get a feel of a lender’s rates by previous client feedback.

An unsecured business loans comparison based on establishment fees shows that Shift is by far the best option – charging no establishment fees whatsoever for a term loan. Of the providers to charge an origination fee, Lumi (at 2.5%) charges slightly less than the rest. Given they are a newer lender than the dominant providers, it’s likely this is to try and incentivise businesses to give them a go. OnDeck charges a 3% establishment fee for new borrowers but repeat customers can benefit from a 1.25% establishment fee on any additional business loans they take out.

It is not possible to compare business loan interest rates from lender to lender with any real conviction but by looking through client feedback it seems that virtually all of Prospa’s clients were happy enough with the rate they received – only one review out of over 6000 felt the rate was excessive. With Capify offering a Merchant Cash Advance in addition to small business loans, it’s not surprising that their rates can be a little more expensive.

Shift  is by far the most transparent with the information it provides on rates, meaning you don’t have to apply for finance in order to get a feel for how much you’ll have to repay (see our Shift review for a full breakdown). And whilst the other lenders may not be as transparent as Shift, all of the lenders listed on this page will clearly detail any fees included in your loan in the loan agreement and absolutely none of them will charge any hidden fees. Read our lender reviews to learn more about each lender’s rates and conduct your own unsecured business loan rates comparison in more detail.

Compare Business Loans Australia – Final Say

If you’ve still not reached a conclusion in your business finance comparison then we suggest using a business loan marketplace that will automatically find your best lender match. Our small business loan comparison has compared Australia’s best known business loan providers across a wide variety of factors that a borrower will want to consider before applying for a small business loan. Our highest rated providers are still just a small sample of the number of financing options available to Australian SMEs today. In total, there are over 30 lender reviews for you to peruse if you truly want to consider your options and compare unsecured business loans in Australia with no stone left unturned.