SBA Loan Calculator: Payments, Fees, and Approval Odds

How this calculator works

This calculator does three things most loan calculators skip.

It counts the fees. An SBA 7(a) loan carries an upfront guaranty fee that lenders pass to the borrower. The fee is charged on the SBA-guaranteed portion of the loan, not the full amount, which is why a $500,000 loan with a 75% guaranty and a 3% fee costs $11,250 rather than $15,000. Fee rates for fiscal year 2026 run from 2% on loans of $150,000 or less up to 3.75% on the guaranteed balance above $1 million, per SBA Information Notice 5000-872051. Small manufacturers in NAICS sectors 31 to 33 pay nothing on loans up to $950,000 through September 30, 2026. We fold every fee into an effective APR so you can see the real cost next to the quoted rate.

It uses the actual SBA rate caps. SBA limits what a lender can charge above a base rate, and the cap changes with loan size: prime plus 6.5% on loans up to $50,000, stepping down to prime plus 3% above $350,000. Those are ceilings, not going rates. Our defaults use typical market pricing, which for a well-qualified borrower on a larger loan sits closer to prime plus 2.25%. The base rate here is the Wall Street Journal prime rate, 6.75% as of July 2026.

It tells you whether you would be approved. Debt service coverage ratio compares your operating income to your loan payments, and it is the number that decides most applications. Lenders disagree on the threshold. SBA policy sets a floor of 1.15 for loans over $350,000 and 1.10 for smaller 7(a) loans, while most banks apply their own 1.25 minimum. We show you where you land against all of them instead of picking one and calling it the answer.

What this does not do. It gives you a realistic estimate, not a quote. Your actual rate depends on credit history, collateral, time in business, and which lender you walk into. Lines of credit, SBA 504 loans, and merchant cash advances are not modeled here, because none of them amortizes the way a term loan does. If a lender quotes you a factor rate rather than an APR, ask them to convert it before you compare it to anything on this page.

Rate and fee data reviewed monthly. Fee schedules are set by SBA fiscal year and change every October 1.

What does an SBA loan actually cost in 2026?

Start with the base rate. The Wall Street Journal prime rate is 6.75% and has held there since the Federal Reserve's third cut of late 2025. Your lender adds a spread on top, and SBA caps how big that spread can be.

For a $250,000 working capital loan, the cap is prime plus 6.0%, or 12.75%. Most borrowers do better. A business with two years of history, a 700 credit score, and some collateral is typically quoted somewhere in the 10% to 12% range at that loan size. Above $350,000 the cap drops to prime plus 3.0%, and strong borrowers were getting quoted around 9.0% to 9.25% in July 2026.

Then add the fees, which is where the quoted rate stops telling the truth. On that same $250,000 loan you are looking at a guaranty fee of $5,625, a packaging fee somewhere between $2,500 and $5,000, and closing costs of roughly 1% of the loan. Call it $10,600 before you have made a single payment.

How much is the SBA guaranty fee?

This is the number almost every other calculator gets wrong, and the error always runs in the same direction.

SBA guarantees part of your loan, not all of it. The guarantee is 85% on loans of $150,000 or less and 75% above that. The upfront fee is a percentage of the guaranteed portion only.

Here is the fiscal year 2026 schedule for loans with terms longer than 12 months, from SBA Information Notice 5000-872051. Loans of $150,000 or less pay 2%. Loans from $150,001 to $700,000 pay 3%. Above $700,000, the fee is 3.5% of the guaranteed portion up to $1 million, plus 3.75% on anything above that.

Run a $500,000 loan through it. The guaranteed portion is $375,000. The fee is 3% of that, or $11,250. A calculator that applies 3% to the full $500,000 tells you $15,000 and overstates your cost by $3,750.

Two exemptions are worth checking before you apply. Manufacturers in NAICS sectors 31 to 33 pay nothing on 7(a) loans up to $950,000, and SBA Express loans to veteran-owned businesses carry no upfront fee at all. The manufacturer waiver expires September 30, 2026.

What interest rate will you actually get?

The cap is not the offer. That distinction costs borrowers real money, because plenty of people see prime plus 6.5% published somewhere and assume that is the going rate for a small loan.

What moves your rate, roughly in order of how much lenders care: cash flow coverage, credit score, collateral, and time in business. A 720 score with strong coverage and pledged real estate can pull a rate 1 to 2 points below the published maximum. Thin collateral and 18 months of history pushes you to the ceiling.

Loan size matters more than most borrowers expect. Smaller loans price higher because the lender's fixed underwriting cost gets spread across less principal. A $40,000 loan can legally carry prime plus 6.5%, or 13.25% today. A $400,000 loan is capped at prime plus 3.0%, or 9.75%. Same borrower, same business, 3.5 points of difference driven purely by the amount.

My blunt advice: get quotes from three SBA Preferred Lenders before you sign anything. The spread between the best and worst offer for the same borrower is routinely a full point.

How do lenders decide whether you can afford it?

They calculate your debt service coverage ratio. Take your annual net operating income, divide it by your annual debt payments including the new loan, and you get a number. Above 1.0 means the cash flow covers the debt. Below 1.0 means it does not.

The threshold is where it gets confusing, because there are two different answers and both are correct.

SBA sets a regulatory floor. Under SOP 50 10, loans over $350,000 need a ratio of at least 1.15, and 7(a) Small Loans need 1.10 under the SOP 50 10 8 update. But individual banks write their own credit policy on top of that, and most of them require 1.25.

So a business sitting at 1.18 on a $400,000 application satisfies SBA completely and still gets declined by the bank, because the bank's credit committee never gets past its own number. Nobody tells you this until you have spent six weeks on paperwork.

Ask your lender what their internal minimum is on the first call. It is a reasonable question and a straight answer saves you a month.

Should you take an SBA loan, a bank term loan, or equipment financing?

Depends on what you are buying and how fast you need it.

SBA 7(a) is usually the cheapest money a small business can get, and it is the slowest. Expect 30 to 90 days. It also stretches further: a 10-year amortization on working capital produces a much lower monthly payment than the 5-year term a bank will offer, which matters more than the rate if cash is tight.

Bank term loans run roughly 6.8% to 11% for well-qualified borrowers and fund in 7 to 30 days. No guaranty fee. If you can get one and the term length works, the paperwork is lighter.

Equipment financing sits at 6% to 12% at banks and credit unions, and funds in as little as two days, because the equipment secures the loan. If you are buying a truck or a CNC machine, this is usually the right product.

One warning on equipment lenders. Some quote a factor rate instead of an APR. A 1.20 factor on $50,000 means you repay $60,000, and on a short term the effective APR is far above 20%. Make them convert it before you compare.

Sources

• U.S. Small Business Administration. 7(a) loan program terms, conditions, and eligibility. sba.gov
• SBA Information Notice 5000-872051, 7(a) Fees Effective October 1, 2025 for Fiscal Year 2026. sba.gov
• U.S. Small Business Administration. SBA Waives Loan Fees for Small Manufacturers in Fiscal Year 2026, September 18, 2025. sba.gov
• SBA SOP 50 10, debt service coverage requirements.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Small Business Lending Survey.
• Wall Street Journal prime rate, July 2026.