A free MCA calculator that shows your real cost
This merchant cash advance calculator — also called an MCA loan calculator or factor rate calculator — turns the three numbers on your offer (advance amount, factor rate, and term) into the figures that actually matter: your total payback, cost of capital, estimated daily and weekly payment, and an effective APR you can compare to a bank loan. It runs entirely in your browser, it's free, and there's no sign-up.
Use it as an MCA APR calculator to annualize your cost, as a daily-payment calculator to check the debit against your cash flow, or as a quick factor-rate calculator to see total repayment before you sign. Whatever your funder calls it, the math is the same — and it's spelled out below. New to the product? Start with what a merchant cash advance is, or see the full merchant cash advance breakdown.
How the math actually works
A merchant cash advance is not a loan — it is a sale of future receivables. That distinction changes how the cost is calculated. There is no interest rate; there is a factor rate, a fixed multiplier applied to your advance amount up front. Here is the entire formula:
Worked example
The total dollar cost is fixed. It does not increase if repayment takes longer. It does not decrease if you pay it off early (unless your contract includes an early-payoff discount — most do not). This is the single biggest mental shift business owners need when comparing an MCA to a traditional loan.
How much does a merchant cash advance cost?
The quickest way to sanity-check an offer is to look at total payback across common advance amounts. At a mid-range 1.35 factor rate, here's what you'd repay:
| Advance | Factor rate | Total payback | Cost of capital |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | 1.35 | $13,500 | $3,500 |
| $25,000 | 1.35 | $33,750 | $8,750 |
| $50,000 | 1.35 | $67,500 | $17,500 |
| $100,000 | 1.35 | $135,000 | $35,000 |
| $250,000 | 1.35 | $337,500 | $87,500 |
The cost moves in a straight line with the factor rate — a 1.20 factor on $50,000 costs $10,000, while a 1.49 factor on the same $50,000 costs $24,500. Move the sliders above to match your exact offer.
Converting a factor rate to an APR
Banks quote loans in APR; MCA funders quote factor rates. To compare the two, convert the factor rate to an effective APR: divide the cost of capital by the advance, then multiply by 365 divided by the payback period in days. A $50,000 advance at a 1.35 factor repaid over 12 months works out to roughly a 35% effective APR:
| Factor rate | Cost on $50K | ~APR (12-mo payback) | ~APR (6-mo payback) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.15 | $7,500 | ~15% | ~30% |
| 1.25 | $12,500 | ~25% | ~50% |
| 1.35 | $17,500 | ~35% | ~70% |
| 1.49 | $24,500 | ~49% | ~98% |
Notice the same dollar cost produces a higher APR over a shorter payback — which is why a fast MCA can show a large APR even when the actual dollars are manageable. For a deeper look at pricing, see MCA rates & factor rates explained.
What each input means
Advance amount
The lump sum you receive at funding. Most funders fund between $5,000 and $500,000 on a single advance; $1 million and above is possible with strong revenue but uncommon. The amount you qualify for is typically 80–125% of your average monthly revenue. So if you average $80K/month in deposits, expect offers in the $64K–$100K range.
Factor rate
A decimal between 1.10 and 1.50 that determines how much you repay. A 1.10 factor is excellent (10% cost); a 1.50 is high-risk pricing. The factor rate depends on:
- Credit score — 700+ gets you 1.15–1.25; 550–650 gets you 1.30–1.40; below 550 typically lands at 1.40+
- Time in business — under 12 months adds 0.05–0.10 to the factor
- Industry risk — restaurants, bars, gas stations, and seasonal businesses pay more
- Existing MCA balances — stacking (taking a second MCA while one is open) often adds 0.10+
- Funder competition — this is where a broker matters. One direct offer = the funder's pricing. Multiple competing offers = lower factor rates.
Term length
How long until the advance is repaid in full. MCAs typically run 6 to 18 months. The calculator caps at 24 months because anything longer is the wrong product — if you need a 2+ year payback, you want a term loan, not an MCA. Term length affects only the speed of repayment and your daily/weekly debit; it does not change the total cost.
Two payment structures exist:
- Daily ACH — fixed amount pulled every business day (Mon–Fri). The calculator's “daily payment” reflects this.
- Percentage holdback — funder takes a share (typically 8–20%) of each day's card sales instead of a fixed amount. Your debit flexes with revenue. The calculator's daily payment is the average if your revenue is steady.
Some funders also offer weekly ACH as an alternative for businesses that prefer one larger pull per week instead of small daily pulls.
About that “Effective APR equivalent”
You will notice the APR equivalent in the calculator often shows 40–100%+. This is not deceptive funding — it is the honest annualized cost of short-term capital. The dollar cost is fixed; the APR is just a way of expressing that cost on a 365-day annual basis so you can compare it to a traditional loan.
Why does the APR look high? Because an MCA repaid in 6 months represents the same cost annualized differently from a 12-month product. APR is just one way to measure — what matters most is whether the capital generates more value than its cost. Compare total dollars, total time, and ROI on the capital, not APR to factor rate — they are not the same number on the same scale.
For most small businesses, the right question is not “is this APR high?” but “does this funding generate more value than its cost over the next 6–12 months?” A restaurant that takes a $50,000 advance to buy new equipment that adds $8,000/month in revenue earns the cost back in two months and runs the rest at profit.
How to lower your real cost
- Improve your credit score above 600 before applying. Even 30 points can drop your factor rate by 0.05.
- Show consistent revenue — no NSFs, no negative days, ideally 3+ months of growth.
- Avoid stacking. A second MCA while one is open puts you in the highest pricing tier.
- Apply through a broker. A single direct funder gives you one offer. A broker submits to the right funders simultaneously, generating competing offers. The lowest factor rate wins.
- Negotiate the holdback. If cash flow is tight, ask for 10% instead of 15%. The total cost is identical — just slower repayment.
- Read the contract for fees. Origination fees, ACH fees, and underwriting fees can add 1–4% to the real cost. The calculator above does not include these.
How much does a merchant cash advance cost per month?
Divide your total payback by the number of months in the term. A $50,000 advance at a 1.35 factor rate is $67,500 repaid; over 12 months that is $5,625 a month, and over 18 months it is $3,750 a month. Stretching the term changes the monthly figure. It does not change the total.
| Term | Total payback | Per month | Per business day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 months | $67,500 | $11,250 | ~$511 |
| 9 months | $67,500 | $7,500 | ~$341 |
| 12 months | $67,500 | $5,625 | ~$256 |
| 18 months | $67,500 | $3,750 | ~$170 |
| 24 months | $67,500 | $2,813 | ~$128 |
Funders debit daily or weekly, so nobody quotes you a monthly number — but the monthly number is the one that lines up with your profit and loss statement, your rent, and your payroll. Work it out before you sign and put it next to your worst month of the last year, not your average one. A remittance that clears comfortably in a good month is the same dollar amount in a slow one.
What this calculator does not include
Three things sit outside the math above: contract fees, reconciliation, and any advance you already have open. An origination or underwriting fee of 1% to 4% is normally deducted from the wire, so you receive less than the advance figure while still repaying the full total — which makes your real cost higher than the factor rate alone suggests.
Read the fee schedule in the contract and add those numbers by hand. Common line items are origination or underwriting fees, an ACH or wire fee per debit, and sometimes a program or servicing fee. Then check how your deal handles slow weeks: a percentage-holdback deal flexes down automatically when card sales drop, while a fixed daily ACH does not, and getting it adjusted means invoking the contract's reconciliation clause. Our guide to holdback and reconciliation covers how that process actually works.
This gap between the quoted number and the lived cost is measurable. In the Federal Reserve Banks' 2026 Small Business Credit Survey report on employer firms, 60% of firms that borrowed from an online lender said their actual borrowing costs came in higher than expected, against 37% at small banks and 32% at large banks — and only 4% of online-lender borrowers found costs lower than expected. High rates and unfavorable repayment terms were the most-cited challenges at those lenders. The fix is unglamorous: price the contract in full, including the fees this calculator leaves out, before you sign it.
How big an advance can your revenue support?
Most funders size an advance at 80% to 125% of your average monthly deposits, so a business averaging $80,000 a month typically sees offers between $64,000 and $100,000. What you are offered and what you can carry are two different questions, and the second one is the one that matters.
The test is whether the remittance still clears in your weakest month with the bills paid. If it does not, take less than the maximum offer — a smaller advance you can service beats a larger one that forces a second advance three months later. We walk through the arithmetic in how much of an MCA your business can actually afford, and what determines your factor rate explains which parts of your file move the price.