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Acquire.com vs Empire Flippers

Side by Side

AttributeAcquire.comEmpire Flippers
What It IsOnline marketplace for buying and selling profitable internet businesses, SaaS, ecommerce, agencies, newsletters, and content sites (expanded beyond SaaS-only in 2025). Buyers browse listings free and pay an annual membership to unlock financials and message sellers; the platform bundles LOI/APA document builders and free escrow through closing.A curated marketplace and brokerage for established online businesses (content, ecommerce, SaaS, Amazon FBA) that vets every listing before it publishes, requiring a 12-month track record and a minimum of $1,500 per month in net profit, and manages the sale through migration.
CategoryListing MarketplacesListing Marketplaces
Pricing ModelFreemiumSuccess Fee
What It CostsBuyer side (from acquire.com/pricing and help.acquire.com, July 2026): Basic is free (browse public listings only, no financials, no founder contact); Premium is $390/year billed annually, limited to startups up to $250k TTM revenue; Platinum is $780/year billed annually with access to listings of all sizes. Full refund within 7 days of initial paid plan; no pro-rated refunds after. Seller side (from acquire.com/seller-pricing): monthly listing fee plus success fee tiered by asking price, under $250k: $25/mo + 8% closing fee; $250k–$1M: $50/mo + 7%; over $1M: $100/mo + 6%; closing fee due only at a successful sale. "Guided by Acquire" advisory is included free for SaaS with $100k+ TTM revenue.Free for buyers to browse; identity and funds verification unlocks full listing detail, and no buyer commission is published. Seller commission is tiered and published (empireflippers.com, July 2026): a $10,000 flat fee up to $66,666.66 of sale price; 15% from there to $700,000; 8% on the portion from $700,000 to $5M; 2.5% above $5M. No listing or vetting fees are published.
Best ForSearchers whose thesis specifically includes SaaS or other online businesses, especially in the roughly $100k–$1M asking range where inventory is deepest; a cheap secondary pipeline for anyone open to digital deals. Wrong tool for Main Street/brick-and-mortar searchers or those who will only look at $1M+ EBITDA companies.Buyers whose thesis includes established online businesses in the low six to low seven figures who want pre-vetted financials and a managed transfer process rather than raw classifieds
Where It FitsSource & Screen DealsSource & Screen Deals
Our VerdictAt $390–$780/yr it's easily justified deal flow if your thesis includes online businesses, but treat it as a supplement: most inventory sits below the size and SBA-financeability profile a $500k–$5M searcher actually needs.The default starting point for vetted online-business deal flow; use it when your thesis is digital, and expect the vetting you are paying for to also apply to you as a buyer.
Pros & Cons
  • Cheap, transparent buyer-side pricing: $390–$780/yr flat with no buyer-side success fee, far below brokered or off-market sourcing costs
  • Largest curated inventory of profitable online/SaaS businesses, with standardized financials, seller vetting, and claimed $500M+ in closed deal volume; closings reportedly happening daily in 2026
  • Integrated transaction plumbing (LOI/APA builders, free escrow, guided workflow), vendor data shows most deals that close do so within ~90 days
  • Inventory skews small and digital: third-party tracking puts average asking near $434k, and listings thin out sharply above $1M; searchers hunting $2M–$5M SBA-sized deals will find few fits
  • Young, asset-light online businesses are often awkward SBA 7(a) candidates (short operating history, owner-dependent, no hard assets), so many deals here close with cash or seller notes rather than the leverage a self-funded searcher wants
  • Heavy buyer competition: 500k+ registered buyers means attractive listings draw dozens of inquiries within days; there is nothing proprietary about this deal flow
  • Every listing passes vetting with a 12-month track record and profit minimum, which removes much of the junk that plagues open marketplaces
  • Published, predictable seller fee tiers; the vendor reports 2,645 deals sold
  • Managed migration after purchase reduces the riskiest step of buying an online business
  • Inventory is online-business only; poor fit for Main Street or SBA-financed theses
  • Full listing details sit behind identity and funds verification, so casual browsing is limited
  • The 15% mid-tier seller commission is high relative to traditional brokerage, which sellers price into asking multiples

Our take

Choose Acquire.com for self-serve breadth and the lowest entry: you browse and reach out yourself, with buyer tiers priced for volume rather than hand-holding.

Choose Empire Flippers when you want screened listings and a brokered process: fewer, vetted deals with support through close, at a higher cost.

Put It to Work

Whichever side wins for you, Pipeline Tracker gives every listing you pull a stage and a next action.