# Guardian Due Diligence vs Rapid Diligence

Which searcher-focused QoE shop gets your deal?

## Choose Guardian Due Diligence

Choose Guardian for pattern depth in searcher-sized deals and hands-on guidance through the whole diligence arc, at published tiers from $20k that hold under $2 million of purchase price.

## Choose Rapid Diligence

Choose Rapid Diligence when the lower published price matters: a $16.5k full QoE, an $11.2k lite tier, and a $750 pre-LOI screen you can buy before committing to anything. Collect both quotes either way.

## Side by side

| | Guardian Due Diligence | Rapid Diligence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What It Is | A quality-of-earnings boutique for searcher-sized deals, naming $1M to $10M purchase prices on its front door. It offers a full QoE, a QoE Light delivered in Excel without the report, Cash Proof, and an Advised QoE with founder hours, plus a Deal Closer's Society membership for part-time searchers and Guardian Grow, a post-close program priced with an equity earn-in. Founded in 2017 by Elliott Holland, with $600M+ in transactions and 1,500+ deals evaluated. | A tech-enabled quality-of-earnings firm built for SMB buyers, with published pricing: full QoE from $16.5k, a lighter QoE from $11.2k, a $750 pre-LOI vetting report, a $1,097-per-month search advisory tier, and post-close bookkeeping and fractional-CFO services; the firm cites 250-plus deals reviewed across five years. It now also sells a lender-facing quality of earnings for SBA 7(a) files, and publishes 250 or more deals over five years across 50-plus sectors. |
| Category | Diligence & Earnings Review | Diligence & Earnings Review |
| Pricing Model | One-Time | One-Time |
| What It Costs | Publishes exact tiers on its services page: QoE Light $20k, full QoE $25k, Advised QoE $40k, with the caveat that pricing is for deals under $2 million in purchase price and larger deals are slightly more. Deal Closer's Society runs $24k one time or $3k per month for up to 18 months; Guardian Grow is $1k per month plus a 1 to 5 percent equity earn-in on a 3 year vesting schedule. | Published pricing (rapiddiligence.com, July 2026): QoE from $16.5k; QoE Lite from $11.2k; preliminary vetting report $750; search advisory $1,097 per month; bookkeeping from $549 per month; fractional CFO from $1,840 per month. Standard QoE turnaround 3 to 4 weeks with paid expediting. |
| Best For | Self-funded searchers who want a QoE shop that lives in sub-$5M deals rather than a regional CPA firm fitting them in | Buyers in the $1M to $20M range who want QoE pricing they can see before a sales call, plus a cheap pre-LOI screen ($750) that can kill a bad deal before diligence money burns |
| Where It Fits | Diligence & Close the Deal | Diligence & Close the Deal |
| Our Verdict | Shortlist them for QoE on searcher-sized deals; with the tiers published, the first call is a scoping call rather than a pricing discovery. | Get its quote alongside Guardian's on any standard deal; the published pricing keeps everyone honest, and the $750 pre-LOI screen is worth it on marginal targets regardless of who does your full QoE. |

Full review of Guardian Due Diligence: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/guardian-due-diligence
Full review of Rapid Diligence: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/rapid-diligence

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/guardian-vs-rapid-diligence
Last checked: 2026-09-07

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