SBA loan calculator: what your loan costs, and what others really paid

The four numbers behind an SBA loan

The guaranty fee. SBA charges it once, on the part of the loan it guarantees, and nearly every lender adds it to the balance. It is the only fee the program itself charges a 7(a) borrower. On a $100,000 loan it is $1,700; on $500,000, $11,250; on $2,000,000, $53,750. The guaranty fee page shows the whole schedule and its two cliffs.

The margin over prime. A variable SBA rate is the prime rate, the base rate banks lend from, plus a margin written into the loan contract for the life of the loan. SBA’s lending rules cap that margin by loan size: 6.5 points up to $50,000, 6.0 up to $250,000, 4.5 up to $350,000, 3.0 above. Fixed rates have their own ceiling, set by SBA in 2022.

The term. Ten years is the usual limit for equipment and working capital, twenty-five for real estate, with a blended maturity when a loan finances several things. The term matters as much as the rate: stretching $350,000 from 10 to 25 years cuts the payment by more than a third and roughly doubles the interest.

The prime rate itself. Prime was 7.25% until October 29, 2025, 7.00% from October 30, 6.75% from December 11 and 7.00% again from September 17, 2026, according to the Federal Reserve’s daily series. Every variable SBA loan followed it, so the same margin produced a quarter point more or less depending on the month.

Three things stand out. First, the gap between median and cap is widest on the smallest loans: 31.0% of loans of $50,000 or less were priced at the maximum, against 3.0% of those just above. A small borrower is the one most likely to be offered the ceiling and the one with most to gain from a second quote.

Second, the lender matters more than the program. Readycap Lending priced 55.0% of its variable loans at the cap and Newtek Bank 43.0%, while several of the largest SBA lenders almost never did. On loans of $50,000 or less, the median rate went from 9.12% at Eastern Bank to 13.25% at Fifth Third Bank. The lender page has the 25 busiest.

Third, markets differ by state. Ohio borrowers got 67.0% of their loans from in-state lenders, Nevada borrowers 1.0%. The median loan ran from $349,900 in Mississippi to $60,000 in Vermont, which moves both the cap and the fee. Each state has its own page under SBA loans by state.

The calculator uses this file twice: to prefill an example rate, the median for the amount you type, and to tell you where your own rate falls among the 56,130 approvals. No borrower is named anywhere on this site; the counts are aggregates, and cells of fewer than 10 loans are not shown.

What changed for fiscal year 2027

The fee notice for loans approved from October 1, 2026 kept the 2%, 3% and 3.5% to 3.75% steps of FY 2026, but changed who pays nothing. In FY 2026, manufacturers paid no fee on loans up to $950,000. From October 1, 2026, the relief stops at $700,000 and covers more businesses: manufacturers (NAICS 31-33), the listed food supply chain codes and businesses located in a rural area. A manufacturer borrowing $900,000 now pays $23,625; a rural restaurant borrowing $300,000 pays nothing where it paid $6,750 a year earlier.

SBA also issued technical updates to its lending rulebook, effective October 1, 2026; the rate caps and maturities used here are unchanged by them. On the 504 side, the FY 2027 notice sets SBA’s upfront fee at 0.50% and its annual fee at 0.203%, waived for the same groups as the 7(a) relief, with no amount limit.

Three borrowers, worked through

A landscaper borrowing $40,000 through SBA Express over 7 years. The 50% guaranty puts the fee at $400. At the cap, 13.50%, the payment is $746 and the interest $22,262; at the FY 2026 median margin for that size, moved to today’s prime, 11.15%, it is $695 and $17,975. The difference, $4,288, is the price of not asking a second lender.

A machine shop borrowing $350,000 for equipment over 10 years. A machine shop is a manufacturer in SBA’s sense: its industry code starts with 33. At the median margin for loans of $250,001 to $350,000, 9.75% today, it pays no guaranty fee and $4,577 a month. The same loan to a business outside the relief groups pays a $7,875 fee and $4,680 a month: the relief saves $7,875, with the same rate.

A dental practice buying its building for $1,200,000 over 25 years. As a 7(a) loan at the median margin for large loans, 9.00% today, the fee is $31,500 and the payment $10,335. Structured as a 504 project of about $1,333,000 with 10% down, the debenture alone carries $16,800 of fees, while its fixed rate removes the risk of prime rising. The 504 page lays out the three parts.

What the calculator leaves out

It counts SBA’s guaranty fee and every interest payment at the rate you type, held constant. It does not forecast prime: if prime rises a point, a variable payment rises with it. It leaves out lender fees that SBA allows within limits, such as packaging fees, and third-party costs such as appraisals, environmental reports, title insurance and recording, because they vary by deal; ask each lender to itemize them. It assumes the fee is financed, as most lenders do, and that the loan runs to term; if you may repay early, the prepayment page covers SBA’s 5-3-1 fee on long loans.

Nor does it tell you whether you qualify. Eligibility, collateral and the rate are decided by the lender under SBA’s rules. This site does not take applications, does not share what you type, and does not pass you to any lender: everything is worked out in your browser.

Comparing an SBA quote with a bank loan without a guarantee? The comparison calculator puts both on the same effective rate. Checking a single quote? The SBA loan rates checker places it among the 56,130 approvals of FY 2026, by size.

Sources

Each fee, rate cap and loan count on this page comes from the SBA notices, federal rules and SBA loan files listed below, read on November 8, 2026.