SaaS Broker vs Marketplace: Which Sells Your SaaS for More

Short answer: a SaaS broker runs a managed sale and charges 10% to 15% of the price, which earns its keep on larger, complex deals but often outweighs the help on a bootstrapped or micro SaaS. A marketplace lets you self-list to a pool of vetted buyers for a fraction of that fee, so for most sub-seven-figure AI SaaS the marketplace usually nets more of the price. Pick the broker when the deal is big or messy, the marketplace when you want speed, control and to keep more of the proceeds. Last updated July 2026. Educational only, not financial advice.

SaaS broker vs marketplace: the core difference

Both routes end in the same place, a sold business, but they get there differently. A broker is a person you hire to run the sale: they value the business, write the memorandum, market it to their private buyer list, field offers and negotiate, in return for a success fee. A marketplace is software you list on: you publish your own metrics, set your price and multiple, and talk to buyers directly, for a flat or listing-based fee. One sells your time back to you for a percentage of the deal; the other hands you the tools and the buyer pool and stays out of the negotiation.

What does a SaaS broker cost?

A SaaS broker typically charges a success fee of 10% to 15% of the final sale price, sometimes with a minimum fee and an upfront retainer of a few thousand dollars. On a $200,000 sale, a 12% fee is $24,000 that comes straight out of your proceeds. Larger deals often use a sliding scale (a Double Lehman style structure) that lowers the percentage above set thresholds, which is one reason brokers make more sense as the number climbs: the same percentage buys a lot more work when the deal is $3M than when it is $150,000.

When a broker is worth the fee

A broker earns the commission in a few clear situations. The business is large, often mid-seven figures or more, where a managed, confidential process and the broker's relationships genuinely widen the buyer field. The financials need heavy normalizing, with tangled owner add-backs or messy books a buyer will not trust on their own. Or you simply have no time to run a sale and want someone else carrying it end to end. In those cases the fee is buying real leverage, and it usually pays for itself in a higher, cleaner close.

When a marketplace nets you more

For most bootstrapped and micro AI SaaS, the math tilts the other way. A product doing $40,000 MRR that sells for $1.9M would hand a broker $190,000 to $285,000 at a 10% to 15% fee. On a self-serve marketplace with verified metrics and a vetted buyer pool, you reach serious buyers without surrendering that slice, and you keep control of price and terms. The catch is that you do the work the broker would have done: preparing the numbers, answering diligence questions and negotiating. If your metrics are clean and you are comfortable talking to buyers, that work is very well paid at the marketplace fee.

Before you pick a route, it helps to have an independent read on what the business is actually worth, so you can sanity-check any broker's pitch or set your own asking price with confidence. Run the figures through our SaaS valuation calculator to translate ARR into a defensible multiple, then compare that number against recent comparable sales and the published multiples on real listings.

How buyers verify your numbers either way

Whichever route you choose, a serious buyer will confirm that your reported revenue is real before they wire anything. That usually means reconciling the MRR you claim against the actual deposits in the business bank account and the payment processor. Sellers who make this easy close faster: export the last 12 to 24 months of statements and be ready to show that the money landed. If your records live in PDF statements, you can convert those bank statements into a clean spreadsheet so the deposits line up against your MRR report at a glance. Clean, verifiable numbers are the single biggest thing that protects your multiple in diligence.

SaaS broker vs marketplace: which sells for more?

Neither route reliably fetches a higher headline price, the market sets that. What differs is what you keep. On a small deal, the 10% to 15% broker fee is often larger than any premium a broker can realistically add, so the marketplace nets more. On a large or complicated deal, a broker's process and buyer access can lift the final price by more than their fee, so the broker nets more. The honest rule of thumb: below roughly $1M, lean marketplace; well above it, or when the books are complex, get a broker quote and weigh it against what they will actually add.

Do I need a broker to sell my SaaS?

No. You need a broker only when a managed process and their buyer relationships add more value than their fee costs. For a clean, sub-seven-figure AI SaaS, a marketplace with verified metrics, vetted buyers and escrow reaches serious acquirers without the success fee. Buyouts is built for exactly that case: you list to vetted AI SaaS buyers with a published multiple, keep control of the terms, and close with escrow. If your deal is large or your books need work, a broker may still be the better call, and this comparison is meant to help you choose, not to talk you out of one.

Wherever you land, the preparation is the same: verified metrics, clean books, and a defensible price. Read our SaaS exit strategy guide to get the business ready, then browse where to sell your SaaS to compare venues side by side.