The short answer: BizBuySell is the largest marketplace, with the most listings and traffic. BizQuest shares much of the same network and inventory. BizScout adds quality-scored and off-market listings with modern buyer tooling. Baton charges sellers a lower fee and includes reconciled financials with every listing. All four are free for buyers to browse. Because brokers commonly cross-list, the same deal often appears on more than one site, so no single marketplace shows you everything.
The four marketplaces, side by side
These are the four most-referenced business-for-sale marketplaces for US buyers in 2026. Figures below come from platform-reported data and independent marketplace analyses, see Sources.
| Marketplace | Listings | Best for | Cost to buyer | Notable feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BizBuySell | Tens of thousands active; ~65,000+ listed annually | Widest selection, most traffic | Free | ~3M monthly visits; 9,586 closed 2025 deals, $350k median sale price |
| BizQuest | ~35,000 listings | Secondary check alongside BizBuySell | Free | Same network as BizBuySell; heavy inventory overlap |
| BizScout | 20,000+ scored listings | Off-market leads & deal analysis tools | Free, Pro, or Private Client tiers | ScoutSights pricing checks vs. ~300,000 historical listings; DealOS pipeline |
| Baton | Not publicly disclosed | Reconciled financials, lower seller fees | Free | Sellers pay ~6% vs. typical 10-12%; native data room; $50k-$25M+ range |
BizBuySell
BizBuySell is the largest business-for-sale marketplace in the US. It carries tens of thousands of active listings, with roughly 65,000+ businesses listed over the course of a year, and draws about 3 million monthly visits. According to its own Insight Report, BizBuySell tracked 9,586 closed transactions in 2025 with a $350,000 median sale price. It's free for buyers to browse; sellers and the brokers representing them pay to list.
BizQuest
BizQuest carries around 35,000 listings and about 1.5 million monthly visitors. It's part of the same network as BizBuySell, which means a large share of its inventory overlaps, many brokers list a deal on both sites at once to maximize exposure. It's also free for buyers to search.
BizScout
BizScout takes a different approach. It lists 20,000+ businesses that are scored for quality, and layers in an off-market deal engine plus a web-wide scanner that surfaces opportunities not posted elsewhere. Its ScoutSights tool checks a listing's asking price against roughly 300,000 historical listings, and its DealOS tools help buyers track a pipeline of deals. BizScout offers Free, Pro, and Private Client buyer tiers, the paid tiers unlock more of its analysis tools.
Baton
Baton (Baton Market) is built around lower seller costs and cleaner financials. It offers free business valuations and charges sellers around 6%, well below the 10-12% a traditional broker typically charges. Every listing includes reconciled financials and a native data room, and Baton covers businesses roughly from $50,000 up to $25 million or more. It raised a $10M Series A in January 2025 and is free for buyers to search across all 50 states.
No single marketplace has every deal, the same listing often shows up on two or three of them at once.
I check all four of these on a rotation, and I still see the same handful of deals cross-posted more often than not, that overlap is exactly why I never trust one site to show me everything worth seeing.
Brokers cross-list, so plan to check more than one site
Because the same broker often lists a deal on BizBuySell, BizQuest, and BizScout simultaneously, checking only one marketplace means missing deals that never make it there, and missing early access on deals that appear on a smaller site first.
Which one should you use
Start with BizBuySell for the widest view of what's available, and set alerts on your buy-box criteria. Add BizQuest as a secondary check since it costs nothing extra. If you want scored listings and off-market leads in one place, BizScout is worth the free tier at minimum. If clean financials and a lower seller fee matter to you, watch Baton, sellers using it tend to come to the table with better documentation already in hand. None of these replace off-market outreach, which finds deals that never reach any marketplace at all.
Watch for red flags before you dig in
Not every listing is what it looks like. Learn what to check first.
Frequently asked questions
BizBuySell is the largest US business-for-sale marketplace, with tens of thousands of active listings, roughly 65,000+ businesses listed annually, and about 3 million monthly visits. It tracked 9,586 closed transactions in 2025 with a $350,000 median sale price.
Yes, on all four marketplaces covered here, BizBuySell, BizQuest, BizScout, and Baton, buyers can search and browse listings for free. Sellers and brokers are the ones who pay to list, though BizScout also offers paid Pro and Private Client tiers with extra buyer tools.
There is heavy overlap. BizQuest is part of the same network as BizBuySell, and many brokers cross-list their deals on both sites, plus BizScout and Baton. No single marketplace has every deal, which is why serious buyers monitor more than one.
Baton charges sellers around 6% instead of the typical 10-12% brokers charge, and listings include reconciled financials with a native data room. It offers free valuations, covers businesses from about $50,000 to $25 million or more, and is free for buyers to search across all 50 states.
Sources
- Listings, traffic, and transaction data, bizbuysell.com Insight Report (2025-2026).
- Marketplace features and buyer tiers, bizscout.com.
- Seller fees, valuations, and funding, baton.com; Series A funding announcement (January 2025).
- Comparative marketplace analysis, CT Acquisitions marketplace analyses (2025-2026).
