How We Review Equipment Financing
Our transparent process for researching and evaluating equipment financing.
No Pay-to-Play
We never accept payment to change our analysis.
Primary Sources
Lender disclosures and program documents, not marketing pages.
Dated & Updated
Pages carry a Last Updated date and get refreshed when rules change.
How We Research
MachineFunded is a research desk, not a lender. We evaluate equipment financing options by reading the primary material — lender disclosures and published rate sheets, SBA program documents, and IRS publications — and comparing what lenders actually offer against what their marketing implies. We never accept payment to alter our analysis or recommendations, and we never claim hands-on experiences we have not had: this is desk research, done carefully and cited.
Our Evaluation Criteria
We compare lenders and financing structures across five weighted dimensions:
| Criteria | Weight | What We Assess |
|---|---|---|
| Total Cost | 30% | Published rate ranges, fees, and how honestly pricing is disclosed (APR vs. factor rates) |
| Accessibility | 25% | Credit, revenue, and time-in-business requirements; used-equipment and app-only policies |
| Fine Print | 20% | End-of-term clauses, prepayment terms, personal guarantees, evergreen traps |
| Speed & Process | 15% | Realistic time from application to funding; documentation burden |
| Fit | 10% | Which borrowers and equipment types the option genuinely serves |
Our Process
- Primary-source research — program rules, lender disclosures, and official documentation before anything else.
- Cross-checking — claims are verified against a second source; numbers we cannot attribute do not ship.
- Comparative framing — every option is presented against its realistic alternatives, trade-offs included.
- Desk review — a second set of eyes edits for accuracy, hedging where rules change, and removal of hype.
- Dated publication — pages carry a "Last Updated" date so you can judge currency yourself.
What We Deliberately Don't Do
We don't freeze fast-changing numbers (current-year Section 179 caps, live APRs) into evergreen pages — we point you to irs.gov, sba.gov, and lender sites instead. We don't publish fabricated testimonials or invented statistics. We don't attach professional credentials to our pseudonymous staff bylines. And we don't gate the research: no email walls, no pop-ups, no surprise phone-number fields. Lead capture lives in exactly one clearly-marked place — the financing desk at /get-financing — where you choose to share your information so funding partners can contact you; every application still happens directly with the lender, which makes all credit decisions.
Editorial Independence
MachineFunded earns revenue through affiliate commissions when readers visit partners through our links, and may receive compensation from the funding partners we connect readers with through the financing desk. Neither ever influences our analysis or which options we recommend. Business-purpose financing only; nothing here is individualized financial, tax, or legal advice.
How Often We Update
We review and update our core comparison pages periodically and whenever a significant program or lender change occurs. The "Last Updated" date on each page reflects when we last verified the information.
Contact the Desk
If you believe a page contains an error or outdated information, please contact us — corrections get priority.
Last updated August 22, 2026