How much is my website worth? Profit multiples explained (2026)

The formula most buyers use

A small website is usually worth a multiple of its profit. Not its traffic, not its revenue: what is left after every cost.

Empire Flippers’ valuation tool spells out the formula: “[12 Months Total Net Profit] x Multiple (Typically 1.7-5+)”. It uses SDE for smaller businesses and EBITDA for larger ones.

• SDE (seller’s discretionary earnings) is profit with the owner’s own pay and personal or one-off costs added back. It shows what a new owner-operator would earn.
• EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It is used once a business has staff and managers.

Brokers quote the multiple two ways, and mixing them up is an easy mistake:

To convert, multiply a yearly multiple by 12, or divide a monthly one by 12. Empire Flippers uses both: yearly on its valuation tool, monthly in its industry report.

Published multiples, and who published them

Only a few firms publish numbers. Each one reflects its own deals, so treat them as ranges, not a price list.

Empire Flippers, 2025 deals

Its 2026 State of the Industry report gives average multiples by deal size. The size table is labeled “Avg Multiple” without saying monthly or yearly. Given the average prices, they read as multiples of monthly profit.

The marketplace-wide monthly sales multiple was 23.93x. Average listing multiples (monthly) by quality were 13.7x for distressed, 27.8x for typical, 31.1x for premium and 41x for 7-figure premium businesses. Listing multiples are asking prices; sales multiples are what deals closed at.

An older Empire Flippers page shows content-site sales multiples of 27.6 (2018), 29.9 (2019) and 31.6 (2020) on a monthly basis. That data is from 2018 to 2020, so don’t use it as a current benchmark.

FE International

FE International, an M&A advisor for larger deals, says in its valuation guide (February 2, 2026) that website valuations range from 3x to 10x yearly net income or SDE. It ranks SaaS highest, ecommerce and digital products above average, and content and lead-generation sites below average.

• SaaS (FE article, August 25, 2026): under $1M in ARR (annual recurring revenue), about 2.5x to 4x SDE. On revenue, sub-$1M ARR sells for about 2x to 3x ARR, rising to 5x to 7x above $20M. FE says 8x or more is reachable for fast-growing, profitable companies with net revenue retention above 120%.
• Ecommerce (FE article, September 22, 2026): owner-operated stores under about $5M at 2.0x to 4.0x SDE; established brands 3.0x to 6.0x EBITDA; premium, diversified brands 6.0x to 10.0x+. Amazon-only catalogs sit at the low end of each band, and omnichannel sellers earn a 15% to 25% premium over online-only peers.

Acquire.com

Acquire.com’s multiples report (updated September 1, 2026) gives a median SaaS profit multiple of 3.9x for confirmed sales in both 2024 and 2025. It doesn’t disclose the sample size.

What the others say

• Flippa teases that “Top-quartile assets are pulling 2.7x higher multiples” but publishes no multiples on its sell page.
• Motion Invest says its Direct Buy offers come at a lower multiple than a marketplace listing, without saying how much lower.
• Quiet Light uses SDE times a multiple (its example: $100K SDE x 3 = $300K) but publishes no standard ranges.

What raises or lowers the multiple

The published sources agree on the big factors. Here is what each one points to.

Things that push the price up:

• Business type. FE ranks SaaS first and content sites below average.
• Quality and size. In Empire Flippers’ 2025 data, larger deals averaged higher multiples (22.42x under $300K vs 35.09x over $1M), and premium listings asked 31.1x vs 13.7x for distressed ones.
• Several channels. FE gives omnichannel ecommerce a 15% to 25% premium over online-only peers.
• Customers who stay. For SaaS, FE says net revenue retention above 120%, with fast, profitable growth, can reach 8x+ revenue.
• Traffic spread across many pages, steady or rising. Motion Invest’s accepted-sites article asks for exactly that, mostly organic and mostly US.

Things that pull it down:

• Decline. Motion Invest turns down sites in decline, and “distressed” listings averaged 13.7x at Empire Flippers.
• Signs of manipulation. Empire Flippers rejects businesses showing penalties, deleted accounts, 301 redirects or fake SEO and followers; two or more instances mean immediate rejection.
• Tangled accounts. Earnings that can’t be separated from your other sites are a reason for Motion Invest to say no.
• Short history. Empire Flippers wants 12 months; ad and affiliate sites need 12 months on the same domain.

Our view, not a published figure: a site that is easy to move is easier to sell. Self-hosted WordPress scores 10/10 on our exit scores and goes to any host as files and a database. A site on a builder that scores low has to change hands inside that builder, which narrows the pool of buyers. No broker publishes a multiple by platform.

A worked example

Take a three-year-old content site with $2,500 a month in revenue and $500 a month in costs (writers, tools, hosting). Net profit is $2,000 a month, or $24,000 over 12 months, right at Empire Flippers’ minimum.

The realistic middle is around $45,000 to $56,000. Now subtract fees at $55,600:

• Empire Flippers: the flat $10,000. You keep $45,600.
• Flippa: 10% ($5,560) plus a $29 to $699 package. You keep $49,341 to $50,011 before any escrow share.
• Motion Invest: 10% in its $50,000 to $100,000 band ($5,560). You keep $50,040.

Every cost counts more than once

Because the price is a multiple of profit, each dollar of yearly cost you cut adds 1.7 to 5 dollars to the price. Trimming $100 a month ($1,200 a year) of tools you don’t need adds about $2,040 to $6,000 at Empire Flippers’ range.

The reverse is also true. Our site-wide baseline for a small WordPress site’s running costs is $432.60 over three years ($143.64 for Bluehost Starter at $3.99 a month on a 36-month term, renewing at $9.99, plus $36.96 in domain renewals and $252 for one Google Workspace inbox). That is about $144.20 a year, which takes roughly $245 to $721 off the price at 1.7x to 5x. A buyer will count those costs, so count them first.

Extras on top of the multiple

Empire Flippers notes that inventory or other assets may be added on top of the profit multiple. For an ecommerce store, stock on hand is often priced separately. For a content site, there is rarely anything to add: the content, domain and accounts are the business.

The buyer’s math: how long to earn it back

A monthly multiple is also a payback period. If profit holds steady, a site bought at 22.42x monthly profit earns back its price in about 22 months. At 27.8x it takes about 28 months, and at 36x (3x yearly) it takes three years.

That is why buyers push hard on the trend. A three-year payback only works if the site still earns the same in year three. If profit falls by a third, the same purchase takes far longer to earn back, and running costs keep coming either way. Our buying checklist covers how to test the numbers before you pay.

Revenue is not profit

Some listings lead with revenue. A store doing $20,000 a month in sales might keep $2,000 after products, shipping, ads and fees, and only that $2,000 is multiplied. Always ask for the monthly profit and loss, and rebuild it yourself from the dashboards.

When there is no profit to multiply

A site with little or no income has no multiple to apply, and most venues won’t take it. Motion Invest asks for about $20 a month in average revenue, and Investors Club for at least $30 a month over the past 12 months with a year of history. Acquire.com makes one exception: pre-revenue SaaS under $25,000 with active customers. Below those lines, a site sells on what it would cost a buyer to rebuild, the age and quality of the content, and the domain name itself. Expect a low price, and an open marketplace such as Flippa is the usual venue.

How to get a number for your own site

1. Build 12 months of profit and loss, month by month, from real statements. Leave out income from other sites.
2. Add back only what a buyer will accept: your own pay, one-off costs. Not ongoing tools you would still need.
3. Look at the trend. A falling last quarter weighs more than a good year.
4. Get an outside view. Empire Flippers has a valuation tool, and Motion Invest starts every sale with a valuation form.
5. Pick the venue, then compare what you keep after fees in our guide to selling a website.

Selling only a domain name is a different market priced on the name itself; see where to sell a domain name.