Sourcing off-market deals is messy. I’ve sent thousands of emails to business owners, and among the 2-3% who reply, it’s still a massive uphill battle convincing them to sell.
On-market deals listed by brokers are an infinitely easier place to start. There’s more competition, sure, but the sellers have already committed to exiting and gathered all their financials for buyers to review.
Like me, most searchers start browsing on-market deals via bizbuysell and broker lists. With the business brokerage market being so fragmented, it doesn’t take long before you’ll find yourself hopping between dozens of ancient portals, drowning in NDAs, and manually hounding brokers for access to CIMs. No fun, let me tell you.
Thankfully a number of brokered deal aggregator platforms have emerged in just the last year that help streamline the chaos. These scrape listings from hundreds of brokerages, let you filter based on your buy criteria, and provide tools to track conversations and documents so your pipeline actually moves.
Over the last year of searching, I’ve come to rely on these aggregators and have been under LOI 3 times. They have proven tremendously helpful with:
- Comprehensive sourcing: capture as many relevant listings as possible from hundreds of brokerages, with de-duping and clear source attribution.
- Faster Filtering: with filtering and proactive alerts based on your buy box, as well as NDA automation, I’m able to drastically reduce the time from listing → LOI.
- Pipeline management: aggregators now serve as a CRM to house context, store documents, and track next steps so nothing stalls.
If you already run a disciplined on-market search, an aggregator should feel like an accelerator rather than another tab to babysit. Below I share my honest feedback on several leading platforms for on-market deal flow.
What sites are best for on-market SMB deals?
Key Features
- Comprehensive: Aggregates deals from hundreds of brokerages into one dashboard.
- Proactive: Get buy box alerts for new listings that match your criteria.
- CRM: Functions as an end-to-end pipeline management tool for deal flow, and even integrates with email so broker conversations appear within your deal pipeline
- AI native: automated the singing of NDAs to quickly unlock CIMs, and deal recommendations are constantly improving based on your activity moving deals in and out of your pipeline.
- Affordable: Lowest price among comparable aggregators, with strongest value in my opinion.
Read full review
DealMatch stands out as my #1 pick because it’s the most comprehensive tool in the brokered deal aggregator space. Where most buyers get stuck managing fragmented inboxes and endless spreadsheets, DealMatch centralizes everything into one workflow. You can set up your buy box once and rely on the platform to surface new matches as soon as they’re available — meaning fewer missed opportunities.
What separates it from other platforms is the way it integrates broker communications directly into the dashboard. Instead of jumping between emails, notes, and deal files, you can see the full history of a listing in one place. That makes it much easier to track conversations, manage NDAs, and decide next steps without losing momentum.
Another area where DealMatch adds value is its workflow automation. Signing NDAs and requesting CIMs is tedious, especially when you’re sourcing deals from dozens of broker platforms. DealMatch speeds that up, saving time for actual evaluation rather than admin.
Most importantly, it achieves all of this at the lowest cost compared to peers. That balance of comprehensiveness, functionality, and affordability makes it the best all-around tool for anyone serious about on-market deal sourcing.
What makes it stand out is the mix of beginner-friendly conversations and more advanced threads led by experienced searchers. Newcomers can post questions about the basics—like structuring a search fund or financing a deal—without feeling out of place, while seasoned members often chime in with practical, firsthand advice. That blend makes it valuable as a community, not just a static learning resource.
Another advantage of MainShares is the low-risk networking it provides. Since there’s no cost to join, it’s easy to dip in, make connections, and see if ETA feels like the right path for you. For many people, it’s the first place they get exposed to common deal structures, investor expectations, and even the emotional ups and downs of the search journey.
That said, being free also means it doesn’t offer the depth or structured accountability of paid programs. There’s less curation, and discussions can sometimes lack focus. But as a starting point, it’s hard to beat.
Pros
- Most comprehensive coverage of brokered deals.
- Doubles as a CRM, reducing tool overload.
- Strong alerting and buy box functionality.
- NDA automation saves real time.
- Best value for price.
Cons
- Still limited by brokers who don’t syndicate to aggregators.
- Requires some setup/tuning to avoid irrelevant alerts.
- Interface prioritizes function over aesthetics.
Bottom line: DealMatch has been the most comprehensive and helpful tool in my search for evaluating on-market deals.
Key Features
- Sleek, modern UI that’s easy to navigate.
- Allows you to set a buy box and receive alerts for matching deals.
- Provides deal tracking and pipeline organization.
- Slightly more expensive than DealMatch, but still reasonable
- Rapidly evolving, with potential for expanded coverage over time.
Read full review
SearchAssistant.io feels like a more polished product compared to DealMatch, especially in terms of design and usability. The platform is intuitive, visually cleaner, and easier on the eyes if you’re spending hours every week reviewing deals. For buyers who care about software aesthetics and smooth navigation, it’s immediately appealing.
The trade-off, however, is coverage. When tested with the same buy box criteria, SearchAssistant surfaced noticeably fewer deals than DealMatch over the same time period. That’s not insignificant — comprehensiveness is a critical factor in SMB acquisition, since missing even one relevant listing could mean losing out on the right business.
That said, SearchAssistant is steadily improving, and its features are catching up. If design, user-friendliness, and a more premium feel are priorities for you, and you don’t mind paying slightly more for it, the platform can be a solid choice. Just be aware that comprehensiveness may lag behind the competition.
Pros
- Best-in-class UI and overall user experience.
- Clear, easy-to-use interface for managing deal flow.
- Good alerting system based on buy box criteria.
- Actively improving as the platform matures.
Cons
- Less comprehensive coverage compared to DealMatch.
- Slightly higher cost without more breadth of listings.
- Could miss opportunities if relying on it as your only aggregator.
Key Features
- Hosts its own deal marketplace instead of pulling from broker syndications.
- Listings are typically from investment bankers and advisors, so quality skews higher.
- Free to use, unlike most aggregators.
- Includes tools for deal marketing, introductions, and communication.
- Strong network effects — widely used by professional buyers like search funds, family offices, and PE groups.
Read full review
Axial operates differently from aggregators like DealMatch and SearchAssistant. Instead of scraping or pulling listings from brokers, it’s a dedicated marketplace where investment bankers and advisors post businesses for sale. This means the quality of deals is often higher — usually larger, better-documented, and prepared with professional materials.
The downside is competition. Because Axial is free and widely known, listings attract attention from serious players with deeper pockets: traditional search funds, private equity firms, and family offices. As a result, individual buyers or smaller operators can struggle to stand out or win bids. While you’ll still see worthwhile opportunities, the crowded field makes it harder to build strong broker or seller relationships compared to sourcing through less trafficked channels.
That said, the zero-cost entry makes Axial a no-brainer to at least try. It’s particularly useful as a supplement to another aggregator: you can monitor Axial for higher-quality deals while relying on a more comprehensive tool like DealMatch for volume and coverage.
Pros
- Free to sign up and evaluate deals.
- Higher-quality listings compared to many broker syndications.
- Strong presence and credibility in the SMB acquisition space.
- Good for exposure to banker-led deals.
Cons
- Highly competitive — lots of professional buyers chasing the same deals.
- Not comprehensive across brokerage sources.
- Less useful as a stand-alone sourcing strategy.
- Buyer pays a success fee for any closed deals, which is expensive
Key Features
- Unrivaled transparency — full list of brokers currently aggregated, plus upcoming additions.
- Public product roadmap showing planned features and improvements.
- Sleek, modern UI with intuitive navigation.
- Built-in pipeline management tool (would benefit from email integration).
- Priced between $89–$200/month, depending on the plan.
Read full review
Kumo feels like a breath of fresh air in the deal aggregation space. What really stands out is its transparency — you can literally see which brokers they’re scraping and which ones they plan to add next. No other platform I’ve tested offers that level of openness. For anyone who wants to understand where their deal flow comes from, that’s a huge win.
The user experience is just as impressive. The interface is clean, modern, and easy to navigate — you can tell it was built with usability in mind. I especially like the built-in pipeline management tool, though I wish it included email integration to make it a true all-in-one workspace.
Where Kumo falls a bit short, at least for me, is coverage. Despite the transparency, the total number of quality brokered deals surfaced still lags behind competitors like DealMatch. Since comprehensiveness is a major factor when sourcing SMB acquisitions, that’s something to consider. That said, Kumo’s roadmap is ambitious, and the team clearly has momentum. It’s a sleek tool that’s improving quickly — definitely one to watch.
Pros
- Exceptional transparency into broker sources and roadmap
- Beautiful, simple UI
- Useful pipeline management tool
- Actively improving
Cons
- Not as comprehensive as top competitors
- Lacks email integration
- Slightly higher starting price
Conclusion
Each of these platforms brings something unique to the table, and the right choice depends on what matters most in your search process.
- DealMatch shines as the all-around workhorse. Its comprehensiveness and built-in CRM functions make it the best tool if you want full coverage and a way to manage every broker conversation in one place.
- SearchAssistant.io stands out for design and usability. If you prefer working in a cleaner, more intuitive interface and are willing to trade a bit of comprehensiveness for daily ease of use, it’s the most pleasant platform to operate from.
- Axial wins on deal quality and accessibility. Because you only pay for success and it only features banker-led listings, it’s an easy supplement for anyone who wants exposure to larger, better-prepared opportunities — though you’ll be competing with more serious institutional players.
Kumo is best for searchers who value radical transparency and a sleek user experience. It’s ideal if you want to see exactly which brokers are being aggregated and prefer a modern, intuitive platform for organizing deal flow — even if it means slightly fewer listings overall.
For most buyers, the smart approach is not choosing one over the others, but stacking tools strategically. I use DealMatch as my primary brokered deal pipeline manager, supplement it with Axial to swim upstream with larger fish, and keep an eye on SearchAssistant as it matures. This layered approach helps me stay disciplined and uncover as many stones as possible to ensure I don’t miss on-market opportunities that fit my criteria.
