Website Value Calculator

How websites are valued

Small online businesses, including content websites, are almost always priced as a multiple of profit. A buyer looks at how much the site earns after costs, adjusts for risk and growth, and pays a number of years' worth of that profit.

For an owner-run site, the profit figure is usually seller's discretionary earnings (SDE): revenue minus costs such as hosting, writers and tools, but before paying the owner. Most brokers average the last 6 to 12 months to smooth out seasonal swings.

Annual vs monthly multiples

Website marketplaces have traditionally quoted monthly multiples: a site "selling at 36x" costs 36 times its average monthly profit. Larger acquisitions use annual multiples, and in September 2026 the Empire Flippers marketplace switched its listings to annual multiples too. Converting is simple: divide a monthly multiple by 12. A 36x monthly multiple is a 3x annual multiple.

What raises or lowers the multiple

Private internet businesses typically sell for somewhere between 3 and 10 times annual earnings, and content sites usually sit in the lower-to-middle part of that range. Where yours falls depends on how confident a buyer can be that the profit will continue:

• Trend. Steady or growing earnings justify a higher multiple. A falling site is valued cautiously, often with part of the price paid later as an earnout.
• Age and history. A long earnings record that held up through Google updates is worth a premium. Sites under a year old are hard to sell.
• Search dependence. Buyers now discount sites that rely almost entirely on Google search, because algorithm updates and AI-generated answers can cut traffic suddenly.
• Diversification. An email list, direct and referral traffic, and more than one income stream all reduce risk.
• Owner workload. A site that runs with a few hours a week and documented processes is worth more than one that depends on the founder full time.
• Monetization. Subscription and membership revenue usually earns the highest multiples; display ads and affiliate sit in the middle.

How this calculator works

The calculator starts from a base annual multiple for your main monetization model, then adds or subtracts for each factor above. The table under the result shows every adjustment. The final multiple is kept between 1.2× and 6× annual profit, and the likely range is 15% either side, because two buyers rarely value the same site identically.

How to increase your site's value before selling

• Show 12+ months of clean financials. Separate business and personal accounts and keep profit and loss statements.
• Upgrade your ad network. Moving from AdSense to a premium network raises profit, and therefore value, directly. Check the eligibility checker.
• Build an email list. It is an asset the buyer owns, independent of search.
• Document your processes. Writer briefs, publishing checklists and SOPs make the site easier to hand over.
• Avoid selling right after a drop. If a recent update hit traffic, buyers will price that in. Waiting for a recovery can be worth more than a quick sale.