Written by the Lendus editorial team. Last updated .
The best Liberis alternatives include YouLend for advances up to £1 million, 365 Business Finance for a tighter factor rate ceiling, Capify for businesses trading only 4 months, iwoca for a revolving facility you can redraw without reapplying, Capital on Tap for a business credit card, Bizcap for businesses without card terminals, and Nucleus Commercial Finance for amounts above £500,000.
Liberis has been providing revenue-based finance since 2007 and is embedded in payment platforms including Barclaycard, Worldpay and Lloyds Cardnet, which is why many businesses first see a Liberis offer inside their card terminal dashboard rather than through an application. Advances run from £1,000 to £500,000 at factor rates of 1.08 to 1.5, with a decision typically within 24 hours and funds in 1 to 3 business days. Repayments come out as a percentage of daily card sales, so they fall away in a quiet month.
The reasons to look elsewhere are specific and mostly structural. You need a card terminal and 6 months of card payment history with at least £5,000 a month in card sales, which excludes every business that invoices or takes bank transfers. Each advance is a standalone agreement, so growth funding means repeated applications rather than a facility you can draw on. The £500,000 ceiling caps you. Factor rate pricing fixes your total repayment at the outset, so clearing the advance early frees up your card revenue but saves you nothing on cost. And Liberis is not itself FCA authorised, so the Financial Ombudsman Service cannot consider a complaint about it.
The seven alternatives below split into two groups: other revenue-based providers that fix a specific Liberis limitation, and non-card lenders for businesses the card requirement excludes entirely.
YouLend is the closest direct substitute and the one that solves Liberis’s ceiling. It runs the same revenue-based model on the same entry criteria, 6 months of trading and £5,000 a month in card sales, but advances go to £1 million rather than £500,000. Its platform partnerships are different too: eBay, Shopify and Just Eat, where Liberis is strongest in traditional card acquiring.
Rates and amounts: Factor rate 1.1 to 1.5, which is a factor rate and not an APR, meaning total repayable is 1.1 to 1.5 times the advance with no fixed term; £5,000 to £1 million.
Eligibility: 6 or more months of trading; £5,000 per month in card sales.
Pros: Double the maximum advance; repayments flex automatically with revenue with no missed payment risk in a seasonal dip; no early repayment penalty; embedded in eBay, Shopify and Just Eat so many businesses receive pre-qualified offers; YouLend Limited is FCA authorised as a payment institution under reference 947287.
Cons: The £5,000 minimum advance is higher than Liberis’s £1,000; factor rate pricing is still difficult to compare with a loan; the maximum is driven by card sales volume, so smaller businesses will be offered much less; cash-only businesses cannot qualify.
Best for: Ecommerce, hospitality and food delivery businesses trading on YouLend’s partner platforms, and any card-taking business whose funding need is above £500,000.
Liberis’s factor band runs to 1.5. 365 Business Finance stops at 1.4, which on a £50,000 advance is a £5,000 difference in total repayable at the top of the range. It is a specialist merchant cash advance provider rather than a broad lender, and its criteria match Liberis exactly at 6 months of trading and £5,000 a month in card sales.
Rates and amounts: Factor rate 1.1 to 1.4, which is a factor rate and not an APR; £5,000 to £400,000.
Eligibility: 6 or more months of trading; £5,000 per month in card sales.
Pros: The tightest factor rate ceiling of the merchant cash advance providers here; repayments flex with card sales with no fixed monthly payment; poor credit accepted because approval is based on card revenue rather than credit score; funding often within 24 hours of approval.
Cons: A £400,000 maximum, lower than Liberis; the £5,000 minimum advance is higher than Liberis’s £1,000; merchant cash advances are not regulated credit agreements under the Consumer Credit Act, and 365 Business Finance Ltd is registered with the FCA for anti-money laundering purposes, so the consumer protections attached to regulated credit do not apply.
Best for: Hospitality, retail and leisure businesses with strong card volumes that want to cap their worst-case total repayable rather than gamble on where in a wide band they land.
Liberis requires 6 months of card payment history. Capify’s merchant cash advance requires 4 months of trading, and its minimum advance is £3,500. It also assigns a relationship manager rather than running a purely automated process, which matters when the numbers need explaining.
Rates and amounts: Factor rate 1.1 to 1.5 on the merchant cash advance, which is a factor rate and not an APR; business loan APRs vary, typically 20% to 80% APR depending on risk profile; £3,500 to £500,000.
Eligibility: 4 or more months of trading for the merchant cash advance and 6 or more months for the business loan; £5,000 per month in card sales for the advance, £10,000 per month turnover for the loan.
Pros: Two months less trading history than Liberis requires; accessible to businesses refused by high street banks; a dedicated relationship manager rather than a self-serve form; trading since 2008; both a merchant cash advance and a fixed business loan available, so you can choose the repayment shape; no early repayment penalty on either product.
Cons: We make no claim about Capify’s regulatory status, because our lender record for Capify has not been through source verification, so check the FCA Register at register.fca.org.uk yourself before proceeding. Factor rate and short-term loan pricing is high compared with term lenders; business loan repayments are fixed daily or weekly debits, less flexible than revenue-linked repayment.
Best for: Card-taking businesses in months four and five of trading, before Liberis will look at them, that want a person on the end of the phone.
This is the structural fix for the most irritating part of using Liberis. Every Liberis advance is a separate agreement. iwoca’s Flexi-Loan is an approved facility you can draw down from repeatedly without a fresh application, with interest charged only on what is drawn and for the period it is outstanding. It also drops the card requirement entirely and asks for just 3 months of trading.
Rates and amounts: 2% to 6% per month on the outstanding balance, which is a monthly rate and not an APR, varying by creditworthiness and loan size; £1,000 to £500,000.
Eligibility: 3 or more months of trading; £25,000 annual turnover; some adverse credit considered.
Pros: Multiple draw-downs from an approved facility without reapplying; no card terminal needed, so B2B and invoice-based businesses qualify; decisions within 24 hours and often within hours via Open Banking; no early repayment charges, and repaying early genuinely reduces the interest paid, which is not true of a factor rate; iwoca Ltd is FCA authorised under reference 723636.
Cons: iwoca’s own record notes a representative APR of 49.9%, so this is expensive over a long term; monthly interest accumulates quickly if the balance is not cleared within a few months; repayments are fixed rather than flexing with revenue, so a quiet month still costs the same; a full credit check leaves a hard footprint.
Best for: Businesses that expect to need capital more than once in a year and are tired of reapplying, and anyone without card terminals who has been shut out of revenue-based finance.
If what you actually use a Liberis advance for is stock, suppliers and day-to-day gaps, a business credit card and revolving credit line does the job with a knowable balance and cashback on every pound spent. Capital on Tap decides the same day and gives you a limit you can use, repay and use again.
Rates and amounts: 1.25% to 3% per month on the outstanding balance, which is a monthly rate and not an APR, with the representative rate varying by creditworthiness; £500 to £250,000.
Eligibility: 12 or more months of trading; £24,000 annual turnover.
Pros: Revolving credit rather than a one-off advance, so no reapplication; 1% cashback on all card spending on the Pro plan; same-day decisions with a fully digital application; free additional employee cards with individual spending limits; no fee for early repayment; New Wave Capital Limited, which trades as Capital on Tap, is FCA authorised for consumer credit under reference 625592 and as an e-money institution under 900922.
Cons: Capital on Tap’s own record notes a representative APR of 49.8%, so this suits short-term revolving use rather than long-held debt; the Pro plan with cashback costs £99 a month; the £250,000 limit is half Liberis’s ceiling; 12 months of trading is double Liberis’s requirement; a personal credit check leaves a hard search on your personal file.
Best for: Established businesses whose real need is a working capital buffer and supplier spending rather than a lump sum advance.
Bizcap fills the gap Liberis structurally cannot reach: a business with real revenue that does not arrive by card. It lends unsecured on 4 months of trading and £120,000 of annual turnover, accepts adverse credit, and funds same-day in many cases.
Rates and amounts: 1.5% to 5% per month on the outstanding balance, which is a monthly rate and not an APR; £10,000 to £500,000.
Eligibility: At least 4 months of trading; £120,000 annual turnover.
Pros: No card sales requirement at all; same-day funding in many cases; unsecured, with no assets required as security; adverse credit accepted for businesses declined elsewhere; no early repayment penalties; Bizcap Limited is FCA authorised under reference 994366.
Cons: The £120,000 turnover requirement is a higher bar than Liberis’s £5,000 a month in card sales for many small retailers; the £10,000 minimum is well above Liberis’s £1,000; rates are higher than bank lending and best suited to short-term needs; a personal guarantee from directors is always required.
Best for: B2B, trade and service businesses that invoice rather than take card payments, particularly those a bank has already declined.
When the requirement outgrows what any merchant cash advance provider will write, Nucleus is the practical next step. It lends from £3,000 to £2 million, four times Liberis’s maximum, and offers asset finance alongside business loans from the same lender.
Rates and amounts: 1.5% to 5% per month on the outstanding balance, which is a monthly rate and not an APR; £3,000 to £2 million.
Eligibility: 6 or more months of trading; £50,000 annual turnover.
Pros: A £2 million ceiling; same-day decisions through broker and direct channels; asset finance available alongside business loans, useful if the capital is going into equipment; a British Business Bank accredited CBILS lender; FCA authorised under reference 718310.
Cons: Repayments are fixed rather than revenue-linked, so a quiet month costs the same as a busy one; primarily broker-facing with a less polished direct experience; a personal guarantee is almost always required; limited public detail on terms without speaking to a broker.
Best for: Growing businesses whose funding requirement has passed £500,000, and those buying equipment who want lending and asset finance from one place.
| Lender | Structure | Amount range | Pricing | Min trading | Card sales needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberis | Merchant cash advance | £1,000–£500,000 | Factor 1.08–1.5 | 6 months of card history | £5,000 per month |
| YouLend | Merchant cash advance | £5,000–£1m | Factor 1.1–1.5 | 6 months | £5,000 per month |
| 365 Business Finance | Merchant cash advance | £5,000–£400,000 | Factor 1.1–1.4 | 6 months | £5,000 per month |
| Capify | MCA and business loan | £3,500–£500,000 | Factor 1.1–1.5 (MCA) | 4 months | £5,000 per month (MCA) |
| iwoca | Revolving Flexi-Loan | £1,000–£500,000 | 2%–6% per month | 3 months | None |
| Capital on Tap | Credit card and credit line | £500–£250,000 | 1.25%–3% per month | 12 months | None |
| Bizcap | Unsecured business loan | £10,000–£500,000 | 1.5%–5% per month | 4 months | None |
| Nucleus | Business loan and asset finance | £3,000–£2m | 1.5%–5% per month | 6 months | None |
Choose YouLend if you want the same revenue-based structure but need more than £500,000, or you sell on eBay, Shopify or Just Eat.
Choose 365 Business Finance if you want to cap the worst case, since its factor band stops at 1.4 rather than 1.5.
Choose Capify if you have only been trading four or five months and Liberis will not yet look at your card history.
Choose iwoca if the repeated reapplication is what wears you down, or if you need funding without card terminals.
Choose Capital on Tap if the money is really going on suppliers and day-to-day spending rather than a single lump.
Choose Bizcap if your revenue arrives by invoice or bank transfer and a bank has already declined you.
Choose Nucleus Commercial Finance if you need more than £500,000, or you want asset finance in the same relationship.
One thing worth being blunt about: a factor rate and a monthly rate are not the same number and cannot be compared side by side. A factor rate fixes your total repayment at signing, so paying it off early costs you nothing extra but saves you nothing either. A monthly rate is charged on what you still owe, so clearing it early genuinely reduces the cost, and letting it run genuinely increases it. Ask every provider for the total repayable in pounds for the exact amount you want, and check each firm on the FCA Register at register.fca.org.uk.
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