Last Updated on May 29, 2025 by Ewen Finser
Finding the best platform or broker to sell your business is a big decision.
You need to work with the right company that can connect you to a pool of potential buyers who are serious about buying, have the money (for the price you want to get), and understand your type of business.
A misalignment between any of those three factors will make it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve a successful sale.
For niche content website and YouTube channel owners, you’ve got to find potential buyers who see the value in what you’ve built, know what it’s worth, are happy to pay, and can do something with your business once they take it over.
Motion Invest is one potential platform where you can sell your niche content website or YouTube channel. At the same time, not every platform works best for every seller. You might want to consider other options, which is why I’ll cover the ins and outs of six alternatives below.
First: What is Motion Invest, and is this the Best Option for Selling Your Business?
Motion Invest is a small M&A platform that was originally established for selling niche content websites.
However, given the way that market went in 2024, (we have Google’s Helpful Content Update (HCU) to thank for that), Motion Invest made the smart decision to open their platform to YouTube channels as well.
Founded in 2019, Motion Invest claims that 1587 sites sold since then, with a success rate of 97% and a current average sale multiple of X32.
It won’t cost you to list on the platform, but there are of success fees if a sale is successful, depending on the value your website or YouTube channel sells for:
- Under $20K – 20%
- Between $20K – $50K – 15%
- $50K – $100K – 12.5%
- $100K – $500K – 10%
- $500K – $1M – 5%
- $1M + – $2.5 %
There are also two options with Motion Invest:
- List with them with a lock-in exclusivity period of 1 month. They claim that the average site sells after only 12 days for at least 32X its current revenue.
- Alternatively, if your site or channel is right for them, Motion Invest could buy it directly from you, which means you’ll have funds within 72 hours of due diligence being complete.
To see whether it’s worth selling (and what your site or channel is worth), they’ve got a free evaluation tool. You will then be asked to provide Google Analytics (GA4) access to a member of their team along with proof of income.
There are a few things that would make me skeptical about using Motion Invest, and here’s why:
- From listing to a sale in 12 days or less is very fast, and understandably seems too good to be true;
- They say sellers need proof of traffic and revenue. But what about everything else that’s needed when selling a website or channel, like detailed financials, projections, business plans, standard operating procedures, and having an SBA-backed loan approved (which can take months)?
- The 32X multiple: What’s that based on? There are many ways to value a business: MRR, ARR, Sellers’ Discretionary Earnings (SDE), or EBITA? I wish they would make this clear up front.
- It’s worth noting that the vast majority of listings are under $10,000, with very few over $100,000. This might also explain why and how so many sales happen so quickly, if that’s the case, and that also means the average commission they take would be between 20% and 12.5%.
- In an FAQ, a “Dutch Auction” method is mentioned, which if they still use this means the following process is used when selling: “auction in which an auctioneer starts with a very high price, incrementally lowering the price until someone places a bid. That first bid wins the auction (assuming the price is above the reserve price), avoiding any bidding wars.”
- There is no mention of the multiple that Motion Invest offers if they buy your site or channel themselves. That 32X multiple — would it apply in that scenario? Unfortunately, this isn’t made clear.
With all of that in mind, let’s look at 6 of the best Motion Invest alternatives.
6 Motion Invest Alternatives
1. Quiet Light
Made up of serial entrepreneurs who’ve “Been There, Done That”, Quiet Light is a brokerage that will take care of everything for founders keen to sell.
With a network of qualified buyers and a process and relationship-driven approach to selling, Quiet Light promises that 85% of sales happen within 90 days. That’s a more realistic timescale than Motion Invest’s 12 day claim.
Now, the difference between QL and others in this article, including Motion Invest, is that they won’t list or promote your company, website, or YouTube channel to potential buyers if it’s not sale-ready, or if it isn’t a good fit with buyer demand.
It could be the case that you aren’t ready yet, and that’s something that most founders can fix with time and work. It doesn’t mean that you won’t be ready in the future.
If your business is sale-ready, then it will be thoroughly checked and vetted before it’s listed. The team will then help you every step of the way, including negotiations with buyers and due diligence.
2. Flippa
Flippa is one of the most well-known M&A platforms for buying and selling online businesses. With a community of 3 million users and 450,000 active buyers and sellers, it has enabled over 100,000 transactions since launching in 2009. Making it considerably bigger than Motion Invest.
While Flippa doesn’t disclose average deal sizes or typical sale multiples, the platform supports a wide variety of digital assets — websites, eCommerce stores, newsletters, podcasts, and YouTube channels. SaaS and AI-based businesses are also welcome.
That said, Flippa can be costly for sellers compared to similar platforms. If you’re listing a business valued at $1M+ and working with a Flippa M&A broker over a 6-month timeline, expect the sale to cost you $85,000, including success fees.
3. Investors Club
You can list your business for free on Investors Club, and there’s no success fee if your business sells — plus, listings are visible to the public. That might sound like an advantage, but public, no-cost listings often attract tire-kickers, time-wasters, and nosy competitors.
If you’d prefer a hands-off experience, Investors Club also provides a full-service DFY option with post-exit success fees between 5% and 20% (depending on the price your company sells for). With over 25,000 users, it may be a solid place for your listing.
4. Acquire
Similar in concept to Flippa, Acquire specializes in SaaS businesses and makes the end-to-end sale process much easier using automation. They manage the process for you from start to finish.
They’ve got some impressive numbers: over $500 million in total deals closed from 2,000 transactions, giving an average deal value of $250,000. Like others we’ve included, this is much bigger with a more diverse pool of buyers and sellers than Motion Invest.
Acquire is upfront about costs. For a $1M sale using their full-service plan (comparable to Flippa’s), over a 6-month timeline, you’d pay roughly $70,000 in fees, making it cheaper than Flippa.
5. Empire Flippers
Promoting itself as the world’s largest curated online business marketplace, Empire Flippers (EF) claims over $520 million in completed deals.
Unlike many competitors, EF provides a scorecard for average sales multiples, based on trailing twelve-month (TTM) net profit. Current metrics show multiples of 39.4X for businesses worth over $1M, and even 12.8X for distressed assets. Listings also feature detailed insights like traffic and customer reviews.
EF operates more like a broker than a listing site. While there are no listing fees, they do charge commission: 15% by default, or 8% for businesses priced between $700K and $5M, with lower rates for higher tiers.
However, a significant downside is that the approval process can be slow — it could take weeks or even months to get your listing live.
Also, EF isn’t a fit for businesses valued under $100K, as they rarely accept listings in that range.
6. Onfolio
Onfolio is a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq, focused on acquiring digital businesses. Lately, their attention has been on digital marketing agencies, and they’re actively raising capital for continued acquisitions.
To be considered, your agency needs to generate at least $500K in annual profit. If you meet their requirements, they say you could receive an offer within two weeks, followed by payment after due diligence.
Unlike a broker, Onfolio is a direct acquirer. If your business isn’t the right match, they might refer you to a trusted broker instead.
Key Takeaways: Which is the best Motion Invest alternative?
When it comes to looking for a Motion Invest alternative, I’d prefer to go with a full-service brokerage who’ve got the hands-on experience selling, which makes Quiet Light the best choice.
If I were a SaaS founder, I would also look at Acquire, because that’s their specialty, unlike other M&A platforms that don’t specialize in particular sectors.