How SignLater’s tools and guides are built — the formulas, the sources, and the standards. If you can’t verify it, you shouldn’t trust it. So here’s everything.
Last updated: October 2026.
Calculator formulas (pp-1.1)
Our Payment Processing Cost Analyzer computes true monthly cost as:
True monthly cost = (volume × rate%) + (transactions × per-transaction fee) + monthly fees + (annual fees ÷ 12) + (equipment/lease costs ÷ months)
Effective rate = true monthly cost ÷ volume. This is the single number that lets you compare any two offers, and it’s the number salespeople least want you to compute.
What the formulas assume — and what they don’t:
- Constant ticket mix. Break-even projections assume your average transaction size stays roughly stable as volume changes. If your mix shifts dramatically, re-run the numbers.
- Illustrative vs. verified numbers. Worked examples in our guides are labeled either way. Verified numbers cite their source and verification date; illustrative numbers are realistic constructions for teaching the method.
- No hidden adjustments. The analyzer applies no vendor-specific tweaks, no sponsored weightings, no “adjustment factors.” Same inputs, same outputs, every time.
LLC formation cost calculator (llc-1.0)
Our LLC Formation Cost Calculator computes true multi-year cost as:
Total cost = filing fee (year 1) + state annual/biennial reports + flat franchise taxes + registered-agent cost
What the formula assumes — and what it doesn’t:
- Primary-source fee data. Filing fees, report fees, and franchise taxes come from a 51-jurisdiction dataset built from Secretary of State fee schedules, last verified October 2026. Thirty-two conflicts between secondary sources were resolved in favor of the primary state source.
- Biennial reports modeled in years 1, 3, and 5. States with every-two-year reports (for example, New York) accrue the fee in those years. The assumption is disclosed in the results.
- Publication costs excluded. States like New York, Arizona, Nebraska, and Georgia require newspaper publication at county-variable prices — these are surfaced as notes, not folded into totals, because no honest statewide number exists.
- Agent cost is yours to set. The registered-agent default ($175/year) is a mid-market placeholder; the slider exists because real prices range roughly $125–$249/year.
Funding cost analyzer (fa-1.0)
Our Business Funding Cost Analyzer puts merchant cash advances and term loans on the same basis — total cost, equivalent APR, and cash-flow demand — using one consistent method:
MCA equivalent APR: the factor-rate cost is converted to a nominal equivalent APR by the TILA actuarial method — the internal rate of return on the projected payment schedule, expressed as a nominal (non-compounding) rate so it compares directly with quoted loan APRs. Daily repayments are modeled on 260 business days per year spread evenly across calendar time.
Term-loan all-in APR: quoted APR plus origination and other fees modeled as withheld from proceeds, solved by the same actuarial method.
What the formula assumes — and what it doesn’t:
- Equivalent means translated, not quoted. A merchant cash advance is not a loan and no funder quotes an APR on one. Our “equivalent APR” answers one question: if this were a loan repaid on this schedule, what APR would it carry? It is labeled as a translation everywhere it appears.
- The MCA term is an estimate. Real MCA holdbacks vary with revenue, so the payoff date moves. Results show the cost range at ±20% of your estimated term, because the equivalent APR changes materially with repayment duration.
- Why not the simple annualization? The common shortcut — (factor − 1) ÷ (term in years) — treats daily payments as if they arrived at the end of the term. It understates the true cost substantially. We use the actuarial method because it matches the repayment reality, and because it is the method regulators (for example, New York’s 23 NYCRR 600 small-business financing disclosure rules) require for APR-style disclosures.
- Scope limits. No prepayment modeling, no renewals or stacked advances, no tax-adjusted costs. Figures are pre-tax. This is a cost comparison, not financial advice.
How guides are researched
- Primary sources first. Processor pricing pages, card-network rule documents, state statutes and attorney-general guidance. Secondary summaries are starting points, never citations of record.
- Rates verified at write time. Payment processing rates change. Every guide that cites a specific rate was verified against the provider’s published pricing in the month of publication, and the verification month is stated in the guide.
- Time-sensitive pages carry dates. Our surcharge law reference is stamped with its last-verification date, because that landscape moves with legislation and court decisions.
- No invented metrics. We don’t publish keyword difficulty scores, traffic estimates, or “average savings” figures we can’t source. If we don’t know, we say so.
Corrections
We correct errors publicly and promptly. Substantive corrections to numbers, formulas, or legal summaries are noted on the page with the correction date. Typos and formatting fixes aren’t logged — everything else is.
Spot something wrong? Contact us — corrections get priority handling.
What we don’t do
- We don’t accept payment for placement, ranking, or favorable coverage.
- We don’t publish sponsored guides disguised as editorial content.
- We don’t reuse other sites’ worked examples without doing the math ourselves. Every calculation on this site was computed here and can be reproduced from the inputs shown.
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