The free alternatives to paid business credit monitoring are Nav's free tier, which shows business credit summaries from all three bureaus, and Dun & Bradstreet's free D&B Credit Insights tier, both $0 as of 2026-10-06. For an owner who has not yet formed the business or opened a separate account, there is nothing worth monitoring yet, and the SBA's sequence puts the entity, a free EIN and a business bank account first, and ZenBusiness covers the entity and EIN steps. An owner who needs a bureau's full report will pay for it, with Experian's starting at $59.95.
How do I check my business credit score for free?
Use the free tiers before paying for monitoring. Nav's free tier shows business credit summaries from all three bureaus at no charge, and Dun & Bradstreet offers a free D&B Credit Insights tier at $0. Both prices come from each provider's own pricing page as of 2026-10-06.
The limit is what "free" shows. A summary is not a full report, and which features each free tier omits is set out on each provider's own pricing page. The bureaus sell monitoring of the files they themselves hold, so their full reports and continuous monitoring are paid products.
The SBA lists monitoring as the fifth and last step in building business credit. Paying for monitoring before the earlier steps have produced any data buys very little.
What should be in place before any monitoring is worth paying for?
The SBA lists five steps in order. First, choose a business structure, since making a business a distinct legal entity requires selecting a structure such as an LLC, LLP or corporation. Second, obtain a federal tax ID, an EIN. Third, open a business bank account. Fourth, establish credit with vendors and suppliers that report to the bureaus. Fifth, monitor the business credit reports.
Steps one and two are the formation work that ZenBusiness handles, and it offers a free accounting consultation to customers who form with it. ZenBusiness does not sell credit reports, scores, monitoring or any credit-building service, so it is not one of the alternatives below. For an owner who already has an entity, an EIN and a business account, it has nothing further to add.
The IRS issues the EIN at no cost, and the SBA points applicants to the IRS assistance tool for it. Paying a third party for the number itself is never necessary.
Which free and paid options are there?
The providers below are listed alphabetically, which is not a ranking. Prices are as of 2026-10-06 and come from each provider's own pricing page.
Dun & Bradstreet sells D&B Credit Insights, with a Free tier at $0, Basic at $49 a month or $499 a year, Plus at $149 a month or $1,499 a year, and Premium at $199 a month or $1,999 a year. The older CreditSignal name is retired. It is the free route to the D&B file, which is where the D-U-N-S number still matters.
Equifax lists a one-time report at $49.99 and monitoring from $39.99 a month. Equifax does not sell business credit reports directly. They are sold through approved resellers: eCredable for the one-time report and Nav for monitoring. Equifax lists no free tier, and the free route to Equifax data is the one that goes through Nav's summaries.
Experian lists CreditScore Report at $59.95 one-off, ProfilePlus Report at $69.95 one-off, Business Credit Advantage at $199 a year and Business CreditScore Pro at $1,995 a year. Its published price list has no free tier. Where Experian publishes a scoring factor on its own pages, that is Experian's statement and not a government fact, and none is reproduced here.
Nav lists Free at $0, Track at $39.99 a month, Build at $49.99 a month and Expand at $74.99 a month. The free tier shows business credit summaries from all three bureaus, which makes it the broadest free view. It is also the reseller through which Equifax monitoring is sold.
How do the free options compare with paid monitoring?
The table lists the four alphabetically, with prices as of 2026-10-06.
| Provider | Free option | Lowest paid option | Higher options |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dun & Bradstreet | D&B Credit Insights Free, $0 | Basic, $49 a month or $499 a year | Plus $149 a month or $1,499 a year; Premium $199 a month or $1,999 a year |
| Equifax | None stated | One-time report $49.99, through eCredable | Monitoring from $39.99 a month, through Nav |
| Experian | None stated | CreditScore Report, $59.95 one-off | ProfilePlus Report $69.95 one-off; Business Credit Advantage $199 a year; Business CreditScore Pro $1,995 a year |
| Nav | Free, $0 | Track, $39.99 a month | Build $49.99 a month; Expand $74.99 a month |
Equifax's monitoring from $39.99 a month matches the price of Nav's Track tier, which is consistent with Nav being the seller. That does not mean the two show the same data, and Nav's own plan page is where to compare them.
Which suits which owner?
An owner who has not formed the business or opened a separate account should start there, since the SBA's order puts the entity, the EIN and the account ahead of monitoring. ZenBusiness covers the first two of those steps and nothing after them.
An owner with the foundation in place can usually get by on the free tiers: Nav for a view across all three bureaus, then Dun & Bradstreet for the D&B file. Paid monitoring makes sense when a lender asks for a specific report or a free summary leaves a question open. The one honest concession is that for the full report itself, the bureau is the better answer than any free summary.
Does the D-U-N-S number still matter?
Partly, and most online content gets this wrong. The GSA announced that SAM.gov and all other GSA systems would switch to the Unique Entity ID on April 4, 2022, and that identifier is obtained at SAM.gov. It is what the federal government now uses.
The D-U-N-S number still exists as Dun & Bradstreet's own commercial identifier and still matters for D&B credit files. Anyone told it is required for federal registration has been given stale information.
How can a free-score or fast-credit pitch be recognized?
The FTC says banks and other legitimate lenders will not promise or guarantee a loan or credit before an application is made. The same caution applies to any service that promises to raise a business score, and no official source supports a claim about how many points an action moves a score.
The FTC's advance-fee guidance adds that an up-front fee collected before a loan is granted is a cue to walk away, especially when it is described as insurance, processing or paperwork. Its examples of scam copy include "Bad credit? No problem," "No hassle, guaranteed," and "We don't care about your past. You deserve a loan!"
What should be checked before paying for monitoring?
Confirm which bureau a lender actually pulls, since that decides which report is worth buying. Check whether the product is a summary or a full report. Make sure the business name, EIN and bank account match across every record, and confirm that any vendor accounts being counted actually report.
No step here promises approval, and no figure on this page is a lending requirement. Lenders decide, and the terms they publish are the authority.
Sources
- U.S. Small Business Administration, "How to Build Business Credit Quickly: 5 Simple Steps"
- Internal Revenue Service, "Get an Employer Identification Number"
- U.S. General Services Administration, "GSA Systems Switch to Unique Entity ID (SAM) on April 4, 2022"
- Federal Trade Commission, "What To Know About Advance-Fee Loans"
This is general information rather than legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.