Quick answer

No single business credit score is the one that lenders use. Each lender chooses its own data source and model, and the scores are owned by different companies: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, Experian and FICO each publish their own. Which one matters depends on the lender and the product, and no regulator ranks them. The reliable approach is to ask the specific lender which report it pulls, then review that file first.

Why is there no single answer?

Because business credit scoring is not centralized. Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax and Experian each keep their own file on a business, and each scores it with its own model. A scoring company such as FICO publishes a separate score aimed at small business lending.

A lender picks what suits its own product. A bank reviewing a loan, an online lender and a vendor extending terms can each consult a different report, and some also look at the owner's personal credit. That last point is a separate subject, so this article stays on the business-side scores.

This is why attributing each score to the company that owns it matters. Treating "the business credit score" as one number is the root of most confusion on this topic.

Which scores come up most often, and who owns them?

Three names come up repeatedly in searches on this question, and each belongs to a specific owner. The list below is alphabetical by owner and is not a ranking.

  • Dun & Bradstreet maintains business files tied to its D-U-N-S number and sells credit products built on them.
  • Equifax maintains its own business files and makes reports available through resellers.
  • Experian maintains business files and publishes Intelliscore Plus, a score that appears in searches about what lenders use.
  • FICO publishes the Small Business Scoring Service, often written as FICO SBSS, which also appears in those searches.

How each score is calculated, and where a lender's approval line sits, is decided by the companies and lenders involved, not by any regulator. Where a bureau or scoring company publishes how its own score works, that company's own site is the place to read it, and it should be understood as that company's statement rather than a government fact.

How do the bureaus differ in what they sell?

The order below is alphabetical, not a ranking. Prices are as of 2026-10-06.

Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet sells its own credit products. The current product is D&B Credit Insights, which replaced the retired CreditSignal name. The Free tier is $0, Basic is $49 per month or $499 per year, Plus is $149 per month or $1,499 per year, and Premium is $199 per month or $1,999 per year.

Because the file is keyed to the D-U-N-S number, a business that has been registered with one already has a file whether or not anyone has looked at it. The free tier is a low-cost way to see what is there.

Equifax

Equifax does not sell business credit reports directly. They are sold through approved resellers: eCredable for the one-time report and Nav for monitoring. A one-time report is $49.99 and monitoring starts from $39.99 per month.

That differs from Experian and Dun & Bradstreet, which sell their own. It affects who handles the purchase and who provides support.

Experian

Experian sells its own reports. The CreditScore Report is $59.95 one-off and the ProfilePlus Report is $69.95 one-off. Business Credit Advantage is $199 per year, and Business CreditScore Pro is $1,995 per year.

Experian's name comes up in lender-focused searches because it publishes material about how its scores relate to lending. That is a bureau describing its own product, useful but worth reading as such.

Nav

Nav is a monitoring service rather than a bureau. The Free tier is $0, Track is $39.99 per month, Build is $49.99 per month and Expand is $74.99 per month. The free tier shows business credit summaries from all three bureaus.

For a reader trying to learn which file a lender is likely to see, three summaries side by side beat going deep on one. Nav is also the monitoring route for Equifax business data.

What do official sources say about all this?

The SBA's own guidance on building business credit does not name a score to target. It lays out a sequence instead: choose a business structure so the business is a distinct legal entity, obtain an EIN, open a business bank account, establish credit with vendors and suppliers who report, and monitor business credit reports.

Its stated foundation is separation. The first step toward keeping business and personal finances apart is to start building credit in the company's name.

The SBA also publishes information on its 7(a) loan program, which is one place a lender relationship can begin. Which scores a participating lender uses is a question for that lender, consistent with the answer above.

Where does the D-U-N-S number fit?

It is easy to get wrong. A D-U-N-S number is Dun & Bradstreet's own commercial identifier, and it still matters for D&B credit files. It is no longer what the federal government uses.

The General Services Administration announced that on April 4, 2022, SAM.gov and its other systems would switch to the Unique Entity ID, which is obtained at SAM.gov. So advice that says a D-U-N-S number is required for federal registration is out of date, while advice that says it no longer matters at all overlooks the D&B file.

Does the business need to exist on paper first?

A score attaches to a business, so there has to be one. The SBA's first two steps are choosing a structure such as an LLC, LLP or corporation and obtaining an EIN, which the IRS issues for free through its online assistance tool.

For a reader who has not yet formed an entity or separated business and personal finances, a formation provider such as ZenBusiness sits at the start of that sequence, ahead of any monitoring tool. ZenBusiness does not sell credit monitoring or credit-building products, so it is not an alternative to any score or bureau discussed above.

What should readers watch for?

Claims about a "guaranteed" or "instant" business score tend to come from services selling something other than information. The Federal Trade Commission says banks and other legitimate lenders will not promise or guarantee a loan or credit before an application. It also says any 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.

The FTC lists advertising language that goes with these scams, including "Bad credit? No problem" and "We don't care about your past. You deserve a loan!" The agency has also published a consumer alert about fraudulent funders aimed at small businesses.

A report or monitoring plan at a published price is selling information. A service that guarantees an outcome is selling a story.

What is not published?

Some things readers want are not published by anyone with authority: lenders do not publish approval score thresholds, and no regulator publishes how many points any action moves a score, how long a given lender takes to decide, or the scoring formulas themselves. Which score a particular lender favors is for that lender to say.

Anyone quoting a precise cutoff or a ranking of which score matters most is either citing one lender's own policy or guessing.

What is the practical way to find out?

Ask the lender directly which report it pulls and which score it uses. That question costs nothing and answers what no article can. Then look at that file first, and correct anything that is wrong.

If the lender is not yet known, Nav's free summaries and Dun & Bradstreet's Free tier give a first look without spending anything. Paying for a fuller report makes sense once the relevant bureau is known.

Sources

This is general information, not legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.