The specs
OnDeckShopify Capital
Product typeMulti-productMCA
Amount range$5K – $400K (term); $6K – $200K (LOC)$200 – $2M (varies by store volume)
Cost (factor / APR)Term APR 27%+; LOC APR 30%+Single fixed fee (factor 1.10 – 1.18 typical); no APR / no compounding
Speed to fundSame-day for approved files2 – 5 business days after acceptance
Min time in business12 months3 months
Min monthly revenue$8,000~$5,000+ in Shopify processed sales typical floor
Min credit score600+No FICO pull — underwrites entirely against Shopify sales history
Products
- Term loan
- LOC
- Embedded merchant cash advance (Shopify stores only)
Verdicts by use case
- Shopify-native e-commerce merchant with strong store-sales history — Winner: Shopify Capital. Shopify Capital's algorithmic underwriting against Shopify sales typically prices offers at factor 1.10 – 1.18 — materially below OnDeck's 27%+ APR term loan or 30%+ APR LOC. For a Shopify-native A-paper merchant who already sees an offer in the admin, the embedded product is faster (no application), aligned to revenue (repayment is % of daily Shopify sales), and meaningfully cheaper on cost-of-capital.
- Multi-channel merchant or non-Shopify business — Winner: OnDeck. Shopify Capital only counts Shopify-processed sales — merchants on WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Amazon-primary, or who run multi-channel businesses with significant non-Shopify revenue have no Shopify Capital path or get under-sized offers that don't reflect total revenue. OnDeck's bank-statement underwriting captures total revenue across all channels. For non-Shopify or multi-channel merchants OnDeck is in the cascade where Shopify Capital isn't competitive.
- Established merchant needing $200K+ term loan with fixed amortization — Winner: OnDeck. OnDeck's term loan goes up to $400K on 12 – 24 month amortization with documented direct-lender contract and same-day funding on approved files. Shopify Capital is one-shot MCA against Shopify charges — repayment is percentage-of-Shopify-volume, not fixed monthly amortization, and offer ceiling is algorithmically tied to trailing Shopify volume. For predictable multi-year capital deployment OnDeck's term structure is the right shape.
- Merchant on Shopify Plus processing $200K+/mo through Shopify Payments — Winner: Shopify Capital. Shopify Capital deal sizes scale with Shopify processing volume — Shopify Plus merchants processing $200K+/mo through Shopify Payments can access $1M – $2M offers with embedded percentage-of-sales repayment that aligns to revenue. OnDeck's $400K cap is below what high-volume Shopify Plus merchants can access on Shopify Capital. For genuinely large Shopify-native files Shopify Capital reaches deal sizes OnDeck cannot.
- Platform-portability and re-platforming risk — Winner: OnDeck. Shopify Capital requires Shopify Payments remain active through payback — re-platforming, switching to a third-party gateway, or pausing Shopify Payments triggers immediate balloon repayment. OnDeck's term loan or LOC repays from the merchant's primary operating account regardless of e-commerce platform. For merchants who anticipate re-platforming or processor changes OnDeck is structurally safer.
The honest takeaway
OnDeck and Shopify Capital solve overlapping but distinct problems. The right choice depends on three things you already know about your business: how fast you need the money, how long you've been operating, and whether the capital need is one-time or recurring.
Frequently asked questions
- I'm a Shopify DTC brand and OnDeck offered me $150K — should I wait for a Shopify Capital offer instead?
- Don't wait — Shopify's algorithm decides when offers appear, and you can't trigger an offer review. If you need $150K now and OnDeck is approved, the relevant question is cost: OnDeck $150K term at 30% APR over 18 months ≈ $36K in interest. If Shopify Capital later surfaces a $150K offer at factor 1.14, that's $21K fixed fee — meaningfully cheaper. Approach: take OnDeck now if the need is immediate, retire it early (OnDeck has prepayment discounts) when a Shopify Capital offer surfaces. Or take only what you genuinely need from OnDeck (say $50K) and wait for Shopify Capital to fill the rest, accepting that the Shopify offer may not appear at all or may come at a smaller size than you need.
- Can I have an active OnDeck term loan and accept a Shopify Capital offer at the same time?
- Yes — neither product has explicit anti-stacking language. Shopify Capital doesn't pull business credit and doesn't see the OnDeck loan. OnDeck pulled business credit at origination but typically doesn't re-pull mid-loan. The risk is cash-flow concentration: OnDeck's daily ACH debit plus Shopify Capital's percentage-of-Shopify-sales deduction can compress operating margin. Run the combined debt-service ratio: if total weekly debt service exceeds 18 – 22% of trailing weekly revenue, decline the Shopify offer or pay down OnDeck first. The combined-debt risk is the merchant's to manage; neither lender will block the stack outright but cash-flow strain can break the business.
- What's the realistic underwriting comparison — OnDeck same-day vs Shopify Capital next 5 days?
- OnDeck: pull-based application, bank statements + DL, decision typically within 4 – 24 hours, funding same-day to next-day on approved files. Shopify Capital: offer appears in Shopify admin algorithmically (no application), one-click accept, funds land in 2 – 5 business days. So OnDeck is faster end-to-end if you need cash today and don't already have a Shopify Capital offer waiting. If a Shopify Capital offer is sitting in your admin, accepting it is the fastest path. For genuinely time-sensitive needs check your Shopify admin first; if no offer exists, go direct to OnDeck rather than waiting.