Kairos vs Acquire.com
A subscription buys you access to listings. It does not buy you audited numbers, and it does not keep a seller at the table after the LOI.
Acquire.com is a self-serve marketplace built around startups. Monthly listing fees start at 25 dollars plus a 6 to 8 percent closing fee, integration badges confirm connected financials, and due diligence is left to the buyer. Kairos is a verified marketplace for Shopify stores where revenue is reconciled against read-only order data and human-reviewed before the listing exists.
Who Acquire.com is
Acquire.com, which began as MicroAcquire, is a self-serve acquisition marketplace: SaaS above all, plus ecommerce, apps, newsletters, and agencies. Sellers run their own process on the platform, deals close through Escrow.com, and integration badges can confirm revenue pulled from connected sources like Stripe.
The Facts, in Their Words and Ours
| Kairos | Acquire.com | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Verified-only marketplace for Shopify stores | Self-serve startup marketplace, SaaS-centered |
| Listing fee | Free to list | 25 to 100 dollars per month by asking-price tier |
| Success fee | Only when the deal closes (rates on the pricing page) | A closing fee of 6 to 8 percent, by price tier |
| What buyers pay for access | Browsing free; an NDA plus a refundable deposit unlocks full numbers | Premium buyer plans run 390 to 1,990 dollars per year |
| Who verifies the numbers | Kairos does, before listing: order data plus human review | Integration badges confirm connected data; deep diligence is the buyer's |
| Escrow | Escrow with milestones on every deal | Deals close via Escrow.com after the purchase agreement |
Acquire.com facts from their own published pages plus attributed public records, last reviewed 2026-07-19. Kairos rates live on the pricing page.
Which One Fits Your Deal?
Choose Kairos if
- You are buying a Shopify store, not a SaaS
- You want the numbers verified before the listing even exists
- You would rather pay a refundable deposit than an annual fee
- You want signed deal terms and escrow from the first offer
Choose Acquire.com if
- You are buying or selling SaaS, where their catalog is deepest
- You want to run your own process, self-serve, at your pace
- Stripe-verified MRR tells most of your revenue story
The Badge Versus the Memo
Acquire.com's verified badges confirm that data flowed from a connected account, which beats a screenshot. What they do not do, by the platform's own description, is audit the seller: representations stay between buyer and seller, and diligence is the buyer's responsibility. A Kairos listing ships with the verification memo itself: which checks ran, what they found, signed by the human who reviewed them.
What a Subscription Cannot Fix
The most common frustration in Acquire.com's public reviews is not the platform. It is the counterparty: sellers who go quiet after the LOI, and asking prices set by the sellers themselves, which reviewers flag as a recurring frustration. A paid buyer plan prices your access; it does not price the other side's commitment. Kairos structures commitment instead: a refundable deposit rides with every offer, and both parties sign the deal terms at offer time.
Different Centers of Gravity
Acquire.com's catalog centers on SaaS, where Stripe integrations tell most of the revenue story. Ecom stores live and die on order data, refund rates, and ad spend, which is exactly the data Kairos reconciles. If you are trading a SaaS, their marketplace fits. If you are trading a Shopify store, the verification model matters more.
The bottom line
For SaaS, Acquire.com's marketplace is deep and the integration badges genuinely beat screenshots. For a Shopify store, the badge is not the audit. Diligence stays your job, and the post-LOI ghosting their reviewers describe is not something a subscription fixes. Kairos verifies before listing, and every offer carries a refundable deposit and signed deal terms, so both sides have something at stake.
The People Checking Your Store
Eight years, 200+ ecom brands, EUR 200M+ in tracked sales - and we read the source data every morning. When we say a number is real, it is because we read the source it came from - not the listing form.
ZenoX ad-management figures, not Kairos deal volume - Kairos hasn't closed a deal yet.
The short version
Numbers Are Cheap. Proof Is Rare
One question decides every venue: who proved the numbers, and can you read what they found.
Buying a Store Somewhere Else?
Kairos Due Diligence works on any deal - Acquire.com, Flippa, a private sale. A person reads the store's raw numbers and writes you a report. If the deal is bad, the report says walk away. From EUR 1.5k, no account needed.
Common Questions
Does Acquire.com verify seller financials?
Their badges confirm data pulled from connected integrations, and their own help pages state they do not conduct in-depth seller due diligence or make representations about sellers. The deep check is the buyer's job, or a service you hire.
Why do buyers complain about ghosting on Acquire.com?
Because nothing in a self-serve process binds a seller after the LOI. Public reviews name post-LOI ghosting as the most frequent frustration, and the platform itself makes no representations about sellers. That is the model, not malice. Kairos has both parties sign deal terms at offer time, with a refundable deposit held, so walking away has a cost.
Can Kairos check a store listed on Acquire.com?
Yes. The paid due diligence service reads the store's raw data on any marketplace and returns a human-written report within five working days.
More comparisons
Last reviewed 2026-07-19.
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