Lease vs Loan Equipment Cost Calculator

About this calculator

Leasing and loan-financing are the two standard ways businesses acquire capital equipment — trucks, machinery, medical devices, computers — without paying the full purchase price up front, and comparing them means lining up every cash outflow over the same time horizon. A loan typically requires a larger down payment and results in outright ownership at the end, with the total cost being the down payment plus every principal-and-interest installment. A lease usually has a lower or no down payment and lower periodic payments, but the equipment isn’t owned outright unless the lessee exercises a residual buyout (a purchase option, often set at the estimated fair market or fixed residual value) at the end of the term.

This calculator totals both paths — down payment, all periodic payments, and any end-of-term buyout — so the true all-in cost of leasing can be weighed against financing with a loan, not just the monthly payment amount. Equipment finance managers, small business owners, and CFOs use this comparison when deciding how to fund a purchase, since a lower monthly payment on a lease can still work out more expensive over the full term once the buyout is included, while a loan builds equity in an asset that a lease does not.