Provider comparison
Guardian Due Diligence vs Zenith Analysis
Guardian sits at the premium end of the buy-side diligence market. Their pitch is not just the report but the advisor attached to it: a founder with private equity experience who stays involved in the deal. They state that major issues surface within the first seven days of an engagement.
Side by side, on published facts only
Everything in the Guardian Due Diligence column is something they or a third party published. Where they do not publish a figure, the cell says so rather than guessing. Pricing and turnaround as reported in a third-party provider roundup published in 2026. Guardian does not publish a rate card on its own site.
| Guardian Due Diligence | Zenith Analysis | |
|---|---|---|
| Published price, full QoE | $20,000 to $40,000 and up | $9,799 flat for Comprehensive |
| Published price, entry tier | Not published | $299 Pre-LOI Screen, $2,899 QoE Lite |
| Stated turnaround | Major issues flagged within 7 days | 2 business days for the screen, 5 for Lite, 10 for Comprehensive |
| Pricing model | Quoted per engagement | Flat fee, stated on the site, matched by the engagement letter |
| Advisory through close | Yes, an advisory support tier is offered | Yes. Findings walkthrough, and we stay reachable while you negotiate |
| Proof of cash depth | Not published | Every month, every account, reconciled bank to books. Comprehensive extends the tie to the filed returns |
| Excel workbook to the client | Not published | Yes, the full Excel workbook ships with every report |
| Deal size fit | Larger transactions where a five-figure fee is proportionate | Lower middle market up through $100M purchase price |
Facts as published in August 2026. Providers change their pricing. Check theirs before you decide, and tell us if you find something here out of date.
Where the two approaches actually diverge
Not the advisory relationship, which is the assumption the price gap invites. We stay on your deal too: a findings walkthrough when the draft lands, and we are reachable while you negotiate, because a finding you cannot use in the room is not worth much. Functionally there is very little Guardian does on a Quality of Earnings engagement that we do not. The difference is cost structure. Most of a traditional diligence invoice is reconciliation labor billed by the hour at senior rates. We built software that does that layer, so a team of CFAs and ex-bankers can work your file at $9,799 and still spend their hours on judgment rather than on tying bank statements to ledgers by hand. Guardian prices the same work the old way. On a $30M transaction that difference is a rounding error. On a $3M main street deal it is a real share of your closing costs, and it buys you nothing extra.
When Guardian Due Diligence is the better call
There is one thing Guardian has that we do not, and it is worth naming plainly: pedigree. Their founder is a Harvard MBA with a private equity background, and that is real signalling. If you are deploying other people’s money and your investors want a recognisable name on the diligence file, that is a legitimate thing to buy. And if you genuinely care whether your Quality of Earnings was signed by a Harvard MBA rather than a Chicago or an MIT one, then Guardian is worth the upcharge and we are not going to talk you out of it. What the extra ten to thirty thousand dollars does not buy you is more analysis, more access, or more of anyone’s time.
What you get from us, specifically
A team of CFAs, ex-investment bankers, and former McKinsey management consultants who have overseen more than 800 transactions between them. Every add-back gets a written verdict of accepted, reduced, or rejected with the evidence next to it. Every month of bank activity gets reconciled to the books rather than sampled, and on a Comprehensive engagement that tie extends to the filed tax returns. The complete Excel workbook ships with the report, so your lender and your accountant can audit the work instead of trusting it.
And the report is not where we stop. You get a walkthrough of the findings when the draft lands, and we stay reachable while you negotiate, because a finding you cannot use in the room is not worth much. That advisory relationship is part of the engagement, not a tier above it.
Three flat prices, published: $299 to screen a deal before you commit to an LOI, $2,899 for a QoE Lite, $9,799 for a Comprehensive scoped to SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 Appendix 15. No hourly billing and no scope surprises.
Still deciding who to hire?
Send us the deal. We will tell you which tier fits, what we would look at first, and when the honest answer is that somebody else is a better fit for this one.