Equipment leasing

Quick facts

Equipment leasing allows your business to rent equipment from either a vendor or a leasing company, for a set period of time. It’s a type of asset finance. At the end of the lease, you must give back the equipment, buy it or renew the lease. Equipment leasing includes finance leases (also known as capital leases), operating leases and contract hire.

If you need it, you can most likely lease it. You may be surprised to find out what you can lease – the printers, computers and coffee machines in your office, the catering equipment at your local restaurant, the treadmills at the gym, the commercial washing machines at the launderette… At the other end of the scale you can lease anything from commercial vehicles and aircraft to plant and machinery.

Let’s say you’ve reached the stage when you need to buy new expensive equipment for your business. You could choose a lease in order to access equipment that may otherwise put a strain on your cash flow.

Equipment leasing is not for everyone, but it can work well for small businesses looking to get started, or for larger companies who want to keep up with new technologies without a significant outlay of cash. Leasing typically works out more expensive in the long term – compared to buying – but can mean lower monthly payments.

There are tax advantages to leasing equipment. While an outright purchase of an item must be listed as capital, leasing is counted as a rental expense, which can be offset against profit. 

There are two main types of equipment lease:

Between equipment leasing and hire purchase, there are many different ways for you to access equipment for your business.

You might also consider asset refinance, which allows you release cash from the value in your existing assets.

Register now for funding and savings options tailored to your business.

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Disclaimer: Swoop Finance Pty Ltd (ABN 52 644 513 333) helps Australian firms access business finance, working directly with firms and their trusted advisors. We are a credit broker and do not provide finance products ourselves. All finance and quotes are subject to status and income. Applicants must be aged 18 and over and terms and conditions apply. Guarantees and Indemnities may be required. Swoop Finance Pty Ltd can introduce applicants to a number of providers based on the applicants’ circumstances and creditworthiness, we may receive a commission or finder’s fee for effecting such introductions. Swoop Finance Pty Ltd does not provide any kind of advice and in giving you information about providers products, we are not making any suggestion or recommendation to you about a particular product. Offers of finance are subject to a separate assessment process by the provider and subject to their terms and conditions. If you feel you have a complaint, please read our complaints section which is contained within our terms and conditions.

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