The honest comparison
On $50,000, a bank term loan at conventional pricing costs somewhere in the low teens of thousands over several years. The same $50,000 as an advance at a 1.30 factor costs $15,000 over nine months.
The totals look closer than they are, because the terms are wildly different. Spread over the time you hold the money, the advance is several times more expensive.
Anyone comparing only the total dollar figure without the term is comparing nothing. Anyone comparing only the rate is doing the same thing in the other direction.
Why anyone takes the advance
Speed. Days rather than weeks, and for a payroll on Friday that difference is the entire value of the product.
Access. A bank decision turns on credit and collateral; an advance turns on deposits. That is the whole reason it reaches a business that has just been declined.
Flexibility on a bad month, if — and only if — the reconciliation clause is real. A term loan payment does not care what you sold.
How to decide
If you can wait weeks and you would pass a bank's underwriting, take the loan. There is no argument for the advance in that case.
If you have been declined, or the deadline is inside a fortnight, the loan is not actually on the table and the comparison is between the advance and doing nothing.
If the money is for equipment, neither: finance the equipment, where the asset secures the debt and the price reflects it.