How big is private credit? Depends who you ask
Estimates of current global private credit AUM, $ trillions. These are not alternative measurements of one number.
About this data
Preqin puts current private credit AUM at $2.28tn; AIMA puts it at $3.5tn. That is a $1.2 trillion gap on the same asset class in the same year, and it is not a data-quality problem — it is a definitional one. Whether you count asset-backed finance, BDCs, mezzanine debt and real-estate credit changes the answer by more than the size of most asset classes. Averaging these numbers would be meaningless.
How big is private credit? Depends who you ask
Estimates of current global private credit AUM, $ trillions. These are not alternative measurements of one number.
Data table
| series | usd_tn | provider | source_ref | value_basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| current_estimates | 2.28 | Preqin (2025) | pi-preqin | Estimated $2.280tn private credit AUM in 2025 (Preqin) |
| current_estimates | 3.5 | AIMA (late 2025) | aima-35tn | Private credit market reaches US$3.5tn AUM, late 2025 |
Methodology & sources
Last updated: Aug 14, 2026Methodology
The estimates on this page are NOT alternative measurements of one quantity, and averaging them would be meaningless. Private credit has no settled definition: whether an estimate includes asset-backed finance, BDCs, mezzanine debt and real-estate credit moves the total by more than a trillion dollars. Preqin and AIMA differ by ~$1.2tn on the same year for exactly this reason. OMITTED: PwC ("more than $2tn") and Moody’s (">$2tn by end-2026", "approaching $4tn by 2030") publish thresholds and directional statements rather than point estimates. Plotting a threshold as a bar would misrepresent it, so those are described here instead of charted. CAVEAT: the 2030 projections look more convergent than the current estimates, but each inherits its own starting scope — a projection built off the narrow $2.28tn base and one built off the broad $3.5tn base are answering different questions. Cross-reference: the ~$800bn private-credit and off-balance-sheet data-centre estimate on the ai-debt-financing index is a subset of this market. Re-verified 2026-08-10.
Sources
- AIMA — Private credit market reaches US$3.5 trillion ↗ Public report
Comparisons are informative, not definitive. See each source for definitions and limits.