The aim of this article is to analyse one of the most traditional SME-support measures, the allocation of guarantees by the Spanish guarantee system. A counterfactual approach is adopted to evaluate the result of a public policy. Three groups of companies that constitute the casuistry of long-term financial supports to companies (guarantees, guarantees and preferential funding, or just preferential funding), as well as another two control groups are studied. The results suggest that public support is relevant at economic, financial and business efficiency levels. The advantages can be observed mainly in the weakest companies, where the capacity to tackle projects is facilitated, although they do not manage to reduce their financial costs until they reach relative levels similar to those reached by companies not accessing the guarantee system.