By Andreas Pettersson, Founder, Leaders ADAPT
You have decided you need a CFO, or a COO, or someone to run marketing, for two days a week rather than five. Then you go looking for the price and find a hundred pages that say "it depends" and no table. This is the table.
I have hired full time executives and fractional ones, and I have been both. I built Arcules from zero to over 150 people and sold it to Canon, then ran a Canon company as its youngest standalone CEO, holding the CFO and CTO seats myself for a stretch because the company could not yet justify the hires. Today Leaders ADAPT runs a bench of fractional CFO, COO, CTO, CMO, CRO and people partners for owners of $5M to $50M companies. So I read these rate pages the way you do, as a buyer.
Fractional executive cost in 2026 runs from roughly $3,000 a month for a light advisory scope at a small company to $25,000 a month for a senior operator three days a week, with hourly rates from about $125 to $500 and day rates, where published, from $1,200 to $2,500. Every number below is someone else's published figure, dated, and linked. Leaders ADAPT quotes per engagement after the first call, so our number is not in the table.
Quick answer: Published 2026 benchmarks put fractional executive cost at roughly $10,000 to $25,000 a month for a senior CFO, COO, CTO, CMO, CRO or chief people officer one to three days a week, with hourly rates of about $125 to $500 and day rates of $1,200 to $2,500 where published. Lighter scopes at small companies start near $3,000 a month. A full time CFO costs well over $300,000 a year all in.
Leaders ADAPT sells fractional and advisory engagements from its own bench, priced as a fixed monthly fee or a fixed price working session, quoted after the first call. Every price on this page belongs to another provider, is their own published figure, is dated with the month I read it and is linked. If their number has changed, their page wins. No provider on this page pays us.
Fractional executive rates by role, 2026
The table uses the provider's own published page for every row, with the update date they show. Where a provider publishes no figure for a column, the cell says so. I have not filled gaps with estimates.
| Seat | Hourly rate | Day rate | Monthly retainer | Source and date read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fractional CFO | $177 average, middle half $125 to $210 | Not published | Roughly $11,500 to $16,200 for 10 to 25 hours a week | GoFractional, updated August 2026 |
| Fractional CFO, smaller companies | $150 to $500 by seniority and specialism | Not published | $3,000 to $4,500 under $3M revenue, $5,000 to $8,000 at $3M to $10M, $8,000 to $12,000 at $10M to $50M | EightX, updated June 2026 |
| Fractional COO | Not published | Not published | $10,000 to $20,000 | GoFractional, updated July 2026 |
| Fractional CTO | Listings from $150 | Not published | $10,000 to $25,000 | GoFractional, updated August 2026 |
| Fractional CMO | $150 to $500, $325 average | $1,200 to $2,500 | $4,000 to $20,000, $12,000 average | GoFractional, updated August 2026 |
| Fractional CRO | Not published | Not published | $10,000 to $20,000 | GoFractional, updated August 2026 |
| Fractional CPO or CHRO | $192 average, $175 median, middle half $125 to $250 | Not published | From about $16,000, about $24,500 at the average rate and scope | GoFractional, updated October 2026 |
Three things the table tells you that the hundred pages do not.
The seats cluster. Five of the six retainers land between $10,000 and $25,000 a month for a senior operator at one to three days a week. The seat matters less than the days and the seniority.
The CFO row has the widest spread between sources, and both are honest. GoFractional benchmarks senior operators at near half time. EightX prices lighter scopes for companies under $10M. If you run a $6M company and want a CFO one day a week, the second row is your market. If you run a $40M company heading into a sale, the first row is.
Day rates are rare. Only the CMO page publishes one. Most fractional executives sell months, not days, because the work compounds between visits. If a provider quotes you a day rate for a CFO or COO seat, ask what happens on the days they are not there.
Each seat has its own buyer's guide: fractional CFO, fractional COO, fractional CTO, fractional CMO, fractional CRO and fractional chief people officer. For an EOS company the operations seat is often framed as a fractional integrator instead.
What drives the number
Six variables, in the order they move the price.
Days per week. The biggest lever. One day a week buys a weekly meeting and a forecast. Three days buys someone who leads a team. The retainers in the table assume roughly one to three days. Advisory at one to two hours a week sits well below them.
Seniority. EightX's CFO bands are the clearest published example: $150 to $250 an hour at five to ten years, $250 to $350 at ten to fifteen, $350 to $500 above that with a specialism. A person who has sat in the seat through a sale costs more than one who has read about it, and is worth it in the twelve months before yours.
A transaction in scope. A raise, a sale, an acquisition or a bank refinancing pushes any seat toward the top of its band and sometimes into interim territory, which EightX prices at $15,000 to $35,000 a month for 90 to 180 days of full time cover.
Company complexity. Multiple entities, locations or currencies. A $20M company with one entity is a lighter CFO job than a $12M company with four.
A team behind the executive. Some fractional firms bring an analyst or a marketing team with the executive. The retainer is higher and so is the output. Ask what is included.
Commitment length. Twelve months prices below three. Most providers, including us, prefer six to twelve months because the first quarter is spent learning the company.
A seventh variable the rate pages never mention: whether anyone inside the company can carry the work between visits. If not, the fractional executive becomes a very expensive weekly report. That is a leadership problem before it is a finance one, and it is why our fractional seats run alongside leadership team development rather than instead of it.
Fractional vs full time: the total cost math
Here is the comparison owners ask for, using published figures only. The full time medians are US Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for May 2025, which describe the manager level rather than a C-suite officer at a $5M to $50M company, so treat them as a floor. The all in CFO figures from the rate pages sit well above the BLS line.
| Seat | Full time median wage, May 2025 (BLS) | Published fractional retainer, annualised | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| CFO | $166,570, financial managers | $138,000 to $194,400 (GoFractional retainer times twelve) or $36,000 to $144,000 (EightX bands) | GoFractional puts a full time CFO well over $300,000 with benefits, bonus and equity. EightX puts the all in figure at $350,000 to $800,000 |
| COO | $213,990, chief executives, from the top executives page | $120,000 to $240,000 | GoFractional puts a full time US COO at $370,000 to upward of $620,000 |
| CTO | $175,140, computer and information systems managers | $120,000 to $300,000 | The top of the fractional band is a senior operator three days a week |
| CMO | $166,790, marketing managers | $48,000 to $240,000, $144,000 at the average | The widest band, because marketing scope varies most |
| CRO | $148,270, sales managers | $120,000 to $240,000 | A CRO who carries a quota is a different conversation from one who builds the engine |
| CPO or CHRO | $149,280, human resources managers | About $192,000 at the published starting retainer, about $294,000 at the average | The one seat where the published fractional retainer runs above the BLS manager median |
Three honest points about the math.
First, the BLS median is a base wage for a manager. A real C-level hire at a $20M company costs base plus bonus, benefits, payroll tax, recruiting and the six months of ramp before the person is productive. The rate pages' all in figures for a CFO, over $300,000 at GoFractional and $350,000 to $800,000 at EightX, are closer to what you would actually pay.
Second, the fractional number is the whole cost. No benefits, no payroll tax, no severance, no recruiter. When the engagement ends, it ends.
Third, cheaper is not the point. A fractional CFO two days a week at $194,000 a year against a full time one at $350,000 is not a saving if the company needed someone on Wednesday when the bank called. The full time hire wins when the seat needs daily presence, when the team under it needs daily leadership, or when a sale or raise is inside six months. The fractional seat wins everywhere else, and the best fractional executives name the switch point before you do. Our fractional vs interim vs advisory page draws those lines in detail.
How Leaders ADAPT quotes
Per engagement, after the first call, as a fixed monthly fee. No price list.
That is not evasion. Two owners asking for a fractional CFO rarely need the same thing. One wants a 13 week cash forecast and a monthly close. The other wants a sell side quality of earnings and someone in the room when private equity calls. Same title, different seat, different number.
The first call is 30 minutes with me. We settle the seat, the days per week and the three outcomes we will write down. Then I match the partner from the bench, we hold a second call with that partner, and the fee is quoted after it. For CFO work there is also a fixed price working session, two to three hours on one problem, which is often the whole engagement and always the cheapest way to find out whether you need more. Every engagement runs through Leaders ADAPT, and I stay in the room for the length of it. The fractional executive services hub describes the bench and the three shapes we run. The same logic applies to how we price coaching, which the executive coaching cost page covers with market ranges of its own.
Where AI fits in the price
Two effects, pulling in opposite directions.
AI pushes the hourly rate up and the hours down. A fractional CFO with a modern ledger and an AI assistant produces the variance commentary, the three scenarios and the data room index in a fraction of the time it took in 2023. The best operators have raised their rates and cut their hours, and the owner pays less in total for more judgment. When you compare two quotes, ask what the executive does with the hours, not how many there are.
AI also adds a seat. For many of the owners I meet, the question is no longer whether to buy a fractional CTO but whether to buy a fractional AI executive who can decide what the company should automate and what it should not. We deliver that through Sergey Dmitriev and our technical partners, and for an EOS company our guide to AI for EOS companies shows where it lands in the quarterly rhythm. What the fractional executive should not hand to the tool is on our page about what not to delegate to AI: the judgment you are paying the day rate for.
What a fractional executive does not fix
A fractional executive does not fix a company where every decision comes back to the owner. The best CFO in the table will show you that dependence in the numbers. Making it go away is your work and your leadership team's, and no retainer buys it.
A fractional executive does not fix an empty layer. If nobody inside the company can carry the work between visits, you have bought a report, not a seat. Hire the controller, the operations manager or the marketing lead first, then bring in the person who makes them better.
A fractional executive does not fix a wrong decision about which seat you need. Owners who hate one on ones and watch delegation boomerang back usually ask me for a COO. About half of them need something else first. The free assessments on this site exist to answer that before anyone quotes a number.
Who is on the bench for this
The bench is how Leaders ADAPT delivers every seat in the table.
Steve Shaw is the fractional CFO. Twenty years in finance leadership, working with owners on clean books, cash discipline, financial positioning before a sale, and the numbers conversation with buyers and lenders.
Sergey Dmitriev is the fractional CTO and AI systems partner. Sergey builds and runs the AI and data work we deliver, including digital twin and company knowledge systems, and trains leadership teams on AI tools with me.
Steve Proger is the fractional Chief Revenue Officer. Steve builds revenue engines, pipeline discipline and sales leadership for owner led companies that have outgrown founder led sales.
Thor Legvold is the leadership psychologist. Assessments, executive fit, team dynamics and the people decisions behind a scale up or a sale.
The COO seat is filled by operators who have run a company's day to day for an owner before, usually through a growth stage like yours, and who can install a weekly rhythm and an accountability structure without needing the owner in every meeting. The CMO seat is filled by marketing leaders who have built demand for a $5M to $50M company, not a brand team at a large one, and who can tell you in the first month which half of your spend to stop.
I take the first call, match the partner and stay accountable for the outcome.
Fractional executive cost FAQ
How much does a fractional executive cost in 2026?
Published 2026 benchmarks put most fractional C-level retainers between $10,000 and $25,000 a month for one to three days a week, with hourly rates from about $125 to $500 depending on the seat and seniority. Lighter scopes for smaller companies start near $3,000 to $5,000 a month. Rates differ by role, with CMO day rates published at $1,200 to $2,500. Leaders ADAPT quotes each engagement after the first call.
What is the typical fractional CFO hourly rate?
GoFractional reports an average fractional CFO rate of $177 an hour, with the middle half of engagements between $125 and $210, updated August 2026. EightX publishes a wider band of $150 to $500 an hour, rising with years of experience and specialism, updated June 2026. The hourly number matters less than the monthly scope, because most CFO engagements are sold as a retainer for a set number of days a week.
How much does a fractional CMO cost compared with a fractional CFO?
Published figures put the two seats close together on retainers and apart on hourly rates. GoFractional reports fractional CMO retainers of $4,000 to $20,000 a month with a $12,000 average, hourly rates of $150 to $500 and day rates of $1,200 to $2,500. Fractional CFO retainers run roughly $11,500 to $16,200 a month at an average of $177 an hour. The CMO band is wider because marketing scope varies more.
Is a fractional executive cheaper than a full time hire?
In cash, usually yes for a company under about $30M in revenue. A fractional CFO at two days a week on a published retainer costs roughly $138,000 to $194,000 a year, against a full time CFO that GoFractional puts well over $300,000 with benefits and equity. The full time hire wins when the seat needs someone every day, when the team under it needs daily leadership, or when a sale or raise is inside six months.
What drives the price of a fractional executive?
Six things. Days per week, since one day and three days are different prices. The seniority of the operator, measured in years in the seat and companies run. Whether a transaction is in scope, such as a raise, a sale or an acquisition. The size and complexity of the company, especially multiple entities or locations. Whether the executive brings a team behind them. And the length of commitment, since a twelve month retainer prices below a three month one.
Do fractional executives charge day rates or monthly retainers?
Mostly monthly retainers. Day rates are published for some seats, for example $1,200 to $2,500 a day for a fractional CMO, and hourly rates are common for CFO and CHRO work, but the dominant model is a fixed monthly fee for an agreed number of days a week over six to twelve months. Leaders ADAPT uses a fixed monthly fee for fractional seats and a fixed price for a working session.
How does Leaders ADAPT price a fractional executive?
Per engagement, after the first call, as a fixed monthly fee. The call is with Andreas, not a sales rep, and it settles the seat, the days per week and the three outcomes before any number is quoted. We do not publish a price list because two companies asking for the same seat rarely need the same scope. Every market figure on this page comes from another provider's own published page.
Read the table, then read the hours
The number you pay is less interesting than the number of hours the owner gets back, and what those hours are worth. An owner who stops running the forecast and starts running the company has bought something the table cannot price.
Tomorrow morning, write down the seat you think you need, the days per week, and the one outcome that would make it worth the retainer. If you cannot write the outcome, the seat is wrong or the timing is. If you can, the market price is in the table, and ours is a conversation away.
What the first conversation looks like
A 30 minute call with me, not a sales rep. You bring the seat you think you need and the one outcome. I tell you whether I agree, which of the three shapes fits, advisory, fractional or an exit readiness read, and which partner on the bench I would bring to the second call. If the honest answer is a full time hire or a manager one layer down, I say so.
If we go ahead, the fee is a fixed monthly amount quoted after the second call, with the days per week and the three outcomes written down first. I stay in the room for the length of the engagement.
Your step for tomorrow morning: take the free assessments so I can see how the company depends on you before we talk seats, then book a fit conversation. Fractional executive cost is the easy question. Whether you need the seat is the one worth half an hour.
