Live dataset · updated monthly
The Fractional Rates Index
v2.1.1 · · n=1,774 · CC BY 4.0
The short answer
How much does a fractional executive cost in 2026?
The median published monthly retainer for a US fractional executive is $5,750, and the middle half of published US monthly retainers sits between $3,000 and $10,000. Across every region and pricing model the median works out at $172 an hour. Only 10.7% of the 1,577 provider sites we read publish a price at all.
Recorded from provider websites between 2026-08 and 2026-09. Published prices only; negotiated fees are out of scope. $5,750 carries a 95% interval of $5,000 to $8,000, and $172 an interval of $125 to $209.
Distribution of published monthly retainers, US
n=107 · USD per month · median flagged
providers median band
11
15
10
7
11
7
15
21
10
<2k 2-3k 3-4k 4-5k 5-6k 6-8k 8-10k 10-15k 15k+
The median sits in the 5-6k band, and 29% of published US retainers are $10,000 a month or more.
Rates by role, region and pricing model
Medians and quartiles of published prices, in the currency the provider quotes in, with a USD-per-hour column so the rows can be compared with each other.
SHOWING 6 OF 6 GROUPS · 106 GROUP ENTRIES ACROSS 99 PROVIDERS
Publishes a price, by role, of the 1,577 provider sites we read: CPO 53.1% · CTO 28.4% · CMO 25.4% · COO 19.7% · CFO 8.2% · CRO 6.7%. Overall 10.7%. Counted on sites whose pages name the role, not on every domain in the queue.
ROLE
REGION
MODEL
| ROLE | REGION | MODEL | MEDIAN | P25 | P75 | RANGE | USD/H | PROVIDERS | PRICES | CONFIDENCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Role not specified | US | Hourly | $175 | $68 | $269 | $175 | 8 | 8 | 0·1·7 ⚠ | |
| Role not specified | US | Monthly retainer | $5,000 | $2,594 | $9,000 | $162 | 38 | 65 | 17·14·34 | |
| Fractional CMO | US | Monthly retainer | $8,250 | $5,125 | $10,375 | $182 | 26 | 56 | 31·6·19 | |
| Fractional CPO | US | Monthly retainer | $7,000 | $3,375 | $11,625 | $181 | 12 | 23 | 3·5·15 | |
| Fractional CTO | US | Hourly | $200 | $125 | $269 | $200 | 8 | 12 | 4·1·7 | |
| Fractional CTO | US | Monthly retainer | $8,000 | $4,237 | $11,312 | $199 | 14 | 31 | 9·6·16 | |
| No group matches that combination. Clear a filter to see the rest. | ||||||||||
Groups carry the unit in the model column. All figures exclude VAT and sales tax. PROVIDERS counts sites, PRICES counts the individual figures behind them, and a provider quoting several tiers contributes the median of its own tiers. 32 of the 38 groups sit below the n=8 reporting floor: they are counted and named in the groups file and carry no figure anywhere, here or in the prose. Rows labelled “Role not specified” are providers that publish a price without naming the role it buys; they are the largest groups in the index and are shown rather than dropped. CONFIDENCE records how much corroboration each price has, as high·medium·low counts: high means two independent extractions agreed and the strict parse passed, low means neither. Low-confidence records are published and counted; a group with no high-confidence record at all is marked ⚠.
DOWNLOAD THIS TABLE AS CSV ↓ASKED MOST OFTEN
What does a fractional executive cost?
How much does a fractional CPO cost?
The median published monthly retainer for a US fractional CPO is $7,000, from 12 providers publishing 23 prices between them. On the hourly axis that is $181 an hour. UK and euro-area groups for this role are below our n=8 publication floor, so we count them and publish no figure. Figures are published prices, not negotiated fees.
What do fractional CMOs and CTOs charge?
In the US, $8,250 a month for a CMO (n=26 providers) and $8,000 a month for a CTO (n=14 providers). Outside the US both roles are below our n=8 publication floor, so we count them and publish no figure.
Why do so few providers publish a price?
Of the 1,577 provider sites we read, 10.7% publish a price we can verify against their own page; the other 89.3% ask for a call first. Every figure here describes that minority, which is why the share is reported beside it.
How does UK pricing differ from the US?
We cannot say yet, and this edition does not pretend otherwise. 25 providers publish in sterling, 18 as monthly retainers and 9 as day rates. Every one of those groups is below our n=8 publication floor, so we count them and publish no figure, so no UK median appears in the table or here. The UK sample is what the next collection round is aimed at.
Methodology
A price stated on a provider's own website in a currency and a unit, without a form, call or quote request in between. Prices inside downloadable PDFs count. Prices quoted to us privately do not.
Every price in this table is found word for word in a quote captured from the provider's own page, together with its currency and its cadence, and has to sit inside a plausibility band for its unit. A price that appears in no quote does not get published, whatever the extractor thought it saw. The USD-per-hour column is derived rather than captured: where the provider states how many hours the retainer buys, the divisor is quoted too, and on the rest it is the measured default of 32.5 hours a month, which four published monthly records in five use. The record-level CSV carries the quote, the divisor and where the divisor came from beside the figure so you can check any row yourself.
Each record keeps the currency and the unit the provider published, and gains one comparison column: USD per hour. Hourly rates are used as captured, day rates divided by eight hours, and monthly retainers divided by the hours the provider publishes, or by 32.5 hours where it publishes none. The 41 readings that survived come from 21 providers, and the median across those 21 is 32.5. A retainer is not literally a block of hours, so treat the hourly column as a comparison device rather than a quotable rate. Ranges use the midpoint and are labelled midpoint.
Providers are found through directories, marketplaces, search and referral, then deduplicated by domain, with sites belonging to one operator folded into one provider. We exclude staffing agencies reselling contractors, equity-only arrangements, SaaS seat pricing and outsourced bookkeeping subscriptions. A group is published only at n=8 providers or more; 32 of the 38 groups fall below that line and are counted and named without a figure.
Only 10.7% of the 1,577 sites we read publish a verifiable price, so every figure here describes that minority, not the whole market. Region is the currency a provider quotes in, not where it is: a US firm quoting in euros lands in EU. And saasfractionalcpo.com, which publishes this index, is one of the sampled providers; it is one host out of 168 and is not excluded.
v2.1.1 · 2026-09 · n=1,774 · previous versions stay downloadable in the changelog
CHANGELOG
v2.1.1The plausibility band now applies to the derived USD-per-hour column as well as to the captured price, and the hours behind a retainer are read from the offer's own words wherever it states them. Seven US monthly records fell outside the band and are named in the quarantine file; providers publishing a price move from 175 to 168. Holding them back lifts the lower quartile of the hourly column by 11.1% and the median by 1.7%. COO / US / monthly, published at $3,938 from 8 providers in v2.1, now holds 7, falls below the n=8 reporting floor and carries no figure. If you cited $3,938 for a fractional COO, that figure is withdrawn.
v2.1Sites belonging to one operator consolidated into one provider. Every published figure now has to match a quote captured from the provider's own page. SaaS seat pricing and bookkeeping subscriptions excluded. USD-per-hour column added. Record-level CSV with evidence quotes published. Providers tracked to 1,774, publishing a price 175.
v2.0Added COO, CRO and Chief of Staff. Providers tracked to 1,127. Day-rate normalisation revised.
v1.2First public edition. 736 providers tracked, August 2026.