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FRACTIONAL CMO COST

What a fractional CMO costs, and what you get for it

Retainers run $3,000 to $25,000 a month. The cheap end buys advice. The top end buys a leader and the team that does the work. Put your own numbers in first.

The calculatorSourced defaults

Full-time CMO or a retainer: your first-year cost

Change any number. The bars move. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Full-time hire
Fractional retainer

Year one

A full-time CMO costs $133,073 more in year one.

6 months of leadership from the hire, 12 from the retainer.

Cost per month led$46,179full-time, over 6 led months
Cost per month led$12,000retainer, over 12 months

Arithmetic only. It says nothing about which person is better, or what the leadership produces. That part is the next section.

Where the defaults come from

Bonus 20% and three months to ramp are placeholders with no survey behind them. Replace them with your offer.

What the price buys

The band tells you what you are buying

What each fractional CMO price band buysThree bands on one scale. Advice at $3,000 to $8,000 a month buys a plan and calls. Leader at $8,000 to $15,000 buys an owner of the number who runs your team. Leader plus team at $15,000 to $25,000 and up buys the owner and the people who do the work. Megawebvision engagements start at $25,000.FIELD GUIDE / FRACTIONAL CMO COSTThree price bands. Three different purchases.Monthly retainers from published 2026 guides.Advice$3k to $8k a month5 to 10 hrs a week• Strategy and a plan• Monthly calls✕ No team, no executionLeader$8k to $15k a month10 to 20 hrs a week• Owns the number• Runs your team and vendors✕ You still buy the executionLeader + team$15k to $25k and upLeadership plus delivery• Owns the number• Brings the team that does the work• Answers for the resultMEGAWEBVISION FROM $25,000Sources: MarketerHire, Go Fractional, Elevarus and Geisheker 2026 pricing guides (vendor figures). Bands rounded.What each fractional CMO price band buysThree bands on one scale. Advice at $3,000 to $8,000 a month buys a plan and calls. Leader at $8,000 to $15,000 buys an owner of the number who runs your team. Leader plus team at $15,000 to $25,000 and up buys the owner and the people who do the work. Megawebvision engagements start at $25,000.FIELD GUIDE / CMO COSTThree price bands.Three purchases.Advice$3k to $8k a month5 to 10 hrs a week• Strategy and a plan• Monthly calls✕ No team, no executionLeader$8k to $15k a month10 to 20 hrs a week• Owns the number• Runs your team and vendors✕ You still buy the executionMEGAWEBVISION FROM $25,000Leader + team$15k to $25k and upLeadership plus delivery• Owns the number• Brings the team that does the work• Answers for the resultSources: MarketerHire, Go Fractional, Elevarus, Geisheker2026 pricing guides (vendor figures). Bands rounded.
The cheapest band is not a smaller version of the dearest one. It is a different product.

Every 2026 pricing guide puts most retainers between $5,000 and $15,000 a month. That number is not the point. What changes between bands is what shows up on Monday.

At the low end you get a plan and a call. In the middle you get someone who owns the number and directs the people you already pay. At the top you get the owner and the hands. The four things a fractional CMO must own are the same at every price. Who does the work is not.

The part the salary hides

A full-time hire leads for half the year you pay for

Months of leadership in year oneA full-time hire with three months to hire and three to ramp leads for six of the first twelve months. A fractional retainer leads for twelve. Same calendar, half the leadership.FIELD GUIDE / THE SAME TWELVE MONTHSYou pay for a year. How much of it is led?M1M2M3M4M5M6M7M8M9M10M11M12Full-time CMOSearchingRamping, paidLeading: 6 monthsFractional retainerLeading: 12 monthsThree months to hire and three to ramp are the calculator defaults. Change them above and the arithmetic follows.Months of leadership in year oneA full-time hire with three months to hire and three to ramp leads for six of the first twelve months. A fractional retainer leads for twelve. Same calendar, half the leadership.FIELD GUIDE / TWELVE MONTHSYou pay for a year.How much is led?M1M4M7M10Full-time CMOSearchingRamping, paidLeading: 6 monthsFractional retainerLeading: 12 monthsThree months to hire and three to ramp are thecalculator defaults. Change them above.
The hire's salary starts in month four. The leadership starts in month seven. The retainer leads from day one.

Executive roles take a median 45 days to fill, and search firms report three to four months for the C-suite. Then the hire learns your business. The first 90 days of a fractional CMO are a diagnosis and one proof. The first 90 days of a new executive are mostly orientation.

Divide the first-year bill by the months of real leadership. That is the number to compare. The calculator does it for you.

Who should pay less

Buy the cheaper band when this is true

Advice is enough if

You have a marketing lead who executes well and needs a senior sounding board twice a month. Revenue is under about $3 million. One channel drives most of the business and it works.

You need the leader plus the team if

Leads arrive and nobody owns them past the form. Two or three vendors each report their own win while revenue stays flat. You want one person accountable for the result, not for the deck.

If the first column describes you, hire a $6,000 advisor and keep the money. Our engagements start at $25,000 a month because they include the team. That is the wrong purchase for a business that only needs the advice.

What $25,000 a month buys here

One owner of the number, with the hands attached

Timur leads every engagement himself: the diagnosis, the plan, the vendors, the sales floor. The team that fixes the leak comes with him. You get one weekly number you can trust and one person who answers for it.

Engagements run from $25,000 a month. A few partners at a time.

24%

lower cost per booked appointment, at 12,000+ booked appointments a month. Health insurance

$2.9M

signed in one quarter, up 109%. Home improvement

+26%

more enquiries, year on year. Specialty retail

Sources

Every number on this page

  1. Payscale, chief marketing officer base salary, United States, 2026 ($186,581)
  2. Indeed, chief marketing officer salaries, 363 postings, updated July 2026 ($170,252)
  3. BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (benefits 31.5% of cost, full-time private)
  4. SHRM, recruiting benchmarking data brief, 2026 (executive median 45 days to fill)
  5. Talentfoot, retained vs contingency search fees (25% to 35% of first-year compensation)
  6. MarketerHire, fractional CMO cost 2026 ($3,000 to $15,000 a month; vendor guide)
  7. Go Fractional, fractional CMO salary 2026 ($4,000 to $20,000 a month, average $12,000; vendor guide)
  8. Elevarus, fractional CMO cost by scope ($5,000 to $20,000 a month by role; vendor guide)

Vendor guides are labelled. Rates are US dollars. Canadian figures run lower on salary and the same on retainers in our experience; use your own offer.