Fractional executive cost calculator
Model what a fractional CFO actually costs per month, then compare it against the loaded cost of the same hire full-time, including employer burden and a retained-search fee. Every assumption below is editable, so you can run it against your own numbers instead of ours.
Your scope
Full-time comparison
Defaults are stated planning assumptions, not measured market data. Burden covers payroll taxes, benefits, insurance, equipment, and bonus accrual. Override anything to match your actual numbers.
- Weekly
- $2,500 – $5,000
- Operator cost over 6 months
- $65,000 – $130,000
- RecruitFractional subscription (6 × $99)
- $594
- Flat placement fee
- $1,000
- All-in total
- $66,594 – $131,594
- Loaded annual cost
- $384,000
- Loaded cost over 6 months
- $192,000
- Search fee (25% of base)
- $75,000
- Total
- $267,000
Roughly 51–75% less than filling this role full-time through a search firm over the same 6 months, at 0.25 FTE of senior capacity.
How fractional executive cost is calculated
Fractional executive cost is hours per week multiplied by an hourly or day rate, usually invoiced as a monthly retainer. There is no employer burden, no equity grant, no severance exposure, and no recruiting fee tied to a percentage of compensation. That is why a 10 hour per week engagement can deliver C-suite judgment at a fraction of a full-time package while staying a variable, cancellable line item.
What a full-time hire actually costs
The number most teams compare against is base salary, which understates the real figure. Add payroll taxes, benefits, insurance, equipment, software seats, and bonus accrual, and the loaded cost typically runs 25 to 30 percent above base. Then add a retained-search fee, commonly 20 to 35 percent of first-year compensation. On a $300,000 base, that is $75,000 before the executive has done a day of work.
Where our fee structure sits
RecruitFractional charges a flat $99 per month for access and a flat $1,000 placement fee per confirmed hire, due within 30 days. It does not scale with the operator's rate, so a senior hire does not cost us more to place and does not cost you a percentage. You negotiate terms directly with the operator.
Where these numbers come from
The defaults are transparent planning assumptions we publish so you can sanity-check the math, not claimed market benchmarks. We are deliberately not publishing rate benchmarks until our own network is deep enough to report them honestly. Until then, treat every default here as a starting point and replace it with a quote from a real operator. Submit a role brief and we will come back with actual rates from matched executives within one business day.