Fractional and Interim CMO Firms: 17 Compared by Fees and Fit

Pillar Bank, a 44-employee community bank in Wisconsin, brought in an Authentic fractional CMO after its marketing director resigned. The CMO led a rebrand and planned a new branch in Chippewa Falls. Authentic's 2023 client story reports that the branch opened more than $5 million in new deposits within 60 days, against $8 million that another branch took over a year and a half to reach.

Authentic offers fractional, interim (opens in a new tab) and advisory CMOs. Its FAQ puts fractional retainers at 6 to 20+ hours a week, while other passages on the page give lower bounds of 4 and 8 hours, so confirm the hours in your proposal. Engagements typically last 12 to 24+ months, and most clients stay 24+ months. Interim engagements are typically 3 to 6 months on a flat weekly or monthly retainer, ending with a handoff to a full-time hire or an internal successor. Each of its CMOs may serve one to four clients at a time, the firm says, so ask how many your CMO already carries. It offers every client a Right-Fit CMO Guarantee without publishing the terms on the page read; ask what it covers.

In the Jefferson Dental case, the private equity owners of a 60-office Texas dental group brought in Jon Rice, a Chief Outsiders fractional CMO, on a flexible engagement. The case dates the CEO's arrival to January 2024. The CEO is quoted saying that a year earlier the company was "spending three to four times more on marketing as we are now and getting roughly the same results." As a new marketing director took on more of the work, the case says, Rice suggested reducing his fee.

The firm separates its two services clearly. Its interim CMO page (opens in a new tab) describes interim as a bridge while a permanent CMO is found, and fractional as a role sized to what the company needs. Beyond the CMO, clients can add its Team Outsiders implementation resources. The case-study index (opens in a new tab) lists other named engagements. The service page's FAQ says cost varies and gives no figure.

CMOx's homepage shows client reviews it labels as verified, including a marketing lead at Fastmail who calls the service "one of our most valuable expenditures." The firm places part-time CMOs and publishes its packages on its page for business owners (opens in a new tab). CMO Engaged starts at $7,000 a month for about ten hours a week inside the company. The Advisor package starts at $3,000 a month with a six-month minimum; CMOx positions it after a consultation or a 90-day Engaged sprint, for companies with a strong team and a strategy already built with a fractional CMO. The homepage gives a wider range of $3,000 to $15,000 a month for 5 to 25 hours a week.

Its plan runs in stages: a marketing systems map from the first 30 days, execution over the next 60, then an updated plan every 90 days. CMOx also runs an accelerator that trains marketers to work as fractional CMOs, so ask how the CMO you are matched with was vetted. Its part-time CMO page (opens in a new tab) says a business under $30 million in annual revenue may not need a full-time CMO.

Bijan Vafaei, head of marketing at Wage, says in a testimonial on the fractional CMO page that Digital Authority Partners "provided us with fractional CMO and analytics services." A Vhanti testimonial describes a named CMO who advised and then executed, and says she would recommend other service providers instead of steering the company only to the firm's own. The firm describes itself as connecting companies with fractional CMOs, and it has separate pages for interim CMOs and for fractional CMOs in law, healthcare, franchises and startups.

Its FAQ says a fractional CMO works 10 to 40 hours a month in most cases, and that the first step is an audit and a 12-month marketing roadmap. The same FAQ says most fractional CMO groups charge $250 to $500 an hour; that is the firm's general statement about the market, and its own fee is not published on the page read. Because the firm also sells SEO and media services, ask whether your CMO will stay free to choose other providers.

Growth Partners' homepage quotes Justin Pearson, executive chairman of a company it names as Maven (unrelated to Maven Marketing Solutions below): "Hiring a Fractional CMO was a brilliant short-term solution for Maven." The same page shows client logos including Royal London, Rathbones, Rothschild and JAB Holding. The firm connects former board-level marketers with businesses backed by investors.

The firm offers fractional CMOs alongside interim management, which it describes as full-time cover for a short period, and mentoring for existing teams. In place of prices it publishes a day-rate calculator (opens in a new tab), which divides an equivalent employee's salary, bonus, benefits and employment costs, plus the firm's fees, by 220 working days.

Mahdlo's insurance case reports cost per acquisition down 30% and growth rates up 32%; the client is unnamed, and the case does not say whether the engagement was fractional or interim. The firm publishes its engagement models in hours. A fractional executive works 40 to 70 hours a month on a monthly retainer; an interim leader works 60 to 100 hours a month through a transition and helps source the permanent hire. Its headline figures are 15 to 70 hours a month and a typical engagement of 6 to 12 months, and it says engagements are built to be replaced by your own hire or a smaller retainer. The page names its executive advisors and says they include former CMOs from Zurich, Tessco and the American Red Cross.

Its other case studies, grouped by sector, also report outcomes without naming the engagement type. Most clients are unnamed; the American Red Cross case comes from the founder's own time there as a marketing executive. The fractional CMO page says fees are scoped to each engagement's hours, market and length.

CMOvate's homepage quotes Ron Starinsky, founder and CEO of ICV: "LinkedIn started giving us serious leads." The firm works with B2B startups and says it builds and runs the marketing engine itself. Alongside the fractional CMO service, its engagement models (opens in a new tab) page lists time-boxed sprints to fix a specific growth problem. The About page (opens in a new tab) says it is operated by Elvia Group Ltd in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands. No prices or minimum terms are published on the pages read.

Kurve's fractional CMO page lists BT, Nutmeg, WeGift, Peakon, Coconut and Canon under "Trusted by." Its Peakon case reports monthly leads up 56% and cost per acquisition down 41%, but that was paid search work: the case set out to optimize and scale Peakon's paid search accounts and does not mention a fractional CMO role. Kurve says its fractional CMOs can work short term as an interim, on a project, or on an ongoing basis until it is time for a full-time hire. No fees are published on the page read.

On Magnetude's clients page, the CEO of Blue Cedar says a partner marketing program Magnetude built drove "an additional $2m in pipeline opportunities" in the first quarter. The CEO of LMG Security says the company engaged Magnetude in late 2018 to build a roadmap and then act as its marketing team, and that revenue had nearly doubled three years later. Neither testimonial names a fractional CMO role, and the CEOs are identified by first name and initial. BARR Advisory's head of marketing describes having a CMO "on call" alongside digital, website, creative and automation specialists. The firm offers a fractional CMO service and says most smaller growth firms engage it as their fractional marketing department on retainer. Its engagement models (opens in a new tab) page publishes no prices or terms.

Marketri's fractional CMO page features a national engineering firm, unnamed, where Marketri served as fractional CMO from 2013 to 2018 and reports building $5 million to $10 million a year in new revenue from organic traffic without paid advertising. Its homepage carries named testimonials, including Holly Johnson, chief of staff at Chesapeake Corporate Advisors.

The fractional CMO page prices the role from a senior leadership rate of $350 an hour, applied to the involvement it requires. It sets $7,500 a month where positioning, a plan and a team are in place, $10,000 to $15,000 where most clients sit, and $20,000 where little is settled. The FAQ (opens in a new tab) answers most of the other questions a buyer would ask. Across all its retainers, it says, the smallest client pays $7,500 a month, most pay $10,000 to $20,000 and the largest about $50,000. The first month often costs more because it carries discovery and audit work. The minimum is six months, with a full year encouraged, and an engagement ends on 30 to 60 days' written notice. Clients get two or three contacts, one a senior marketer typically at VP level with 20 or more years of experience, and the service page says you meet the person who would hold the role before you sign. Data, campaigns and reporting stay in the client's own platforms. When the function outgrows a fractional leader, the service page says, Marketri helps the client hire full time.

Matt Meyers, CEO of Adaptus, says in Maven's fractional CMO testimonial that the work grew revenue by 400% in 12 months, calling the consultant "a true partner as a fractional CMO." Maven describes the role as part time, about 40 hours a month, with specific deliverables over a period that usually ends within a year or two. The case studies page, published in 2025, gives headline growth figures for mostly unnamed clients and does not say which were fractional CMO engagements. No prices are published on the pages read.

Moving Minds' fractional CMO page describes stepping into a private equity-backed B2B software company that spent $35,000 a month on paid media with no link between spend and closed deals. Within three weeks, it says, it rebuilt the tracking and found that 40% of the budget produced clicks but no pipeline; marketing's pipeline contribution then doubled in 60 days. The client is not named. Its case studies name clients such as Jupiter Medical Center and Unimarket, without saying which were fractional CMO engagements.

The firm prices a fractional CMO retainer from $7,500 a month, built around each client's budget and goals, and describes the role as 10 to 20 hours a week. It says the model typically fits companies with $5 million to $100 million in revenue.

The Marketing Blender's Work page tags several engagements as fractional CMO work, including Moser Roofing, which it says grew 15% from 2020 to 2021 and 50% in 2022, and Lone Star Hazmat. Its pricing page (opens in a new tab) starts with a strategy phase priced from $6,000 to $50,000 depending on business size, goals and complexity, then moves to a flat monthly fee. A graphic on that page gives monthly ranges for a fractional CMO plus a full marketing team by company revenue: $1,800 to $5,750 under $10 million, $3,950 to $9,225 above $10 million, $6,850 to $15,000 above $25 million, and $15,000 and up above $40 million. Clients can cancel with 30 days' notice. Its service page says mid-level fractional CMOs generally charge $75 to $275 an hour; that is its view of the market, and the firm prices its own work by package.

Susan Frew, CEO of Sunshine Home Services, recommends Bryt Idea's consultant, Tom Fellner, on the firm's testimonials page as "a talented and experienced fractional Chief Marketing Officer." The other testimonials there mostly describe brand strategy and website work. The service page lists a standard fractional CMO rate of $125 an hour, varying with duties and hours, and says a flat-rate retainer can lower the hourly rate.

Testimonials on Intention.ly's engagement options page come from Dynamic Portfolio Strategies, The Arkin Group, Tolerisk and intelliflo. Mark Friedenthal of Tolerisk says it "feels like our internal marketing department." The testimonials give no figures and do not say which service each client bought. The firm serves financial services companies and lists a "Fractional CMO | COO" option, one dedicated specialist for marketing or operations, from $15,000 a month. Its pricing page (opens in a new tab) lists fractional CMO services at $15,000 and fractional COO services at $12,000 without a billing period. Its case studies (opens in a new tab) are not labeled as fractional CMO work.

McClurg Marketing's service page quotes Micah Gold-Utting, head of sales at an early-stage startup it does not name. It is a single practitioner who works with a client one to three days a week. Its FAQ (opens in a new tab) says retainers are billed monthly, often with a three-month minimum. Clients can begin with a positioning sprint from $10,000 or a strategy and plan sprint from $15,000, then pause after any stage. The monthly retainer is not published. The FAQ's list of triggers is useful for any buyer: growth has stalled, the founder or CEO cannot keep running marketing, the board wants a marketing strategy, or a launch is coming without a plan.

The head of product management at Autosoft DMS, quoted on Prudent Pedal's service page, says that "as fractional CMO, Jeff contributed far more to the organization than we could have dared to ask," leading the marketing team through several software releases. Prudent Pedal is a practitioner-led service for consulting, IT services and other professional services firms, typically with $10 million to $150 million in revenue. Its packages start at $5,000 a month. The firm says engagements generally require a departmental marketing budget of $200,000, including staff and programs. Most engagements begin with a 90-day strategic sprint; it also offers an ongoing advisor model with check-ins every other week. On its testimonials page, a Marsh executive says one piece of client segmentation work "paid for the broader engagement."