Fractional executive calculator
Full-time or fractional: what a CMO or CRO actually costs
The salary is the number everyone quotes and the smallest part of the decision. Move the sliders to your figures and the page sets the two routes side by side: what each costs to run, what that comes to for every month the function is producing, and how many of those months each route gets you. Sometimes full-time comes out ahead, and the page will say so.
- Sourced salary bands
- A three-year view
- No email needed
The typical case
45% less
for every working month than hiring full-time from the start, with a fractional lead who builds the function and hands it to your hire.
Your figures
Set up the comparison
Every slider starts at a benchmark or a typical figure. Move anything that is not true of your company, and the summary under the form and the comparison below it move with it.
What leadership position do you need?
The full-time hire you are weighing. Position, market and company stage set the base salary, which starts at the middle of a sourced band, and the bonus starts at a typical target for the level. Move either and the page says whether the offer gets more or less competitive.
Assumed, as we typically see it: 5 months to a start date and 4 more to full contribution. Whoever builds the function stays about 15 months, and a replacement is producing 9 months after they give notice.
On top of base
What the salary line leaves out of a full-time hire, and it is paid again on every hire.
The fractional option
A senior executive who starts in weeks rather than after a search, and hands the function to your full-time hire. The monthly figure starts at the national average for your company stage.
Assumed, as a typical engagement runs: the fractional lead is producing after 2 months and carries the function for 12. The full-time hire joins for months 11 and 12, when both are on the books, and takes over from month 13.
The comparison
What it comes to over three years
For every working month
Full-time
- Cost a working month
- −
- Months producing
- −
- Months not producing
- −
- Full-time hires
- −
Fractional
- Cost a working month
- −
- Months producing
- −
- Months not producing
- −
- Full-time hires
- −
- Producing
- Ramping up
- Nobody in the seat
- Handover, both paid
Operating cost
The fractional lead is a contractor, paid by the month for 12 months, with no salary, bonus, benefits, search or sign-on. On the fractional route, the full-time lines are your hire, who joins in month 11 and takes over from month 13.
| Line | Full-time | Fractional, then full-time |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time salary, bonus and benefits | ||
| Full-time search and sign-on | ||
| Fractional engagement | None | |
| Operating cost | ||
| Months producing | ||
| Cost a working month |
Pros and cons
Full-time
For
Against
Fractional
For
To make it work
What this is and is not. It is your arithmetic, not a quote and not a promise. The bands come from public aggregators that disagree materially, so the page carries the spread rather than averaging it into a confident number neither source supports. The engagement figure starts at a national average for the stage; move it to the quote you have. It compares what the two routes cost to run, in total and for every working month, which is a month with the function producing. It puts no revenue on those months, because only your own plan can price them. Sourcing at this level is specialist work handled by vetted partners inside an engagement, which is what the recruiter line prices.
Questions
Fractional CMO cost: the common questions
How much does a fractional CMO cost compared with a full-time CMO?
Less for every month the function is producing, in the typical case. On national averages at a mid-market company, a fractional CMO who builds the function and hands it to a full-time hire costs about 45 percent less for every working month than hiring full-time from the start, and has the function producing for 34 of the first 36 months against 18. Both routes pay a full-time hire for 26 of those months, so the difference is what the other months buy. Put in your own figures above, and the answer can come out the other way.
What does a full-time CMO cost beyond the salary?
Base salary for a full-time CMO runs from about $171k to $457k nationally, on Salary.com and Robert Half figures for 2026, and higher in the largest metros. On top of the base: an annual bonus, typically 30 percent of base or more at this level; benefits and employer taxes, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts at 30 percent of total compensation in private industry; and, for every hire, a search and a sign-on, with a retained search typically 25 to 33 percent of first-year base. The calculator counts all of them, for each hire a route makes.
How does a fractional CRO compare with a full-time CRO?
The same way. On national averages at a mid-market company, a fractional CRO who builds the function and hands it to a full-time hire costs about 44 percent less for every working month. Base salary for a full-time CRO runs from about $148k to $407k nationally, on Salary.com and ZipRecruiter figures for 2026, and sales leaders often carry more of their pay as variable pay tied to revenue. Pick Chief Revenue Officer in the calculator to run it on your figures.
How long does it take to hire a full-time CMO?
The calculator assumes 5 months to a start date and 4 more before a new full-time CMO is contributing fully, so 9 months before the function is producing. It also assumes the leader who builds the function stays about 15 months, and that a replacement is producing 9 months after they give notice. A fractional lead is producing after 2 months, because there is no search to run.
Is a fractional CMO worth it, or is full-time the better call?
A fractional CMO is worth it when the function has to be built: the lead is producing in about 2 months, builds the function, and helps hire the full-time leader who then runs it. Hiring full-time from the start is the better call when the function is already built and needs running at scale, or when the numbers say so, which is most likely for a director-level seat in a lower-cost market with no recruiter, against a fractional lead near the top of the range. The calculator shows which way your case falls.
Keep going
Pairs well with
is a bet
on people
Your plan is a bet on people
Chapter 11 is this ledger in full: the builder, the operator, and the months between them.
Fractional CMO
Senior marketing leadership that builds the function now and hands it to the operator you hire.
Fractional CRO
Senior revenue leadership that builds the engine now and hands it to the operator you hire.
Want a senior read on this seat?
Thirty minutes with a fractional CMO or CRO on what the seat needs now, a builder or an operator, and what the months are worth to your plan.