Most providers keep their prices behind a discovery call. This guide gives you the real numbers: UK day rates, what each engagement shape costs per month, what moves a quote up or down, and our own price ladder in full.
A fractional CMO in the UK typically costs £3,000 to £12,000 a month, built from day rates of £700 to £1,500. The price moves on two things: how many days a month you buy, and whether you are buying leadership alone or leadership with a team that delivers the work.
Daniel Hill
Founder of Limivex. These are the prices we charge and the market rates we compete against. Updated September 2026.
A written reference for deciding whether the model fits your firm. It covers what the role actually owns, the growth triggers that lead consultancies and search firms to it, how a retainer is scoped, and how it compares with an agency or a full-time hire.
PDF, 14 pages, 1.8 MB. No form, no email required.
Search this question and you will find page after page that ends in "book a call to discuss your needs". The polite explanation is that engagements vary. The honest one is that hiding the number lets the seller price the buyer rather than the work. Engagements do vary, but they vary along exactly two axes, days and delivery, and both can be priced on a page.
So here are the real ranges, what moves you up and down inside them, and our own ladder with the numbers on it. If the model itself is new to you, start with what a fractional CMO is and come back.
Do the Sums
Drag the slider to the number of days a month you think you need. The range uses typical UK day rates of £700 to £1,500. Most firms of 11 to 50 staff land between four and eight days.
At the midpoint that is about 44% less than employing the same seniority full time, before you count recruitment fees and the months spent finding them.
Market figures, not a quote. Our own ladder starts at £3,600 a month and is published lower down this page.
Three Ways to Buy It
Every fractional engagement in the market is one of three shapes. The market ranges below come from what we see firms actually paying; the published row is ours, on 30-day rolling terms. Deciding between fractional, interim and full time instead? That is its own guide.
Leadership Only
Strategy and direction, your people deliver
Leadership Plus Delivery
The CMO and the team that ships the work
Embedded
Effectively your marketing department
Typical UK monthly cost
£3,000 to £6,000
£4,500 to £9,000
£8,000 to £15,000
Our published price
Not offered: every Limivex tier includes delivery
From £3,600
From £10,000
Days of leadership
2 to 4 a month
4 to 8 a month
8 or more a month
Who ships the work
Your team or agencies
Their specialist team
Their team, end to end
Suits firms that have
Capable in-house marketers
Little or no marketing resource
No function at all, moving fast
Leadership Only
Strategy and direction, your people deliver
Leadership Plus Delivery
The CMO and the team that ships the work
Embedded
Effectively your marketing department
Days, first and always. Two days a month of genuine board-level attention is a different product from eight, and it should cost less than half as much. Be suspicious of a flat fee that never states the days behind it.
Delivery, second. Leadership-only pricing looks cheaper until you add the freelancers, the agencies and your own evenings needed to ship the plan. When you compare quotes, compare the cost of the outcome, and read the small print on who actually does the work.
Specialism, third. An operator who knows your sector prices with confidence because they are not learning it on your retainer. Generalists discount; the discount is your risk. A fractional CMO who has run marketing for recruitment firms before knows what a mandate is worth and where they come from.
The thing that should not move the price is theatre: office days for their own sake, decks nobody asked for, a weekly meeting that could have been a Loom. You are buying decisions and outcomes, and the invoice should read that way.
The Honest Comparison
Full-time CMO
£11,700/mo
£120k salary plus bonus, NI and pension
Agency stack, two channels
£4k to £12k/mo
Typical £2k to £6k per channel, nobody owning the whole
Marketing manager
£5,200/mo
£50k salary all in, hands without board-level direction
Fractional CMO, Drive tier
From £4,800/mo
Our recommended tier: a day a week of leadership, two to three workstreams shipping
Fractional CMO, Lead tier
From £3,600/mo
Half a day a week of leadership, fortnightly strategy calls, one workstream shipping
All figures are monthly, UK, August 2026. Employed roles include employer's NI, pension and a typical bonus. The agency bar assumes two channels; many firms buying this way run three.
Pricing, Answered
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Between £3,000 and £12,000 a month for most engagements, built from day rates of roughly £700 to £1,500. Where you land in that range depends on the days you buy each month and whether the engagement is leadership only or includes a team delivering the work. Every Limivex tier includes the delivery team: our ladder starts at £3,600 a month for half a day a week of leadership, with £4,800 buying a full day and more workstreams in flight, on 30-day rolling terms.
Credible operators charge £700 to £1,500 a day, with most experienced ones between £900 and £1,200. Be careful at both ends. Below £600 you are usually buying a consultant rebadged, without the board-level scars. Above £1,500 you are paying big-brand rates that rarely make sense for a firm of 11 to 50 staff.
Often, once you count everything. Two or three single-channel agency retainers at £2,000 to £6,000 each add up quickly, and none of them owns the overall result. A fractional CMO with delivery included typically costs less than that combined spend and takes accountability for the whole function, including managing any agencies you keep.
There should not be, and the contract will tell you. Ask three things before signing: whether delivery is included or billed on top, whether media spend and tools are inside the fee or passed through, and what the notice period is. Long tie-ins are the quiet cost. Ours is 30 days rolling, and we think anything longer needs justifying.
The useful ones run twelve months or more, because a marketing function takes two or three quarters to rebuild and prove. But commit in short renewable blocks rather than a long contract. The first ninety days tell you whether the fit is right, and a provider confident in their work will not need to lock you in to keep you.
Judge it against one number: what a single additional retained mandate or a couple of extra placements a quarter is worth to you. For most firms between £2m and £20m in fees, the recommended tier pays for itself well inside that. If your fees are under about £1m, it usually is not worth it yet, and we say so on discovery calls.
The tiers, what each one includes, and the cadence behind them are all published on the service page. Bring your fee income and your current marketing spend to a call and we will tell you honestly which shape fits, including if the answer is none yet.
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