CFP® professional fees vs other planners

Key findings

1. Among US fee only firms with one employee, those whose Form ADV brochure names a CFP® professional publish a median hourly rate of $300 (704 firms), against $250 (1,404 firms) at those whose brochure names no CFP® professional, a gap larger than chance would explain; among firms with two or more employees, the median hourly rate is $300 for both groups (406 and 963 firms).
2. Across all US fee only firms, those whose Form ADV brochure names a CFP® professional publish a median hourly rate of $300 (1,114 firms) and a median one time plan fee of $5,000 (874 firms), against $270 (2,374 firms) and $4,500 (1,663 firms) at firms whose brochure names no CFP® professional; both gaps are larger than chance would explain, though not among firms with two or more employees.
3. Among US fee only firms with one employee, those whose Form ADV brochure names a CFP® professional publish a median one time plan fee of $5,125 (559 firms), against $3,750 (974 firms) at those whose brochure names no CFP® professional, a gap larger than chance would explain; among firms with two or more employees, the median one time plan fee is $5,000 (312 firms) against $5,250 (683 firms), a gap within what chance would explain.
4. US fee only firms whose brochure names a CFP® professional publish a median subscription fee of $550 a month (387 firms), against $425 a month (649 firms) at firms whose brochure names no CFP® professional; the gap is larger than chance would explain, though not among firms with two or more employees.
5. Of the fee comparisons for US fee only firms whose brochure names a CPA (574 firms listed), a CFA charterholder (531), an enrolled agent (154), or a ChFC® holder (118) against firms whose brochure doesn't name that credential, only one gap is larger than chance would explain: firms whose brochure names a CFA charterholder publish a median hourly rate of $300 (223 firms), against $285 at firms whose brochure names no CFA charterholder (3,265 firms).
6. In 21 of the 31 US states where at least 8 fee only firms whose brochure names a CFP® professional and 8 whose brochure names none publish a current hourly rate, firms whose brochure names one have the higher median hourly rate, in 1 the lower and in 9 the same; with 8 to 355 firms a side, in no state is the gap larger than chance would explain.

CFP® professional or not

Among the 2,197 fee only firms whose brochure names a CFP® professional, 79% publish a dollar planning fee, against 64% of the 5,942 that name none. Firms whose brochure names a CFP® professional publish higher hourly rates, higher plan fees, and higher subscription fees than firms whose brochure names no CFP® professional. The fees report sets this beside other firm types.

Under each median: the middle half of firms and the number of firms counted. * The gap is larger than chance would explain (Holm adjusted p < 0.01). The 107 firms with no brochure on file count as listing none and as not publishing a fee.

Credential or firm size?

A one person firm and a team can price differently for reasons that have nothing to do with credentials, so we split firms by the employee count on Form ADV and compared again. Among firms with one employee, those whose brochure names a CFP® professional publish higher hourly rates and higher plan fees than firms whose brochure names no CFP® professional. Among firms with two or more employees, those whose brochure names a CFP® professional show no gap larger than chance would explain in plan fees and have the same median hourly rate as firms whose brochure names no CFP® professional. These are descriptions, not causes: a firm with a CFP® professional may also sit in a pricier city or serve different clients.

* The gap is larger than chance would explain (Holm adjusted p < 0.01, adjusted across the two sizes). Firm size is the employee count on Form ADV, which leaves out clerical staff; 45 firms report no employees and sit out.

CPA, CFA, enrolled agent and ChFC®

Each credential against every firm that doesn't list it. A firm can list several, so the groups overlap: a firm with a CPA and a CFP® professional counts in both. Outside the CFP® comparison, only the hourly rate at firms whose brochure names a CFA charterholder differs by more than chance would explain.

* The gap is larger than chance would explain (Holm adjusted p < 0.01, adjusted across the five credentials for each fee).

State by state

A state is compared for a fee when at least 8 firms whose brochure names a CFP® professional and 8 whose brochure names none publish it. Only one state gap is larger than chance would explain: subscription fees in Georgia (18 states tested). No state shows one for hourly rates (31 states tested) or plan fees (28 states tested). Each state has fewer firms than the national comparison, so a real gap is harder to confirm there.

Each cell: median at firms whose brochure names a CFP® professional / median at firms whose brochure names none, then the firms counted on each side.

* The gap is larger than chance would explain (Holm adjusted p < 0.01, adjusted across the tested states for each fee). A dash means fewer than 8 firms on one side publish that fee. Subscription fees are per month.

How we did it

• The data: 8,139 US fee only financial planning firms and the fees they publish in their Form ADV Part 2A brochures, filed with the SEC or a state regulator, as of November 4, 2026. The numbers update every month with new filings.
• A current fee: one value per firm, from a brochure under 18 months old, and not just a cap or a minimum. A range counts at its midpoint, and a quarterly subscription fee counts at a third of its price per month. No median is shown under 8 firms.
• Credentials: a firm lists a credential when our software finds a person at the firm named with it in the brochure ("Jane Doe, CFP®") or a line saying an adviser holds it. It misses some, and a brochure that only explains what a credential means doesn't count.
• Tests: each fee comparison uses a Mann-Whitney rank test on the two groups' fees, and the share that publishes a dollar fee a two proportion z test. Many tests at once turn up some gaps by luck, so p-values are Holm adjusted within each family: one fee type across the five credentials, across the two firm sizes, or across the tested states. A gap is called larger than chance only when its adjusted p is under 0.01 and the two medians differ. The fees report adjusts its CFP® test with its other firm types, so its p-value can differ from this page's; the medians are the same.

The full rules are on the methodology page.

How to cite this study

PlannerFees, "CFP® professional fees vs other planners," 2026, https://plannerfees.com/research/cfp-financial-planner-fees/ (data as of November 4, 2026).

The data is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit PlannerFees, link to this page, name the license (CC BY 4.0) and say if you changed the data. The numbers update every month, so give the data date, November 4, 2026, when you quote one.

Download the data

Credential study tables (CSV): every comparison on this page, one row per group and fee, with the firm count, the middle half, the raw and Holm adjusted p-values and whether the gap is clear. The firm level data is in the full fee dataset.

CC BY 4.0 covers PlannerFees' compilation and the fee figures. The quoted brochure sentences are the firms' own words, quoted for reference, and the license doesn't cover them. Terms of use.