Pricing guide
Fractional CTO pricing.
What each tier really buys.
A fractional CTO is a senior engineering brain on retainer, without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. The price ranges widely, here's how to think about it and what each tier actually delivers.
01
What are you actually paying for?
Three things, in roughly this order: judgment (architecture decisions, build-vs-buy calls, vendor selection), oversight (code reviews on critical paths, security pass before launch, incident response), and selective hands-on (light unblocking code, embedded review when needed).
What you are not paying for: full-time availability, day-to-day implementation, or replacing a team. A fractional CTO multiplies the team you already have, it does not become the team.
02
What are the typical tiers?
- · Advisor (low touch): from €3.000/month. Strategic-only, architecture reviews, vendor calls, build-vs-buy, occasional check-ins.
- · Standard (medium touch): higher monthly. Async oversight, PR reviews on critical paths, security pass before launch, scoped engineering judgment.
- · Hands-On (deeper): higher still. Embedded review, on-call, occasional implementation alongside your team, weekly cadence.
03
When does the model make sense?
Post-launch, when the product is live but a single founder cannot also be the full senior engineering brain. Pre-Series-A, when hiring a full-time CTO is premature. During or after a rebuild, to keep the system from regressing.
It does not make sense if you actually need a full-time CTO co-founder, or if you have no engineering function to oversee.
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