Fee-Only Network, Garrett Planning Network and Wellspent all admit only fee-only advisors, but they’re three different kinds of thing. Garrett Planning Network is a network you join to build an hourly, no-minimum planning practice, with training, a mentor and a Find an Advisor search. Fee-Only Network is a consumer directory you reach through membership in one of four associations, and Garrett is one of them. Wellspent is a verified record in the public graph that AI assistants and search read, for $89 a month. Neither Garrett nor Fee-Only Network publishes what it charges, so the choice turns on rules and fit more than price.
The short version
| Fee-Only Network | Garrett Planning Network | Wellspent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A consumer directory of fee-only advisors | A network and training program for hourly planners, with a consumer search | A verified record in the public graph AI assistants and search read |
| Price | Not published; NAPFA-Registered members get a free profile; enhanced profiles carry an annual or monthly fee | Not published | $89 a month ($890 billed yearly) |
| How you get in | Be vetted by NAPFA, XYPN, Garrett or the Alliance of Comprehensive Planners | Apply; fee-only, hourly, mostly no minimums | Be fee-only by SEC data |
| Credential rule | Whatever your association requires | CFP, or CPA with PFS, within five years of RIA registration | None |
| Fee model | Any fee-only model | Hourly and as needed; investment management optional | Any fee-only model |
| What else you get | A profile | 3½-day training, a mentor, CE, an annual conference, a community | Introductions, a monthly AI visibility report, quarterly press placement |
| Cited by ChatGPT | In 57% of answers in our study | Not among the ten sites cited most | In 37% of answers |
How Fee-Only Network works
Fee-Only Network describes itself as exclusive to fee-only advisors and firms “vetted by at least one of our association partners”: NAPFA, XY Planning Network, Garrett Planning Network or the Alliance of Comprehensive Planners. It doesn’t run its own vetting from scratch. It relies on the association’s.
NAPFA-Registered members get a free profile as part of their dues. Beyond that, the site says its operator, Advisorology, LLC, collects an annual or monthly fee for enhanced profiles, and it discloses the conflict that creates: a financial incentive to include advisors who pay. It doesn’t publish the amount.
What it has going for it is reach. Kitces’ 2026 study named Fee-Only Network among the four most cost-effective directories, in the channel that cost least overall at $0.28 per $1 of new revenue. In our study of 600 AI answers, feeonlynetwork.com was the second site ChatGPT cited most, after napfa.org. One advisor on r/CFP called it “my best ROI. Multiple leads and at least a couple clients.” (comment) That’s one advisor’s experience, from 2024.
How Garrett Planning Network works
Garrett, founded in 2000 by Sheryl Garrett, is built around one model: fee-only planning by the hour, as needed, for people who wouldn’t meet an asset minimum. NAPFA’s summary of its rules says members must:
- Be fee-only.
- Offer planning and investment advice hourly and as needed; investment management is optional.
- Take most client engagements with no minimum for income, assets, net worth, engagement length or revenue.
- Hold the CFP or a CPA with the PFS, or earn one within five years of first registering their RIA.
- Sign a fiduciary oath.
New members go through a 3½-day in-person training program and get a mentor, training materials, CE and an annual conference. Consumers can search Garrett’s Find an Advisor, which promises help “regardless of your current assets or net worth.”
Garrett doesn’t publish its fees or its member count. The last figure we found was 325 advisers, in a 2013 InvestmentNews profile. Advisors who talk about it mostly talk about the support. “I was leaning towards Garrett planning for the support because I don’t need the tech stack that comes with xy planning,” one wrote in 2026 (comment). On the consumer search, another, in 2024: “I regularly refer prospects to Garrett’s FAA site to find an hourly advisor. I’m not sure if they ever connect with one though.” (comment) Each is one advisor’s experience.
Where AI assistants look
AI assistants increasingly decide which advisors a prospect hears about first, and they lean on a few fee-only sources more than others.
That’s a strong case for Fee-Only Network as a place to be seen. It also explains why Garrett and Fee-Only Network work well together: a Garrett member already qualifies for a Fee-Only Network profile.
What an hourly planner is selling
The median hourly rate among fee-only firms that publish one is $300 (middle half $250 to $350), and 27% of fee-only firms offer hourly work at all (fee report). A prospect looking for an hourly planner is usually looking for a price and a specific problem: a second opinion on a pension choice, a one-off plan, help with an inheritance. The place that states your rate and your specialties plainly is the one that can answer that question.
Where Fee-Only Network is the better choice
- You’re already in NAPFA. Your profile is free. Fill it in completely.
- You want the source ChatGPT reads. It was cited in 57% of ChatGPT’s answers in our study, more than any fee-only source but NAPFA.
- You want a pure directory. No training or community to pay for if you don’t need them.
Where Garrett is the better choice
- You’re building an hourly practice from the start. Training, a mentor and a model designed for hourly, as-needed work are things a directory or a record can’t give you.
- You want peers who work the same way. Garrett’s community is made up of planners with the same model and the same kind of client.
- You’d like Fee-Only Network too. Membership is one of the four routes in.
Where Wellspent is the better choice
- You don’t fit an association’s rules. Wellspent has no credential requirement and accepts any fee-only model, including asset-based firms with a minimum, which Garrett doesn’t take.
- You want to know the price. $89 a month, published, no lead fees and no share of client fees.
- You want more than a profile. Your record carries your fees, specialties, the clients you serve, credentials and SEC registration, with sources. Lists rank on fit, with no paid boosts (methodology). Prospects write to you directly, a monthly report shows who AI assistants recommend when your ideal clients ask, and each quarter members are matched to stories by specialty with media partners.
- You’re in Canada. Fee-only and advice-only planners in Canada can have a record.
Using more than one
These aren’t exclusive. An hourly planner can be a Garrett member, keep a Fee-Only Network profile and have a Wellspent record. Use the same firm name, hourly rate, specialties and service area on all three and on your own site. People check more than one place, and so do AI assistants. When the facts match, each source makes the others more believable.
Bottom line
Join Garrett to build an hourly practice with training and peers. Keep a Fee-Only Network profile because ChatGPT reads it, and because your association membership probably already gets you one. Add a Wellspent record, at $89 a month, for a verified, sourced account of how you practice, introductions with no lead fees, a monthly AI report and press. For the wider field, see the best financial advisor directories, Wellspent vs NAPFA and Wellspent vs the Advice-Only Network.