SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a subscription that sends you a set range of shared leads each month, plus the tools to chase them: automated calls and texts, nurture emails and live phone transfers. SmartAsset doesn’t publish prices. Reported figures run from about $150 to $300 or more per lead, on 6 or 12 month terms. AMP can work for a firm with a sales process built for volume and clients large enough to absorb many misses. For a solo fee-only planner, the term, the shared leads and a close rate near 1 in 20 make it an expensive experiment.
The short version
| SmartAsset AMP | Wellspent | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | A monthly range of matched leads plus outreach tools | A verified record read by AI assistants and search, and introductions from prospects who chose you |
| Price | Not published. Reported $150 to $300+ per lead; about $250 for $1M+ prospects | $89 a month |
| Term | 6 or 12 months, billed monthly | Cancel any time |
| Exclusive? | No. Each prospect goes to about three advisors | Yes. The prospect writes only to you |
| Typical close rate | About 1 in 20 leads among successful users (Kitces, April 2024) | No per-lead cost to divide |
| Bad-lead credits | Advisors report AMP contracts don’t allow invalidations | Not applicable |
| Who can join | Advisers registered as fiduciaries, including broker-dealer affiliated | Fee-only advisors only, checked against SEC data |
What AMP is
SmartAsset launched AMP on March 5, 2024. The launch release describes three plans (Discover, Accelerate and Scale) that “deliver a fixed range of referrals over a six or twelve-month subscription”, billed monthly, with referral volume set by the plan. Every plan includes nurture campaigns, automated calling and texting, and Live Connections, where SmartAsset gets the prospect on the phone and transfers the call to you.
The older program, SmartAdvisor, is pay per lead against a monthly budget. Kitces wrote in April 2024 that “even amongst advisors known to be very successful with SmartAsset, a 20/3/1 conversion rate” was typical: 20 leads, 3 meetings, 1 client. AMP’s automation is meant to lift it.
How leads are matched and delivered
A consumer reads SmartAsset’s money content and fills in its matching questionnaire. SmartAsset’s SEC brochure (September 30, 2026) lists what decides the match: the advisor’s location, willingness to take the consumer’s stated assets, the consumer’s comfort with a remote advisor, and “the Adviser’s available budget for purchasing new consumer referrals.” It adds that “certain Advisers may be included as matches more often because of larger budgets.”
The consumer’s income, net worth and answers go to each matched advisor, usually three of them (Financial Planning, August 2023; Kitces, March 2024). SmartAsset may call the consumer to check the phone number, set a meeting, or transfer the call to you, sometimes using voice-assisted technology.
SmartAsset’s AMP page gives its own 2025 averages for referrals: $1.26 million in investable assets (excluding people under $25,000), 67% with no current advisor, and 87% retired or near retirement.
What it costs
There’s no rate card. The brochure describes the structure: fees are “flat fees and tiered based on the User’s reported assets”, paid per referral or meeting set, “whether or not the User engages any Adviser.” Fees differ when SmartAsset transfers a call or sets a meeting, and some advisors pay a share of ongoing fees or a fee based on assets transferred instead.
Reported prices for $1 million-plus prospects have risen over time: $190 a lead in 2018 (WealthManagement.com, which also reported $90 for $250,000 to $1 million), and about $250 in 2023, a figure from SmartAsset’s CEO (Financial Planning). A competitor, Wealthtender, put the range at $150 to $300 or more per lead with monthly budgets of $3,000 to $5,000 or more in November 2025. SmartAsset’s own referral page credits advisors who refer a firm that signs a 12 month AMP subscription worth at least $500 a month. The price of a Live Connection isn’t published.
Every reported figure and the per-client math are collected in how much SmartAsset leads cost.
Contract and billing terms
- Term. 6 or 12 months, billed monthly.
- Volume is a range, not a count. One AMP user said SmartAsset gives a range of leads per month and that “they no longer credit you leads at all.” (thread) SmartAdvisor allowed requests to invalidate bad leads; advisors report AMP contracts don’t.
- Leaving early. An advisor three months into a contract asked to buy out and was told “they need 30 days notice which means I need to pay for November AND December,” followed by a two month buyout. (thread) That’s one advisor’s experience. Get the exit terms in writing.
Lead quality: what the evidence says
- About 5% become clients. Kitces’ 20/3/1 is 5%. Financial Planning’s 2023 report on one long-time user, Michael Collins, describes the same funnel: about 60% of prospects show “signs of life”, a quarter of those meet, and one in three of those hires him. That’s also about 5%.
- SmartAsset itself models 3%. Its CEO used a 3% conversion rate in 2023, which works out to 33 leads per client. The AMP page’s headline of ”~$33B+” in assets generated in 2025 is calculated as valid matches times average assets times a 3% close rate. It’s a model, not a measured result.
- Live Connections close better, by SmartAsset’s account. SmartAsset said in April 2020 that its pilot saw a 100% contact rate and “upwards of a 20% close / conversion rate.” That’s a company figure from a pilot.
- Advisors split sharply. One wrote in February 2026: “I’ve closed 5 out of 100 leads. Brought in over 10M in AUM targeting the 1M plus.” (thread) Others in the same thread describe prospects who don’t remember filling in the form. On Trustpilot, SmartAsset rated 3.8 from 48 reviews, 27% of them one star, when we checked in October 2026; most reviewers appear to be advisors.
Regulatory history and disclosed conflicts
SmartAsset Advisors LLC has been an SEC-registered investment adviser since April 2020. We found no SEC or FINRA enforcement action naming SmartAsset, and its September 2026 brochure reports no legal or disciplinary events in the past 10 years. That’s a cleaner record than Zoe Financial’s, which the SEC censured and fined in September 2026 (Wellspent vs Zoe Financial).
The brochure does disclose conflicts worth reading before you sign:
- Budget affects matching. Advisors with larger budgets may be matched more often.
- Phone staff are paid to connect. SmartAsset representatives earn incentive pay for transferring a consumer by phone or setting a meeting, and may weigh an advisor’s “historical pickup rates” when choosing among eligible matches. In practice: answer fast.
- Investors on the platform. Focus Financial Partners invests in SmartAsset’s parent company and can appoint a board member, and Focus-affiliated advisers receive referrals. Some other advisers are minority investors. SmartAsset says its matching doesn’t favor them.
Who AMP suits
AMP fits a firm that can call within minutes, fund 6 to 12 months before the wins arrive, and win $1 million-plus clients whose fees cover the 19 leads that don’t close. It’s a poor fit for a solo planner charging flat fees or anyone who needs to stop after one bad month. The break-even math is in is SmartAsset worth it?
Where SmartAsset is the better choice
- Volume you can buy. If you need conversations next quarter and have the budget, AMP delivers a monthly range. Wellspent can’t promise a number of introductions.
- Phone transfers. Live Connections put a prospect on the line with you, which SmartAsset reports closing far more often than email leads.
- Broker-dealer affiliated advisors. SmartAsset accepts them. Wellspent doesn’t.
Where Wellspent is the better choice
- No term and no buyout. $89 a month is the whole bill, and you can cancel any time.
- No race to call first. A prospect who writes to you from your record chose you, and no one else got their name.
- Ranking you can’t buy. Matches on Wellspent rank on fit to the question, with no paid boosts and no budget weighting (methodology).
- Built for where people ask now. Your verified record is read by AI assistants and search, a monthly report shows who they recommend when your ideal clients ask, and membership includes quarterly press placement with media partners.
Bottom line
SmartAsset AMP is a real product with a clean regulatory record and a clear trade: volume in exchange for a 6 or 12 month commitment, shared prospects and about one client per 20 leads. If you can staff the phone and fund the term, it can pay. If you’d rather be the advisor a prospect picks, with no contract to sit out, start with your record. Compare the options in Wellspent vs SmartAsset and SmartAsset alternatives.