SmartAsset is the best-known paid lead source for financial advisors, and one of the least transparent on price. There’s no public rate card. Advisors get a quote on a sales call, and the number depends on the prospect’s asset band, your area and which program you’re in. What follows is every reported figure we could find, dated, and the math that turns a per-lead price into what a client actually costs.
Reported prices
| What | Price | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Per lead, prospects with $1M+ | About $250 | Financial Planning, August 2023 |
| Per lead, typical range | $150 to $300+ | Wealthtender (a competitor), November 2025 |
| Monthly budget, typical | $3,000 to $5,000+ | Wealthtender (a competitor), November 2025 |
| One advisor’s own budget | $6,000 a month | An advisor on r/CFP, November 2025 (thread) |
Treat these as ranges, not quotes. SmartAsset prices leads by asset band, and the figures above are mostly for the higher bands advisors ask about.
The two programs
SmartAdvisor is pay per lead. You set a monthly budget, and SmartAsset sends leads that match your criteria until the budget runs out.
AMP is a subscription that delivers a fixed range of referrals, sold on 6 or 12 month terms. SmartAsset’s referral page cites a 12 month minimum. AMP also includes automated calling and texting to help you reach leads.
Both are non-exclusive. Kitces reported in March 2024 that each prospect is provided to three advisors.
The cost that matters: per client
A lead is only worth what it closes at. Kitces reported in March 2024 that SmartAsset email leads convert at about 5%, and Live Connections, where SmartAsset puts the prospect on the phone with you, at about 20%. One advisor on r/CFP put their own rate at “1 out of every 20 leads.” (thread)
| Per-lead price | Close rate | Leads per client | Lead cost per client |
|---|---|---|---|
| $150 | 5% (1 in 20) | 20 | $3,000 |
| $250 | 5% (1 in 20) | 20 | $5,000 |
| $300 | 5% (1 in 20) | 20 | $6,000 |
Live Connections convert better, but SmartAsset prices them separately and doesn’t publish the price, so they aren’t in this table. That’s before your time. Advisors describe calling quickly and often, because two other advisors received the same lead.
Is it worth it?
Set the cost per client against what the client pays you. The median ongoing planning fee for fee-only advisors who publish prices is $4,500 a year, and the median asset-based fee is 1% (fee report). A $1 million client at 1% pays $10,000 a year.
- For a $1 million AUM client who stays several years, $5,000 in leads can pay back in the first year.
- For a planning client at $4,500 a year, $5,000 in leads takes more than a year to earn back.
Advisors who stay with SmartAsset say it works over a long run with steady spending. As one put it: “If you can put $10,000/m into it you may break even by the end of the year.” (thread)
What advisors complain about
- Reachability. “Half the leads never answered, a good chunk said they didn’t complete a survey.” (thread)
- Invalidations. One advisor said the newer AMP platform “doesn’t allow you to submit requests to invalidate.” (thread)
- Fit. Another wrote that the people who fill in SmartAsset’s form were “just not a good fit for my practice.” (thread)
Others report real results. One advisor said they’d “closed 5 out of 100 leads” and brought in over $10 million in assets targeting $1 million-plus prospects. (thread) The pattern in both camps is the same: it takes budget, speed and patience.
How to test SmartAsset without overspending
- Set a cost-per-client ceiling first. Decide what a new client is worth to you in year one and stop if leads cost more than that per signed client.
- Track every lead. Log when it arrived, when you reached them, and the outcome. Without your own close rate, the price per lead means nothing.
- Read the invalidation terms. Ask in writing whether bad contact details can be credited under the program you’re offered.
- Staff the first hour. Shared leads go to whoever calls first. If you can’t call within minutes, expect a lower close rate than the figures above.
- Mind the term. A 12 month minimum on AMP means a test can’t be stopped after one bad month.
The flat-fee comparison
Wellspent costs $89 a month, with no lead fees. Prospects find your verified record through AI assistants, search or the public graph and write to you; the introduction isn’t shared with anyone else. The trade-off is the reverse of SmartAsset’s: the cost is fixed and low, but no one can promise a number of introductions. See Wellspent vs SmartAsset for the full comparison, and Zoe vs SmartAsset vs Wellspent for three pricing models on one client.
Where SmartAsset is the better choice
If you can respond to a lead within minutes, budget for the leads that won’t close, and want volume you can adjust month to month, SmartAsset gives you a lever no directory or membership offers.
Bottom line
Budget SmartAsset by cost per client, not cost per lead. At reported prices and the close rates advisors describe, a client costs roughly $3,000 to $6,000 in leads, plus the work of chasing shared prospects. Compare that with what leads cost elsewhere before signing a 12 month term.