Bought leads cost from about $25 to over $1,000 each, and revenue-share networks take 15% to 35% of a client’s fees, often for life. Turn those prices into the cost of one actual client and most lead services come out above the $2,551 the typical advisory firm spends to win a client through all its marketing (Kitces, 2026). Here’s every major service’s published price in one place, and the math.
The price list
Prices are as published or as reported, with the date and source. Most lead services don’t publish a full rate card, so where a price is reported rather than published, we say so.
| Service | How you pay | Price | Date and status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SmartAsset SmartAdvisor / AMP | Per lead, tiered by the prospect’s assets; AMP is a 6- or 12-month subscription | About $150 to $300+ per lead; about $250 for $1M+ prospects; budgets of $3,000 to $5,000+ a month are typical | 2023 to 2025, reported (no public rate card) |
| Zoe Financial | Share of the client’s advisory fees | 15% to 35% of fees for the life of an AUM client; for flat-fee planning, a share for the first 5 years; buyout after 10+ years at 3x the average of the prior 3 years’ payments | Disclosure updated March 2025, published |
| Datalign Advisory | Per lead, by auction; each lead sold to one firm | $25 to $1,000 per lead | 2024, company figure |
| NerdWallet Advisors | Per referral, per conversion, or revenue share | $13 to $1,150 per referral, or $500 once on conversion, or a revenue-based fee | June to September 2025, published |
| WiserAdvisor | Monthly platform fee plus per lead | From $125 a month plus $40 to $400 per lead | Current site, published |
| Harness Wealth | Share of fees from referred clients | 15% to 20% of fees | Current disclosures, published |
| Wealthramp | Share of fees, fee-only advisors only | 25% of fees in year 1, up to 15% after, for the whole relationship | 2025, published |
| Unbiased (US) | Subscription with pricing by client assets | Tiers seen at $50 (under $100K) and $175 ($100K to $250K), with higher tiers above | Undated, partly published |
| Appointment-setting services | Per booked meeting or retainer | About $200 to $300 per appointment | 2026, vendor estimates |
| Dinner seminars | Per event or per registrant | About $70 to $120+ per attendee; $3,000 to $8,000 per event | 2025 to 2026, consultant estimates |
What one client actually costs
A lead isn’t a client. To compare services, divide the price per lead by the share of leads that become clients.
Shared per-lead leads
Kitces has reported that each SmartAsset prospect is provided to about three advisors, with roughly 5% of email leads converting and about 20% of “Live Connections”. Advisors on r/CFP describe similar rates. “I close 1 out of every 20 leads I get,” one wrote (thread). Another: “If you can put $10,000/m into it you may break even by the end of the year” (thread).
SmartAsset’s phone Live Connections convert better, about 20% by Kitces’ figures, but are priced separately and the price isn’t published. That’s before the time spent calling. Advisors often describe chasing many leads that never answer. “Half the leads never answered, a good chunk said they didn’t complete a survey, others had no money,” one wrote (thread).
Exclusive leads
Exclusive leads cost more per lead but convert better. Datalign sells each lead to one firm through an auction, and Kitces reported about $15 billion of prospect assets referred and about $3 billion converted in 2023, roughly a fifth by assets. Datalign’s own figure for lead prices is $25 to $1,000.
Revenue shares
A revenue share costs nothing up front and keeps costing for as long as the client stays. Take a $1 million client paying 1%, so $10,000 a year:
| Network | Share | Cost in year 1 | Cost over 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoe Financial | 15% to 35% | $1,500 to $3,500 | $15,000 to $35,000 |
| Harness Wealth | 15% to 20% | $1,500 to $2,000 | $15,000 to $20,000 |
| Wealthramp | 25%, then up to 15% | $2,500 | up to $16,000 |
For flat-fee planning clients, Zoe’s disclosure says it takes a share for the first five years, without stating the rate. One advisor on r/CFP said Zoe’s terms included “$20k upfront” plus a share of about 35 basis points, and another described getting “probably 20 referrals” and closing one (thread). Advisors who moved firms reported buyouts of 2.5x to 3x the prior year’s payments (thread).
In September 2026 the SEC censured Zoe Financial and fined it $450,000. Its order says about 46% of clients in 2023 and 2024 hired an advisor who wasn’t among the algorithm’s first matches, after a salesperson’s suggestion, and that Zoe linked referrals to advisers adopting its Zoe Wealth platform. Zoe settled without admitting the findings.
Flat-fee listings, for comparison
| Option | Cost per year |
|---|---|
| NAPFA | $695, plus $150 once |
| Wealthtender | $708 to $1,188 |
| Advice-Only Network | $1,068 |
| Wellspent | $890 billed yearly, or $89 a month |
A flat listing costs the same whether it brings one client or ten. In Kitces’ 2026 study, online directories had the lowest cost per $1 of new revenue of any channel, $0.28. See Do financial advisor directories work?.
The costs that don’t show up on the invoice
- Shared leads mean a race. When three advisors get the same name, the first to call usually wins, so your calendar bends around the lead service.
- Lead quality varies. Advisors report fake emails, wrong numbers and prospects who don’t remember filling in a form. Some services let you dispute bad leads; advisors on r/CFP say AMP’s newer contracts restrict this.
- Contracts lock you in. SmartAsset AMP runs 6 or 12 months. Revenue shares can outlast your relationship with the network.
- The client meets you through someone else. A prospect who arrives through a matching service has already been told what to expect, sometimes by a salesperson.
Which pricing model fits which firm
| Firm type | Usually fits | Usually doesn’t |
|---|---|---|
| Solo fee-only planner, flat or hourly fees | Flat-fee listings, verified directories | Shared per-lead leads (time cost), lifetime revenue shares on small fees |
| Small RIA with a dedicated person to call leads | Exclusive leads, some per-lead testing | Long contracts before testing |
| Larger RIA with a sales team and $1M+ targets | Exclusive or auction leads, revenue share on large accounts | Low-asset lead tiers |
| Advice-only planner | Advice-only and fee-only directories | AUM-based revenue shares (no AUM to share) |
When buying leads makes sense
Lead services fit some firms. They can work when you have staff to call every lead within minutes, a sales process built for volume, room in your budget to absorb months before break-even, and clients large enough that a few wins pay for many misses. They’re a poor fit for a solo fee-only planner whose time is the scarcest thing in the business.
How to judge any lead offer
- Ask for the price per lead and the conversion rate, then divide. If they won’t give a conversion rate, use 5% for shared leads.
- Ask how many other advisors get the same lead.
- Read the contract term and the dispute rules before you sign.
- For revenue shares, model ten years, not one, and read the buyout terms.
- Compare with your current cost per client. If you don’t know it, Kitces’ typical figure is $2,551.
For a side-by-side look at the services, see Financial advisor lead generation companies compared and Wellspent vs SmartAsset.
Where Wellspent fits
Wellspent doesn’t sell leads. Fee-only advisors pay a flat $89 a month for a verified record in the public graph at find.wellspent.co, which search engines and AI assistants read. Prospects who find you write to you directly, and we never sell, share or charge for an introduction. Ranking is by fit, never by payment. Membership also includes a monthly AI visibility report and quarterly press placement. See How it works.