Why it exists
Search for the best fractional CFO and the first page of results is fractional CFO firms ranking themselves. The same is true for the CMO, the COO and every other seat. A founder deciding between hiring a fractional executive and getting coached to do the work has no page that puts the two side by side. This site is that page, for 11 roles, by industry, revenue band and region, with the fee each firm publishes.
Nobody pays to be listed, to move up a list or to hold a badge.
Where listings come from
The seed list was built by reading what already exists: firm and practitioner sites, their published pricing pages, their Clutch and G2 profiles, course platforms, and the business press. Each company was deduplicated by its web address and recorded with only what a public source states: roles offered, industries and company sizes named, head office, pricing model, a monthly floor when the firm publishes one, and the clients it names on its own site. The page read for each record is linked on its profile, with the day it was read.
Today 39 of 150 firms publish a monthly fee and 34 of 66 programs publish a price. The rest are marked "Fee on request" or "Price not published". A fee is never estimated.
A rating is shown only with the link to where it was read and the date it was read; a number without both is left out. No firm carries a cited rating yet; the fields fill as profiles are read. Named clients come from the firm's own site, with that page linked. Review text is never copied and no rating is turned into review markup. Proof does not change a listing's position.
How a list is ordered
There is no score. Every list on the site is sorted by one rule, in this order:
- Editor's picks first.
- Listings that name the page's facet (its industry, revenue band or stage) in their own data, before listings that do not state it. A page without such a facet skips this step.
- Listings with a published fee or price, before listings on request.
- Name, A to Z.
The rule is applied by the build on every page, the directories included, and never by hand. The directories can also be sorted by fee, lowest first.
Editor's picks
The 10 editor's picks are the firms that appeared most often across the independent and firm-written lists read while building the seed data: 310 Creative, Authentic, Chief Outsiders, CMOx, FocusCFO, NoGood, NOW CFO, Preferred CFO, TechCXO and The CFO Centre. The 10 program picks are the programs with third-party proof we could read: a rating with a review count, an institution behind the course, a member count from an independent directory, or named testimonials with a cohort count: BUS 290 Designing a Fractional Leadership Career, CMOx Accelerator, COO Alliance, Fractional CFO Power Skills Mastermind, Fractionals United, Kalungi SaaS CMO Coaching, Launch by Lean Marketing, TechCXO Executive Coaching, The CFO Academy and The Fractional Blueprint. Appearing on many lists measures visibility. It says nothing about the quality of the work, and several of the firms picked publish lists they appear on. A marketplace is never an editor's pick.
When a page exists
A list page exists only when three or more listings fit it; on the pages that set firms beside coaching, the two are counted together. Below three, the page is neither built nor linked. When a narrower page would list exactly the same listings as the broader page above it, only the broader page is built and the narrower address redirects to it. The role, industry and region pages are capped at the 250 fullest. Each role has a page even with a single firm, because the role strip links to every role on every page.
Today that is 630 generated pages and 25 addresses that redirect to a broader page.
Search and the shortlist
The firm directory and the programs directory are complete lists in the published order, readable without JavaScript. The filter panel narrows the rows in place: role, revenue band and region for firms, then industry, stage, fee, pricing model, type and coaching; type, audience, topic, format, price, region and schedule for programs; and a text search on both. The address keeps the filter, so any result can be shared. When a generated page matches the filter, the panel links to it.
The Shortlist button on every listing saves it to a list kept in this browser only, up to 30 items. Nothing is sent to us. The shortlist page can copy a link that carries the list in the address, so it opens the same on another device or for someone else.
Badges
Badges are derived from the record and the built lists on every build and are never awarded by hand. A listing that stops qualifying loses the badge on the next build. Marketplaces hold none and take no place in a top list.
- Top Fractional {Role} 2026. The ten firms and solo practitioners at the top of a role page. The top three on a role and region page hold the region version, such as Top Fractional COO in the UK. Order is the published listing rule, so the badge follows the record. Marketplaces do not take a place.
- {Industry} Specialist. A firm that names one industry and only that industry.
- PE Portfolio Operator. A firm that works with PE-backed companies and names at least two clients on its own site.
- VC-Backed Specialist. A firm whose only stated stage is VC-backed companies.
- SaaS CFO, Ecommerce CFO. A fractional CFO firm that names SaaS or ecommerce among at most two industries.
- Equity Partner. A firm that publishes an equity plus cash pricing model.
- Also Coaches. A firm with at least one coaching program, course or community listed here.
- Top {Topic} Coaching Program 2026. The five programs at the top of a topic coaching page, by the published listing rule.
- Editor's Pick. The firms that appear most often across the independent and firm-written lists we read while building the seed data.
The badges page lists every badge held today and every holder.
Vocabulary
Every page says fractional: a senior executive who works for several companies at once, for a set share of the month, usually on a monthly retainer. Part-time and interim appear only on the pages that define the term and compare the models, such as what a fractional CFO is, fractional and interim CFOs compared and fractional and full-time CFOs compared.
Marketplaces that match companies with fractional executives are listed with the firms, marked as marketplaces, and gathered on their own page.
Disclosure
The publisher's own fractional Chief AI Officer practice is listed under the same rules as every other firm: never an editor's pick, no badge, no bonus anywhere.
Corrections
Every listing is written from sources anyone can check, and the source is linked on the profile. A firm whose situation has changed updates it at the source (its own site, its pricing page, its review profile, its press page) and sends the links. The listing follows the record.