AdvicePay’s 2026 Fee-for-Service Trend Report: Planning Fees Rise Again as Subscriptions Become the Default

Analysis of 525K transactions in 2025 shows subscription billing dominates (85.6%) as firms standardize planning for scalable growth.

BOZEMAN, MT. | December 17, 2025

AdvicePay, the industry-leading platform for managing billing, payments, and compliance of fee-for-service financial planning, today released its fourth annual Fee-for-Service Industry Trend Report. The report analyzes more than 525,000 transactions in 2025 and pairs platform data with advisor survey insights to show how firms are packaging, pricing, and scaling fee-for-service planning.

As AdvicePay approaches its 10-year anniversary, its data points to a clear shift: fee-for-service planning is no longer a niche offering. Advisors have billed more than $1 billion in planning fees through the platform, encompassing millions of transactions as firms operationalize planning services. Today, 11 of the top 15 broker-dealers use AdvicePay, highlighting widespread adoption of fee-for-service planning models. 

Recurring subscriptions now represent the operating model for planning at scale—creating more predictable revenue, reducing manual billing work, and strengthening oversight as firms grow through recruiting, organic expansion, and M&A. With 85.6% of invoices in 2025 tied to subscriptions, leaders can standardize how planning is delivered and billed, improve consistency across advisors, and reduce risk by moving away from one-off processes that are harder to supervise.

“Fee-for-service planning has moved from ‘alternative’ to operational standard,” said Alan Moore, Co-Founder and CEO of AdvicePay. “What we’re seeing in the data is simple: firms want repeatable planning programs that advisors will actually use, and clients will stick with. Subscription billing supports that model—with more predictable revenue, clearer expectations, and fewer operational headaches for the home office.”

Key findings from the 2026 Fee-for-Service Industry Trend Report

• Subscriptions dominate: 85.6% of AdvicePay invoices were for subscriptions in 2025, reinforcing recurring planning relationships as the default structure.
• Fees continue to rise: Average fees increased year over year across the most common billing models:
  • $291 average monthly subscription fee (+4.7% YoY)
  • $1,074 average quarterly subscription fee (+9.4% YoY)
  • $1,676 average one-time fee (+3.2% YoY)
• Advisors expect pricing pressure to continue: Looking ahead, 54.2% of surveyed advisors plan no pricing change in 2026, while 18.9% plan to increase fees by 10%+, and additional respondents anticipate smaller increases.
• Client acquisition is the priority: In the survey, 51.6% of advisors cited attracting new clients as their primary business focus for 2026, with referrals (66.7%) and websites (60.3%) still leading, alongside growing use of social and email channels.

To receive a copy of the full report, visit https://info.advicepay.com/trends.

About AdvicePay
AdvicePay is the industry-leading platform for overseeing the compliance, delivery, and payment processing of fee-for-service financial planning. More than 3,000 firms and 13,000 advisors benefit from efficient workflows designed exclusively to support their fee-for-service financial planning revenue, including up-to-date compliance and data security management, all in one unified platform.

Media Inquiries: 
AdvicePay 
Shannon Beck 
406-412-2047
media@advicepay.com