M&A advisory fees: M&A Advisor Fee Index

The median published figure in the M&A Advisor Fee Index is 4 percent across 7 sources' own pages (range 1.50 to 10 percent), read 11 November 2026.

4 % Median published figure unchanged since 22 Oct 2026 middle half 3 to 10 %
1.5 to 10 % Range a 8.5 % spread; quartiles 3 and 10
7 Published figures from 7 source pages, read 12 Nov 2026
7 of 84 Sources read that publish one 8% publish a figure at all
  1. nexusbridgebrokers.com, NJ Business Broker Fees 202610 %
  2. synergybb.com, What Are The Fees For Selling A Business? | Business Brokers10 %
  3. hornblower-businesses.co.uk, Fees for selling a business | Hornblower Business Brokers UK5 %
  4. bonzabfs.com.au, how to sell a business australia4 %
  5. baton.com, How much do business brokers charge: Breaking down pricing and fees3 %
  6. baton.com, What’s the Average Business Broker Commission?3 %
  7. sellltd.co.uk, KBS Corporate review 2026, fees, exclusivity, honest verdict1.5 %
Every published figure, highest first.median 4 %
Table view
RowValue
nexusbridgebrokers.com, NJ Business Broker Fees 202610 %
synergybb.com, What Are The Fees For Selling A Business? | Business Brokers10 %
hornblower-businesses.co.uk, Fees for selling a business | Hornblower Business Brokers UK5 %
bonzabfs.com.au, how to sell a business australia4 %
baton.com, How much do business brokers charge: Breaking down pricing and fees3 %
baton.com, What’s the Average Business Broker Commission?3 %
sellltd.co.uk, KBS Corporate review 2026, fees, exclusivity, honest verdict1.5 %

7 of the 84 named sources read in full publish a figure; 77 publish none, read 11 November 2026.

The median is unchanged since 22 October 2026 (was 4 percent across 7).

By fee formula

BreakdownMedianRangeSources
fee formula flat percent10 % (one figure)one figure, no range1

Every figure, with its source

One row per published figure: the figure as the source's own page publishes it, the page, and the day it was read. A figure that is not on a page we read is not on this one.

The sentence each figure was read from (7)

Read in full, publishes no figure

77 named sources were read in full on the dates shown and print no usable figure. They are counted, never filled in.

Methodology

Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2).

7 of the 84 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 77 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 4 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere.

The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in % (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 972 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded.

The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): the EFFECTIVE fee rate curve, which no publisher in this market draws: for every adviser that publishes a scale, the fee its own scale produces at each deal value from $500k to $250m, with its stated minimum fee and retainer credit applied, giving median, quartile and range of effective percent by deal size band - beside the share of advisers publishing a scale, publishing a minimum, publishing a retainer, and publishing nothing at all (the count that is our own reading, not a survey's); the formula mix (Lehman, Double Lehman, modified Lehman, flat percent, tiered accelerator) by adviser tier and jurisdiction; the deal value at which each adviser's minimum stops binding, which is the single number a seller under $10m needs and the market never states; and changed-since, because a scale that moves is news in a market where the conventions are decades old

972 candidate sentences on these pages were refused by a reviewer; each refusal and its reason is recorded in the review ledger.

Sources (88)
Cite or embed this figure

The median published figure in the M&A Advisor Fee Index is 4 percent across 7 sources' own pages (range 1.50 to 10 percent), read 11 November 2026.

7 of the 84 named sources read in full publish a figure; 77 publish none, read 11 November 2026.

M&A Advisor Fee Index, fee formula flat percent: median 10 percent across 1 source, read 11 November 2026.

The median is unchanged since 22 October 2026 (was 4 percent across 7).

Cite as: "madvisorfees.com M&A Advisor Fee Index", updated 2026-11-12, https://madvisorfees.com/datasets/ma-advisor-fee-index/.

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4 percent

median published figure, M&A Advisor Fee Index, across 7 sources, read 11 November 2026

Source: madvisorfees.com M&A Advisor Fee Index

Machine-readable: JSON, CSV, Markdown.

Download the CSV (7 rows, computed 2026-11-12)

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Questions this data answers

What does an M&A advisor or business broker charge to sell a company of my size - retainer, success fee, minimum fee - and what is the effective percentage I would actually pay?

The median published figure in the M&A Advisor Fee Index is 4 percent across 7 sources' own pages (range 1.50 to 10 percent), read 11 November 2026.

Where do the figures in the M&A Advisor Fee Index come from?

Every figure is quoted from its source's own page and dated (last read 11 Nov 2026). 84 named sources were read and 7 publish a figure; the 77 that publish none are recorded as not published, never estimated.

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