If you are pricing help for an SBIR or STTR proposal, you will find three models: a flat fee per proposal, an hourly rate, and some form of success fee tied to the award. Here is what firms were publicly charging in 2026, what drives the number, and how to compare offers that look different on paper.
What firms publish
Published prices for a full Phase I proposal in 2026 ranged from about $2,500 to $13,000 as a flat fee. Some firms pair a lower flat fee with a success fee of 1% to 5% of the award. Fixed-price offers from smaller shops sat between roughly $5,400 and $7,000 for a Phase I, and one established firm listed $13,000 flat or $10,000 plus 5% on award. Phase II proposals run higher, with published flat fees up to $18,000.
Hourly work is less common for full proposals. Where it is published, it falls between about $170 and $300 per hour, and a Phase I proposal typically takes 80 to 200 hours depending on the agency and how much material the company already has.
Several well known firms do not publish prices at all and require a call before quoting. That is not a red flag by itself, but it makes comparison harder.
What actually drives the fee
The agency. A DoD Phase I has a 15 to 20 page technical volume and a cost volume with work percentage rules. An NIH Phase I has a Specific Aims page, a Research Strategy and a commercialization plan, plus NIH forms. An NSF Phase I only exists after an invitation from a Project Pitch. Each one is a different amount of work.
What you already have. A company with preliminary data, a draft commercialization plan and a budget history is a lighter lift than a first-time applicant starting from a slide deck.
The scope. Writing the narrative is one thing. Managing the budget, the forms, the registrations (SAM.gov, agency portals), the letters of support and the submission is another. Ask what is included and what is extra.
Resubmissions and adaptations. Taking a client’s complete draft and adapting it to a new solicitation is less work than writing from scratch, and the price should reflect that.
How to compare offers
Ask for the hours. A flat fee is only comparable if you know roughly how many hours it covers and what deliverables it includes.
Ask what the success fee is a percentage of. Of the Phase I award only, or of Phase II too? Paid when? From what funds? Agencies do not allow proposal preparation costs in the award budget, so a success fee is paid from company funds.
Ask who does the work. A senior consultant writing the proposal is a different product from a junior writer with a senior reviewer at the end.
Ask about compliance checks. The cheapest way to lose a proposal is a formatting or eligibility error. Make sure the fee includes a compliance read against the current solicitation.
How I price
I quote a flat fee per project, sized to the hours the solicitation requires, and I show those hours by deliverable. The flat fee comes with an optional success fee that applies only if the grant is awarded: a higher success fee lowers the flat fee. I do not work on a success fee alone. Terms are agreed before any work starts, and every engagement begins with a free funding report so you know which programs fit before you spend anything.