Founders often hear a single number — the platform's percentage — and treat it as the cost of a raise. In practice, a well-run Reg CF campaign has five or six cost lines. Some are paid only if you succeed; others you pay up front no matter what.
Totals of roughly 8% to 15% of the amount raised are common once everything is counted. Smaller raises tend to sit at the high end, because some costs are fixed.
The ranges below are planning estimates from typical market pricing, not quotes. Get real numbers from your CPA and two or three platforms before you commit.
1. Financial statements
The SEC requires GAAP financial statements for your two most recent fiscal years (or since inception), at a level of assurance that rises with the size of your raise:
| Amount offered in 12 months | Requirement | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $124,000 | Certified by your principal executive officer | Your own books |
| $124,000 – $618,000 | Reviewed by an independent CPA | ≈ $2K – $10K |
| $618,000 – $1,235,000 | Reviewed if it's your first Reg CF raise; audited otherwise | ≈ $3K – $12K reviewed |
| Over $1,235,000 | Audited by an independent CPA | ≈ $10K – $40K+ |
Messy books are the most common cause of both delays and cost overruns here. If your bookkeeping needs cleanup first, budget for that separately.
2. Platform fees
Most funding portals charge a success fee, typically somewhere between 5% and 10% of the money raised. Some add:
- An upfront onboarding, due-diligence, or listing fee
- An equity or securities fee — a small percentage of the offering paid in the same security investors receive
- Optional paid marketing packages
Ask every platform for its total fee at your target raise, in writing.
3. Payment processing and escrow
Investor money is held by a third party until the offering closes. Card, ACH, and wire fees, plus escrow fees, sometimes pass to the company and sometimes to investors. Usually a low single-digit percentage of funds, or folded into the platform fee.
4. Legal
Many platforms provide standard offering documents and Form C templates, which keeps legal costs low for simple raises. Expect to pay more if you need corporate cleanup (unvested founder shares, missing IP assignments, outdated cap tables) or custom deal terms. Range: from nearly nothing to $10K–$25K for complex situations.
5. Marketing and campaign content
This is the line founders most underestimate and the one that most predicts success. Typical items:
- Campaign video: $0 for a phone-shot founder video up to $10K+ for a produced piece
- Paid ads: optional, and best used to retarget people who already know you
- Email and PR: often handled in-house, sometimes through an agency
Successful campaigns usually raise a large share of their money from people who already know the company. Spending on paid acquisition without a warm audience rarely pays back.
6. After the raise
- Annual reports. You'll file a Form C-AR within 120 days of each fiscal year-end until you qualify to stop. If you have reviewed or audited statements, you must include them.
- Transfer agent or cap table management. Required for some structures, often a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a year.
- Investor communications. Not a legal requirement beyond the annual report, but regular updates keep your investors engaged as customers and advocates.
A worked example
A first-time issuer raising $750,000 might spend roughly: $6K on a CPA review, $55K in platform fees at 7.5%, $8K on legal cleanup, $10K on video and marketing, and $2K on processing. That's about $81K, or 11% of the raise — and $15K to $25K of it is usually spent before a dollar comes in.
Try different amounts with the raise sizer.