How Stay Partners compares
Most partners pick between a fill-in template and hiring a lawyer. Stay Partners isn't a point on that line. It's the most valuable part of high-end custom work, made affordable. Typical price ranges are below, and our pricing page has where we'll land.
Where we fit
Stay Partners was built by a lawyer who drafts high-end custom agreements. What makes that work valuable isn't the paper. It's the guided conversation about what each partner expects. We bring that conversation to partners at a price significantly lower than the custom tier, so more people can have it.
There's a floor to what a lawyer can do for a given fee. Below it, there simply isn't time for the conversation, so you get a valid document built on unspoken assumptions. That's not bad lawyering; it's what the budget buys. Read the real cost of a partnership agreement.
Three common routes
Fill-in templates
Roughly $0–$199
Good for: Fast and cheap. Gives you a standard structure to fill in.
Falls short: Doesn't tell you what to talk about, and won't catch where you and your partner quietly disagree.
Stay Partners
Good for: Each partner answers privately, you see where you differ, and you agree on shared wording together.
Falls short: Not a law firm and not legally binding. It gets you aligned, not a filed legal document.
Hiring a lawyer
Flat-fee / template-based: roughly $500–$2,500 each. Custom, conversation-led: roughly $3,000–$10,000+ each
Good for: Legal drafting and advice. At the custom level, real time spent on what each partner expects.
Falls short: That's per lawyer, and each partner may hire one. At the lower end there's rarely time for the conversation itself — the document is valid, but the assumptions can stay unspoken.
Ranges are what people typically pay for a partnership or operating agreement today. The lawyer range is per lawyer — each partner may hire their own, so the partnership's total can be several times that. Lawyers also often bill by the hour, so complex situations can cost more.
Use them together
Align here first, and your lawyer's time goes further: you arrive knowing what you've agreed on and where you still differ.
A lawyer is still the right call for legal advice, a formal agreement, and anything involving a dispute, a buyout, or someone leaving.
Honest limits
Stay Partners is not a law firm and doesn't give legal advice. What you write together is a shared understanding, not intended to be legally binding. Free during early access — see pricing.
Looking at other tools? See Stay Partners vs. CoFounda and Stay Partners vs. Founders Align.