What does a prenup actually cost?
A prenup costs $599 through an online service with no attorneys, or $2,197 with a licensed attorney for each partner. Two lawyers the traditional way runs $1,000 to $10,000, depending on how complicated your finances are and how much you disagree. Most couples need far less than they expect.
- $599 Online, no attorneys
- $2,197 Online, one attorney each
- $1k to $10k Two lawyers, hourly
HelloPrenup's published prices, checked 16 July 2026. The lawyer range is LegalZoom's figure, last updated July 2024.
A prenup is not a prediction that you will divorce, any more than insurance is a plan to crash the car. It is two people deciding how their money works, while they still like each other.
The three routes, side by side
There are really only three ways to get this done. The difference between them is not the quality of the paper. It is how much lawyering is attached.
| Route | Cost | What you actually get | Fits when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online, no attorneys | $599 per couple | A guided questionnaire you both fill in, a state-specific agreement, disclosure schedules, and e-signatures. Nobody reviews or negotiates it for you. | Straightforward finances, and you two already agree. |
| Online, one attorney each | $2,197 per couple | The $599 base plus $799 per partner. A licensed attorney for each of you, a review call, negotiation help, and a certification of independent counsel. | You want the independent-counsel box ticked without hourly billing. |
| Two lawyers, the traditional way | $1,000 to $10,000 per couple | Hourly or flat fee, one lawyer each. The spread is enormous because it tracks how complicated your money is and how much you two disagree. | A business, a trust, real complexity, or a genuine disagreement to settle. |
Not sure which row is you? The estimator asks five questions and tells you, including when the honest answer is the $599 one.
Find your row
About that $8,000 you keep reading
Search this question and you will be told, over and over, that the average prenup costs around $8,000. We went looking for where that came from. Not one page we found names the survey, the sample size, the year, or who published it. It looks like a single figure that got copied across an entire industry until it sounded like a fact. So we are not going to repeat it. The numbers above are the ones we could open and read.
Online or a lawyer?
The honest answer depends on two things, and neither one is your income.
An online prenup is probably fine when
- Your finances are salaries, savings, maybe a house, and no company.
- You two broadly agree already, and this is about writing it down.
- Neither of you is waiving spousal support.
- Your state does not require independent counsel to make it stick.
Pay for lawyers when
- A business, a partnership stake, or a trust is in the picture.
- One of you is giving something up, like a career or support rights.
- You do not agree yet. A form cannot negotiate for you.
- You are in a state where it is effectively required. HelloPrenup names South Carolina and West Virginia outright, plus Alabama, California, New York and Washington for spousal-support waivers.
The trap sits in the middle. A cheap agreement that gets thrown out is worth less than no agreement at all, because you paid for it and then planned around it. What makes one hold up is boring and mechanical: full disclosure, no pressure, enough time before the wedding, and each of you actually understanding what you signed. The ways they fail are worth ten minutes of your time.
Start from your situation
Almost nobody arrives here asking an abstract question. They arrive because of one specific thing.
One of you owns a business
The question is whether your partner ends up with a claim on the company, and whether growth during the marriage counts. This is where paying a lawyer usually earns its money back.
This is a second marriage
Usually the goal is keeping things clear for children from the first one. It is also where couples are most likely to have done this before and know what they want.
One of you will stay home
An agreement that leaves the at-home partner with nothing is both unfair and the most likely to get thrown out. Sunset clauses and support floors exist for this.
There is family money coming
Inheritance is usually separate property already. Usually. What people get wrong is what happens once it lands in a joint account.
Not sure you need one at all
Plenty of couples do not, and nobody selling prenups will tell you that. Six questions, and it will say no if the answer is no.
You just want the number
Your state, your situation, and what it actually costs. About a minute, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
What you can hold us to
We would rather be checkable than liked. Every line here is something you can verify yourself in about a minute.
Every number has a date on it
Prices move. Each figure on this site says where it came from and when we last opened the page to check. The $599 above was checked on 16 July 2026.
We are not a law firm
Nobody here is your lawyer, and this is not legal advice. We publish costs and explain how the rules generally work. Marriage law is state law, so confirm yours before you sign.
No ads, anywhere
This site carries no display advertising and never will. If you buy through a referral link we earn a commission, which is disclosed on every page that has one.
We will tell you not to buy
Plenty of couples do not need a prenup, and the quiz says so when that is the answer. A recommendation that is always yes is not a recommendation.
Our full sourcing, including every price and the day we checked it, is on the about page. If a number here is stale, tell us and we will fix it and say when we did.
What is on the desk
Two tools that do the arithmetic for you, and the writing behind them.
- Tool
Prenup cost estimator
Your state, your situation, and how complicated your money is. It returns a real range with the reasoning shown, not a lead-capture form. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
- Tool
Do you need a prenup?
Six questions. It will happily tell you no.
- Guide
Prenups, start to finish
What they cost, what they can and cannot do, and the mistakes that get one thrown out.
- Reference
Where our numbers come from
Every price on the site, its source, and the date we checked it.
Find out what yours would cost
Five questions about your state and your situation. It takes about a minute, it shows its reasoning, and it tells you when the cheap route is genuinely the right one.
