{
  "version": "v2.1.1",
  "portal": {
    "version": "v2.1.1",
    "reporting_floor_n": 8,
    "tracked": 1774,
    "published": 168,
    "share_pct": 9.5,
    "us_monthly_median": 5750,
    "us_monthly_p25": 3000,
    "us_monthly_p75": 10000,
    "us_monthly_median_exact": 5750.0,
    "us_monthly_p25_exact": 3000.0,
    "us_monthly_p75_exact": 10000.0,
    "us_monthly_providers": 107,
    "us_monthly_ci_low": 5000,
    "us_monthly_ci_high": 8000,
    "hourly_usd_median": 172.18,
    "hourly_usd_p25": 92.31,
    "hourly_usd_p75": 278.6,
    "hourly_usd_ci_low": 124.99,
    "hourly_usd_ci_high": 209.07,
    "hourly_usd_ci_sampling_only_low": 153.85,
    "hourly_usd_ci_sampling_only_high": 194.66,
    "hourly_usd_divisor": 32.5,
    "hourly_usd_divisor_ci_low": 25.0,
    "hourly_usd_divisor_ci_high": 60.0,
    "hourly_usd_providers": 168,
    "uk_providers": 25,
    "uk_monthly_providers": 18,
    "uk_day_providers": 9,
    "uk_day_median": 0,
    "uk_groups_published": 0,
    "roles_tracked": 7,
    "roles_priced": 6,
    "table_groups": 6,
    "table_records": 106,
    "table_offers": 195,
    "groups_ge8": 6,
    "groups_total": 38,
    "groups_below_floor": 32,
    "regions": 1,
    "table_hosts_unique": 99,
    "table_group_entries": 106,
    "currencies": [
      "EUR",
      "GBP",
      "USD"
    ],
    "currencies_count": 3,
    "regions_all": [
      "EU",
      "UK",
      "US"
    ],
    "dist_n": 107,
    "dist_median_band": "5-6k",
    "publish_rate_overall_pct": 10.7,
    "publish_rate_hosts_read": 1577,
    "publish_rate_by_role": {
      "CPO": 53.1,
      "CTO": 28.4,
      "CMO": 25.4,
      "COO": 19.7,
      "CFO": 8.2,
      "CRO": 6.7
    },
    "date_first_capture": "2026-08-31",
    "date_last_capture": "2026-09-03"
  },
  "generated": "2026-09-03T22:04:10Z",
  "generator": "tools/generate_release.py",
  "snapshot": {
    "file": "snapshot-normalized-7a45392c27bfe11b1d80fae1a4b33872.csv",
    "md5": "21507077c41917b09b5cd3a31f7e3241",
    "rows": 2397,
    "hosts": 1774
  },
  "fx_lock": {
    "file": "fx-lock-20260903.json",
    "source": "European Central Bank reference rates via frankfurter.app",
    "rate_date": "2026-09-03",
    "fetched_at_utc": "2026-09-03T15:44:39Z",
    "usd_per_unit": {
      "USD": "1",
      "GBP": "1.349718203474522107954215327",
      "EUR": "1.1615",
      "AUD": "0.7193286678639995045519291509",
      "SGD": "0.7887945670628183361629881154",
      "CHF": "1.236954206602768903088391906",
      "NZD": "0.5872093023255813953488372093",
      "SEK": "0.1044091869297496516697379658",
      "CAD": "0.7250764716898682814158187153",
      "INR": "0.01058314350797266514806378132"
    }
  },
  "funnel": {
    "rows_total": 2397,
    "rows_priced": 579,
    "passes_evidence_and_plausibility": 404,
    "and_in_scope": 378,
    "and_deduplicated": 347,
    "of_which_also_pass_strict_and_dual": 139
  },
  "headline": {
    "hourly_usd_all": {
      "unit": "USD/hour",
      "n_hosts": 168,
      "median": 172.18,
      "p25": 92.31,
      "p75": 278.6,
      "ci95_low": 124.99,
      "ci95_high": 209.07,
      "ci_method": "joint percentile bootstrap: each of 10000 iterations draws a divisor from the 21 hosts that publish their hours, reprices every retainer that publishes none, and then resamples the hosts. Seed 20260903.",
      "ci95_sampling_only_low": 153.85,
      "ci95_sampling_only_high": 194.66,
      "divisor": {
        "divisor_pool_hosts": 21,
        "divisor_point": 32.5,
        "divisor_ci95_low": 25.0,
        "divisor_ci95_high": 60.0,
        "hosts_on_the_default_divisor": 119
      }
    },
    "us_monthly_native": {
      "unit": "USD/month",
      "n_hosts": 107,
      "median": 5750.0,
      "p25": 3000.0,
      "p75": 10000.0,
      "ci95_low": 5000.0,
      "ci95_high": 8000.0,
      "ci_method": "percentile bootstrap over hosts, 10000 iterations, seed 20260903"
    }
  },
  "cross_check_axes": {
    "stated_hourly": {
      "n_hosts": 30,
      "median_usd_per_hour": 200.0
    },
    "from_day_rate": {
      "n_hosts": 18,
      "median_usd_per_hour": 250.0
    },
    "from_retainer": {
      "n_hosts": 139,
      "median_usd_per_hour": 169.23
    }
  },
  "hours_sensitivity": {
    "basis": "the published hourly headline, recomputed at each divisor. Only the retainers with no published hours of their own move.",
    "hosts": 168,
    "records_repriced": 222,
    "median_usd_per_hour_at": {
      "12h": 287.02,
      "20h": 204.13,
      "25h": 200.0,
      "32.5h": 172.18,
      "40h": 153.5,
      "52h": 150.0
    },
    "note": "12h was the median of the raw hours_included column before the audit, when hours per week and days per month were being read as hours per month. 52h is the median of every host whose text states a commitment once the v2.1.1 evidence scan is counted, and is the number the divisor would move to if the wider pool were adopted."
  },
  "groups": {
    "total": 38,
    "published": 6,
    "below_reporting_floor": 32,
    "reporting_floor_n": 8,
    "published_keys": [
      "(none)/US/Hourly",
      "(none)/US/Monthly",
      "CMO/US/Monthly",
      "CPO/US/Monthly",
      "CTO/US/Hourly",
      "CTO/US/Monthly"
    ]
  },
  "publish_rate": {
    "hosts_read": 1577,
    "definition": "hosts with a publishable rate for the role, over hosts whose captured pages mention that role",
    "by_role": {
      "CPO": {
        "hosts_read_for_role": 32,
        "hosts_published": 17,
        "publish_pct": 53.1
      },
      "CTO": {
        "hosts_read_for_role": 109,
        "hosts_published": 31,
        "publish_pct": 28.4
      },
      "CMO": {
        "hosts_read_for_role": 134,
        "hosts_published": 34,
        "publish_pct": 25.4
      },
      "CFO": {
        "hosts_read_for_role": 110,
        "hosts_published": 9,
        "publish_pct": 8.2
      },
      "COO": {
        "hosts_read_for_role": 66,
        "hosts_published": 13,
        "publish_pct": 19.7
      },
      "CRO": {
        "hosts_read_for_role": 15,
        "hosts_published": 1,
        "publish_pct": 6.7
      }
    },
    "overall_pct": 10.7,
    "hosts_published_any": 168
  },
  "methodology": {
    "publication_gate": "evidence and plausibility. The price, its currency and its cadence are found word for word in a quote captured from the provider's own page, and the price sits inside a per-unit plausibility band. Where the provider states how many hours the retainer buys, the divisor behind the USD-per-hour column is quoted too; on the rest it is the measured default of 32.5 hours a month, and no published record contradicts its own words. The word-for-word guarantee is a guarantee about the captured price, not about the derived hourly figure.",
    "confidence_columns": "strict_pass and dual_agreement are reported as a confidence tier per record (high = both, medium = one, low = neither). They no longer remove a row from the index.",
    "value_basis": "midpoint of a published range, labelled midpoint; a single figure is labelled published",
    "normalisation": {
      "axis": "USD per hour",
      "per_hour": "as captured",
      "per_day": "divided by 8 hours",
      "per_month": "divided by the hours the provider publishes where it publishes them, otherwise by 32.5 hours per month",
      "hours_per_day_basis": "8. Corroborated on sackermanconsulting.com, which prices 4h as a half-day, 8h as a full day and 12h as a day and a half",
      "default_hours_per_month": "32.5",
      "default_hours_source": "host-level median of the 41 hours_included readings that survived the manual audit of all 51 (10 rejected: 3 SLA cells, 3 undefined 'units', 2 per-working-day intensities, 1 plan name, 1 bundled intern allowance)",
      "hours_readings_audited": 51,
      "hours_readings_accepted": 41,
      "hours_readings_rejected": 10,
      "hours_distribution_per_offer": {
        "n": 41,
        "min": 4.0,
        "p25": 18.0,
        "median": 32.5,
        "mean": 41.96,
        "p75": 60.0,
        "max": 120.0
      },
      "hours_distribution_per_host": {
        "n": 21,
        "min": 8.0,
        "p25": 20.0,
        "median": 32.5,
        "mean": 40.05,
        "p75": 65.0,
        "max": 86.67
      },
      "currency": "converted at the locked ECB reference rate of 2026-09-03. Both the original currency and the USD-per-hour figure are published."
    },
    "grouping": "region is derived from the currency the provider quotes in, not from where the provider is. A country column derived from the ccTLD is published beside it and is empty for the ~90% of hosts on a .com.",
    "dedup": "one host contributes one value per group, the median of its own offers in that group",
    "reporting_floor": "a group is published only at n >= 8 hosts. Smaller groups are counted and named but carry no figure.",
    "interval": "percentile bootstrap over hosts, 10,000 iterations"
  },
  "quality_flags": {
    "self_inclusion": "saasfractionalcpo.com, the publisher of this index, is one of the sampled providers ($8,000/month at 25 hours; $15,000/month at 121.33 hours). It is one host out of 168, it is not excluded, and its median of $221.81 an hour sits at the 63rd percentile of the index.",
    "role_unspecified_groups_published": [
      "(none)/US/Hourly",
      "(none)/US/Monthly"
    ],
    "confidence_mix": {
      "medium": 59,
      "high": 139,
      "low": 149
    },
    "groups_without_high_confidence": [
      {
        "group": "(none)/US/Hourly",
        "n_hosts": 8,
        "high": 0,
        "medium": 1,
        "low": 7,
        "note": "no record in this group had two independent extractions agree and the strict parse pass. The figures are published and counted; the table marks the group."
      }
    ],
    "hours_default_applies_to_rows": 222,
    "hours_declared_rows": 37,
    "region_is_currency": "regions US/UK/EU are currency buckets. A US provider quoting in euros lands in EU.",
    "known_limitations": [
      "the hours default is measured on the 21 hosts whose published hours the manual audit accepted; providers that publish hours may not be typical of those that do not, and on this snapshot they are not: they are the more expensive tail",
      "a monthly retainer is not literally a block of hours, so the hourly equivalent is a comparison device, not a quotable rate",
      "the quartile spread of the hourly axis partly measures engagement size rather than price: across the offers that state both a price and their hours, hours rise almost in step with the retainer",
      "ccTLD resolves a country for roughly one host in ten"
    ],
    "hours_evidence": {
      "monthly_records": 279,
      "hours_read_from_the_page": 57,
      "hours_from_the_measured_default": 222,
      "by_source": {
        "default": 213,
        "declared": 37,
        "evidence_offer": 19,
        "default_after_rejected_reading": 9,
        "evidence_host_cadence": 1
      },
      "recall_note": "v2.1 read hours only out of the collector's hours_included field and only where a manual audit had accepted the reading. v2.1.1 also reads a time commitment out of the offer's own price and cadence quotes, which recovered 20 further records whose published hourly figure had contradicted the provider's own words.",
      "divisor_used": "32.5",
      "divisor_estimated_on_hosts": 21,
      "all_hosts_stating_hours": 33,
      "median_of_all_hosts_stating_hours": 52.0,
      "open_question": "the divisor in use is the median of the hosts the manual audit read. Across every host whose text states a commitment, including the ones the v2.1.1 scan recovered, the median is higher. Moving the divisor onto the wider pool restates the hourly headline and is a decision, not a repair, so this edition does not make it."
    }
  },
  "changes_vs_previous": {
    "previous_version": "v2.1",
    "why": "method, not market. The snapshot is byte-identical to v2.1's; every difference below comes from three repairs: hours read out of the offer's own words instead of a default, a plausibility band enforced on the derived hourly axis as well as the captured one, and the publisher's own record corrected against its live page.",
    "note": "figures for groups below the reporting floor are not listed here for the same reason they are not listed anywhere else.",
    "published_group_medians_moved": [
      {
        "group": "(none)/US/Monthly",
        "n_hosts_before": 42,
        "n_hosts_now": 38,
        "median_before": 4875.0,
        "median_now": 5000.0,
        "change_pct": 2.6
      },
      {
        "group": "CMO/US/Monthly",
        "n_hosts_before": 26,
        "n_hosts_now": 26,
        "median_before": 7500.0,
        "median_now": 8250.0,
        "change_pct": 10.0
      },
      {
        "group": "CPO/US/Monthly",
        "n_hosts_before": 13,
        "n_hosts_now": 12,
        "median_before": 8000.0,
        "median_now": 7000.0,
        "change_pct": -12.5
      },
      {
        "group": "CTO/US/Monthly",
        "n_hosts_before": 15,
        "n_hosts_now": 14,
        "median_before": 7500.0,
        "median_now": 8000.0,
        "change_pct": 6.7
      }
    ],
    "published_group_medians_unchanged": [
      {
        "group": "(none)/US/Hourly",
        "n_hosts_before": 8,
        "n_hosts_now": 8,
        "median_before": 175.0,
        "median_now": 175.0,
        "change_pct": 0.0
      },
      {
        "group": "CTO/US/Hourly",
        "n_hosts_before": 8,
        "n_hosts_now": 8,
        "median_before": 200.0,
        "median_now": 200.0,
        "change_pct": 0.0
      }
    ],
    "published_group_withdrawn": [
      {
        "group": "COO/US/Monthly",
        "n_hosts_before": 8,
        "n_hosts_now": 7,
        "median_before": 3938.0,
        "median_now": null,
        "reason": "fell below the n>=8 reporting floor and is not published in this edition. The group is still counted and named in the groups file; it carries no figure."
      }
    ],
    "groups_published_in_previous_edition": 7,
    "groups_accounted_for": 7,
    "headline": {
      "us_monthly_median": {
        "label": "US monthly median",
        "before": 5625,
        "now": 5750,
        "change_pct": 2.2
      },
      "hourly_usd_median": {
        "label": "hourly median, USD",
        "before": 169.23,
        "now": 172.18,
        "change_pct": 1.7
      },
      "published": {
        "label": "providers published",
        "before": 175,
        "now": 168,
        "change_pct": -4.0
      },
      "tracked": {
        "label": "hosts tracked",
        "before": 1774,
        "now": 1774,
        "change_pct": 0.0
      }
    },
    "continuity_note": "measured only on the groups that clear the reporting floor in both editions. A group of one or two hosts that did not move has not demonstrated continuity of a market; it has demonstrated that one provider did not edit a page."
  },
  "v2_baseline": {
    "generated": "2026-09-02T15:09:07Z",
    "us_monthly_median": 5000,
    "us_monthly_providers": 84,
    "published": 211,
    "share_pct": 18.7
  },
  "quarantine": {
    "records": 27,
    "reasons": {
      "implausible_hourly_derived_below_floor": 12,
      "implausible_below_floor;implausible_hourly_derived_below_floor": 9,
      "implausible_above_ceiling;implausible_hourly_derived_above_ceiling": 3,
      "implausible_hourly_derived_above_ceiling": 3
    },
    "file": "quarantine-v2.1.1.csv",
    "note": "rows that clear the evidence rules and then fall outside a plausibility band. Named and counted here rather than dropped in silence."
  }
}