Clarity.fm has been running paid advice calls since 2012, and its model is simple: business experts list a per-minute rate, buyers request a call, and Clarity connects the two by phone and bills by the minute. As of 2026, Clarity's published service fee is 15% per completed call, with payment processing fees on top, and expert payouts arrive within 14 days of the call. It remains a credible platform for startup and B2B advice. But there are real reasons people search for alternatives: calls are phone-only (no video), the roster and buyer demand are almost entirely business-focused, the product has not changed much in a decade, and as an expert you are one listing inside someone else's directory rather than the owner of your own storefront. Whether you are a buyer who wants advice in a category Clarity does not cover, or an expert deciding where to sell your time, here are seven alternatives worth knowing.
1. Cheddify — a link-in-bio seller tool for live paid access
Best for: experts and creators who already have an audience and want to sell live access directly, without depending on a directory. Cheddify is not a marketplace — it is a seller tool. You claim a free page, set your rates, and drop that one link in your bio, email signature, or newsletter. When someone taps it, they land on your page and can start a per-minute video or audio call while you are available, book a session ahead of time, or send you a paid DM. Buyers pay as guests in the browser — no account, no app install — while you take calls on the Cheddify iOS or Android app. Pricing is usage-based: claiming a page is free, and Cheddify takes 20% plus $2 per paid call (a roughly 3% card-processing fee is billed to the buyer on top, not deducted from you). Paid DMs work out to the seller keeping about 77% of the DM price. Payouts run through Stripe. The honest caveat: Cheddify does not bring you customers the way Clarity's directory can — your own bio link is the demand channel. If you have zero audience, Clarity's marketplace traffic is worth something; if you have any following at all, owning the link usually earns more. Everything on the platform is PG-13. See how it works and current pricing.
2. Clarity.fm itself — still solid for startup and B2B advice
If your niche is startups, marketing, or B2B strategy, Clarity is still the most established per-minute directory in that lane, and its published 15% fee (as of 2026) is lower than most competitors' marketplace rates. The trade-offs have not changed: audio-only phone calls, a dated interface, payouts within 14 days rather than on your schedule, and demand concentrated in business categories. For a buyer who wants a startup veteran on the phone this week, it still delivers.
3. Intro.co — scheduled video calls with recognizable names
Intro.co sells scheduled, flat-fee video sessions with a curated roster that leans toward well-known operators and celebrity experts. Its published fee structure is tiered by who sourced the booking: as of 2026, roughly 10% when the buyer comes through your own link, 30% when they find you through Intro's directory, and more when Intro's paid ads sourced the booking. Sessions are premium-priced and scheduled in advance — a different rhythm from Clarity's on-demand calls. See our full Intro.co alternatives breakdown.
4. Minnect — expert Q&A and calls inside one app
Minnect (from the Valuetainment team) lets experts charge for text answers, calls, and video consults inside a single consumer app. It has genuine consumer distribution and a broader-than-startups roster, but you live inside their app and their fee schedule, and buyers must install it. If you are comparing app-based expert platforms, see Minnect alternatives.
5. MentorCruise — subscription mentorship for tech careers
MentorCruise packages ongoing mentorship — chat, tasks, and regular calls — into a monthly subscription, mostly in software, product, design, and data. It is a better fit than Clarity when the goal is a months-long relationship rather than a one-off question, and a worse fit for quick, transactional advice.
6. GLG and expert networks — institutional research calls
GLG, AlphaSights, and similar expert networks pay well per hour, but they serve institutional clients: consultancies, hedge funds, corporate strategy teams. You cannot send your own audience there, you do not set the price, and call flow depends entirely on client demand for your niche. Worth joining passively as an expert; not a Clarity replacement for individual buyers.
7. Calendly plus Stripe — the do-it-yourself stack
Plenty of consultants skip platforms entirely: a paid Calendly event type collects payment via Stripe, and the call happens on Zoom. No commission beyond processing fees, full control — but no per-minute billing, no live "call me right now" option, no paid DMs, and you assemble and maintain the plumbing yourself. We compare this approach in Calendly alternatives for paid calls.
Fee and format comparison
| Platform | Published fees (as of 2026) | Live video | Per-minute billing | Paid DMs | Payouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheddify | 20% + $2 per paid call (buyer pays ~3% processing); no monthly fee | Yes | Yes | Yes (~77% to seller) | Stripe |
| Clarity.fm | 15% per call + processing | No (phone) | Yes | No | Within 14 days |
| Intro.co | ~10% own traffic / ~30% marketplace | Yes | No (flat sessions) | No | Platform schedule |
| Minnect | Platform commission per transaction | Yes (in-app) | Partly (timed calls) | Paid Q&A | Platform schedule |
| MentorCruise | Commission on subscriptions | Yes | No (monthly) | Included in plan | Platform schedule |
| Calendly + Stripe | Software subscription + Stripe processing | Via Zoom/Meet | No | No | Stripe |
Payout math: what you actually keep
Take a 20-minute call at $3 per minute — $60 billed. On Cheddify, the buyer pays $60 plus a roughly 3% processing fee (about $1.80), so about $61.80 total. Your side: 80% of the $60 billed amount is $48, minus the $2 per-call fee, leaving $46 — about 77% of the billed amount, with card processing already covered by the buyer. On Clarity, the same $60 call at the published 15% fee leaves $51 before payment-processing costs, which come out of the expert's side. On pure percentage, Clarity's take is smaller on this example — that is an honest point in its favor. What you are buying with Cheddify's fee is the rest of the machine: live video, guest checkout that converts cold bio-link traffic, booked sessions and paid DMs on the same page (a $10 paid DM pays you about $7.70), and Stripe payouts you control. There is no monthly subscription on either platform, so neither costs you anything in a slow month.
What Clarity.fm is still best at
Being findable. Clarity has fourteen years of SEO and a buyer base that searches it directly for startup advice. If you are a B2B expert with no audience of your own, that directory demand is the whole ballgame, and no seller tool replaces it. The moment you have your own distribution — a following, a newsletter, a LinkedIn presence — the calculus flips, because you stop paying a marketplace to reach people who were already yours.
Which one should you pick?
Buyers wanting startup advice on the phone this week: Clarity.fm. Buyers wanting a famous operator on video: Intro.co. Experts building a long-term mentorship practice: MentorCruise. Experts and creators with their own audience who want per-minute video calls, booked sessions, and paid DMs behind one bio link: Cheddify. Start with how to charge for video calls if you are pricing your first offer.