Review
HubSpot, reviewed: is it still the right CRM for a small agency?
We ran HubSpot as the system of record for a two-client agency for 90 days. Here's where it earns its price and where the bill starts to bite.
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Marketing tool reviews
Marketing tools, tested in production.
We run every tool on our own sites and report what holds up under real use.
Run on our own sites · scored the same way every time
HubSpot9.2
Semrush9.0
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Semrush for solo consultants: powerful tool, agency-sized bill
At $139.95/mo for Pro and $249.95/mo for Guru, Semrush earns its keep if you're billing multiple SEO retainers — but solo consultants running two or three clients will pay for a lot they never touch.
8 min·2026-06-27
HubSpot, reviewed: is it still the right CRM for a small agency?
We ran HubSpot as the system of record for a two-client agency for 90 days. Here's where it earns its price and where the bill starts to bite.
11 min·2026-06-22
Semrush, reviewed: the SEO tool we actually keep paying for
We use Semrush to run keyword research and audits on our own sites — including this one. That makes this the rare review written from daily use, not a trial.
10 min·2026-06-20
HubSpot vs Salesforce for a team under 20
One is built to be picked up in an afternoon; the other is built to be configured for a year. For a small team, that difference decides it.
9 min·2026-06-18
The first five tools we'd buy for a brand-new agency
Opinionated, in order, with the reasoning. No 47-item 'ultimate stack' — just what earns a seat in month one.
8 min·2026-06-15
How we test
The same method, every tool
Run it for real
Every tool goes live on one of our own sites — real pipelines, real audits.
Score it the same way
Five fixed axes, so a 9 means the same thing across the site.
Name the catch
We tell you the tier or limit where it stops being worth the money.