My Stack

Your stack is empty.

Click the + button on any tool to add it here.

HomeCanonical StacksThe Agency Stack
Canonical Stack · Updated April 2026

The Agency Stack

The tools we recommend for digital agencies managing multiple client sites, SEO campaigns, and email marketing — with pricing that scales with your team.

From $195/mo (2-person team)
6 tools in this stack
01
Hosting

Cloudways (DigitalOcean)

$14–42/mo per server

Unlimited sites per server, staging environments, team collaboration, and pay-per-server pricing make Cloudways the best value for agencies managing multiple client sites.

View full review
02
Project Management

ClickUp Business

$12/user/mo

ClickUp's Business plan covers client portals, time tracking, custom fields, and automation — everything an agency needs to manage multiple client projects.

View full review
03
SEO

Semrush Pro

$119.95/mo

Semrush's breadth — SEO, PPC research, content tools, and social media — makes it the better choice for agencies serving clients across multiple channels.

View full review
04
Email Marketing

ActiveCampaign Plus

$49/mo

ActiveCampaign's CRM integration and advanced automation make it the best choice for agencies managing email marketing for multiple clients.

View full review
05
VPN

NordVPN Teams

$7/user/mo

Secure client access, remote team connections, and dedicated IP addresses for agency teams working with sensitive client data.

View full review
06
Analytics

Google Analytics 4 + Looker Studio

Free

GA4 + Looker Studio is the standard for agency client reporting. Free, scalable, and integrates with all major platforms.

Agency-Specific Considerations

White-label reporting: Semrush Pro includes white-label PDF reports. Pair with Looker Studio for custom client dashboards.
Client access management: Cloudways allows per-site team access. Create separate application credentials for each client to maintain security.
Staging workflows: Cloudways includes one-click staging environments. Establish a development → staging → production workflow for all client sites.
Billing clients for hosting: Many agencies mark up Cloudways hosting 2–3x. At $14/mo for a DigitalOcean server hosting 5+ client sites, the margin is significant.
Scaling the stack: Add Kinsta Agency plans ($115/mo for 5 sites) when clients demand enterprise-grade performance and support SLAs.