The Agency Toolkit stack
For design + dev agencies (5-25 staff) running multiple client projects in parallel. Optimised for client deliverables and per-project P&L.
You're an agency. Your stack has to handle multi-client isolation, per-project billable hours, and asset handoff to clients with their own systems. The trap most agencies fall into: subscribing to enterprise tools they don't need because the bills look like a tax write-off. This stack stays at $300-600/mo for a 10-person shop and scales linearly with headcount.
Design + handoff
Figma for design, Framer for landing pages clients can edit. Miro for client workshops. Notion for client wikis with shared spaces.
Project management
ClickUp or Asana, both work, neither is exciting. The actual lift is your project template, not the tool. Linear if your work is mostly engineering.
Dev + delivery
GitHub for code, Vercel for client previews. Sentry to catch issues before clients do. Cloudflare for everything DNS / SSL / CDN.
Comms
Slack for internal, Slack Connect for client channels. Zoom for client calls. Loom for async demos that save everyone a meeting.
Finance
QuickBooks or Xero for the books. Stripe for payment links (most agencies don't need full Stripe Billing).
Pay for the Agency Toolkit stack with the right card
At ~$550/mo USD spend (the midpoint of this stack's burn range), the right card recovers 1.5–4% in forex savings + rewards. Default retail cards lose 3.5% of every USD subscription to forex.
EXPRESS
Amex Hilton Honors
No-fx US card, pay USD with USD, zero markup; 3% rewards on engineering spend
RBL World Safari
0% forex markup vs 3.5% on retail Indian cards; 2% rewards on engineering spend
Tradeoffs & pitfalls
The honest stuff. No vendor blog will tell you this.
- 01Resist the urge to buy the "agency suite" SaaS, they're consistently mediocre at every job vs the best-in-class single-purpose tool.
- 02Slack Connect channels with clients save hours but become a liability when you part ways, set retention policies on day one.
- 03ClickUp's pricing is friendly but its UX bloat will slow your team down past 8 active projects. Asana ages better. Notion is a fine cheaper alternative if your work is light on Gantt charts.