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.