Manage multiple clients without losing your mind. Scheduling, design, video editing, collaboration, and communication, the lean agency operating system.
Notion
SlackSchedule, design, manage, present, edit, communicate. At scale.
Schedule and publish across all platforms from one dashboard. Manage multiple client accounts, view analytics, and plan content calendars. Clean, simple, reliable.
Enterprise-grade, built for agencies
More advanced team features, approval workflows, and social listening. $99/mo for professional. Better for agencies with 10+ clients and team members.
Best for visual-first platforms
Superior Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest scheduling. Visual content calendar. $25/mo. Best for agencies focused on visual platforms.
Freemium - Paraphrasing tool that actually works. Rewrite sentences without losing meaning....
Paraphrasing tool that actually works. Rewrite sentences without losing meaning. Students love it, professors hate it. Try QuillBot →
Paid - AI writing baked right into Notion. Summarise, expand, translate, brainstorm - w...
AI writing baked right into Notion. Summarise, expand, translate, brainstorm - without leaving your workspace. Try Notion AI →
Freemium - Academic writing assistant that actually understands citations. For students who...
Academic writing assistant that actually understands citations. For students who want help, not plagiarism. Try Jenni AI →
Paid - AI copywriting with predictive performance scores. Tells you which version will ...
AI copywriting with predictive performance scores. Tells you which version will convert before you publish. Try Anyword →
Paid - Enterprise AI writing platform. Brand voice guardrails, style guides, and team-w...
Enterprise AI writing platform. Brand voice guardrails, style guides, and team-wide consistency. Not cheap, but thorough. Try Writer →
Freemium Email marketing for small businesses. Clean editor, solid automations, and the f...
Email marketing for small businesses. Clean editor, solid automations, and the free tier is genuinely usable. Mailchimp alternative. Try MailerLite →
Paid Cold email outreach tool. Personalised images, automated sequences, deliverabili...
Cold email outreach tool. Personalised images, automated sequences, deliverability tools. For sales teams doing cold outbound. Try Lemlist →
Freemium Open-source link management. Short links, analytics, custom domains. Bitly but y...
Open-source link management. Short links, analytics, custom domains. Bitly but you own the data and it's free to self-host. Try Dub →
Paid Social media automation and scraping. LinkedIn lead gen, Twitter followers, Inst...
Social media automation and scraping. LinkedIn lead gen, Twitter followers, Instagram DMs. Growth hacking toolkit. Try Phantom Buster →
Free Form builder that feels like a doc. Free, beautiful, and powerful. Typeform qual...
Form builder that feels like a doc. Free, beautiful, and powerful. Typeform quality without the Typeform price tag. Try Tally →
Freemium The original automation platform. If this, then that. Simple recipes for connect...
The original automation platform. If this, then that. Simple recipes for connecting apps. Less powerful than Make, but simpler. Try IFTTT →
Free Open-source Zapier alternative. Self-host your automations, no per-task pricing....
Open-source Zapier alternative. Self-host your automations, no per-task pricing. Growing fast and genuinely good. Try Activepieces →
Free Open-source workflow engine. Write scripts in Python/TypeScript, orchestrate the...
Open-source workflow engine. Write scripts in Python/TypeScript, orchestrate them visually. Retool for background jobs. Try Windmill →
Free Durable workflow execution. When your automations absolutely cannot fail. Overki...
Durable workflow execution. When your automations absolutely cannot fail. Overkill for most, essential for some. Try Temporal →
Freemium Microsoft's automation tool. Deep Office 365 integration. If your company runs o...
Microsoft's automation tool. Deep Office 365 integration. If your company runs on Microsoft, this is the obvious choice. Try Power Automate →
Brand kits per client, team folders, approval workflows, and 100+ million stock assets. Canva Teams lets you design at agency scale without hiring designers for every post.
Higher-quality design output
When clients need custom, unique designs beyond templates. Collaborative design tool. Free for 3 projects. Better for premium brand work.
Full creative suite for premium work
Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects. $55/mo for all apps. The professional standard for agencies doing high-end creative work.
Client portals, content calendars per client, strategy docs, reporting dashboards, and SOPs. Share specific pages with clients for approvals and feedback.
More structured project management
Better for agencies with defined workflows, dependencies, and timelines. Free for up to 10 users. More rigid but better for complex projects.
All-in-one with time tracking
Projects, docs, time tracking, and whiteboards. Free tier is generous. Better if you bill hourly and need time tracking built in.
Freemium Knowledge base for small teams. Clean, searchable, AI-powered answers. Like Noti...
Knowledge base for small teams. Clean, searchable, AI-powered answers. Like Notion but focused on documentation only. Try Slite →
Freemium Docs and wiki for modern teams. Templates, approval workflows, and version contr...
Docs and wiki for modern teams. Templates, approval workflows, and version control. Notion meets Google Docs meets GitHub. Try Almanac →
Freemium Beautiful document editor for Apple users. Native macOS/iOS app, gorgeous export...
Beautiful document editor for Apple users. Native macOS/iOS app, gorgeous exports. Notion if it was designed by Apple. Try Craft →
Freemium Beautiful API documentation. Write in MDX, get docs that look like Stripe's. Eve...
Beautiful API documentation. Write in MDX, get docs that look like Stripe's. Every developer tool should use this. Try Mintlify →
Free Open-source wiki and knowledge base. Self-hostable Notion alternative for teams ...
Open-source wiki and knowledge base. Self-hostable Notion alternative for teams that care about data ownership. Try Outline →
Paid — The CRM. Enterprise beast that does everything. Also costs everything. You'll ne...
The CRM. Enterprise beast that does everything. Also costs everything. You'll need it eventually if you go enterprise. Try Salesforce →
Freemium — CRM inside Gmail. Pipeline management without leaving your inbox. Simple, effect...
CRM inside Gmail. Pipeline management without leaving your inbox. Simple, effective, and free for solo users. Try Streak →
Paid — CRM built for Google Workspace. If your team lives in Gmail and Google Calendar,...
CRM built for Google Workspace. If your team lives in Gmail and Google Calendar, Copper fits like a glove. Try Copper →
Free — Open-source CRM. Self-hostable Salesforce alternative with a modern UI. Early bu...
Open-source CRM. Self-hostable Salesforce alternative with a modern UI. Early but promising. For teams that want to own their data. Try Twenty →
Paid — Cold email at scale. Unlimited email accounts, warmup, and sending. The growth h...
Cold email at scale. Unlimited email accounts, warmup, and sending. The growth hacker's outbound machine. Aggressive but effective. Try Instantly →
Send video updates instead of long emails. Content reviews, strategy presentations, and monthly reports, recorded once, watched on the client's schedule. Saves hours of meetings.
More polished video presentations
Like Loom but with editing, layouts, and transitions. Creates more professional-looking client presentations. Better for pitches and proposals.
Live calls when real-time is needed
Free for 40-minute calls. Sometimes you need face-to-face. Use Loom for updates, Zoom for strategy sessions and kickoffs.
Edit Reels, TikToks, and Shorts for clients, fast. Auto-captions, trending effects, templates, and one-click resizing for every platform. The speed tool for short-form content.
Best for podcast and long-form editing
Text-based editing is faster for long-form content. If your agency also does podcasts or YouTube, Descript is more versatile.
Professional-grade for premium clients
$22/mo. When clients need cinema-quality video, colour grading, and complex compositing. The industry standard for a reason.
Freemium - Long video goes in, viral clips come out. AI picks the best moments and reformat...
Long video goes in, viral clips come out. AI picks the best moments and reformats for TikTok/Reels/Shorts. Try OpusClip →
Freemium - Auto-captions, eye contact correction, background removal for video. One app rep...
Auto-captions, eye contact correction, background removal for video. One app replaces three. Mobile-first and slick. Try Captions →
Freemium - Turn text into video with AI voices and stock footage. Blog post to YouTube vide...
Turn text into video with AI voices and stock footage. Blog post to YouTube video in minutes. Not cinematic, but fast. Try Fliki →
Paid - Script-to-video generator for content creators. Paste your blog post, get a vide...
Script-to-video generator for content creators. Paste your blog post, get a video. Quality is decent, speed is the point. Try Pictory →
Paid - AI avatar videos for training and marketing. Your digital presenter never calls ...
AI avatar videos for training and marketing. Your digital presenter never calls in sick or asks for a raise. Try Colossyan →
Channels per client, internal team chat, and integrations with everything. Keep client communication organised and team coordination smooth. The default for remote agencies.
Free with unlimited history (now)
Free with more features than Slack's free tier. Voice channels, screen sharing, and community features. Growing as a professional tool. Better for creative agencies.
If clients use Microsoft 365
Free tier with chat, video, and file sharing. If your clients are corporate and use Microsoft, Teams reduces friction. Integrates with the full Office suite.
Launch a content agency with client management, scheduling, and team workflows
Notion
Canva
Buffer
Loom
Slack
Set up Notion workspace for clients and content calendars
Design brand templates in Canva
Configure Buffer for multi-client scheduling
Create client reporting with Loom videos
Build team workflows in Slack
Every tool pre-configured, setup order mapped out, integrations documented. Skip weeks of research.
Set up the stack, land your first client, and deliver great work.
