Review Methodology

What "Evaluated" Means Here

When this site says a platform is "evaluated," that means we have reviewed its official documentation, public pricing, third-party rating sources, and community discussions. For some platforms we also use free plans or demo environments to validate specific workflows. We do not claim to have run paid client workloads on every platform, and we do not fabricate metrics. When a feature description comes from vendor documentation, we label it as such. When it comes from our own exploration, we say so.

The 10-Pillar Agency Fit Framework

Every CRM and marketing platform we review is scored against the ten capabilities that matter most for marketing agencies:

1. Sub-account architecture and multi-client separation
2. White-label branding, portals, and mobile apps
3. Funnel and landing page builder depth
4. Email marketing automation
5. SMS and voice channels
6. Pipeline and sales workflow
7. Reporting and attribution across channels
8. Integrations and API flexibility
9. Pricing model and scalability at 5, 10, 25 clients
10. Support quality, onboarding, and community

Rating Scale

We publish ratings on a 5-point scale (1 poor, 5 excellent) rather than composite scores out of 10. When we reference third-party ratings (Trustpilot, G2, Capterra), we cite the source name, the rating as we observed it, and the approximate review count at time of evaluation. Third-party ratings change over time; we refresh these quarterly.

Pricing Refresh Cadence

All pricing on this site carries a "as of [Month Year]" label on first mention. We refresh pricing from the official vendor pricing page monthly. Feature matrices are refreshed quarterly. Full review pages are re-reviewed at least once per year. When a vendor materially changes pricing or tiers between cycles, we update the page and note the change in our editorial changelog (see our editorial policy).

Why This Approach

Marketing CRMs move fast. Running a full multi-seat production setup on every platform we cover is not possible at the cadence readers need. A documented desk-evaluation framework lets us cover the market honestly, disclose where our information comes from, and let readers judge whether a given recommendation fits their agency.

Related Pages

• Editorial Policy — how we fact-check, update, and correct pages
• Affiliate Relationships — which platforms we earn commissions from, which we do not
• About the Reviewer