Independent Reviews & Ratings of Marketing Agencies
The marketing agencies worth hiring — and the ones to avoid, across 31 disciplines. Scored on published rubrics, never pay-to-rank.
Ranked from our set, with the ones we reject shown in the open.
This is what a verdict looks like.
All 746 evaluations →Three disciplines, the same rubric, published in full and free to read. Every agency in a discipline is scored on the same dimensions, so two of these are directly comparable.
House of Marketers
Strong fit · 3.9- Good at
- TikTok-first: influencer campaigns, TikTok business-profile content, TikTok ad content and TikTok Ads management are named services.
- The catch
- TikTok-centric (not broad multi-platform)
- Platform and format depth (esp. short-form video)Excellent
- Engagement and pipeline, not vanity metricsAdequate
- Creator, UGC and influencer capabilityExcellent
- Content originality and native voiceStrong
- Community buildingAdequate
- Vertical and stage fitAdequate
- Contract and pricing transparencyAdequate
Rankings.io
Conditional · 2.7- Good at
- The FAQ answers 'Who owns the website, content, links, and data?' with 'You do.
- The catch
- The one named testimonial is a block shown on every case study, including studies of other, unnamed firms, so it does not identify whose results a study reports
- Booked-work evidence, not ranking screenshotsAdequate
- Google Business Profile and map-pack competenceWeak
- Review acquisition without incentive or gatingWeak
- Asset ownership and exitStrong
- Local Services Ads and paid-local handlingStrong
- Multi-location and service-area handlingWeak
- Pricing and contract transparencyWeak
Swanky
Strong fit · 3.9- Good at
- High-converting Shopify Plus site design and development; CRO page states design, development and testing are all done in-house.
- The catch
- Thin public reviews (Clutch 1)
- Experimentation rigor (valid A/B testing)Adequate
- Conversion research & UXStrong
- Landing page / site design & devExcellent
- Analytics & attributionStrong
- Measurement tied to revenue liftStrong
- Platform depth (Shopify/Webflow/Next)Excellent
- Vertical & stage fitStrong
- Contract & pricing transparencyWeak
Every dimension the rubric scores, at the label it was given — the same bar, and the same words, as the agency’s own page. A dimension reading “not disclosed” is one we could not find, not one we found and judged.
Or start from your industry.
All evaluations →Same rubric for everyone, and the whole review is published — the agencies we would recommend and the ones we could not.
Every marketing discipline, vetted the same way.
Most directories are paid placement. Ours is a set we cut from.
Nobody buys their way in. The only way onto the list is to survive the review, and the reviews are public. We're a buyer's agent — if we broker a hire for you, you pay us, and we never take a fee from the agencies we rank.
Who vets this, and how.
Most places that "rank" agencies are paid by the agencies. Directories sell placement, review sites sell badges, and you end up with a leaderboard of whoever spent the most. Koolav is the inverse: the agencies pay us nothing, buyers do, and every verdict is analysis of public evidence you can trace and check yourself.
Think a call is wrong — including if you are the agency it is about? Write to hello@koolav.com. We re-review and publish the result either way, and there is no paid path to a different answer.
The standard, using outbound as the example
Every discipline has its own published rubric, weighted so the things that actually decide that engagement count most — deliverability decides an outbound engagement and is irrelevant to a CRO one. The weights below are the outbound rubric, shown as an example. See the full method and every rubric →
What counts as evidence
Only public, checkable sources: the agency's own site, case studies, and aggregated reviews from G2, Clutch, Trustpilot, and Reddit. Every factor shows its sources. Where a claim is the agency's own and we couldn't independently confirm it, we mark it inferred rather than verified.
Kept current, dated honestly
Each evaluation shows the real date it was last vetted. An old date shown honestly beats a fresh one that is decorative. We never stamp "updated today" on stale work. When evidence shifts, the verdict moves and the record says what changed.
How we stay neutral
Agencies never pay — not for a listing, not for placement, not to change a verdict. Reading the whole vetted set is free. We never take a cent from the agencies we rank, and the ones we cut are named in the open, which is the part a paid directory can never do.
The limits
Every evaluation is informed opinion based on public information, not a statement of fact, and not a guarantee of your results. Any agency can respond to its evaluation and we publish the response alongside. If you are an agency and think we got something wrong, email us — we will re-review and publish the result either way, and there is no paid path to a different answer.
Now put it to work: tell us what you're hiring for and see the shortlist, free.
Finding the agencies in our set that fit your brief.
A moment — we're ranking our vetted set against your brief.
We haven't vetted this one.
Put your top two head-to-head on the factors that matter for your brief. Free — they're all vetted.
Considering one we don't cover? Name it and it goes on the research queue →
Belkins
Factors, weighted — the ones that decide the hire come first.
Have Koolav act as your buyer's agent: we reach out, pressure-test them on your specifics, negotiate a scoped start, and hand you a ready decision. You approve everything. We agree a flat fee upfront and never take a cent from the agency.
Saving also watches: we re-check saved agencies and email you if the evidence shifts.
Send us what we got wrong and the link that shows it. We re-read the site and reply either way.
Evidence moves a verdict. Money never does — no agency pays us for a listing, a placement, or a re-review. Whatever we conclude we publish, including that the verdict stands.
Analysis of public information, vetted on the date shown — opinion, not a statement of fact. The vendor may respond to this evaluation; vendor responses are published alongside.
Comparing your top two
Both vetted and scored on the same factors.
Saved & watched
Add your email and we'll message you the moment a saved agency's evidence shifts. Only material moves, no spam.
Have Koolav act as your buyer's agent — we do the outreach and broker the engagement for a flat fee, and never take money from the agency. Or go direct; either way the vetting is yours to keep.