How to slim down your agency stack from 12 to 4 tools

The silent tool explosion

The average social media agency in the Netherlands runs 11 SaaS subscriptions. Not decided on once explicitly — grown over years. Each new need was solved with a new tool, and old tools were rarely canceled. Result: €1,200-2,000 per month in tooling costs and 30 minutes of context-switching per day.

The audit: what's really running?

Step 1: list all SaaS tools you pay for. Including those you've forgotten. Open Stripe and view recurring charges. Ask your IT or office manager.

Typical result: 11-14 tools. CRM (HubSpot or Pipedrive), planner (Planable or Hootsuite), design (Canva Pro), Drive or Dropbox, Zapier, Calendly, Slack, AgencyAnalytics, an AI tool (Jasper or ChatGPT Plus), Trello or Asana, a reporting tool, and small niche tools.

Step 2: The 90-day rule

For each tool: ask "when did I last use this?" If longer than 90 days ago, get rid of it. With 12 tools, you'll find an average of 2-3 that you no longer use.

Step 3: Identify overlap

Per category: do you have multiple tools that do the same thing?

• Communication: Slack + Microsoft Teams + WhatsApp Business?
• Project management: Asana + Trello + Notion?
• Storage: Google Drive + Dropbox + WeTransfer?

Choose one per category. Migrate the other data and cancel.

Step 4: Consolidate through an all-in-one

The biggest saving comes from consolidating specific agency tools. CRM + content planning + reporting + financial + meetings running separately costs €400-600/month. In one all-in-one platform: €200-300/month for the same functionality.

Step 5: The painful decisions

Some tools are expensive but indispensable (Ahrefs for SEO, Adobe Suite for design). Don't try to cut costs where it harms your work. Cut costs where there are clear alternatives.

Realistic end picture for an SME agency (10 clients)

4-5 tools is a healthy end picture:

• Agency platform (CRM + planning + reporting + portal + financial): one tool
• Design: Canva Pro or Adobe Express
• Communication: Slack (or even just email for small teams)
• Storage: Google Drive or Dropbox
• SEO/marketing: Ahrefs or SEMrush if you do SEO work

Realistic saving

From 12 tools (€1,500/month) to 5 tools (€650/month) = €850/month saving = €10,200 per year. Plus 5-8 hours less context-switching per week. Worth the effort.