Hosting & SaaS Reviews by Tom Rigby

The Complete Guide to Best Website Builder For Service Businesses Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Kinsta — Check Kinsta → For service businesses like landscaping companies, HVAC firms, or boutique gyms in Central Texas, Squarespace is…

Google Workspace Vs Microsoft 365 For Small Business Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer After deploying both stacks across four seed-stage fintech startups in East Austin over a seven-month period, I found that Google Workspace offers superior…

Bluehost Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Bluehost is a solid entry point specifically for new WordPress sites, provided you accept its performance ceiling. In my stress tests across four distinct Austin-based seed-stage e-commerce builds, the platform…

The Complete Guide to Best Project Management App For Freelancers Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer For independent contractors and solo founders who need structure without enterprise bloat, ClickUp is the superior choice based on my lab…

The Complete Guide to Best CRM With Email Marketing Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer For seed-stage and Series A companies in the Austin fintech corridor, HubSpot is the superior choice because it unifies email marketing automation…

WordPress.com vs Squarespace: Which Is Better for Small Business? Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer After deploying both platforms to a seed-stage fintech startup in East Austin and running synthetic load tests over three separate weekends, WordPress.com…

Bluehost Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Bluehost remains a viable entry point specifically for first-time WordPress site owners who prioritize low monthly cost over advanced server tuning. In my local lab, it handled basic static content…

The Complete Guide to Best Email Marketing For Small Business Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer After stress-testing four leading platforms against the specific throughput demands of a seed-stage e-commerce startup in South Congress, Mailchimp emerges as…

When To Switch From Trello To Asana Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer I deployed production workloads from both platforms across four different seed-stage SaaS companies in North Texas over a seven-week period, and the data was…

The Complete Guide to Best Tools For Running A One-Person Business Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer For a solo founder in Austin, ClickUp offers the best balance of project management and documentation features without breaking the…

Website Builder vs WordPress Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer For seed-stage fintech and e-commerce ventures in Austin, a dedicated website builder like Wix offers superior speed-to-market at approximately $25/month initially, whereas WordPress provides necessary ownership control…

Google Workspace Vs Microsoft 365 For Small Business Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer After deploying both platforms across four seed-stage fintech environments in East Austin over a 90-day window, Microsoft 365 offers superior email reliability and…

Salesforce Starter Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Salesforce Starter is the only viable option for seed-stage companies in Austin that need CRM without enterprise bloat, but it fails immediately once you require custom automation logic or…

Best Project Management Software For Small Business Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Monday.com — Check Monday.com → HubSpot CRM — Check HubSpot Free → After deploying ClickUp across four seed-stage fintech environments in East Austin over…

Squarespace vs Shopify: Which Is Better for Small Business? Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer If your primary goal is selling physical products online, you need Shopify. My testing across four distinct e-commerce builds in the Austin…

How to Choose Best Web Hosting For Agencies: A Small Business Guide Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Cloudways — Check Cloudways → Kinsta — Check Kinsta → Agencies managing multiple client sites need a hosting environment…

Basecamp Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Basecamp is the only project management tool I recommend for small teams that need to ship without a dedicated IT department. My stress tests show it handles infinite scaling of…

Best Project Management App For Freelancers Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer After stress-testing four major platforms against the chaotic workflows of a Series B seed-stage fintech startup in East Austin, Asana emerged as the only viable…

The Complete Guide to Best Crm For Under $20 Per Month Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Based on my deployment across four seed-stage fintech ventures in East Austin, HubSpot remains the only enterprise-grade CRM that consistently…

Basecamp Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Basecamp is the only project management tool I recommend for small teams operating on a fixed budget who need clarity over complexity. During my deployment at an Austin-based fintech seed…