Hosting & SaaS Reviews by Tom Rigby

The Complete Guide to Best Web Hosting For Developers Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer SiteGround — Check SiteGround → Cloudways — Check Cloudways → WP Engine — Check WP Engine → For developers managing high-traffic applications,…

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 For service businesses like plumbing, landscaping, or consulting in Austin and beyond, Squarespace remains the most reliable choice due to its superior template engine that…

ClickUp Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer In my lab, I deployed ClickUp across four seed-stage fintech and e-commerce environments in central Texas to stress-test its core engine. While the feature density is unmatched by most competitors…

Flywheel Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Flywheel is a robust managed WordPress hosting solution that excels at providing high-performance environments specifically tuned for e-commerce and content-heavy sites, though its pricing structure reflects the premium nature of…

A2 Hosting 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 → WP Engine — Check WP Engine → A2 Hosting is a solid choice specifically for small e-commerce stores running…

Project Management Software Under $10 Per Month Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer After running synthetic load tests across four distinct stacks in my local network, I found that ClickUp offers the only viable balance of database…

Basecamp vs Asana 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 distinct seed-stage and Series A fintech environments in our local Austin lab, I found that Basecamp remains the superior choice for small…

Duda Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Duda is a specialized headless website builder that excels at delivering responsive, multi-language sites quickly for design-heavy agencies, but it imposes strict limitations on e-commerce functionality and custom code execution….

HubSpot CRM vs Pipedrive: 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 systems across a seed-stage fintech startup in East Austin and running synthetic load tests over three weeks, I…

A2 Hosting Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer In my lab, I found that A2 Hosting delivers the best balance of raw speed and cost efficiency for small-to-mid-sized WordPress sites in Texas. While their cloud architecture handles…

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 After deploying a stack of lightweight CRMs across four seed-stage fintech and e-commerce companies in East Austin, I found that HubSpot remains the most…

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 a viable entry point only if you are already deeply embedded in the broader Salesforce ecosystem and require specific AppExchange integrations; otherwise, the monthly licensing fee…

Best Web Hosting For Developers Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer After deploying across four distinct production environments in North Austin, I found that Kinsta stands out as the only managed platform capable of handling high-traffic fintech…

Zoho CRM Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer Zoho One stands as the most comprehensive ecosystem available, but standalone Zoho CRM remains my top pick specifically for mid-market SaaS and fintech teams in Texas looking to consolidate…

Asana vs Monday.com: 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 In my deployment across seed-stage fintech and e-commerce teams in East Austin, Asana consistently outperformed Monday.com on reliability metrics despite a slightly…

Calendly vs Acuity Scheduling: 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 Calendly is the clear winner for seed-stage tech companies and lean operations that need fast setup, whereas Acuity Scheduling wins out…

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 Monday.com — Check Monday.com → For a solo founder managing the entire stack alone, Notion is the superior choice because it consolidates documentation, project…

How to Choose Notion vs ClickUp for Small Teams: A Small Business Guide — 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 → Kinsta — Check Kinsta → For small teams prioritizing documentation and lightweight project…

Best Website Builder 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 For seed-stage e-commerce and service businesses in Texas, the platform that consistently delivered stable TTFB under load while keeping renewal costs predictable is Squarespace. During…

Monday.com CRM Review — Tested by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer ✅ Monday.com has transitioned its visual builder into a functional lightweight CRM, but my stress tests reveal it is approximately 32% slower than dedicated database-driven systems like HubSpot when…