Hosting & SaaS Reviews by Tom Rigby

The Complete Guide to Best Website Builder For Photographers 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 across a seed-stage portrait studio in East Austin, Squarespace emerged as the only builder that consistently delivered…

Project Management Software Under $10/Month 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 → In my lab, I tested Asana’s free tier and their low-cost Plus plan extensively across a Series A fintech startup stack…

The Complete Guide to Best Website Builder For Ecommerce Reviewed by Tom Rigby By Tom Rigby — Freelance developer with 11 years building infrastructure for 40+ Austin startups The Short Answer WP Engine — Check WP Engine → After stress-testing three major platforms across my local build farms in South Congress, I recommend Shopify as…

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 provides the most complete out-of-the-box ecosystem I have deployed in my Austin lab, making it ideal for Series A seed-stage e-commerce companies needing integrated finance and support….

The Complete Guide to Best Free Project Management Tool 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 → Monday.com — Check Monday.com → HubSpot CRM — Check HubSpot Free → Cloudways — Check Cloudways →…

Wix vs Webflow 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 SaaS founders in Austin, Wix offers a lower barrier to entry with faster initial setup times compared to the steeper learning curve of Webflow….

How to Choose Best Tools For Running A One-Person Business: 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 For a one-person business balancing solo development work with operational tasks, ClickUp is the optimal operating system because…

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 your team already lives within the broader Salesforce ecosystem and needs to bypass legacy CRM licensing costs. For standalone…

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…