Comparison · Garten vs a marketing agency
Should you hire a marketing agency or use Garten? Here's the honest answer.
Marketing agencies charge $2,000 to $3,000 a month. They build you a website, run some SEO, send you a monthly report. Garten builds the whole thing first so you see it before you pay, then runs it for one flat monthly with the build folded in. The math is not close. Here's what an agency does well, what they don't, and where Garten fits.
Garten is best for
Solo operators up to 10-crew shops who want the outcomes an agency promises (rank on Google, get more leads, close more of them) without paying $2k+/mo or waiting three months for a report. If your annual revenue is under $2M, Garten is a better fit.
a marketing agency is best for
Large multi-location contractors with in-house marketing coordinators who need paid ads managed, brand strategy, custom video production, or trade-show materials designed. An agency's account manager is worth something at that scale. Below $2M revenue, it's overkill.
Where Garten wins
What a marketing agency can't do.
Lead alerts and reviews, not just SEO.
Agencies build you a website and run SEO. Garten does both, and then goes further. An alert the moment a lead comes in, your Google profile optimized, reviews tracked and answered. That's the difference between more traffic and more revenue.
See it before you pay.
No agency builds the whole thing before you sign. You see the actual site, built for your business, before you pay a dollar. No contract, cancel anytime, and the site is yours either way.
One flat monthly vs $27,000 year 1.
The math is simple. An average agency runs $2,299/mo for one website, some SEO, and a report. Garten is one flat monthly with everything included and no setup fee. It lands well under a third of what an agency charges.
No account manager, no delays.
Change a service description on an agency site? Two-week ticket queue. On Garten? You edit it in your dashboard, publish, done in 60 seconds.
Where a marketing agency wins
What Garten doesn't do.
Where a marketing agency wins, we say so. Pick the right tool for the job.
Paid ads (Google + Facebook).
If you're running $5k+/mo in paid ads and need someone to manage campaigns, agencies specialize in that. Garten doesn't run ad campaigns for you.
Custom video production and brand design.
Some agencies produce truck-wrap-ready video, radio ads, and custom brand identity. Garten hands you a clean website with your existing logo. no video crew.
Dedicated account manager.
Agencies assign a human account manager who calls you monthly. Garten has a shared founder inbox (staffed by Ty for now). Faster response, less handholding.
One point of contact.
If you have 4+ locations with distinct websites and Google Business Profiles, an agency handles the coordination overhead. Garten's built for one shop, one website.
Side by side
Feature by feature.
Comparison based on published pricing from three top marketing agencies as of 2026.
Questions
What contractors usually ask.
Agencies bill for account managers, sales teams, and layers of overhead. Garten is software. mostly automated, built by a contractor, sold direct. No sales team, no account managers, no 40% agency margins baked in. You pay one flat monthly with the build folded in, you own the site forever, and it is $297/mo to get found or $597/mo to add content. Both prices are on the page.
Then you probably need an agency for the ads. Garten focuses on organic traffic (SEO) and lead automation. Most contractors we work with run their own ads via a $500-$1000/mo ad manager plus Garten for the site + automation, and total spend still ends up half of what an agency retainer costs.
Agencies quote 3-4 months for a custom site. Garten ships yours 48 hours after your intake form lands. And you see the whole thing built before you pay a dime. Same code quality (custom Next.js, hosted on Vercel), no committee.
You keep your domain and you keep the site. You cancel by text and it stops at the end of the month, no early-termination fee. You see the actual site, built for your business, before you pay a dollar. No contract, cancel anytime, and the site is yours either way. Try that with an agency retainer.
Sometimes, if they have SEO specialists on staff. But Google ranks pages, not agencies. Custom-coded sites with proper local schema, fast load times, and up to 40 city x service pages rank the same regardless of who built them. Garten uses the same Next.js + Vercel stack the top-ranking service business sites run on.
Still on the fence? See it first.
We will build you the whole thing as a free preview, on your own services and your own towns, before you pay a dime. Look at it. If it is not better than what you have, you have lost nothing. No contract, cancel anytime, and the site is yours either way. No card. No contract. Live in 48 hours.
Free preview. No contract. The site is yours either way.