The 10 best performance marketing agencies in 2026

The best performance marketing agencies are the ones that can prove what their spend actually caused, and whose specialism matches the business model paying for it. 

This guide ranks ten agencies against five criteria, with pricing stated wherever it is publicly available. YOYABA takes the top spot for B2B SaaS and tech companies, as a performance marketing agency built exclusively around that buyer and measured on pipeline rather than on returns the ad platforms report themselves. The other nine cover enterprise media at global scale, Nordic and European data-led performance, and e-commerce specialism.

Disclosure: this list was compiled by YOYABA using publicly available information. YOYABA appears in the ranking. Figures change over time and should be validated directly with each agency.

The 10 best performance marketing agencies at a glance

1. YOYABA: Performance marketing for B2B SaaS and tech, with paid, organic, and revenue operations in one team
2. Brainlabs: Independent global media agency built on structured experimentation and proprietary tooling
3. Tinuiti: The largest independent performance agency in the US, strongest in commerce and streaming
4. Wpromote: Large independent US agency uniting media, creative, and data under one platform
5. Precis: Nordic-born, technology-led performance marketing with proprietary measurement tooling
6. Jellyfish: Platform-certified global agency with deep Google, Meta, and Amazon integration
7. Croud: Global performance media delivered through a flexible specialist network
8. Power Digital: US growth marketing agency built around its own machine-learning platform
9. Incubeta: Global digital growth partner with strong Google Marketing Platform credentials
10. Common Thread Collective: E-commerce growth agency built around forecasting and unit economics.

How this comparison list was compiled

Each agency was assessed against the same five criteria, weighted towards commercial outcomes rather than scale.

1. Accountability for business outcomes
   The strongest agencies report on revenue, pipeline, contribution margin, or CAC payback. Agencies whose reporting stops at platform-reported ROAS or cost per lead ranked lower.
2. Measurement and experimentation depth
   Incrementality testing, geo experiments, media mix modelling, and server-side tracking separate agencies that know what their spend caused from agencies that assume it. Proprietary tooling was treated as evidence, not as a claim.
3. Channel breadth and creative capability
   Performance now depends on creative volume as much as on bidding. Agencies covering search, social, programmatic, and creative production as one plan ranked above pure media buyers.
4. Clarity of specialism
   Agencies with an unambiguous business model focus ranked higher than those claiming equal strength across every category. Knowing who an agency is not for is useful information.
5. Transparency on pricing and engagement model
   Published or reliably reported pricing, stated minimums, and clear contract terms matter when building a shortlist. Where pricing could not be verified, that is stated rather than estimated. Pricing appears in the currency each agency publishes or is reported in.

The 10 best performance marketing agencies

Rankings reflect the five criteria above, not size or brand recognition alone, so a smaller specialist can and does outrank a larger generalist when its measurement and fit are stronger. Read the "best for" and "considerations" lines closely: they're the fastest way to tell whether an agency matches your business model before you get on a call.

1. YOYABA

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Overview

YOYABA is a performance marketing agency working exclusively with B2B SaaS, tech, and AI companies. Paid growth across LinkedIn, Google, Meta, and Microsoft sits at the core, with creative strategy, organic growth, and revenue operations delivered by specialised teams. Campaigns are built around demand stage rather than platform, and the agency is measured on qualified pipeline, revenue, and profit rather than on platform-reported returns.

• Founded: 2019
• Team size: 50 or more
• Headquarters: Hamburg, operating across Europe and North America
• Key services: paid search, LinkedIn Ads, Meta Ads, Microsoft Advertising, creative strategy and production, landing pages and CRO, organic growth, GTM strategy, RevOps and CRM, attribution
• Partner status: HubSpot Platinum Partner, LinkedIn Ads Certified Agency
• Pricing custom, scoped to the engagement; monthly retainers in euros with embedded squads
• Notable clients: PeecAI, Cognism, Personio, TeamViewer, HubSpot, Lucanet, Storyblok
• Best for: B2B SaaS and tech companies that need paid media measured on pipeline rather than on lead volume

Why companies choose YOYABA

Almost every agency on this list is built for businesses where a purchase happens on the site within hours. YOYABA is built for the opposite case, where the buying committee is large, the cycle runs months, and the platform's conversion signal is the least reliable number in the account. Opportunity data flows back from the CRM into the ad platforms, so bidding learns what a buyer looks like rather than what a form-filler looks like.

YOYABA is also the largest LinkedIn advertiser in the DACH region and one of the largest across Europe, which matters because LinkedIn carries most B2B software budgets and punishes inexperience severely.

Benchmarks and creative exit criteria come from more than 60 active B2B software accounts. Companies in e-commerce, consumer, or retail will be better served further down this list.

2. Brainlabs

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Overview

Brainlabs was founded in 2012 by former Googler Daniel Gilbert on the principle that marketing should be scientific rather than subjective. It has grown into one of the largest independent media agencies globally, with more than 1,000 staff across five continents and a documented library of several thousand logged experiments.

• Founded: 2012
• Team size: 1,000 or more
• Headquarters: London and New York, with offices across Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific
• Key services: paid search, paid social, programmatic, retail media, SEO, influencer, creative, data and measurement
• Partner status: Google Premier Partner, Meta Business Partner
• Pricing not published; enterprise retainer model
• Notable clients: Microsoft, American Express, eBay, Walmart, Expedia
• Best for: mid-sized and enterprise brands wanting a genuinely experimental approach to media at scale

Why companies choose Brainlabs

The testing culture is documented rather than asserted, which is rare, and the in-house academy model means capability is built rather than bought. Ranked among the largest independent media agencies globally, it has the platform leverage that comes with that spend.

The considerations are focus and fit: the client base is heavily consumer, retail, and enterprise, so B2B pipeline measurement is not the centre of gravity, and the engagement model assumes a media budget that justifies it.

3. Tinuiti

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Overview

Tinuiti traces back to 2004 and describes itself as the largest independent performance marketing agency in the US, with roughly $4B in media under management and more than 1,200 staff. Its Bliss Point operating system models saturation curves per channel, aiming to identify the point at which additional spend stops producing incremental return.

• Founded: 2004
• Team size: 1,200 or more
• Headquarters: New York, with offices across the US plus London and Bogotá
• Key services: paid search, paid social, programmatic, streaming TV and audio, commerce and retail media, creative, CRO, lifecycle, measurement
• Partner status: Google Premier Partner, Meta Business Partner, Amazon Ads Advanced Partner
• Pricing not published; Clutch lists a $10,000 minimum project size and hourly rates of $100 to $149
• Notable clients: Bombas, Brooklinen, Peloton, plus a large retail and enterprise portfolio
• Best for: retail and commerce brands coordinating paid media across many channels at scale

Why companies choose Tinuiti

The saturation modelling answers the question most agencies avoid, which is when to stop spending, and the Amazon and marketplace depth is difficult to match in the US market. Platform relationships at this volume carry real weight.

The trade-offs are orientation and evidence: the strength sits firmly in commerce and direct-to-consumer, and the verified public review base is thin relative to the size of the team.

4. Wpromote

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Overview

Wpromote was founded in California in 2001 and has grown into one of the largest independent marketing agencies in the US, positioning itself as the agency for challenger brands. It unites media, creative, SEO, and analytics behind its Polaris platform, and expanded further through its merger with creative agency Giant Spoon.

• Founded: 2001
• Team size: roughly 700
• Headquarters: El Segundo, California, with offices across the US
• Key services: paid search, paid social, SEO, performance creative, CRO, retail media, analytics and business intelligence
• Partner status: Google Premier Partner, Meta Business Partner
• Pricing: not published; third-party directories report a minimum project size around $10,000 and hourly rates of $150 to $199
• Notable clients: Intuit QuickBooks, Whirlpool, Vuori, Strava, Equinox
• Best for: mid-market and enterprise brands wanting paid, organic, and creative coordinated by one team

Why companies choose Wpromote

Coordinating paid, organic, creative, and analytics across a 700-person organisation without losing execution discipline is genuinely hard, and Wpromote is consistently credited with managing it. The analytics infrastructure gives cross-channel visibility that smaller agencies cannot match.

The considerations are scale and orientation: the client base spans retail, e-commerce, financial services, and consumer brands, with B2B one vertical among many, and delivery is US-centred.

5. Precis

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Overview

Precis was founded in Stockholm in 2012 by three former Google employees and has become one of the leading technology-led performance agencies in Europe. Around 450 staff work across offices in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and the UK, supported by proprietary measurement and optimisation tooling including its Alvie platform.

• Founded: 2012
• Team size: roughly 450
• Headquarters: Stockholm, with offices across the Nordics, the UK, and Europe
• Key services: paid search, paid social, programmatic, SEO, creative, marketing analytics, data science, consulting
• Partner status: Google Premier Partner, Meta, HubSpot and TikTok partner
• Pricing: not published
• Notable clients: not published by name; client base spans e-commerce, scaling B2B, and technology platforms
• Best for: European brands wanting measurement rigour and privacy-first marketing expertise

Why companies choose Precis

Precis is one of the few agencies that engages credibly with both a marketing team and a data team, which matters when attribution is contested internally. The privacy-first work is ahead of most of the market, and the Nordic base gives strong coverage of European markets.

The considerations are breadth and evidence: the client base spans B2C and B2B, and the absence of publicly named clients makes verification harder than with several others here.

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6. Jellyfish

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Jellyfish was founded in 2005 and built its early reputation as one of the most deeply certified partners in the Google ecosystem. It now employs close to 2,000 people across roughly 38 offices and forms a core part of The Brandtech Group, combining media, creative, consultancy, training, and technology.

• Founded: 2005
• Team size: roughly 2,000
• Headquarters: London, with offices across the US, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Latin America
• Key services: paid search, paid social, programmatic, retail media, SEO, creative and AI content, cloud and data engineering, platform training
• Partner status: among the most certified globally across Google Marketing Platform, Google Cloud, Salesforce, Amazon, and Meta
• Pricing: not published; enterprise engagement model
• Notable clients: Google, Netflix, Uber, Spotify, BMW
• Best for: large brands wanting platform depth plus in-housing and training support

Why companies choose Jellyfish

The platform certification depth is the differentiator, and the training business is unusual: Jellyfish will teach an internal team to run what it builds rather than only running it. Access to the wider Brandtech capabilities in generative creative adds real production capacity.

The considerations are scale and process: this is an enterprise engagement model, and smaller advertisers will find the structure heavier than they need.

7. Croud

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Overview

Croud was founded in London in 2011 by two search specialists who wanted to rebuild the agency model around a flexible talent network. It combines around 600 in-house experts with an on-demand network of roughly 2,900 specialists, allowing campaigns to run across more than 100 countries and 70 languages without a permanent office in each market.

• Founded: 2011
• Team size: roughly 600 in-house, plus a network of around 2,900 specialists
• Headquarters: London, with offices in Shrewsbury, New York, Atlanta, Dubai, and Sydney
• Key services: paid search, paid social, programmatic, retail media, SEO, creative, data and analytics
• Partner status: Google Marketing Platform and Google Cloud sales partner
• Pricing: not published
• Notable clients: Amazon Prime Video, Audible, IWG, Nespresso, Compare the Market
• Best for: brands running performance campaigns across many markets and languages at once

Why companies choose Croud

The network model solves a problem most agencies handle badly, which is running native-language campaigns across a dozen markets without appointing a dozen local agencies. The search heritage is strong and the measurement capability has deepened through acquisition.

The considerations match the other large media agencies here: B2B is one part of a broad client base, and the model suits advertisers with substantial multi-market budgets.

8. Power Digital

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Overview

Power Digital was founded in San Diego in 2012 and has grown into a large technology-enabled growth marketing firm guiding roughly $800M in annual client ad spend. Its proprietary nova platform, built on Snowflake, connects business intelligence to channel performance and underpins how the agency plans and reports.

• Founded: 2012
• Team size: 600 or more
• Headquarters: San Diego, with offices across the US
• Key services: paid media, SEO, creative production, lifecycle marketing, PR, influencer, retail and Amazon, data intelligence, CRO
• Partner status: Google and Meta partner
• Pricing: not published; third-party sources report typical retainers in the $10,000 to $25,000 per month range
• Notable clients: not published by name; portfolio spans e-commerce, consumer, retail and services
• Best for: mid-market and growth brands wanting analytics-led media across many channels

Why companies choose Power Digital

Building genuine data infrastructure rather than licensing a dashboard is a real differentiator, and the reported client and staff retention rates are high. The breadth across paid, organic, PR, and lifecycle suits companies consolidating several vendors.

The considerations are orientation and size: the strength is consumer and e-commerce, and the organisation is large enough that the seniority on a given account is worth confirming before signing.

9. Incubeta

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Overview

Incubeta is a global digital growth partner with more than two decades of history, now operating around 800 staff across roughly 20 offices worldwide. It is one of a small number of globally certified Google Marketing Platform partners and combines media, creative, data, and technology under one model, with backing from Carlyle since 2022.

• Founded: 2004
• Team size: roughly 800
• Headquarters: London, with around 20 offices across EMEA, the Americas, and Asia Pacific
• Key services: paid media, programmatic, creative and dynamic creative optimisation, data and analytics, marketing technology, media in-housing
• Partner status: globally certified Google Marketing Platform partner
• Pricing: not published
• Notable clients: L'Oréal, Hyundai, Netflix, HBO, ING
• Best for: international brands wanting media, data and technology delivered by one partner

Why companies choose Incubeta

The Google Marketing Platform depth is genuine and long-standing, which matters for brands running programmatic at scale or moving media in-house. The combination of technology consulting with media execution suits organisations where the constraint is the stack rather than the campaigns.

The considerations are focus and consistency: the offer is broad, the footprint is spread across many markets, and B2B pipeline work is not a stated specialism.

10. Common Thread Collective

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Overview

Common Thread Collective is an e-commerce growth agency founded in California in 2012 by Taylor Holiday. It works with direct-to-consumer brands, typically between $10M and $100M in annual online revenue, and is distinctive for owning and operating its own brands, which keeps its playbook grounded in live trading rather than theory.

• Founded: 2012
• Team size: roughly 135
• Headquarters: Santa Ana, California, fully remote
• Key services: paid social, paid search, creative strategy and production, email and SMS, forecasting and financial modelling, landing pages
• Partner status: Meta partner
• Pricing: not published; Clutch lists a $5,000 minimum project size and hourly rates of $150 to $199
• Notable clients: not published by name; portfolio concentrated in direct-to-consumer consumer goods
• Best for: e-commerce brands where the constraint is profitable scale rather than traffic

Why companies choose Common Thread Collective

Few agencies build forecasting and cohort modelling into the engagement, and fewer still operate their own brands, which gives the advice unusual credibility with founders. The published thinking on unit economics is substantial enough to evaluate before any sales conversation.

The considerations are scope and consistency: this is a pure e-commerce practice with no relevance to B2B, and reviews are mixed on communication at the edges.

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How to choose a performance marketing agency

The right performance marketing agency is the one built for the business model paying the invoice. Four checks establish that quickly.

Ask how they prove incrementality. Platform-reported returns are self-graded. An agency that cannot describe how it runs a geo test, a holdout, or a similar experiment is reporting correlation and calling it performance.

Match the agency to the business model. An agency whose case studies are all e-commerce ROAS will optimise a B2B account towards form fills, and an agency built for long B2B cycles will be slow in a fast-moving consumer category. Neither is a failing; both are a mismatch.

Check who owns creative. In paid social, creative volume is the main performance lever. If media is managed but creative is not produced, that dependency usually becomes the bottleneck within a quarter.

Check the seniority actually on the account. Large agencies win pitches with senior people and staff accounts with junior ones. Asking who runs the account week to week, and what their other accounts look like, is a fair and revealing question.