How to Build Your MarTech Stack: A Practical Checklist + Top Tools to Consider

A MarTech stack is the set of platforms and tools — from CMS and analytics to automation and design systems — that work together to power digital marketing and customer experiences. Today, the challenge isn’t finding tools, it’s choosing the right ones and making sure they integrate smoothly. Too many teams end up with overlapping platforms, siloed data, and rising costs.

This guide provides a checklist to evaluate MarTech tools, along with a breakdown of common categories, enabling you to build a stack that aligns with your goals and supports marketing and design teams working from the same playbook.

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Why Your MarTech Stack Matters Now

A well-built MarTech stack is more than a set of apps. It’s the system that:

• Bridges the gap between what you think users will do and what they actually do.
  
• Powers real-time personalization and AI-driven insights.
  
• Creates seamless, omnichannel experiences across web, mobile, and beyond.
  

Today, with digital touchpoints multiplying and user expectations rising, your stack isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about survival.

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The Framework: How to Compare MarTech Tools

Before looking at tools, it helps to have a framework for comparison. Otherwise, it’s easy to get distracted by features that sound impressive but don’t actually solve your team’s problems.

• Integrates with your existing systems.
  
• Scales as your business grows.
  
• Balances usability for both marketing and design teams.
  
• Supports compliance, accessibility, and performance.
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‍Checklist: Building a MarTech Stack That Works

Once you know how to compare tools, the next step is to apply a checklist. This ensures you’re looking at the big picture — integration, scalability, usability — before adding anything new to your stack.

Keep this checklist handy when reviewing vendors — it saves time and prevents “shiny object” syndrome.

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Comparing Tools by Category

With criteria and a checklist in place, you can start looking at specific tools. We’ve grouped them into categories so you can explore which ones might work best for your team.

We’ve worked with a wide range of MarTech platforms across different projects, and one thing we’ve learned is that no two stacks look the same. The best tools for your business depend on your goals, team setup, and budget.

To make things easier, we’ve grouped some of the most common tools into categories. This way, you can quickly explore the options that might fit your needs — whether you’re focused on content management, analytics, automation, testing, or design collaboration.

Think of it like a formula:

If you want to launch a new e-commerce site, you’d likely need:

• A CMS that supports product content (e.g., Storyblok or Shopify CMS).
  
• An analytics tool to track conversions (e.g., GA4 or Mixpanel).
  
• An automation/CRM that integrates smoothly with both (e.g., HubSpot).
  
• A personalization tool for product recommendations (e.g., Dynamic Yield).
  
  

The key is integration: the best stack is one where your CMS, analytics, and automation tools work together seamlessly to support your business goals.

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Content Management Systems (CMS)

A CMS is the backbone of your digital presence. It’s where your content lives and how it’s delivered to users across websites, apps, and sometimes even other channels like email or chatbots. A strong CMS ensures teams can publish content quickly while keeping everything scalable and secure.

• Storyblok → Headless CMS with a visual editor. Great for developers who need flexibility and marketers who want drag-and-drop editing. Scales easily for growing businesses.
  
• WordPress → The most popular CMS globally. Huge plugin ecosystem and easy setup, but can become heavy and less flexible at scale.
  
• Webflow → Design-focused CMS that gives creative teams visual freedom. Ideal for smaller teams that want speed and design control, but less suited as the central hub of a large stack.

Tool	Strengths	Weaknesses	Best For	Primary Users
Storyblok	Headless CMS, developer flexibility + marketer-friendly visual editor, scalable	Requires some setup knowledge compared to plug-and-play options	Teams that need scalability and cross-team collaboration	Marketers + Developers
WordPress	Huge plugin ecosystem, easy to start, familiar to many marketers	Can become heavy, less flexible for complex integrations	Teams that want familiarity and plugins	Marketers
Webflow	Design freedom, intuitive for designers, fast prototyping	Less robust for enterprise content management, limited as a central hub	Small, design-focused teams prioritizing speed and control	Designers

‍Analytics & Behavior Tracking

Analytics tools help you measure traffic, conversions, and engagement, while behavior-tracking platforms go deeper into why users behave the way they do. Together, they turn raw data into insights that guide smarter design and marketing decisions.

• Google Analytics 4 → The industry standard for web traffic, conversions, and performance metrics. Free but complex to set up.
  
• Mixpanel → Strong product analytics for SaaS and apps. Tracks retention, user flows, and cohort behavior.
  
• Hotjar → Focuses on qualitative data like heatmaps, click tracking, and session recordings — great for spotting friction in the user experience.

Tool	Strengths	Weaknesses	Best For	Primary Users
Google Analytics 4	Free, widely trusted, strong traffic and conversion tracking	Steep learning curve, limited qualitative insights	Baseline analytics for all businesses	Marketers
Mixpanel	Advanced product analytics, strong retention & cohort tracking	More setup required, not as broad as GA	SaaS and product teams	Marketers + Product Managers
Hotjar	Heatmaps, session recordings, qualitative UX insights	Less about numbers, more about behavior — works best alongside GA	Design teams focused on user experience	Designers + Marketers

Automation & CRM

Automation and CRM tools are the glue that holds customer journeys together. They capture leads, nurture them with the right content, and keep all customer interactions organized. A good CRM ensures marketing, sales, and support teams have a single source of truth.

• HubSpot → All-in-one CRM + marketing automation. Easy for teams to adopt and integrates widely with other tools.
  
• Salesforce → Enterprise-level CRM powerhouse. Extremely customizable, but often requires dedicated admins or developers.
  
• Segment → Specializes in connecting and cleaning customer data across systems. Less of a traditional CRM, more of a “data pipeline” that feeds accurate info to the rest of your stack.

Tool	Strengths	Weaknesses	Best For	Primary Users
HubSpot	All-in-one CRM + automation, easy to adopt, strong integrations	Can get expensive as contacts scale	Mid-sized businesses looking for a user-friendly solution	Marketers + Sales
Salesforce	Enterprise powerhouse, highly customizable	Complex, resource-heavy, often needs dedicated admins	Large enterprises with complex workflows	Marketers + Sales + Admins
Segment	Strong data integration, unifies customer data pipelines	Not a full CRM, requires technical setup	Teams needing clean data across multiple platforms	Developers + Data Teams

Testing & Personalization

Testing tools let you experiment with different designs, copy, or user flows to see what performs best. Personalization engines take it further by tailoring content, offers, or layouts to individual users based on their behavior and preferences.

• Optimizely → Enterprise-grade experimentation suite. Excellent for large teams that run many tests at scale.
  
• VWO → Affordable A/B testing platform that’s easier to adopt for small to mid-sized teams.
  
• Dynamic Yield → Specializes in AI-powered personalization. Great for e-commerce and businesses that rely heavily on tailored recommendations.

Tool	Strengths	Weaknesses	Best For	Primary Users
Optimizely	Enterprise-grade A/B testing, advanced experimentation	Expensive, resource-intensive	Enterprises running many tests at scale	Marketers + UX Designers
VWO	Affordable, easier onboarding than Optimizely	Fewer enterprise features	Small-to-mid-sized teams testing content & UX	Marketers
Dynamic Yield	AI-driven personalization, strong e-commerce focus	Narrower focus than Optimizely/VWO	Businesses prioritizing tailored user experiences	Marketers + Product Teams

Collaboration & Design

Design and collaboration tools allow cross-functional teams — marketers, designers, and developers — to ideate, prototype, and test before development begins. They keep everyone aligned and speed up feedback loops.

• Figma → Industry leader for real-time design collaboration and prototyping. Cloud-based and widely adopted.
  
• Adobe XD → Once popular, but now losing ground as teams migrate to Figma.
  
• Miro → Online whiteboard that complements design tools. Ideal for brainstorming, mapping user journeys, and workshop sessions.

Tool	Strengths	Weaknesses	Best For	Primary Users
Figma	Real-time collaboration, industry standard for prototyping, cloud-based	Requires reliable internet, subscription-based	Cross-functional teams designing & prototyping together	Designers + Marketers
Adobe XD	Solid legacy tool, integrates with Adobe ecosystem	Declining adoption, less collaboration-friendly	Teams already tied into Adobe workflows	Designers
Miro	Flexible online whiteboard, great for brainstorming and mapping	Not a design tool by itself, complementary only	Teams needing remote collaboration & workshops	Marketers + Designers + Facilitators

‍Key Takeaways

No single tool will be perfect on its own — the strength of a MarTech stack comes from how well the pieces fit together. Here’s what to keep in mind as you evaluate.

• There’s no one-size-fits-all MarTech stack. The right tools depend on your company size, industry, and team setup.
• Start small, integrate gradually. Don’t add tools without a strategy.
• Think beyond features. Integration, scalability, accessibility, and collaboration matter as much as checklists.
• Integration is the deciding factor — even the best tools fail if they don’t work well together.

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Conclusion: Building a Stack That Works

There’s no single formula for the perfect MarTech stack. The best setup is the one where every tool — CMS, analytics, automation, testing, and design — works together to improve both the workflow of your teams and the experience of your users.

Use the checklist to evaluate what you already have, fill gaps carefully, and expand only when there’s a clear need. A smaller, well-integrated stack will almost always outperform a larger one that doesn’t connect smoothly.

As the MarTech landscape continues to expand, the goal isn’t adding more tools — it’s building a system where the right ones work together seamlessly.