Head-to-head
Honest side-by-side. Neither one pays us, and we compete with both.
Clutch is better when review depth matters most: a 200,000+ agency catalog, reviews backed by analyst phone interviews, and the strongest US and enterprise coverage, though its top category slots are sponsored. Sortlist is better when you want to be matched from a project brief and you are hiring in Europe, where its ~40,000-agency catalog is deepest, though it monetizes by reselling your enquiry to agencies as a lead. And there is a free neutral third option: Pick an Agency covers 47,000+ agencies across 129 countries with no sponsored slots and no lead resale, which makes it a useful cross-check on whatever the other two show you.
The headline trade-off: Clutch wins on catalog size and review rigor, Sortlist wins on brief-based matching and European depth. Both are free for buyers and both monetize on the agency side.
| Feature | Sortlist | Clutch |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Project matching in Europe | Review depth, US + enterprise |
| Catalog size | ~40,000 | 200,000+ |
| Review rigor | Client reviews | Analyst phone interviews |
| Geographic strength | Europe-first | US-first, global long tail |
| Pricing for buyers | Free | Free |
| How agencies pay | €50-150 per lead | Sponsored placement tiers |
| Sponsored top slots | No | Yes (top 3-5 results) |
| Matching from a brief | Yes (resold as a lead) | No, directory search |
We run Pick an Agency, a competitor to both, so calibrate accordingly. We have tried to describe Sortlist and Clutch the way we would want a rival to describe us: by what each is genuinely good at and the trade-off you accept when you use it. Where one of them is the better call for your situation, we say so plainly.
About Clutch (clutch.co): A B2B agency review platform founded in 2013, headquartered in Washington DC, with 200,000+ agencies and a paid "Sponsored" placement tier for top category slots.
Clutch's edge is review rigor and sheer scale. A large share of its reviews are collected through analyst phone interviews with the client, the most rigorous process in the directory market, and 200,000+ listings means the long tail is genuinely longer: a narrow search like "HubSpot CMS development for healthcare in Phoenix" will surface more candidates on Clutch than anywhere else. The big enterprise shops also maintain their Clutch profiles actively, so for Fortune-500 vendor research the ecosystem is there.
The trade-offs: coverage skews US and enterprise, and the top 3-5 slots of category pages are paid placements, so read the leader lists as partly an auction. Ordering below the sponsored block is more data-driven, but you have to scroll past the ads to reach it.
Choose Clutch if: you want maximum review depth, you are hiring in the US, or you need an extreme specialization. See our full Clutch alternatives comparison.
About Sortlist: A Brussels-based agency marketplace founded in 2014, with approximately 40,000 agencies and the strongest European catalog. Uses a lead-resale model, charging agencies €50-150 per qualified lead.
Sortlist's edge is matching and European depth. Instead of leaving you to search, it takes a project brief and proposes agencies, with actual humans curating shortlists behind the tool. A decade of indexing Belgian, French, Dutch, German and UK agencies makes its local catalog the deepest in the market for those countries, where Clutch is thinner. If you like the idea of several agencies receiving your brief and competing with proposals, the model works in your favor.
The trade-offs: submitting a brief opts you into a sales pipeline, because your enquiry is resold to agencies as a qualified lead at €50-150 each. That creates a soft incentive to surface agencies that reliably pay for leads, and coverage outside Europe is noticeably thinner than Clutch's.
Choose Sortlist if: you are hiring in Europe and want guided, human-curated matching. See our full Sortlist alternatives comparison.
About Pick an Agency: A free marketing agency directory founded in 2026, with 47,000+ agencies indexed across 129 countries and rankings computed from review data and profile completeness rather than payment.
You do not have to pick a side. Pick an Agency takes no money from agencies at all: no sponsored slots, no per-lead charges, no paid badges, so the ordering you see is the ordering the data produces, computed over 1.1M+ aggregated client reviews. The free Get Matched tool covers the Sortlist use case too: a short brief returns a shortlist of 5 fitted agencies in about 60 seconds, without reselling your enquiry to anyone. The honest trade-off: it is younger than both, so individual review depth is lighter than Clutch's and European local depth is lighter than Sortlist's. Its best role in a Sortlist vs Clutch decision is the neutral cross-check.
Try Get Matched (free)Get Matched takes a short brief and returns a shortlist of 5 agencies fitted to your services, budget and location, in about 60 seconds. Free, no lead resale.
It depends on what you need. Clutch is better for in-depth reviews (many are backed by analyst phone interviews) and has the largest catalog (200,000+), but it skews US and enterprise and its top slots are sponsored. Sortlist is better if you want to be matched on a project and you are hiring in Europe, where its ~40,000-agency catalog is deepest, though it monetizes by reselling your enquiry to agencies as a lead. If you want a free, neutral option alongside either, Pick an Agency adds global breadth with no paid placement.
Yes, Clutch is free for buyers searching for agencies. The model charges agencies for premium placement (the 'Sponsored' slots at the top of category pages). Buyers do not pay, but the ordering you see is influenced by which agencies paid to be there.
Yes, Sortlist is free for buyers. Agencies pay per qualified lead delivered (typically €50-150 per lead depending on project size), so submitting a brief means your enquiry is passed to agencies as a paid lead.
Yes, that is the business model. When you submit a project brief on Sortlist, matched agencies pay €50-150 to receive your enquiry as a qualified lead. It funds the human-curated matching, but it also means several agencies buy access to your brief and compete for the project.
Pick an Agency is free for both buyers and agencies, with 47,000+ agencies across 129 countries, no sponsored slots and no per-lead charges. Its free Get Matched tool turns a short brief into a shortlist of 5 fitted agencies in about 60 seconds without reselling your enquiry.