Directive vs. Kalungi vs. Rock the Rankings
Choose Directive if you want paid, organic, creative and RevOps run as one performance programme on a proprietary intelligence platform, with six offices and a division for each discipline. Choose Kalungi if you need a whole marketing function: an Associate CMO and a 10-plus person team across positioning, ABM, paid, RevOps, web, content and SEO, with part of the fee tied to OKRs you set together, from $50,000 a month. Choose Rock the Rankings if you have a marketing leader and the gap is organic pipeline: a number someone will be held to, published tiers from $5,000 on a monthly plan, and the founder on the account.
Directivevs
KalungivsAt a glance
How Directive, Kalungi and Rock the Rankings compare.
| Criterion | Directive | Kalungi |  Rock the Rankings. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Positioning | drawPerformance marketing agency for tech; paid, organic, creative and RevOps divisions. Six offices. | drawFull-service B2B SaaS marketing department with CMO leadership. Kirkland, WA. 280+ SaaS companies. | drawAI search as a pipeline channel. B2B SaaS and tech only. 300+ engagements. |
| Forecast and commitment | drawResults reported against forecast in cases; pre-contract forecast and commitment: Not public. | drawOKRs agreed with the client; a rising share of the fee depends on hitting them. | drawThree scenarios on your data before signing. The conservative scenario is the commitment. |
| Attribution method | drawRevOps division; Stratos platform brings performance and intelligence together. Method: Not public. | drawHubSpot RevOps practice; attribution and leadership dashboards built in phase five. Method: Not public. | drawThe Two-Witness Rule: CRM source and buyer's answer, every contact tiered. |
| AI search baseline | drawDiscoverabilityOS GEO methodology on Stratos. Pre-work baseline and engines: Not public. | drawNot named on the full-service page. Content and SEO listed as one execution service. | drawBaseline across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode, AI Overviews before work ships. |
| Whole marketing function | winPaid media, SEO and GEO, creative, RevOps, as divisions of one agency. | winCMO-as-a-service, ABM, paid, RevOps and HubSpot, branding, web development, content and SEO. | loseSEO, AI search, content, links, technical. No leadership, paid, ABM, creative, RevOps or web. |
| Who runs the account | loseAccount managers named in client quotes; division teams. Founder on delivery: Not public. | loseAssociate CMO leads; 10+ person execution pod. Founder on delivery: Not public. | winFounder, Justin Berg and a senior strategist. No account managers. |
| Pricing transparency | drawNo rate card; intro call or RFP. Terms: Not public. | drawFull Service $50,000+; Syntropy $10,000 to $20,000. Retainer with year-long pay-for-performance table. | drawPrices published. Monthly plan, no minimum, 30 days' notice. |
| Link and citation building | drawWithin SEO and GEO division. Volume and DR: Not public. | drawWithin Content and SEO service. Volume and approach: Not public. | drawFrom 5 to 8 placements a month at DR 50+, scaled to the forecast. |
| Content production | drawWithin SEO and GEO and creative divisions. Volume: Not public. | drawContent engine activated in phase two. Volume: Not public. | drawFrom 5 solution-aware pages a month, scaling to 20 or 30+ with the forecast. |
| Best fit | drawTech companies wanting paid, organic, creative and RevOps from one performance agency. | drawPost-PMF SaaS at $5M to $50M ARR with no senior marketing leader, wanting growth owned by one team. | drawB2B SaaS and tech with a marketing leader, wanting a pipeline number before spending on organic. |
Comparison methodology
Scored on what Directive and Kalungi publish on their own sites, checked 14 November 2026. Nothing from sales calls or third parties.
We read Directive's services, GEO, pricing-related and case pages and Kalungi's Full Service, Syntropy, FAQ and pay-for-performance pages, and scored only what those pages say. Rock the Rankings is scored on its published pricing, process and client results pages. Where an agency publishes nothing on a criterion, the cell says Not public.
Win, draw and lose describe the Rock the Rankings column only, scored against whichever competitor is stronger on that row. Win means we commit to more or publish more than both. Lose means at least one of them publishes or ships more. Draw means the approaches differ and the right choice depends on your situation.
We re-score every quarter and whenever any of the three agencies changes its published services, pricing or terms.
Researched, written and reviewed by
What you pay, what you sign, and how you leave
Three price points for three different purchases: a performance agency, a department, a channel.
Directive publishes no agency rate card; its site routes to an intro call and offers an RFP template, and its terms are not published.
Kalungi publishes Full Service at $50,000 a month or more, which it says replaces eight to twelve hires, and Syntropy at $10,000 to $20,000 with defined deliverables, as retainers that can include pay-for-performance illustrated over a year with pre-pay options; your tech stack and extra personnel are excluded.
Rock the Rankings is $5,000 for Consulting, $8,500 for Done-For-You and $15,000 for Authority a month, with no onboarding fee, on a monthly plan with no minimum term and 30 days' notice. Day 90 is the first forecast review, measured against the conservative scenario you received before signing.
Directive
- Published prices: No; intro call or RFP
- Contract term: Not public
- Exit notice: Not public
- Onboarding fee: Not public
Kalungi
- Published prices: Full Service and Syntropy ranges
- Contract term: Retainer; pay-for-performance shown over a year
- Exit notice: Not public
- Onboarding fee: Not public; stack and personnel excluded
Rock the Rankings
- Published prices: Yes, three tiers
- Contract term: Monthly, no minimum
- Exit notice: 30 days, any month
- Onboarding fee: None
The honest comparison: Directive is the better pick if you buy through RFP and want a performance agency scoped across paid, organic and RevOps at once. Kalungi is the better pick if the alternative you are weighing is hiring a marketing team; at $50,000 a month the comparison is against payroll, and the fee moves with results.
Rock the Rankings is the better pick if you already have a leader and are buying one channel with the number and the notice period on the page. The tradeoff is that we are a channel, not a department or a performance agency.
"Justin and his team have been phenomenal from Day 0, and the consistency in quality and the measurable results they have delivered have been a true transformation to our business. We are extremely happy and we have already recommended them to our friends."
Who commits to the number before you sign
Kalungi puts its fee at risk. Directive reports against forecast. We commit to the conservative scenario before the contract.
Directive reports client results against forecast, including a Case Status outcome of a 20 percent increase in demo bookings over forecast; whether a forecast is delivered before signing, and whether anything is committed to, are not published.
Kalungi's pay-for-performance programme makes an increasing percentage of its earnings dependent on hitting KPIs agreed as OKRs, with the majority of the risk on Kalungi's shoulders and a no-risk commitment available with pre-pay; its FAQ expects qualified opportunities by month three.
Rock the Rankings builds three scenarios (conservative, realistic, optimistic) from your GA4 and CRM data before any agreement is signed, with capture rate as the only variable. The conservative scenario is the commitment, reviewed at day 90 and quarterly after.
Directive
- Pre-contract projection: Not public; results reported against forecast
- Scenarios: Not public
- Commitment: Not public
- Re-forecast cadence: Not public
Kalungi
- Pre-contract projection: Not public; 30/60/90/180 plan in month one
- Scenarios: Not public
- Commitment: Fee partly at risk against agreed OKRs
- Re-forecast cadence: Quarterly OKRs
Rock the Rankings
- Pre-contract projection: Yes, on your GA4 and CRM data
- Scenarios: Conservative, realistic, optimistic
- Commitment: The conservative scenario
- Re-forecast cadence: Day 90, then quarterly
The honest comparison: Directive is the better pick if you want a performance agency that reports every channel against a forecast on one platform. Kalungi is the better pick if you want the agency's own fee to move with results; few publish a mechanism that cuts their pay when a quarter underperforms, and Kalungi does.
Rock the Rankings is the better pick if the board wants the number before the invoice, built on your own ACV, close rate and conversion data. Our fee does not vary; the commitment is to the scenario, and the forecast is only as good as your data.
How each agency gets you named when buyers ask ChatGPT for your category
Directive sells GEO as a methodology on its platform. Kalungi does not name it. AI search is our whole programme.
Directive's generative engine optimisation service runs on its DiscoverabilityOS methodology with the Stratos platform bringing performance data and intelligence together; which engines it tracks and whether it baselines before work are not published.
Kalungi's full-service playbook activates a content engine and organic foundations in phase two and optimises across paid, SEO, CRO and ABM in phase four; AI search, GEO and AEO are not mentioned on the pages read, so where it sits in a Kalungi engagement would be the Associate CMO's call.
Rock the Rankings baselines across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode and AI Overviews before work ships, then builds in the GEO Stack order: solution-aware pages first, citations second, problem-aware capture last.
Directive
- Engines covered: Not public
- Baseline before work: Not public
- Off-site surfaces worked: Not public
- Day-90 review: Not public
Kalungi
- Engines covered: Not public
- Baseline before work: Not public
- Off-site surfaces worked: Not public
- Day-90 review: Quarterly OKRs
Rock the Rankings
- Engines covered: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode, AI Overviews
- Baseline before work: Yes, before any page ships
- Off-site surfaces worked: Citations at DR 50+ by manual outreach
- Day-90 review: Against the conservative scenario
The honest comparison: Directive is the better pick if you want GEO run inside a performance programme where paid, organic and RevOps data sit on one platform. Kalungi is the better pick if organic is one line in a wider GTM plan and you want a CMO deciding where AI search fits.
Rock the Rankings is the better pick if AI search is the channel you are buying. Five engines baselined before any page ships, held to a forecast; we start focused and scale as the forecast proves out.
"I have been impressed with Justin and team's knowledge, work ethic and commitment to improving SEO. I have been in the digital space for nearly 20 years across different verticals and Rock the Rankings is the only SEO agency that I have worked with that has made a meaningful impact to the associated business. If I found myself at another company, needing help with SEO, Justin would be my first call"
How each agency proves the demos came from search when the CRM says Direct
Both competitors run RevOps divisions that build the attribution system. We apply one rule inside the organic programme.
Directive has a RevOps division and the Stratos platform, which it describes as bringing performance and intelligence together across channels; its attribution method is not published.
Kalungi runs a HubSpot RevOps and automation service, sets an analytics baseline in phase two, builds attribution and leadership dashboards in phase five, and defines six-month success to include dashboards investors trust; how AI-sourced demos filed as Direct are reconciled is not published.
Rock the Rankings applies The Two-Witness Rule on every plan: the CRM source and the buyer's own answer are read together and every contact is tiered confirmed, recovered, probable or dark. On one client funnel, 11 CRM-attributed AI leads sat beside 809 self-reported ones, a 73× gap.
Directive
- Dashboard: Stratos platform
- Attribution model: Not public
- Self-reported source used: Not public
- Revenue reported: Pipeline and demos in cases
Kalungi
- Dashboard: Attribution and leadership dashboards by phase five
- Attribution model: Built in HubSpot; method Not public
- Self-reported source used: Not public
- Revenue reported: Pipeline, CAC and LTV/CAC
Rock the Rankings
- Dashboard: Monthly reconciliation, no live view
- Attribution model: The Two-Witness Rule, contact-level tiers
- Self-reported source used: Yes, read with CRM source
- Revenue reported: QBR opens with the pipeline number
The honest comparison: Directive is the better pick if you want paid and organic attributed on the same platform by the same agency. Kalungi is the better pick if the CRM and the dashboards need building, not reading; its RevOps practice installs them as part of the engagement.
Rock the Rankings is the better pick if the stack is sound and the problem is AI-sourced demos filed as Direct, which we reconcile contact by contact against the buyer's own answer. We read your stack rather than build it.
What else each agency can run for you
Both competitors are built to run far more than one channel.
Directive runs paid media, SEO and GEO, creative and RevOps as divisions of one performance agency across six offices, with the Stratos platform underneath.
Kalungi's Full Service hands an Associate CMO and a 10-plus person team the whole GTM engine: positioning and messaging, category strategy, brand and website, content and SEO, ABM and outbound, paid demand, conversion infrastructure, lifecycle automation, RevOps and HubSpot, and leadership dashboards, aimed at Rule of 40 and PE or IPO readiness.
Rock the Rankings runs SEO, AI search, content, links and technical only.
Directive
- Marketing leadership: Not offered as a role
- Paid media and creative: Named divisions
- RevOps: Named division
- Branding and web development: Creative division; web Not named
Kalungi
- Marketing leadership: Associate CMO on every full-service account
- Paid media and creative: Paid demand programmes; branding
- RevOps: HubSpot RevOps practice
- Branding and web development: Named services
Rock the Rankings
- Marketing leadership: Not offered
- Paid media and creative: Not offered
- RevOps: Not offered
- Branding and web development: Not offered
The honest comparison: Directive is the better pick if you have a leader and want one agency executing paid, organic, creative and RevOps against one data platform. Kalungi is the better pick if you do not have a leader and do not want to spend a year hiring one; an accountable CMO plus the team to execute is a different purchase from any agency retainer.
Rock the Rankings is the better pick if you have the leader and want one channel run deep and measured against a forecast. We start focused and scale as the forecast proves out; everything else in the function stays with your team.
"Extremely responsive and analytical. We were impressed with the depth of knowledge brought to every meeting. Justin was great to work with. I highly recommend Rock the Rankings for your GEO/SEO needs."
Who you will actually talk to after the sales call
Directive gives you an account manager and division teams. Kalungi gives you a CMO. We give you the founder.
Directive's client quotes name account managers directly, and its work is delivered by division teams across paid, organic, creative and RevOps; whether a founder is involved in delivery is not published.
Kalungi's Full Service puts an Associate CMO in charge of strategy, positioning, budget decisions and weekly performance with a 10-plus person execution team, two to five hours a week of client time, and direction of any in-house marketers rather than their replacement; founder involvement is not published.
Rock the Rankings is founder-led through delivery: Founder, Justin Berg runs strategy on every engagement alongside a senior strategist with B2B SaaS category experience, with no account managers in between and Slack and email with same-day replies.
Directive
- Account manager layer: Yes, named in client quotes
- Founder on delivery: Not public
- Seniority stated: Division teams
- Communication: Not public
Kalungi
- Account manager layer: Associate CMO leads; pod executes
- Founder on delivery: Not public
- Seniority stated: Associate CMO plus 10+ person team
- Communication: Weekly performance; 2 to 5 hours a week of client time
Rock the Rankings
- Account manager layer: None
- Founder on delivery: Yes, every engagement
- Seniority stated: Founder plus senior strategist
- Communication: Slack and email, same day
The honest comparison: Directive is the better pick if you want an account manager coordinating specialists across four divisions, which is what a multi-channel programme needs. Kalungi is the better pick if the person you need is a marketing leader who owns the number weekly, not a search specialist.
Rock the Rankings is the better pick if you have the leader, the channel is organic, and the account manager layer is the thing you want removed. The founder runs the account; output scales to the forecast, not to a department.
"Our commercial pages were losing organic sessions month over month, and the demand coming from AI assistants was effectively invisible in our CRM. RTR pointed the first batch entirely at bottom-funnel pages. One quarter after launch, organic sessions to that page set were up 9x and demo requests attributed to search and AI had grown 2.3x. They also rebuilt how we read attribution, combining what tracking captures with what buyers tell us on the form. That surfaced roughly 12.5x more search and AI demand than our native classifier was crediting. That's the number our leadership team can actually defend."
Where each competitor wins
When Directive or Kalungi is the better fit.
When is Directive the better fit?
Directive is the better fit when you want paid, organic, creative and RevOps run as one performance programme by one agency. Each discipline has its own division, the Stratos platform brings performance data and intelligence together across them, and its GEO service runs on a published DiscoverabilityOS methodology. It operates from six offices, publishes results against forecast such as Case Status's 20 percent lift in demo bookings over plan, and its client quotes consistently credit a named account manager keeping the programme coordinated. For a tech company with a marketing leader in place that wants every channel executed and reported together, this is what Directive is built for.
If organic is the one channel you need and you want a number someone will be held to before the first invoice, that is the case we are built for.
When is Kalungi the better fit?
Kalungi is the better fit when the problem is the marketing function, not a channel. Full Service installs an Associate CMO and a 10-plus person team across positioning, ABM, paid, RevOps, web, content and SEO, with a 30/60/90/180 plan in the first month and execution live by week four, and ties a rising share of its fee to OKRs you agree together, with pre-pay and a no-risk commitment available. It has served 280-plus SaaS companies, publishes its prices ($50,000-plus for Full Service, $10,000 to $20,000 for Syntropy), and its cases are specific: Patch's MQLs up 15 times in six months, PSignite's $4.7M added to pipeline in sixteen months, CCD Health's MQLs up 750 percent. For a post-PMF SaaS company at $5M to $50M ARR with no senior marketing leader, there are few comparable options.
If you already have the leader and what you need is a demo number from organic that someone will be held to, that is the case we are built for.
Recommendation
Choosing between Directive, Kalungi and Rock the Rankings.
Choose Directive if…
- You want paid, organic, creative and RevOps from one performance agency on one platform
- You have a marketing leader and buy through RFP
- You want an account manager coordinating division teams across six offices
Choose Kalungi if…
- You need an Associate CMO and a full team, not a channel partner
- You want part of the agency's fee tied to OKRs you set together
- You are post-PMF at $5M to $50M ARR and want growth owned by one team
Choose Rock the Rankings if…
- You have a marketing leader and the gap is pipeline from search and AI search
- You want published tiers from $5,000, no onboarding fee and a monthly plan
- You want a forecast on your own data with the conservative case as the commitment, and the founder on the account
Head-to-head
Compare these agencies one at a time.
FAQs
Directive vs. Kalungi vs. Rock the Rankings: common questions.
If yours is not here, bring it to the call. Same unpolished answer either way.
How does pricing compare across Directive, Kalungi and Rock the Rankings?
+They price three different things. Directive publishes no rate card; engagements start with an intro call or an RFP. Kalungi publishes Full Service at $50,000 a month or more for an Associate CMO and a 10-plus person team, and Syntropy at $10,000 to $20,000, with pay-for-performance available and your stack and extra personnel excluded. Rock the Rankings publishes Consulting $5,000, Done-For-You $8,500 and Authority $15,000 a month for search and AI search only, no onboarding fee, no minimum term, 30 days' notice. Compare Kalungi against payroll, Directive against a multi-channel agency budget, and us against a channel budget.
What happens if it is not working after 90 days with each agency?
+At Rock the Rankings, day 90 is the first forecast review: results are measured against the conservative scenario you received before signing and the plan is adjusted from there, and you can leave in any month with 30 days' notice. At Kalungi, OKRs are set quarterly and an increasing share of its fee depends on hitting them, so an underperforming quarter costs Kalungi part of its earnings; its term and notice are not published beyond the year-long illustration. Directive's terms, review cadence and what it is measured against are not published.
Which of the three gives you a pipeline forecast before you sign?
+Rock the Rankings does: three scenarios from your GA4 and CRM data before any agreement, with the conservative case as the commitment. Kalungi builds a 30/60/90/180 plan in the first month and agrees OKRs with part of its fee tied to them; whether a forecast is delivered before signing is not published. Directive reports results against forecast in its cases; whether the forecast comes before the contract is not published. If you want the agency's fee to move with results, Kalungi. If you want the number before the invoice, us.
Which agency is strongest for AI search visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity?
+AI search is Rock the Rankings' whole programme: five engines baselined before any page ships, pages built in the GEO Stack order, citations at DR 50+, held to a forecast. Directive sells GEO on its DiscoverabilityOS methodology inside a performance programme; its engines and baseline are not published. Kalungi's full-service page does not name AI search, GEO or AEO; where it sits would be the Associate CMO's call. If AI search is the channel you are buying, that is us.
Who actually works on the account at Directive, Kalungi and Rock the Rankings?
+Directive's client quotes name account managers, with division teams delivering paid, organic, creative and RevOps. Kalungi puts an Associate CMO in charge with a 10-plus person execution team and two to five hours a week of your time. At Rock the Rankings, Founder, Justin Berg runs strategy on every engagement with a senior strategist, no account managers, and same-day Slack. An account manager, a CMO, or the founder.
Which should a Series A to Series C B2B SaaS company shortlist?
+It depends on whether you are buying a department, a performance agency or a channel. If you have no senior marketing leader and want growth owned by one team with the fee tied to OKRs, Kalungi. If you have a leader and want paid, organic, creative and RevOps executed together, Directive. If you have a leader and the gap is organic pipeline with a number someone will be held to, published tiers and the founder on the account, Rock the Rankings. Two of the three publish prices; one publishes the whole ladder with monthly terms.