9 growth marketing tools actually worth using in 2026 (and how)
This is a list based on the observations of growth marketers at real companies, not speculation on what we are pushing the world to look like. We’ll update our observations as the world actually changes.
While most are focused on AI tools, we’re focused on the tools that integrate AI to actually accelerate workflow or revenue, and AI as a distribution platform for growth marketers.
Why does this list exist? Growth is two jobs: find distribution; compound operational leverage. The tools below let small teams run far more experiments with higher precision.
TL;DR comparison
- Graphite (AEO)
- Primary job: Earn citations in AI answers
- Best for: Early-mover distribution
- Roadway
- Primary job: End-to-end attribution + AI coworker
- Best for: Growth channel/campaig scaling & ops automation
- Webflow
- Primary job: Velocity for web experiments
- Best for: Frequent landing page tests
- Lovable
- Primary job: Ship “never-gets-eng-time” projects
- Best for: Prototype microsites/tools
- Customer.io
- Primary job: Lifecycle orchestration
- Best for: From seed to scale
- Clay
- Primary job: Personalization & programmatic content
- Best for: Ad creative & SEO at scale
- PartnerStack
- Primary job: Affiliates/partners at scale
- Best for: Net-new efficient distribution
- Ahrefs
- Primary jobs: Research for organic & AI search
- Best for: Topic/keyword strategy
- The Ad Platforms
- Primary jobs: Manufactured demand now
- Best for: Google / Meta / Reddit / LinkedIn
1) Graphite AEO Platform: the new distribution wedge
AI answers (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot) now cite sources. Optimizing to be cited—Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)—is a real channel, not a fad. Treat it like SEO circa 2005: early compounders win. Graphite popularized the playbooks (topic clusters, Q&A surfaces) and is shipping the tooling to operationalize them.
Why it matters: Distribution is shifting into AI results. If you’re not cited where buyers ask questions, you simply don’t exist.
2) Roadway AI: attribution and AI that actually drives revenue outcomes
Most “attribution” is dashboards. Roadway wires the funnel to AI coworkers that notice changes and take/recommend actions (budgets, bids, creative focus)—so tedious work gets automated and revenue compounds. Warehouse-native or direct connectors; supports GA, Stripe, HubSpot, Salesforce, Segment, Meta, LinkedIn, Google Ads, etc.
Why it matters: You scale faster when budget and resourcing decisions/experimentation is guided by real attribution and your team doesnt need to dig through numbers, AI just tells them.
3) Webflow: velocity is a growth strategy
If you can’t ship pages and tests quickly, you’re slower than the market. Webflow lets marketing ship experiments without eng, now with native A/B testing and AI-powered personalization (Optimize) and built-in Analyze.
Why it matters: Growth speed is capped by iteration speed. Faster pages and experiments = compounding advantage.
4) Lovable: ship the long-tail you never get eng for
Loveable is an AI app/site builder that takes you from idea → working microsite or tool quickly—perfect for gated calculators, niche landers, and POC experiences marketing uses but never gets staffed. Note: it’s moving fast (and in the news); mind security posture like any builder.
Why it matters: Unlocks experiments you’d otherwise never run. Many surprise winners live in that backlog.
5) Customer.io: lifecycle is the underrated growth loop
Customer.io offers complete lifecycle orchestration—email, in-app, push, SMS, webhooks—without painting yourself into a corner as you scale. Strong enough for enterprise, accessible enough for startups.
Why it matters: Acquisition only compounds if retention and activation loops are wired. Lifecycle is leverage.
6) Clay: personalization and programmatic content without a team
Clay pulls from 100+ data sources and AI “research agents,” then lets one marketer build what used to require an ops team: hyper-personalized ads, programmatic SEO pages, and outbound at scale.
Why it matters: Personalized creative consistently outperforms generic. Clay lets one person operate like a 10-person team.
7) PartnerStack: the boring channel that prints if you let it
Partnerships and affiliates remain one of the most efficient B2B levers. PartnerStack handles the ops so you can focus on incentives and enablement, not spreadsheets.
Why it matters: Partner channels are ROI machines, but only if the ops don’t choke you. PartnerStack keeps it simple.
8) Ahrefs: still the canonical research environment
Organic isn’t dead; AI search expanded the surface area. Ahrefs remains the fastest way to find topics, estimate difficulty/opportunity, and—newly—monitor AI visibility alongside classic SEO metrics.
Why it matters: The questions buyers ask haven’t disappeared—they’ve just moved. Ahrefs shows you where to compete.
9) The ad platforms: where speed still lives
Grouped this into a single mention, but couldn’t leave out the best growth marketing tools created to date.
Google Search Ads, YouTube for Action (now Demand Gen), Meta, Reddit Ads, and LinkedIn still drive the bulk of paid growth. Each keeps evolving, but the fundamentals remain: they’re the most reliable way to manufacture demand quickly.
Why it matters: Paid platforms remain the highest-velocity lever. There’s still no quicker way to reach your audience and find a competitive advantage. Spend the time to really test here.
At the end of the day, what matters most is you can move quickly to test, forge, and optimize new channels, while having the tools to move as fast as possible for scaling what works and being quick to turn off whats not. As the AI application layer continues to be built out, there will be more and more acceleration within our workflows, and we’ll update this list as our observations change.