Pay UpCity or you may not get listed at all; the 'Top 30' is a pay-to-play order.
What it's really for A local-B2B directory; certified-sponsor fees shape who gets listed and ranked.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its local-B2B provider rankings and 'Recommendability Rating', not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
The ranked agencies themselves are the paying customers, and paying directly buys higher placement: UpCity's own provider materials say sponsors get "top placement above Certified partners" and "above any free partners and unclaimed profiles," and one agency reports that when it declined to pay (~$150/mo) its listing was removed entirely ("if we don't pay, we don't get a listing at all").
Source →- Operating since
- 2009 (17 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- It runs a freemium B2B provider directory and makes money by selling monthly "Certified Sponsor" / Certified Pro subscriptions (from about $150/month, with higher Gold/Platinum/Diamond tiers) that give agencies enhanced visibility, list placement, and lead generation.
- What they do
- UpCity is an online directory that ranks and lists local B2B service providers (marketing agencies, IT, accounting, HR, etc.) and assigns each a "Recommendability Rating" to help buyers pick a vendor.
- What to watch for
- The "Top 30" lists you see are ordered by who paid for sponsorship, not by who is best, so the firms appearing first are the ones spending the most, not necessarily the most qualified for your job.
- Composite score
- 1.70 / 5.00 → grade D+
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- Sponsors get tiered placement above non-paying providers: UpCity offers Gold, Platinum, or Diamond tiers and 'Sponsors enjoy enhanced list visibility with top placement above Certified partners,' while Certified Partnership provides 'list placement above any free partners and unclaimed profiles,' with traffic/visibility increasing by tier. The Recommendability Rating itself is described as a proprietary nine-signal algorithm (profile completion across ~40 data points, UpCity and Google reviews, domain authority, search ranking across ~56,000 keywords) that 'cannot be purchased.' Source: UpCity Certified Sponsor / Recommendability methodology pages (via search) →
- First-hand agency account: UpCity charges about $150/month ($1,200-$1,800/yr) for a 'Certified Pro Partnership,' and when the agency declined to upgrade its profile was completely removed ('if we don't pay, we don't get a listing at all'); higher tiers buy more visibility. The author calls such directory placements 'pay to play' and 'vanity awards' not earned on merit, and recommends against paying. Source: TNW Creations - 'Is UpCity worth the cost?' →
- Origin and ownership: the operation was founded in 2009 (launched as DIYSEO, co-founded by Dan Olson, Andy Hagans and Patrick Gavin) and rebranded to UpCity in January 2013; Gartner acquired UpCity on October 1, 2022 and folded it into Gartner Digital Markets alongside Capterra, Software Advice and GetApp. Coverage notes the pay-to-play structure created 'a growing disconnect between agencies that excelled at optimizing their UpCity profiles versus those delivering actual client results,' with paying agencies receiving 'priority placement.' Source: Built In Chicago (DIYSEO/UpCity rebrand) & ProlificZone (history/acquisition/criticism) →