Key takeaways
- White label web design means a partner builds websites that your agency sells under its own brand. You keep the client relationship, the pricing and the margin.
- The real risks are inconsistent quality, missed deadlines, a partner contacting your clients, unclear ownership of code and accounts, and careless handling of client logins.
- Control them with an NDA and non-solicitation clause, a paid trial project, a standard brief, preview links before launch and client accounts that stay in the client's or your agency's name.
- Price your resale on your partner's cost plus your project-management time, a risk buffer and margin, and add a recurring maintenance plan.
What is white label web design?
White label web design is when a specialist team designs and builds websites that your agency sells to its own clients under your brand. The client deals only with your agency and never sees the partner's name. You keep the relationship, set the price and margin, and the partner works as your production team in the background.
It's common among marketing, SEO and advertising agencies that want to offer websites without hiring developers, and among web agencies that sell more projects than their team can build. See how our white label web design service works.
Why do agencies outsource website builds?
Agencies outsource website builds to deliver more projects without hiring, to keep costs flexible when work comes in waves, and to offer websites alongside marketing services they already sell. A reliable partner turns website demand into revenue without the fixed cost of salaried developers in quiet months.
Capacity. Sales bring in more website work than the in-house team can deliver on time.
Flexible cost. You pay per project instead of carrying salaries through quiet months.
A fuller offer. SEO and ads clients often need a better website before campaigns can work.
Focus. Your team stays on strategy, sales and account management.
What are the risks of white label web design?
The main risks of white label web design are inconsistent quality, missed deadlines, a partner contacting or poaching your clients, unclear ownership of the code and accounts, and careless handling of client logins and data. Every one of these can damage your agency's reputation, because the client sees only your name on the work.
Quality drift. The first site is good; the fifth is rushed. Without a written standard, quality depends on who happens to be free.
Deadlines. A partner who goes quiet leaves you explaining delays to a client who has never heard of them.
Client contact. A partner that emails your client directly, or adds its own credit to the footer, undermines the relationship.
Ownership. If the domain, hosting or code sits in the partner's accounts, moving the client later becomes difficult.
Security. Passwords shared over email or chat, and access never removed after launch, put client data at risk.
How do you choose a white label web design partner?
Choose a white label partner on evidence, not promises: live websites they built that you can test on a phone, a paid trial project before regular work, a clear process from brief to preview to launch, working hours that overlap with yours, a signed NDA, and documented handover so your team can support the client afterwards.
Live work. Ask for live URLs, not just screenshots, and check their speed and mobile layout yourself.
A trial project. One real project shows more about quality and communication than any sales call.
Process. A standard brief, preview links, a set number of revision rounds and a launch checklist.
Time zones. Some overlap with your working day for questions, and ideally progress delivered overnight.
Technology. A stack your team or the client can maintain, with code handed over at the end.
Aftercare. Optional maintenance plans you can resell, so updates don't land back on your desk.
What should a white label agreement include?
A white label agreement should cover confidentiality of your client list, a non-solicitation clause stopping the partner from contacting your clients, transfer of ownership of the work once paid, who holds each account, delivery timelines, revision limits, payment terms, and what happens if the partner cannot deliver. Have a lawyer review it for your jurisdiction.
We sign our partners' NDAs as standard and never contact or market to their clients unless asked.
How do you keep client logins and data secure?
Keep client accounts in the client's or your agency's name and give the partner its own user access instead of sharing the owner's password. Share credentials through a password manager, turn on two-factor authentication, give only the access each task needs, and remove the partner's access once the site is launched and handed over.
Delegate, don't share. Most registrars, hosts and website platforms let you add a separate user with limited permissions.
Use a password manager. Never send passwords by email or chat, where they stay in message history.
Least access. A developer building a site rarely needs billing access to the client's domain account.
Offboard. Remove partner users after handover, and keep a record of who had access to what.
How should agencies price white label websites?
Price a white label website from your partner's cost plus your own project-management and client-communication time, a buffer for extra revision rounds, and your margin. Quote clients a fixed scope rather than hours, and add a monthly maintenance plan, which turns a one-off project into recurring revenue and keeps updates with your partner.
Our partner rates depend on volume and project type; ask for a rate card. For a sense of retail website pricing, our own packages are on the pricing page.
What does a white label workflow look like?
A typical white label workflow has four stages: an intro call so the partner learns your services, clients and quality bar; a trial project; then a repeatable loop of brief, build, preview link and your revision rounds; and finally launch on the client's domain or handover to your team, all under your agency's brand.
Add websites to your agency's offer
Tell us about your agency and the sites you sell. We'll reply with partner rates and how a trial project would work.
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