Agency referral fees for web projects cluster at 10%. Blue Line Media pays 10% of a referred client's first project, Goodspeed 10% of revenue over six months, and Vinta Software 10% of project profit for up to a year, on their own pages read in October 2026. White-label partners pitch resale of the same work at two to three times their price.
This page compares the two models for an agency with a client it cannot build for itself: published referral terms, white-label markup data, a worked twelve-month example with labelled assumptions, and the costs neither invoice shows. Our bias, up front: Octo is a white-label partner to Web Tonic, so we earn when agencies choose white label.
The two models, and the one question that separates them
White label. The agency sells the build, signs the contract, invoices the client and pays a partner to do the work. The agency sets the margin and owns the relationship. It also owns the outcome: if the partner is late or the site breaks, the client calls the agency.
Referral. The agency introduces the client to another studio and steps back. The studio quotes, contracts, delivers and invoices. The agency receives a commission, usually after the client has paid. It owns nothing that follows.
The question that separates them: who does the client think they hired? Margin, liability and tax all follow from the answer. Our post White Label Web Design vs Subcontracting vs Hiring covers the cost side of the white-label route against the alternatives; this one covers the revenue side, against handing the client away.
What referral programmes actually pay in 2026
Referral income comes from other agencies paying for a client and from software platforms paying for a subscription. The two stack, and go to different people depending on the model.
| Programme | Rate | Base | Duration | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Line Media (UK agency) | 10% | Client's first project | One project | Not stated |
| Goodspeed (agency) | 10% | Revenue | First 6 months; page says up to $5,000 | After project completes and client pays in full |
| Vinta Software (agency) | 10% | Project profit | Up to one year | Quarterly, after client payment |
| Webflow Foundations (partner tier) | 10% | Client site plan | First year | Not stated in the announcement |
| Webflow Affiliate | 50% | First subscription | Up to 12 months | Excludes your own clients' purchases |
| HubSpot Solutions Partner | 20% | Eligible recurring revenue | Up to 3 years; Providers 12 months | Per programme policy |
| HubSpot Affiliate | 30% recurring | Referred subscription | Up to one year; 180-day cookie | $10 minimum withdrawal |
| Shopify Partner (build and transfer) | 20% of platform fee plus 0.1% of eligible GMV | Merchant's plan | 4 years per component | 30-day hold on first payout |
Source: each programme's own page, listed under Sources
Three things stand out. First, the base matters more than the rate. Ten per cent of profit is a fraction of 10% of revenue: on a $23,000 engagement at a 30% studio margin, an illustrative figure, Vinta's model pays $690 where a revenue-based fee pays $2,300. Second, every agency programme pays after the client pays: no cash at risk, and nothing on a client who walks away mid-project. Third, platform commissions are small on Webflow and large on HubSpot. A Webflow Premium site plan costs $25 a month billed yearly, so 10% of the first year is $30. A HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional subscription lists at $800 a month billed annually, plus a $3,000 onboarding fee, so 20% of a year's subscription is $1,920, and up to three years of it for a Solutions Partner.
Agencies miss this: platform commissions go to the partner of record. In white label that is usually the agency; in a referral, usually the studio, so the platform income leaves with the build.
What white-label resale earns on paper
There is no independent survey of white-label web markups. The figures in circulation come from partners who sell white-label services, so treat them as a ceiling.
BSS Commerce's September 2026 pricing guide calls reselling at roughly 2 to 3 times partner cost the strongest cross-source benchmark, equal to a 50% to 70% gross margin. Its illustrative table, which it labels not survey data, ranks engagement models by the margin left on a $6,000 client price: 65% on wholesale rates, 60% on a fixed project, 55% on a retainer, 50% on a dedicated team and 40% on hourly work with overruns.
KrishaWeb's October 2026 guide is more cautious. It says web development and design typically land at 35% to 55% gross margin, with a median of about 45%, lower than SEO retainers. It adds that a 2x markup that looks like 50% is closer to 35% to 40% net once the agency counts its account management hours, and recommends 2x as a target and 1.5x as a floor. Its own cost-plus example quotes a $5,000 partner project to the client at $9,500.
Read together, the vendor numbers suggest pricing at about 2x the partner's quote and expecting 35% to 50% after your own time. Our White Label Agency Statistics 2026 post has the published partner prices and agency net margins underneath this.
A worked 12-month example
The example follows one client, a B2B marketing site on Webflow built in months 1 to 3, through twelve months under each model. Every number is a plausible assumption, not survey data; swap in your own.
| Item | White label | Referral |
|---|---|---|
| Build price paid by client | $14,000, to the agency | $14,000, to the studio |
| Partner cost of build | $7,000 (2x markup, the vendor target) | Not applicable |
| Care plan, months 4 to 12 | Client pays $1,000 a month; partner charges $500 | Client pays the studio $1,000 a month |
| Referral fee | Not applicable | 10% of revenue in the first 6 months (Goodspeed's terms) |
| Agency hours after the sale | 30 on the build, 3 a month on care: 57 | 4 |
| Loaded cost of an agency hour | $70 | $70 |
| Overrun reserve | $700 (10% of partner build cost) | None |
Source: Octo Agency illustration; markup from BSS Commerce and KrishaWeb, fee structure from Goodspeed
| Line | White label | Referral |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue the agency invoices | $23,000 | $0 |
| Paid to partner | $11,500 | $0 |
| Referral fee received | $0 | $1,700 (10% of $17,000 billed in months 1 to 6) |
| Agency time at $70 an hour | $3,990 (57 hours) | $280 (4 hours) |
| Overrun reserve | $700 | $0 |
| Net contribution, year one | $6,810 | $1,420 |
| Contribution per agency hour | About $119 | About $355 |
| Year two, if the care plan continues | About $3,480 (care margin less 36 hours) | $0 |
Source: Octo Agency illustration based on the assumptions table
On these assumptions white label earns about 4.8 times more per client in year one, and keeps earning in year two while the referral has expired. Referral earns about three times more per hour of agency time. Under Blue Line Media's first-project terms the referral fee falls to $1,400 and the net to $1,120; under a profit-based fee it falls further.
When the example breaks: four scenarios
Each scenario changes one assumption.
| Scenario | White label | Referral |
|---|---|---|
| Base case | $6,810 | $1,420 |
| Client leaves after launch, no care plan | $4,200 | $1,120 |
| Build overruns by $2,100 and the client will not pay for it | $5,410 | $1,420 |
| Client withholds the final 30% of the build ($4,200) | $2,610 | Minus $280: no fee until the client pays in full |
| Platform add-on: client buys HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional | Plus $1,920 if the agency is the Solutions Partner of record and HubSpot accepts the deal | Plus $0 if the studio is partner of record |
Source: Octo Agency illustration; HubSpot rate and price from HubSpot's own pages
White label keeps the higher number in every row but absorbs every shock; referral absorbs almost none. In the dispute row the white-label agency still owes its partner, so the withheld $4,200 comes straight off its contribution. The referring agency loses only its four hours.
The churn row matters because it is common. Focus Digital, a marketing agency that publishes its own research, reported in July 2026 that project-based agencies lose 42% of clients a year with an average client lifespan of 24 months, against 18% and 56 months for retainer-based agencies. It discloses no sample size, and notes that project churn often reflects work that simply ended. Either way, a white-label lead built on the care plan is fragile if projects never become retainers.
The hidden costs neither invoice shows
The worked example prices agency time and overrun risk. The costs below are harder to price, and they decide whether the white-label lead is real.
Account management time. The cost most agencies underestimate. Our 57 hours are a guess for a well-run project; a client who wants weekly calls doubles it. Referral needs a few hours, because the studio carries the client.
Liability. Under white label the client's contract is with the agency, so a missed deadline, a broken form or a data incident is the agency's problem first and the partner's second. The partner contract has to pass that risk back; our post Webflow White Label Agency Agreements covers the clauses that do it. Under referral the agency signed nothing with the client, and its exposure is the awkward call if the studio disappoints.
Client ownership. A referral sells the relationship for 10%. The studio now owns the next redesign, the retainer and usually the platform partner credit, and the agency sees none of it once the fee window closes. None of the three agency referral pages we read mentions non-solicitation, so assume the studio may later pitch your client other services.
Cash flow. A white-label agency may owe its partner before the client pays. Goodspeed and Vinta pay referrers only after the client does.
Tax and contract. White label puts the full $23,000 through the agency's books as revenue, with VAT or sales tax charged on the full invoice where it applies, and a cross-border partner contract to manage. Referral income is a commission. In the US, payers file a Form 1099-NEC once payments to a non-employee reach $2,000 in a year from tax year 2026, up from $600, indexed for inflation from 2027 (CPA Practice Advisor, July 2025). A $1,700 fee falls below that line and is still taxable. Ask your accountant how commission income is treated where you are.
Disclosure. Nothing we read requires a web agency to disclose a referral fee. We would disclose it anyway: a client who later learns you were paid for the introduction trusts your next recommendation less.
What this means for an agency choosing between them
Use white label when the client is one you want to keep. That means a retainer is likely, the platform commission is material, and you have the hours to manage the work. On our illustrative numbers, one such client is worth about five referrals in year one and keeps paying in year two.
Use referral when the client is a poor fit for your positioning, when your team is already at capacity, or when the work is outside anything you could credibly review. A referral pays well per hour, carries no delivery risk and keeps a relationship warm without taking it on. Read the base before you sign: revenue, first project or profit.
Two habits help either way. Write down your own assumptions table before you choose, using your real hourly cost and your real churn. And check the platform programmes, because on a HubSpot client the partner commission can outweigh the referral fee itself. Our white-label service page explains how we quote a build so you can run the first column with real numbers.
