The definition
What is a white label partner?
A white label partner is a company that does work your agency sells as its own. The partner builds, updates, secures or supports your clients' websites; your agency keeps the client, the brand, the price and the relationship. Every report, email and invoice your client sees carries your name. That, in plain terms, is the meaning of a white label partnership: the work is shared, the brand is not.
The term means something different in software. A SaaS company's "white label partner" is usually a reseller that sells the company's product under its own brand, and most of the glossaries you'll find for this search describe that. This guide is about the agency meaning: a partner doing client work behind your brand.
White label is a kind of outsourcing, with one difference that matters: your client never sees the partner. If your clients need general outsourcing rather than a white label arrangement, read outsourcing website management instead.
The scorecard
The white label partner scorecard:
15 questions to ask.
Ask every candidate, us included, the same fifteen questions, whether you need a maintenance partner or a white label development partner. Each one shows what a good answer sounds like and what a red-flag answer sounds like. Mark each answer as you go and the score adds up below.
Before you hand anything over
Red flags when vetting
a white label partner.
These show up in how a partner works, often before a contract is on the table. For the clauses themselves, see red flags in a white label agreement.
Test before you commit
Test a white label partner on
five sites before you move the portfolio.
A sales call tells you how a partner talks. A month on real sites tells you how they work. Whoever you choose, start small and judge them against criteria you set before they start.
Pick five sites
Include one you didn't build, one with a plugin stack nobody enjoys touching, and one client who notices everything.
Write the pass criteria first
Use the four below, agreed with the partner before any credentials change hands.
Run one full month
Long enough for a round of updates, at least one support request and a monthly report.
Decide on evidence
Move more sites only if every criterion passed. If one failed, find out why before adding anything.
Starting with five sites is how we start agency partnerships too: five first, the rest when you're ready. How that works day to day: white label WordPress maintenance.
The alternatives
Freelancer, offshore team or
white label agency?
All three can work. They fail in different ways, and only one is built around your brand.
| Freelancer | Offshore development team | White label agency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who you manage | One person, directly | A team, usually through a project manager | An agreed process and a named contact |
| When they're away | The work stops | Someone else picks it up, often without context | Cover is part of the arrangement |
| Your brand on reports | Only if you produce them yourself | Rarely set up for it | The default |
| Written client protection | Depends on what you put in writing | Often covers staff, not clients | The point of the arrangement: check it's in writing |
| Best for | Overflow on one project | Large builds you manage yourself | A portfolio of client sites that needs looking after every month |
Hold us to it
How PixelGravitas answers
the scorecard.
Rates are published on one page, the same for every agency: see agency pricing. Real work, with the details: case studies.
Who wrote this
Written by the engineer
you'd be working with.
Naveen Kumar
Founder & lead engineer · Based in Chennai, India, working 9am–6pm US Eastern with agencies across the US, UK, Europe and Australia
The scorecard is the list I'd want an agency to use on us. The questions were checked against the guides that rank for this search in November 2026, and every answer we give above is one we've published and will put in writing. More about how I work →
Questions, answered
White label partners:
common questions.
What is a white label partner?
A company that does work your agency sells under its own brand. For a web agency, a white label partner builds, maintains or supports client websites, and your client only ever sees your agency's name, reports and invoices. In software the same term usually means a reseller that puts its own brand on someone else's product.
What is a white label partnership?
The working arrangement between your agency and that partner: who does which work, whose brand the client sees, who owns the client, how extra work is approved, and how either side can leave. A good one is written down before any client site changes hands.
What is the difference between a white label partner and a white label service?
A white label service is something you buy: one project or a fixed package, delivered under your brand. A white label partner is an ongoing relationship with the same people, who learn your clients' sites, follow your process and stay on the work month after month. Most agencies start by buying a service and keep the providers who behave like partners.
What is a white label agency?
An agency that does its work for other agencies rather than for end clients, and delivers it under their brands. Some cover one service, such as WordPress maintenance; others take on builds, SEO or design as well.
How do I choose a white label partner?
Ask the same questions of every candidate and score the answers: who does the work, how updates are tested, response times, how extra work is billed, whether the non-solicit covers your clients, and how you leave. Then run a small pilot on a few sites before you move the rest of your portfolio.
Should I test a white label partner before moving all my client sites?
Yes. Hand over a handful of sites that include at least one you didn't build, run a full month of updates and reporting, and judge the partner on what actually happened rather than on the sales call.
What is the difference between white label and outsourcing?
Outsourcing means someone else does the work. White label means someone else does the work and your client never sees them: everything carries your brand, and the client relationship stays entirely with your agency. All white label work is outsourced, but not all outsourcing is white label.
Will my clients find out I use a white label partner?
Not from a good partner. Reports, emails and invoices carry your brand, the partner never contacts your clients, and client-facing calls stay with you. The usual giveaways are a partner's logo on a report footer, a support reply from the partner's address, or the partner holding the hosting account.