Web Design Recurring Revenue: Retainers, Care Plans and Subscriptions Compared
Three ways to turn one-off website builds into monthly income: retainers, care plans and website subscriptions. How each works, what it earns, and a 24-month revenue model with the assumptions shown.
Start for free. No credit card required.
Web design recurring revenue is money clients pay you every month instead of once. There are three ways to get it: retainers, care plans and website subscriptions. Each suits a different client, and the strongest agencies usually run a subscription for most clients with retainers for a few.
TL;DR: Retainers sell your time, care plans sell upkeep, subscriptions sell the whole site as a service. Subscriptions scale furthest because each client needs the least time. The 24-month model below shows a studio adding 8 subscription clients a month reaching about $15,000 a month in recurring revenue, with the assumptions shown.
Book a demo of the white-label builder: your agency's own AI website builder under your brand. Pricing is tailored to your volume and setup, so you get your exact price on the call. How white-label pricing works.
The three models side by side
| Retainer | Care plan | Website subscription | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the client buys | A block of your hours | Upkeep: hosting, updates, backups, small edits | The site itself, built, hosted and maintained |
| Upfront fee | Usually after a project | Usually after a project | Small setup fee or none |
| Time per client each month | High (5 to 20 hours) | Low to medium | Low |
| Who it suits | Clients who change things often | Clients with an existing custom site | Local and small businesses |
| Scales to many clients | Hard | Medium | Easy |
Care plans are covered in depth in our guide to website care plans. Subscriptions are covered in website as a service. This post is about choosing between them and building the revenue.
When to sell a retainer
Sell a retainer when a client has a steady flow of work: new landing pages for campaigns, frequent content changes, or ongoing conversion testing. Rules that protect you:
- Fix the hours per month and the response time.
- Say whether unused hours roll over (most agencies say no, or one month at most).
- Review the retainer every quarter against real hours logged.
When to sell a subscription
Sell a subscription when the client mostly wants a site that works and looks good, and does not want to think about it. That is most local businesses. The subscription includes the build, hosting, security, small edits and support, for one monthly price.
On a white label AI builder, this is cheap to deliver. The AI drafts the site, you polish it, the platform handles hosting, and the client handles small text changes in your branded editor.
Turn one-off builds into monthly income: the 24-month model
Assumptions, not market data:
- You add 8 new subscription clients a month.
- Each pays $79 a month. No setup fee, to keep the model simple.
- 2% of active clients cancel each month (an assumption; track your own).
- Platform cost, card fees and labour are not included. Subtract your platform cost (from your quote) to get what you keep.
| Month | Active clients (approx.) | Monthly recurring revenue |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 24 | $1,896 |
| 6 | 46 | $3,634 |
| 12 | 86 | $6,794 |
| 18 | 122 | $9,638 |
| 24 | 154 | $12,166 |
Now add a few retainers on top. If 5 of those clients also take a $600 a month retainer, that is $3,000 more, for about $15,000 a month in recurring revenue by month 24. The cancellation rate matters more than anything else in the table. At 5% a month, month 24 lands near 113 clients instead of 154.
Pricing the plans
An example ladder:
| Plan | Price (example) | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $49 a month | Site, hosting, SSL, client edits in the editor |
| Standard | $99 a month | Starter plus 30 minutes of edits by you each month |
| Growth | $199 a month | Standard plus a new page each quarter and a monthly report |
These prices are examples to adapt. Check them against your own platform cost per site; on We.Inc that comes from a quote tailored to your volume, which you get on a demo.
Mistakes to avoid
- Selling unlimited edits. One client can eat a week. Cap it.
- Billing manually. Use automatic card billing. On We.Inc clients pay you through your own Stripe.
- Hiding the platform cost from yourself. Count it per site, even when it is small.
- Hoping clients will not cancel. Send a short monthly report so they see the value.
Related reading
Book a demo. Your brand, your domain, and a 0% transaction fee. Pricing is tailored to your volume and setup, so you get your exact price on the call. See how white-label pricing works.
Frequently asked questions
What is recurring revenue in web design?
It is income a client pays you every month or year for ongoing work or service, rather than once for a project. The three common forms are retainers (a block of hours), care plans (upkeep and small edits) and website subscriptions (the site itself, hosted and maintained, for a monthly fee).
What is a website retainer?
A website retainer is a monthly agreement where the client pays a fixed amount for a set amount of your time, such as 5 or 10 hours, for edits, new pages, campaigns and advice. It suits clients who change their site often. Cap the hours and say what happens to unused time.
Which recurring model earns the most?
Retainers earn the most per client but need the most hours and the fewest clients can afford them. Subscriptions earn less per client but scale to far more clients with little time each. Most agencies do best with a subscription for everyone and a retainer for the few clients who need more.
How do I move existing clients to a monthly plan?
Offer it when something already renews, such as hosting or a domain. Explain what they get each month, show the price, and make the monthly plan include hosting so it replaces a bill they already pay. Clients switch more readily when the plan removes a hassle.
How much recurring revenue should a web design agency have?
There is no fixed target, but The Admin Bar's State of the WordPress Agency 2026 survey found agencies with no recurring revenue were rarely or never profitable 58.3% of the time, against 9.7% for those earning 25% to 49% of revenue from recurring work. A quarter or more of revenue from recurring work is a sensible first goal.
What does a white label builder add to recurring revenue?
It makes the subscription model cheap to run. The platform hosts and maintains the sites, clients edit small things themselves in your branded editor, and you pay a flat monthly fee. On We.Inc there is a 0% transaction fee, and pricing is tailored to your volume and setup; book a demo at https://calendly.com/hey-we/30min for your exact price.
More in Blog
- Web Design vs Web Development: What's the Difference?
- Website Accessibility: A Practical WCAG 2.2 Guide
- Website Analytics Setup: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Website as a Service (WaaS): Pricing and How It Works
- Website Builder vs WordPress: Honest 2026 Comparison
- Website Care Plans: Turn One-Off Builds Into Monthly Revenue
- Website Cost Calculator: Estimate Your Build in 60 Seconds
- Web Design Cost in 2026: Average Prices and Freelance Rates
Related guides and tools
Start building
- how to make a website
- AI website builder
- free website builder
- website templates
- website builders by industry
How we research, test and update this page: our editorial policy. We.Inc is our own product.
Product
Who It's For
- For Agencies
- For Freelancers
- For Hosting Providers
- For SaaS Platforms
- For Startups
- For Financial Services
- For Healthcare
Features
Resources
- Blog
- Help Center
- Free Business Tools
- Free UI Components
- Website Templates
- Template Collections
- Website Examples
- Guides
- Comparisons
- Alternatives
- Best Lists
- Reviews
- Pricing Guides
- Use Cases
- Glossary & Guides
- Integrations
- Developers
- Benchmark
- Windows App