How a Web Design Agency Can Earn Recurring Revenue (2026)
A web design agency earns recurring revenue three ways: a monthly care plan for every site it launches, a retainer for clients who need ongoing work, and a partner revenue share from the platform the site runs on. On Pocketsflow, you bill care plans and retainers as subscriptions that charge the client's card every month, and you earn 20% of each client store's Pocketsflow plan for its first 12 months.
1. Sell a care plan with every site
A care plan is what the client pays you each month after launch: updates, small edits, uptime checks, backups and a monthly report. It turns a one-off project into revenue that renews until the client cancels. Offer two or three tiers so the client picks a level of support instead of deciding whether to have any.
| Tier | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Essential | Platform and plugin updates, backups, uptime checks |
| Standard | Essential, plus a set number of small edits a month |
| Growth | Standard, plus a monthly report and a strategy call |
Write the limits into each tier, such as edits per month and response time, so a care plan never turns into unpaid project work. Anything beyond the tier becomes a quoted project or a move to a retainer.
To bill a care plan on Pocketsflow:
- Create a subscription, name it (for example, "Site care, Standard"), and list what is included.
- In Trial & frequency, choose Monthly. Add a second plan for yearly billing if you want to offer two months free for paying up front.
- Attach a refund policy, then send the checkout link in your proposal or launch email.
The client pays by card, gets an invoice for every payment, and can manage or cancel from their own billing portal. Each renewal shows up as an order. When a charge fails, the subscription moves to past due and the payment is retried, so you are not chasing cards by email. When an engagement ends, pause or cancel the subscription.
2. Put ongoing work on a retainer
Clients who need new pages, campaigns or design work every month belong on a retainer. On Pocketsflow, a retainer is the same thing as a care plan, a monthly subscription at a higher price, such as $1,500 a month for a set number of hours or requests. For one-off work, sell a fixed-price project as a product, with variants for each scope and a link to your intake form after payment. Clients pay before the work starts.
Pocketsflow charges 4.7% + $0.30 per payment, with card processing included and sales tax or VAT handled as merchant of record. On a $150 monthly care plan that is $7.35 a month. Billing the same plan through your own Stripe account costs about $5.70 with Stripe Billing and card fees, but you are then the seller of record, so registering for and filing sales tax or VAT is your job.
3. Earn a partner share on every client store
When you build a client a store that sells digital products, courses or memberships, put it on Pocketsflow and join the agency program. It is free on every plan.
- In Pocketsflow, open Agency in the sidebar, enter your agency name, and copy your agency code.
- The client opens Settings, Grow, Agency, enters your code and gives you access. You run their store without seeing their payouts or billing.
- You earn 20% of each payment the client makes for their Pocketsflow plan, for 12 months from the invite. Each payment clears after 14 days.
One honest caveat: Pocketsflow records these earnings on your monthly statements, but payouts of agency earnings have not started yet. A client on Growth at $49 a month earns you $117.60 in the first year; ten such clients earn $1,176.
Pocketsflow vs Shopify partner earnings for one client
Shopify pays partners longer: 20% of the store's subscription and 0.1% of its eligible sales for four years. Stores on Starter or Lite earn nothing, and annual plans pay at a reduced rate. The chart compares one client's subscription share per year on Pocketsflow Growth and Shopify Basic, both billed monthly.
| Point | Pocketsflow Growth | Shopify Basic |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $117.60 | $93.60 |
| Year 2 | $0 | $93.60 |
| Year 3 | $0 | $93.60 |
| Year 4 | $0 | $93.60 |
Source: Pocketsflow agency program (www.pocketsflow.com/partners/agencies): 20% of the client's plan for 12 months, Growth $49/mo. Shopify Partner Program (help.shopify.com/en/partners) and shopify.com/pricing, read November 13, 2026: 20% of the subscription for 4 years, Basic $39/mo billed monthly; the 0.1% of sales share is not shown.
In year one, Pocketsflow pays $117.60 and Shopify $93.60. Over four years Shopify pays $374.40 plus its share of sales. The platform should follow the client's business, not the partner share: Shopify for physical products, inventory and shipping; Pocketsflow for downloads, courses, memberships and services, where the client can start on the free plan and pay only per sale.
Run all three from one Pocketsflow account
Recurring revenue builds because each launch adds a care plan instead of ending the relationship. On Pocketsflow, every client sits in one customer list, every renewal in one orders list, and your earnings go to your own bank account on the payout schedule you choose. The agency dashboard lists each client store with its sales and plan, and the store switcher takes you into any of them. Add a retainer when a care plan client keeps asking for new work.
The short answer
Sell a care plan with every site, move ongoing clients to a retainer, and build digital-product stores on Pocketsflow to earn 20% of each client's plan for a year. Read about the Pocketsflow agency program, how Pocketsflow bills services and retainers, or the best platform for agencies to build client stores.