Comparison · Konvy vs Podium

Refer the client to Podium, or own the platform yourself.

Podium sells messaging and reviews software straight to local businesses. Konvy is the white-label version: you sell the same outcome under your own brand. Different ownership, different long-term economics.

Podium modelSold direct · Podium-branded
Konvy modelWhite-label · agency-branded
Customer relationshipSits with whoever the brand is
Both can coexistYes, different models
The honest framing

This isn't a feature comparison. It's an ownership comparison.

Podium is a strong product. What it sells (more leads, faster replies, more reviews, more revenue) is exactly what you want to sell your clients. The question isn't whether the local business buys this software. It's whether they buy it from Podium or from you.

Choose Konvy when

You want the customer relationship

The platform runs under your brand, on your domain, at your pricing, with your support team. Every login deepens your client's reliance on you. Losing them to someone else gets much harder.

Choose Podium's referral program when

You want the referral income

You stay in services-only revenue, refer the client to Podium, collect a referral fee, and never operate software yourself. Simpler to run. Narrower over time.

Side by side

Two ownership models.

Dimension
Konvy (agency-owned)
Podium referral (vendor-owned)
Brand on the product
Your agency's brand. Logo, domain, emails, and the words inside the app.
Podium's brand. Your client uses Podium-branded software; your referral is tracked behind the scenes.
Customer relationship
Yours. Pricing, contracts, support all flow through you.
Podium's. They own the renewal, the upsell, and the day-to-day contact.
Pricing control
You set the price. You pay a partner rate and keep the difference.
Podium sets the price. You earn a cut of a price you don't set.
Risk of losing the client
Low. The client uses your software every day; switching means moving systems.
High. Once Podium has the relationship, you're just the referrer, not the platform.
Operational burden
You operate the platform: setup, support, billing, monthly reports.
Minimal. Podium handles everything. You collect referral fees.
Recurring revenue per client
The full price you charge, with a healthy margin over your cost.
A cut of Podium's price. Substantially less.
Long-term position
Building a software business alongside your service business.
Staying in service-only revenue with an additional referral line.
The ownership question

Why these platforms matter to your retainer.

Local businesses are now pitched every week by platforms that sell straight to them: Podium, Birdeye, Housecall Pro, Jobber, and niche tools in every category. Each one chips a piece off your retainer. Each one trains your client to think your work is software, not service.

If your move is to refer the client to one of those platforms and collect a fee, you accept a permanent second-place spot in the relationship. The retainer holds for a while. Then it doesn't.

If instead you deliver the same outcome under your own brand, the retainer grows rather than erodes. The client uses your software daily. The relationship deepens. The renewal is yours.

Both paths are legitimate. They are different bets on what the agency-client relationship should look like in 2030.

Where Podium-as-partner is the better choice

When the referral path actually fits.

You're services-only by design

If your agency is deliberately non-software, with strategy and creative as the product and no recurring tools, referring these needs to a platform like Podium is clean.

You don't want to operate software

Running a platform takes ongoing attention. If your team is fully spent on services delivery and you'd rather not add that work, the referral model removes the burden entirely.

Your clients are Podium-shaped already

If your clients are mostly in categories where Podium is strong and well-known, the referral can be easy for them to adopt.

If you want the platform to be yours.

If you read "your brand, your clients, your pricing" and recognize it as your model, Konvy is the right move. The founding cohort is ten agencies.

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