You signed up for HighLevel so you could sell software under your own name. Then a client logs in, and what they see is the same blue-and-grey dashboard that thousands of other agencies resell. Your logo is in the corner, but the product does not feel like yours.
This guide explains how white-labeling HighLevel really works. It covers what the built-in settings change, what they leave alone, how custom CSS and JavaScript fill the gap, what each route costs in time and money, and a checklist to run before your first client logs in. GHL Dashboard Builder is an independent design service and is not affiliated with HighLevel; where our product is relevant, we say so plainly.
What does white-labeling HighLevel actually mean?
White-labeling means presenting HighLevel to your clients under your own brand: your name, your web address, your logo and, ideally, your look. HighLevel is built for this. Agencies resell it as their own platform, and HighLevel’s SaaS mode exists so you can sign clients up and bill them automatically.
In practice there are two different things people call “white-label”, and mixing them up causes most of the disappointment:
- Identity white-labeling. Your logo, your domain, your login address, your legal links and branded system links. HighLevel provides settings for all of this.
- Interface white-labeling. The colors, sidebar, menu names, fonts, layout and language of the dashboard your clients use every day. HighLevel provides a place to add your own code for this, but no visual settings.
The first layer makes the platform carry your name. The second makes it look and feel like a product you built. Most agencies finish the first layer in an afternoon and then discover the second is where the real work is.
What do HighLevel’s built-in white-label settings cover?
HighLevel’s own settings cover your identity: logo, domains, legal links and custom code boxes. According to HighLevel’s guide to agency company settings, you reach them from the agency dashboard by opening Settings (the gear icon at the bottom of the left menu) and choosing Company. The Whitelabel tab holds logos, domains, legal policy links and the area for custom code.
Here is what each built-in setting does for your brand.
| Setting | Where it is | What your client sees |
|---|---|---|
| Agency logo | Settings, Company | Your logo at the top of the menu and on the login page |
| Whitelabel domain | Settings, Company, Whitelabel | They log in at app.youragency.com instead of HighLevel’s address |
| API domain | Settings, Company, Whitelabel | System-generated links (for example in messages) use your domain |
| Privacy policy and terms links | Settings, Company, Whitelabel | Your legal pages, not HighLevel’s |
| Custom CSS and Custom JavaScript | Settings, Company, Whitelabel | Nothing until you add code; this is the door to interface branding |
The custom domain matters most. HighLevel’s help center explains that a whitelabel domain is a branded domain for your desktop login portal, and that a separate API domain brands the system-generated links at agency and sub-account level. Without your own domain, clients log in on a shared HighLevel address and the illusion ends at the first click.
How to set up the identity layer
- Open your agency view and go to Settings, Company.
- Upload your logo. Use a horizontal logo with a transparent background; it sits on the menu’s background color.
- Open the Whitelabel tab and enter the domain you want clients to use, such as
app.youragency.com. - In your domain provider’s DNS settings, add the record HighLevel shows you. HighLevel’s whitelabel domain guide lists the exact record type and value.
- Wait for the DNS change to take effect, then open the new address and log in.
- Add your API domain so links in messages and emails carry your name.
- Add links to your privacy policy and terms of service.
This layer is the same for every agency and there is no reason to skip any of it.
What can’t the built-in settings change?
They cannot change how the dashboard itself looks. After you finish every built-in setting, the sidebar is still HighLevel’s dark blue, the buttons are still HighLevel’s blue, the menu still says Contacts, Opportunities and Reputation, and the layout is the one every other agency’s clients see.
That matters for three reasons.
Clients compare. A business owner who has seen HighLevel elsewhere, or who searches for a screenshot, will recognize it immediately. A branded login followed by a generic dashboard reads as a reseller, not a platform.
The menu does not speak their language. A dental practice has patients, a law firm has matters, a gym has members. HighLevel calls all of them Contacts. For teams who work in Arabic, Urdu, Hebrew, German or Spanish, an English-only menu is a daily friction, and Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew are read right-to-left.
SaaS mode raises the bar. If you sell subscriptions to software, buyers judge it as software. The interface is the product they are paying for each month.
The chart below shows what HighLevel’s own pricing page lists for its three main plans at the time of writing. Whichever plan you pay for, the dashboard your clients see looks the same until you change it.
Source: gohighlevel.com/pricing, checked October 2026. Prices can change.
HighLevel’s pricing page is the place to confirm current prices and which plan includes the branded desktop app, custom domains and SaaS mode. HighLevel also sells a white-label mobile app as a separate add-on; check the same page for its current price before you promise clients an app.
How do custom CSS and JavaScript change the dashboard?
Custom CSS restyles what is already on the page, and custom JavaScript changes or adds things the styling cannot. Both are pasted into boxes on the Whitelabel tab, and both apply to everyone who uses your HighLevel, across the agency view and your clients’ sub-accounts.
HighLevel’s help center describes the two boxes this way: Custom CSS is for styling the platform, hiding elements and adjusting branding, and Custom JavaScript is for things like chat widgets, analytics and custom logic. The same article adds a warning worth reading twice: custom code is powerful but unsupported, changes to HighLevel’s core interface may break your code, and you should test thoroughly.
What CSS can do
- Change the colors of the sidebar, header, buttons, tabs, tags and links.
- Change fonts, corner radius, shadows and spacing.
- Hide menu items you do not offer.
- Restyle the login page on your white-label domain.
- Adjust the layout, for example turning the side menu into a top bar.
What needs JavaScript
- Renaming menu items (Contacts to Patients) in a way that survives page changes.
- Translating the menu and switching the layout to right-to-left.
- Adding something new, such as a privacy button that blurs client data during a screen share, or a welcome banner on the dashboard.
- Applying a design to only one sub-account, by checking which sub-account is open.
What neither can do
Custom code changes how HighLevel looks in the browser. It cannot change HighLevel’s features, add data, change what the mobile app looks like, or alter the emails HighLevel sends. Those are controlled by HighLevel’s own settings.
What are your options for a branded dashboard?
There are three routes: write the CSS yourself, hire a developer, or use a builder or design service that produces the code for you. They differ in cost, time, risk and how much upkeep falls on you.
| Write it yourself | Hire a developer | Builder or design service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skills needed | CSS, browser developer tools, patience | Ability to brief and review | None; choices are visual |
| Time to first result | Days to weeks | Often a few weeks for a full theme | Minutes to a few days |
| Cost | Your time | A project fee, then paid changes | A plan price, usually fixed |
| Covers every page | Only what you get to | Only what is in the brief | Whatever the product covers |
| Menu renames, languages, right-to-left | Needs JavaScript you write | Extra scope | Often built in |
| After a HighLevel update | You find and fix it | You pay for a fix | The provider updates the theme |
| Risk | Broken layouts you may not notice | Depends on the developer | Depends on the provider |
Writing it yourself
This works if you know CSS and enjoy it. You open HighLevel in your browser’s developer tools, find the element you want to change, write a rule for it, and repeat across every screen: dashboard, conversations, calendars, contacts, opportunities, payments, settings and more.
Two things make it harder than it looks. HighLevel’s pages are built from several front-end components with their own class names, so a rule that works on one page may do nothing on another. And some dropdowns and pop-ups are drawn outside the area you styled, so they keep the original colors until you find them one by one.
Hiring a developer
A good front-end developer will produce a clean result. The costs are the brief (you have to describe every screen you care about), the review (you have to test it), and the upkeep. When HighLevel changes a screen, you need the same developer, or a new one who has to learn the old code first.
Using a builder or design service
A builder produces the CSS and JavaScript from visual choices, so you pick colors, a template and options and receive code to install. The trade-off is that you get what the product supports rather than anything imaginable. Check that it covers the things your clients will notice: the sidebar, buttons, menu names, language and the login page.
How much work is each route?
The honest answer is that the built-in settings are quick and the interface is where the hours go. The chart below counts the steps in each walkthrough in this guide, which is a fair proxy for effort on the day you set things up.
Writing your own CSS is not a fixed number of steps; it repeats for every screen. Source: Step counts from the walkthroughs in this guide.
Setup is only part of the cost. The part agencies underestimate is upkeep. Your logo and domain never need attention again. A hand-written theme does, every time HighLevel redesigns a screen it depends on.
How do you install a theme safely?
Install it at agency level, test it in one sub-account, and keep a one-step way to turn it off. The steps are the same whether the code came from you, a developer or a builder.
- In the agency view, open Settings, Company, Whitelabel and scroll to Custom Code.
- Copy whatever is already in the Custom CSS and Custom JavaScript boxes into a text file. That file is your rollback.
- Paste the CSS into Custom CSS and save.
- Paste the JavaScript into Custom JavaScript and save. HighLevel shows a warning about third-party scripts; read it and confirm if you trust the code.
- Open a sub-account in a new browser tab and refresh the page.
- Walk through every screen your clients use and look for anything unreadable, misplaced or still in the old colors.
If something is wrong, paste your saved text back into both boxes, or clear them. The dashboard returns to how it was on the next refresh, because custom code only changes how pages are displayed.
What to check on each screen
- Readable text. Text on colored buttons and on the sidebar must be easy to read. The W3C’s accessibility guidance sets a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5 to 1 for normal text; a pale brand color with white text often fails it.
- Dropdowns and pop-ups. Open the sub-account switcher, a date picker, a filter and a confirmation dialog.
- The collapsed menu. Collapse the sidebar and check the icons and the logo.
- A phone-sized window. Narrow the browser window and check the menu.
- Settings. HighLevel’s settings area has its own menu, and themes often miss it.
What goes wrong, and how do you avoid it?
Most problems come from four causes: an update on HighLevel’s side, code that is too heavy, a theme that reaches further than intended, and colors that look good in a mock-up but are hard to read.
| Problem | Why it happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Part of the dashboard loses its styling | HighLevel changed that screen’s structure | Update the theme; a provider-hosted theme is fixed centrally |
| The dashboard feels slower | Large scripts, images embedded in the code, or uncached files | Keep code small, link to images instead of embedding them, use files the browser can cache |
| The theme shows on the agency view too | Agency-level code applies everywhere | Limit the theme to sub-account pages |
| One client wants a different look | The same code reaches every sub-account | Use a theme that can target a sub-account by its Location ID |
| Text is hard to read | Brand colors without enough contrast | Test contrast before you install; darken or lighten the color for text |
| A dropdown is cut off or misplaced | A rule changed how a container clips or moves its contents | Remove effects such as filters or transforms from menu containers |
There is one limit that no route removes: HighLevel does not officially support custom code. It works, HighLevel provides the boxes for it, and a large number of agencies rely on it. But it is your responsibility, or your provider’s, to keep it working. Decide who that is before you install anything.
How does GHL Dashboard Builder handle this?
GHL Dashboard Builder is the builder-and-service route. You choose a design visually, see it on a live copy of HighLevel’s screens, and install it with two lines of code. Here is what it covers, taken from the product as it stands today.
- Templates and colors. A full color system for the sidebar, header, buttons and surfaces, with fonts. You can start from one of the ready-made templates or from your own colors in the free builder.
- Menu editor. Rename, reorder and hide HighLevel’s menu items, and add badges. Industry templates such as the dental and medical template rename Contacts to Patients for you.
- Languages and right-to-left. The menu in 15 languages, including Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew with the layout mirrored.
- Privacy mode. An eye button in HighLevel’s header that blurs contact names, emails, phone numbers and deal values while you share your screen.
- One sub-account or all. Apply a design to the whole agency, or to a single sub-account while the rest keep the standard look.
- Login page design. A set of login layouts in your colors to preview and tailor in the builder.
- Hosted install. Instead of pasting pages of code, you paste one CSS line and one JavaScript line. When you change the design and press deploy, HighLevel picks up the new version.
The counts below come from the product’s own feature list.
Source: GHL Dashboard Builder features, October 2026
The free builder shows your brand on the preview without an account. Getting the install code needs a plan; the current plans and prices are a one-time Starter, a one-time Pro, and a monthly Agency plan that includes re-checks after HighLevel updates. The features page lists what installs into HighLevel and what is preview only, and the FAQ covers installation and safety.
The limits are the same ones described above. The theme is custom code, so it carries the same caveat as any custom code in HighLevel, and it changes how HighLevel looks, not what HighLevel does.
What does a white-label setup look like in practice?
Here is an illustrative example, not a customer story. Picture an agency that sells marketing and a client portal to dental practices. The steps it would take, in order, show how the two layers fit together.
Week one, day one: identity. The agency sets its own address, in the form app.youragency.com, as its white-label domain, uploads its logo and adds its legal links. From now on, every practice logs in on the agency’s address.
Day two: the look. The agency picks a clean, light design with its teal brand color on the sidebar’s active item and on buttons. It checks that white text on the teal passes the contrast test and darkens the teal slightly for buttons so labels stay readable.
Day two: the words. Contacts becomes Patients. Opportunities becomes Treatment Plans. Reputation stays, because reviews matter to dentists. Menu items the agency does not sell, such as Memberships, are hidden so the menu is shorter and less confusing.
Day three: testing. The design is applied to one sub-account, the agency’s own demo practice. A team member walks through each screen, opens the dropdowns, collapses the menu and narrows the window. Two problems appear: a date picker with unreadable text and a logo that is too large in the collapsed menu. Both are fixed before any client sees them.
Day four: launch. The design is applied to every sub-account. The agency records a short welcome video with privacy mode switched on, so no patient names appear in the recording.
None of this required the agency to change how it uses HighLevel. The workflows, calendars and pipelines are untouched. What changed is what a practice manager sees at eight in the morning: a tool with their vocabulary, under their marketing partner’s name.
How do you keep a white-label setup working over time?
Assign one owner, re-check after HighLevel releases, and keep the theme in one place. The identity layer needs no upkeep. The interface layer needs a small, regular amount, and it is far cheaper to do on a schedule than to hear about a broken screen from a client.
A simple routine works well:
- Follow HighLevel’s release notes. When a release mentions a redesigned screen, that screen is where a theme is most likely to need attention.
- Re-run the six-screen check once a month. Dashboard, conversations, calendars, contacts, opportunities and payments. It takes ten minutes.
- Keep one source for the code. If the same CSS is pasted into several places, or different versions live in different accounts, a fix has to be repeated in each. A hosted theme, loaded from one address, is updated once.
- Tell clients before a visible change. A new color or a renamed menu item should never be a surprise. One line in your monthly update is enough.
- Keep the rollback file current. After every change you are happy with, save the new code as the version to return to.
If you use a provider, ask two questions before you buy: who updates the theme after a HighLevel release, and how quickly. If the answer is “you do”, price that work into your decision.
Which details do clients notice most?
Clients notice what they touch every day, in roughly the order they meet it: the web address, the login page, the first screen, the menu and the words in it. Colors are the most visible part of a brand, but they are rarely what makes a client feel at home.
The login page. It is the first screen every day. A branded address with a plain login page is a missed opportunity, and it needs your white-label domain to be set up first.
The words in the menu. Renaming Contacts to Patients, Members or Clients costs nothing and makes the software feel made for that business. It also shortens training, because front-desk staff see their own vocabulary.
The language. For teams outside English-speaking markets, a menu in their own language is the difference between software they tolerate and software they use. Our market pages show how the dashboard looks with each country’s language, currency and date conventions. For a worked example of one market, see our guide to white-labeling HighLevel in the United Arab Emirates.
Speed. A branded dashboard that loads slowly feels worse than a plain one that loads fast. Keep custom code light.
Privacy during calls. Agencies share screens constantly: sales demos, support calls, training videos. One screenshot with a real client’s phone number in it is a problem. A way to blur client data on demand protects you and shows care.
A pre-launch checklist
Run this before the first client logs in. It takes about half an hour once the theme is installed.
| # | Check | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | White-label domain works | You can log in at your own address |
| 2 | Logo | It shows on the login page and at the top of the menu |
| 3 | API domain | A test message contains links on your domain |
| 4 | Legal links | Privacy policy and terms open your pages |
| 5 | Theme installed | Sidebar, header and buttons show your colors |
| 6 | Every main screen checked | Dashboard, conversations, calendars, contacts, opportunities, payments |
| 7 | Dropdowns and dialogs | Switcher, date picker, filters and confirmations are readable |
| 8 | Menu names and order | Renamed items match the client’s industry |
| 9 | Language | The menu shows in the client’s language; right-to-left where needed |
| 10 | Phone-sized window | The menu opens and closes |
| 11 | Rollback | The previous code is saved in a file |
| 12 | Owner for upkeep | Someone is named to re-check after HighLevel updates |
What to do next
- Finish the identity layer today: logo, white-label domain, API domain and legal links. It is free and quick.
- Decide who will own the dashboard’s look and its upkeep: you, a developer or a provider.
- Try your colors and logo on a live preview in the free builder to see what a branded dashboard would look like for your agency.
- Pick one sub-account as your test account and install there first.
- Run the checklist above, then onboard your next client into the branded platform.
If you would rather have it done for you, or you need a design that is not covered by a template, get in touch and tell us about your agency and your clients.