How to Get Framer Clients: Experts, Templates and Funded Startups

TL;DR: Sell to startups and SaaS teams whose designers or marketers want to own the site. Framer's own programs point there too: its agency program asks for projects over $25K with clients backed by approved VC firms, and its startup program gives pre-seed and seed companies a free year of Framer Pro. Work three channels: startups that just raised, the Framer Experts directory, and templates aimed at the buyer you want.

Framer is one platform inside our larger playbook for getting web design clients. When the question is how to get Framer clients in particular, the answer runs through Framer's own programs and the startups they court. Program terms come from Framer's help center and program pages, read on November 3, 2026.

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Who buys Framer sites

Framer courts startups openly, and its two business programs show it:

• The startup program. Framer for Startups gives a free year of Framer Pro, which Framer values at $360, to pre-seed and seed startups that are new to Framer and backed by one of its approved partners.
• The agency program. Framer for agencies asks for three or more full-time employees, projects over $25K and work for companies backed by approved VC partners.

Read together, they describe your buyer: a funded startup, on Framer early, that needs a better site once it raises again or hires its first marketer. If the founder built version one over a weekend, your pitch is the rebuild that matches the new round, not a move to Framer.

If your clients are local shops, the local channels in our main guide will serve you better than anything below.

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How to get Framer clients: five channels compared

If you also build in Webflow, the Webflow client guide covers its partner tiers, which work differently.

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Framer Experts: join, then climb the directory

The Experts directory is Framer's own lead source for studios. Becoming a Framer Expert takes no review, as of November 2026:

1. Apply as an individual, or as an agency if you have at least two people.
2. Complete your Community profile: avatar, short bio, poster image.
3. Publish at least two sites built in Framer, each on a custom domain.
4. In Framer Community, open the top-left menu, hover over Creator and choose Become an Expert. The form opens only once your profile qualifies, so you are an Expert the moment you submit.

Experts get a directory listing, client requests matched to their profile and work, and up to 50% commission when a client accepts a Project Transfer and buys a plan. Earn $500 in handoff commission and you become a Pro Expert automatically. Pro Experts get prioritized placement, more and faster matches, free editor access to client projects and 50% fewer Agent credits per prompt.

What decides your rank

Framer ranks Experts on four signals: handoffs where the client moves to a paid plan, recent handoffs, the value of those paid plans, and a trust score for your account. Position is relative, so it can fall while your numbers grow. Three habits follow:

• Hand off every finished site through Project Transfers, including clients who found you elsewhere. Each handoff feeds your rank.
• Help each client pick the plan that fits the site, since paid plans and their value both count.
• Keep a steady rhythm. Framer says a steady flow of handoffs keeps you visible longer than one busy month.

Keep the profile accurate too. Framer says country is the detail Experts most often get wrong, and it takes down profiles with incorrect information.

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The Framer agency partner program

The agency program is the step up from Experts. It gives the whole agency free, unlimited Framer access, up to 50% commission on qualified client referrals, direct Slack support, team training and qualified leads from Framer. To apply you need:

• three or more full-time employees;
• projects over $25K;
• work for companies backed by Framer's approved VC partners;
• three business sites that show what your agency can do.

A solo designer or a two-person studio should start with Experts and build up handoffs. A team already selling $25K startup builds should apply now, because the bar matches the work it already sells. If your projects sit well below that number, moving up market covers which buyers pay it and what they need to see.

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Templates that turn buyers into clients

A template is a slow channel that can pay twice: once in sales, again in the custom work a buyer orders later.

The Framer Marketplace terms favor creators. As of November 2026, a template goes live the moment you submit it, with no review. You keep 100% of paid template sales. Free templates can earn affiliate income when people sign up for Framer through them. Every template page links to your Community profile, so make that profile show client work.

Turn that into a funnel:

1. Build for the buyer you want. A template for seed-stage SaaS, with pricing, changelog and careers pages, draws founders. A portfolio template draws other designers.
2. Write the byline and description for clients. Say what you build and for whom.
3. Sell a fixed-price setup. Copy, CMS setup and one custom section at a set price is an easy first purchase for a founder who bought the template.
4. Stay in touch as they grow. A founder who launched on your template before the seed round is a warm lead for the rebuild after it.

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Find startups that just raised

A new round brings new hires, new positioning and a site that has to explain both. That makes funding the first Framer signal to watch. Where to see it:

• Funding announcements. Founders post their round, and funding databases list it.
• The first marketing hire. A job post for a founding marketer, a head of marketing or a brand designer means someone will soon own the site.
• Job posts that name Framer. Small teams often have no web role to post, so this signal runs thinner than funding. When one appears, the company runs Framer and needs hands.
• Posts about the site. Founders post when they launch a new site, and marketers post when a page won't do what they need. Posts about a new website are one of the signals on our page for web design agencies. Comments on a rival Framer studio's launch post count too.

Write within a few weeks of the round, before the new marketer settles on a studio. Ask one question tied to the round: "Congrats on the seed. Is a new site part of the plan for next quarter, or does the current one hold up?" To check whether startups beat another vertical for you, run the niche test in our guide to web design niches.

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Finding funded Framer buyers with Pancake

Pancake, our product, does this watching for you. It finds people who show a buying signal and opens the conversation under your name. A Framer studio would start with:

• startups that raised a round recently, then the founder or marketing lead there;
• people posting about a new website, a redesign or a site built in Framer;
• companies whose job posts name Framer. Pancake reads this from job posts, not from websites, so it can't list every company that runs a Framer site.

Type one sentence to start a Play: "Find founders and heads of marketing at US startups with 5 to 50 people that raised a seed or Series A round in the last 90 days." Every lead arrives with a line on why it fits. Pancake drafts a first message in your voice that asks about the round instead of pitching. Messages go out as direct messages from your own account on weekdays, and a reply stops the sequence.

Know the limits. Pancake sends direct messages, not email, and it suits studios selling to B2B startups more than local shops. Pricing starts from $99 a month per workspace, and a 7-day trial with 30,000 credits needs a card to start (see pricing). The web design agencies page shows the other studio Plays.