Insurance comparison can work for your business in three ways, and the right one depends on your goal. White label or co-branded wraps the full comparison platform in your brand, so customers compare in your own style and branding and you stay in contact with them. Affiliate earns commission for referring your audience onward. The panel places your insurance products in front of in-market shoppers. The details of each, and how to choose, follows below.
Compare the three routes at a glance
| Route | Who it’s for | What you build | Who holds the FCA permission | The revenue shape |
| White label / co-branded | Brands that want the comparison journey in their own style and branding and want to stay close to the customers who compare through it | A co-branded quote journey styled as your own, built on an existing platform | The platform provider holds permission; the partner is either FCA authorised itself or covered as an AR/IAR by the platform provider, with the split fixed in the contract | A revenue line from comparison added to your portfolio |
| Affiliate | Publishers and media owners with an audience already coming to them | Nothing more than a link or referral path to a regulated comparison site | The comparison site you refer customers to | A commission on the customers you refer |
| Panel | Insurance Providers on the supply side | An integration that feeds your products and pricing into the comparison journey | Each provider under its own FCA permission | Distribution to in-market demand across the comparison sites you sit on |
What is the difference between white label and affiliate insurance comparison?
A white label or co-branded route puts the comparison journey in your own style, wrapped in your brand. The customer compares quotes without leaving a branded environment, and the relationship carries on with your brand. An affiliate route sends your audience to a comparison site such as Quotezone or CompareNI, where the journey and the customer sit with that site, and you earn a commission on referrals. The difference is that white label keeps the experience tailored to your brand, whereas affiliate stays light and builds nothing of its own.
The practical difference comes down to involvement and effort. With white label you launch a co-branded journey styled as your own and retain contact with the customer. With affiliate you simply refer traffic onward, taking a lighter role and a commission rather than a deeper integration.
Which route lets me keep my own brand?
The white label or co-branded route. You take a comparison platform, wrap it in your brand and launch a fully co-branded quote journey styled as your own. Customers compare quotes from a panel of providers without ever feeling handed off, because the journey carries your name. This suits brands that have spent time and budget earning their audience and want comparison to feel like part of what they already offer.
The affiliate route is the opposite end of that spectrum. The customer lands on the comparison site itself, so the branding and the journey belong to Quotezone or CompareNI rather than to you. That is the trade for a cleaner, lighter setup.
Which route suits an Insurance Provider?
The panel route is the supply side, built for Insurance Providers. Joining a panel puts your products in front of millions of in-market shoppers comparing quotes on Quotezone and CompareNI, so you reach demand at the point a customer is ready to buy. You bring the products and the pricing. The comparison sites bring the audience.
This is a different commercial position from the other two routes. White label and affiliate are about distributing comparison to consumers. The panel is about getting your own products distributed through that comparison. If you distribute, manufacture or underwrite insurance, this is your front door, and our guide to joining the panel covers it in full.
How do I choose between the three routes?
Start with your goal. If you want comparison wrapped in your own brand and to maintain a closer relationship with the customer, white label is the route. Affiliate suits a revenue line from an audience you already have, and the panel is for suppliers who want reach to in-market buyers.
Then weigh your audience and your appetite for regulatory responsibility. Affiliate is the lightest involvement, with nothing to stand up on your side and the FCA permission resting with the comparison site you refer to. White label carries more setup and a clearer regulatory question, because the journey carries your brand. Even on a co-branded route, a partner does not always need full FCA authorisation of its own. Seopa’s usual path is to appoint their partner as an IAR, which still carries some regulatory responsibility on both sides, with financial promotion sign-off and data-controller duties sitting with Seopa and the split agreed before anything goes live.
Two routes can also work together. A publisher can run affiliate today and move to a co-branded journey later to take on more of the customer relationship, and a provider on the panel can sit alongside either. The routes are a starting point, and most partners revisit the choice as they grow.
How the platform behind the routes works
These three routes run on a single platform. Seopa has powered UK insurance comparison since 2005, running the journeys behind Quotezone, CompareNI and hundreds of partner brands, and it makes that same platform available to brands, publishers and Insurance Providers. The platform processes 9 million quotes a year, serves 4 million UK customers, and draws on 300+ provider relationships across 60+ insurance, utilities and financial products. The company was founded in 2003, under FCA firm reference 313860, is ISO 27001 certified and Ofgem accredited, and holds Deloitte Best Managed Companies Platinum for three consecutive years. Mail Finance, PistonHeads and TotallyMoney are among the names that run on it.
Talk to the partnerships team
The right route depends on your starting point and how close to the customer you want to be.
Tell the Seopa partnerships team where you are starting from and they will help you find the route and the integration that fit. They can also size the revenue each route could add for your business.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between affiliate and white label insurance comparison?
Affiliate means referring your audience to a comparison site such as Quotezone or CompareNI. You earn commission on the customers you send, with no journey of your own to build. White label means taking the comparison platform, wrapping it in your brand, and running a fully co-branded quote journey under your own brand, so the relationship runs through you. Affiliate is the lighter route, while white label keeps you closer to the customer.
What’s the best way to add insurance comparison to my website?
It depends on how close to the customer you want to stay. A fully co-branded white label journey runs comparison in your own style, wrapped in your brand, and keeps you in contact with them. An affiliate route links your audience to a comparison site and earns commission, without standing up a journey of your own. Brands that want the direct relationship tend to choose white label. Publishers who want a light revenue line tend to choose affiliate.
Do I need to be FCA authorised to add insurance comparison to my site?
In most cases the activity is regulated, but a partner does not always need full FCA authorisation of its own. The usual path is an appointed representative arrangement under Seopa’s permission, set as a full or introducer appointment depending on your role, which still carries some regulatory responsibility on both sides, with financial promotion sign-off and data-controller duties sitting with Seopa by default and the split agreed in the contract before launch. Our guide on FCA authorisation answers it in full.
Which route is right if I sell insurance rather than compare it?
The panel. Insurance Providers join a panel to put their products in front of in-market shoppers on comparison sites. You supply the products and pricing, and the comparison site brings the audience. This is the supply side of comparison, and our guide to joining the panel covers it.
Can I use more than one route?
Yes. A publisher can run affiliate now and move to a co-branded journey later to retain more contact with the customer. A provider on the panel can sit alongside either. The three routes are a way to match comparison to your commercial model, and they can change as your goals do.