Pavel Ketsuk's SWAS Accelerator Review: SWAS Agency Pros, Cons, and Alternatives
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SWAS Accelerator is Pavel Ketsuk’s free learning platform that teaches the Software-with-a-Service (SWAS) agency model. The course is free, but you need to sign up for HighLevel’s free trial offer to access the full modules. This is because the SWAS Accelerator’s platform is funded by HighLevel’s affiliate program.
Basically, SWAS is an agency model that combines selling white-label SaaS and providing digital marketing services. In this model, the agency offers its clients a rebranded SaaS tool as a base service, teaches them how to use it, and then provides additional digital marketing services as upsells – like web design, SEO, Facebook or Google Ad campaigns, and more.
In my experience selling digital marketing services over the last decade, offering high-ticket services on top of a white-labeled SaaS platform like the one SWAS Accelerator teaches is like being one piece in a party-size bag of M&M’s. The outside might have some variation, but everything is the same on the inside. Countless agencies already resell GoHighLevel, so many prospective clients are familiar with this white-label service. Another challenge is anchoring your clients’ cost expectations. If your main goal is to sell a high-ticket service but you introduce them to your business with a low-cost offer, you risk attracting low-quality clients. That’s like promoting a Honda Civic for sale and then trying to upsell the prospect to a Ferrari. Being the middleman of a SaaS product can also create frustration. Imagine selling Microsoft products under your own brand name. Every time Microsoft rolls out a new update or has a bug, your clients come to you for support, but you have to wait on Microsoft first. When selling white-label SaaS, your reputation becomes vulnerable to issues beyond your control.
This article reviews SWAS Accelerator, covering its phased modules on setting up GoHighLevel, crafting offers, building client-getting funnels, onboarding and retaining clients, and hiring VAs. It explains how the model works by rebranding GoHighLevel, charging recurring SaaS fees, and stacking SEO, ads, and web design retainers on top. The article then explores Pavel Ketsuk’s background as a digital marketer, agency owner, and former local lead generation student. The last part compares the SWAS agency model to more controllable and long-term alternatives like local lead generation.
What Are the SWAS Accelerator Pros and Cons?
Pros:
- The SWAS Accelerator course is free.
- It offers a 30-day free trial to GoHighLevel instead of the normal 14 days.
- SWAS Accelerator has many student testimonials.
- It provides a team that sets up a GoHighLevel account for you.
- SWAS Accelerator has daily coaching with full transparency, including exact ad campaigns, funnels, live sales, and cold calls.
Cons:
- SWAS Accelerator requires you to sign up for GoHighLevel to access all the modules.
- The SWAS model heavily depends on a single tool (GoHighLevel).
- It doesn’t go in-depth on actual digital marketing techniques.
- SWAS Accelerator’s GoHighLevel has no refunds.
- White-label services easily oversaturate the market.
Price: The SWAS Accelerator course is free. However, you must sign up to GoHighLevel using Pavel’s affiliate link to access the full course and the software for $297-$497 per month.
Origin: The SWAS Accelerator launched in 2022.
Reputation: SWAS Accelerator has 3,200 Skool community members, but doesn’t have existing reviews from popular third-party review sites.
How Does the SWAS Model Work?
The SWAS or Software-with-a-Service model works as a hybrid of providing digital marketing services and selling a rebranded SaaS tool (usually a CRM software like HighLevel). This means a digital marketer needs to buy or rent a white-label SaaS tool to make the SWAS model possible.
Here’s how SWAS usually works:
- A digital marketer/agency rents or buys a white-label SaaS tool
- Rebrands the tool as their own
- Sell it to their clients at a recurring fee
- Offers additional digital marketing services as upsells
The SWAS Accelerator course teaches this exact same model. Pavel has his own rebranded SaaS tool from HighLevel, which he sells to his clients. On top of the software, he also offers SMM, SEO, Facebook/Google Ads, and web design as high-ticket services.
One of the advantages of this model is it reduces an agency’s churn rate. When the client’s customer relationship activities depend on your rebranded tool, it would be harder for them to cancel. And even if they do cancel the other services that you give (SEO, SMM, ad campaigns, etc.), they will still need to pay the recurring fee for your rebranded tool if they want to keep using it.
What Do You Get With SWAS Accelerator?
Here are SWAS Accelerator’s course modules:
- Phase 0: Setting Up GHL for Success
- Phase 1: Model, Structure, Offer, Mindset
- Phase 2: Your Client Getting Funnel, Prospecting Deep Dive, & Closing Clients
- Phase 3: Client Success, Getting Case Studies, Referrals, Testimonials
- Phase 4: Hiring VAs to Manage The Business
- Phase 5: Bonuses such as Productivity Course, Digital Nomad Lifestyle Course, and Live Guests
The SWAS Accelerator’s course outlines what you must do to set up a digital marketing agency under the SWAS model. This includes setting up your HighLevel account, choosing your brand and niche, client acquisition, building your team by hiring VAs, and some bonuses.
How to Sign Up With SWAS Accelerator?
To sign up for SWAS Accelerator, you need to provide your email and full name on the course’s landing page. You will then receive a verification email with your login credentials – you don’t have to use these at first, as the link should bring you directly to the course library.
You can initially watch the introduction and some bonus videos. To access the full course, you need to sign up for HighLevel’s free trial using Pavel Ketsuk’s affiliate link. Signing up with Pavel’s affiliate link should give you an extended free trial of 30 days instead of just 14 days.
You need to send a message to Pavel Ketsuk in Facebook for confirmation, so he can get you in to the full course. You can also email him with proof of your HighLevel trial.
What Is GoHighLevel?
GoHighLevel or HighLevel is an all-in-one CRM platform offering a white-labeled version of its SaaS service. As a white-label SaaS, HighLevel’s unlimited plan of $297 per month allows marketers and agencies to rebrand the same software and sell it to their customers (at the same price or higher). The platform itself includes a page builder, pipeline automation tool, social media integration tool, reputation management, and many other plugins. The same features are available on the rebranded software.
Who Is SWAS Accelerator For?
SWAS Accelerator is for anyone engaging in a digital marketing business, either as an agency or as an individual marketer. Since Pavel’s SWAS model relies on the HighLevel platform, you must also be willing to sign up for its free trial and/or potentially use it moving forward.
If you’re looking for in-depth learning on digital marketing techniques, then SWAS Accelerator may not be for you. The reason for this is that the course mainly focuses on building and running a SWAS digital marketing agency using the HighLevel tool. It only has a few bonus videos on actual digital marketing techniques, such as Facebook Ads, website building, and SEO.
Are SWAS Accelerator Students Successful?
SWAS Accelerator students are successful. There are video testimonials on Pavel’s HighLevel affiliate landing page and official course website. Since these are all found on his platforms, it’s a bit biased.
Eli, a SWAS Accelerator student, got 2 clients in a month. Before the course, he offered website and social media marketing, but struggled to stand out. After adding software to his services and learning how to market it, his results changed fast. He now makes $3,000 a month from those 2 clients and plans to grow in the coming months.

Henry went from no clients to 3 in two months with the SWAS Accelerator program. His first client came within 3 weeks. They were very satisfied and referred him to his second client. Now, Henry is about to sign his third client. He thanks Pavel for providing a course that delivers real results and not just theories.

Another SWAS Accelerator student didn’t have a business when he started. Thanks to Pavel’s guidance, he now earns $3,000 per month from February to July. His goal is to reach $10,000 per month, and he knows Pavel is the guy to bring him there.

Here are other testimonials from SWAS Accelerator’s private Facebook community.



However, SWAS Accelerator doesn’t have any existing reviews from third-party sites such as Trustpilot or Reddit. Without independent reviews, there’s no way to see the full picture, including potential negative experiences.
What Are SWAS Accelerator’s Claims?

SWAS Accelerator claims you can replicate Pavel Ketsuk’s success with his Software-With-A-Service agency. With Pavel’s step-by-step course and weekly coaching, you can earn over $20k per month without being stuck all day at your desk. SWAS Accelerator also claims that it’s completely free, valued at $12,786.
SWAS Accelerator Claims Debunked
SWAS Accelerator claims are debunked because it’s hard to replicate someone’s success, even if they share exactly what they did. You need to consider factors like timing, market conditions, personal skills, experience, and available resources. Marketing agencies also rely heavily on client acquisition. A Kantata survey found that 60% of agencies struggle to get new clients. Plus, Pavel focuses on the home remodeling niche, so it’ll be hard to follow his steps if you work in another local industry.
What’s more, SWAS Accelerator is NOT completely free. You must sign up through Pavel’s GoHighLevel affiliate link to get the software. This costs $297 or $497 per month. Sure, there’s a 30-day free trial to access the full module, but you can’t start without using the software.
Who Is Pavel Ketsuk?

Pavel Ketsuk is a digital marketer, coach, and creator of the SWAS Accelerator platform. He formerly worked as a web developer for two years and is currently the owner of LIT Media, a digital marketing agency. Pavel Ketsuk is also a former student of Dan Klein’s local lead generation course.
Pavel was born in Lviv, Ukraine, and moved to the US with his family on a refugee status. Having experienced so many hardships in life, Pavel has always been eager to achieve financial freedom. According to Pavel, running a digital marketing agency gave him a lot of flexibility, as he now lives through the “laptop lifestyle.” He is currently based in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
What Are Some SWAS Accelerator Alternatives?
- Cody Getchell & Rahul Alim’s G$D – A 3-day intensive that teaches you how to build an AI-driven agency and includes a dedicated 100K SaaS Challenge module that guides you through building a recurring-revenue SaaS-style offer.
- Jamie Tam’s Build A Micro SaaS Academy – A low-ticket course for developers that shows you how to ideate, validate, build, and launch a bootstrapped micro-SaaS product without outside funding.
- Max Perzon’s Skool Masterclass – A Skool-community training that teaches you how to build and scale a recurring-revenue education business on the Skool SaaS platform, including course creation, content, and promotion.
Is SWAS Accelerator a Legit Course For Starting a Digital Marketing Agency?
SWAS Accelerator is a legit course for starting a digital marketing agency if you’re focused on launching quickly with a plug-and-play SaaS model. While the training includes onboarding help, daily coaching, and case studies from real users, it doesn’t teach in-depth marketing strategy or fulfillment. Standing out is difficult as you’re reselling the same software hundreds of other agencies offer. Your reputation is tied to a tool you can’t control, since client support depends on a platform you don’t own.
Is Local Lead Generation More Sustainable Than the SWAS Agency Model?
Local lead generation is more sustainable than the SWAS agency model because it builds owned assets that generate recurring revenue without depending on a single third-party software.
In my experience, it’s better to sell your own high-ticket, recurring service with local lead generation than to promote someone else’s product and try to tack on your services as an upsell. With local lead generation, you can land clients by letting them try your premium offer upfront instead of hooking them with another company’s cheap entry point. You’re like a Tesla dealership letting prospects test-drive a Model S. Local lead generation also protects you from the high client churn that many white-label SaaS resellers face. Local lead gen businesses own digital assets that generate leads and sell those leads to clients. If a client decides to end the service, they lose access to that entire marketing channel. That’s a sharp contrast to managing digital marketing on your clients’ own websites, where they can fire you faster than Donald Trump on The Apprentice without losing their lead funnel.
What Makes Local Lead Generation the Most Reliable Way to Build Online Income?
Local lead generation is the most reliable way to build online income because it creates digital properties that bring in consistent revenue without relying on outside software or complex tech stacks. Once your site ranks for a high-intent local keyword like “tree removal Atlanta” or “emergency plumber Denver,” you can rent those leads out for $500 to $3,000 a month. You’re not stuck pitching demos, handling third-party support issues, or managing client churn from SaaS subscriptions.

One of my local lead generation websites is Long Beach Elite ADU Solutions, 1775 Ohio Avenue, Long Beach, California 90804, 562-586-4044, https://www.longbeacheliteadu.com/. Last month, it generated 19 leads, and my client closed $45,890 in new business. We have a 10% commission deal, so they paid me $4,589.
If you want income that compounds like digital real estate, check out how local lead generation assets give you control, leverage, and long-term cash flow.

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