Ownership
Who actually owns your website after you've paid for it?
A website isn't one thing you either own or don't. It's a domain, a hosting account, a design, some code, your words, some photographs, a few font and software licences, and a platform — and those can all be owned or licensed differently. Here's what to check, and what to get in writing.
Nine separate things
Break "the website" into its parts.
Most ownership arguments happen because one of these was assumed rather than agreed. Go through the list and confirm each one.
| Item | Typical arrangement | What to confirm in writing |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Registered to you, or to whoever set it up | That your business is the registrant, and that you can access the registrar account. |
| Hosting account | Often the designer's account, with your site inside it | Whose account it sits in, and how the site would be handed over if you moved. |
| Website design | Usually transfers to you on full payment | That the contract says so, and at what point it happens. |
| Custom code | Varies — sometimes owned, sometimes licensed | Whether you own the code written for you, or hold a licence to use it. |
| Text and copy | Yours if you wrote it; check if a copywriter did | That written copy transfers to you, including anything drafted on your behalf. |
| Photography | Owned by the photographer, licensed to you | What the licence covers — web only, social, print, how long for. |
| Fonts | Licensed, never owned | Which licence applies and whether it covers your expected traffic. |
| Third-party software | Licensed per site or per account | Which subscriptions the site depends on, and whose name they're in. |
| CMS or platform | Licensed or account-based access | Whether you have admin access, and whether the site can be exported. |
Domain ownership
The domain matters more than people realise.
Your domain is the one part nobody can rebuild for you. A website can be redesigned or moved; an address your customers already know, and that search engines have spent years associating with your business, can't be replaced without cost.
So it should be registered to your business, in an account you can access, with renewal reminders going somewhere you'll actually read. It's entirely reasonable for a designer to manage it on your behalf — but you should know where it lives and be able to get to it.
Website ownership
The contract decides this, not the invoice.
Paying for work doesn't, on its own, settle who owns what. A short written agreement that says when ownership passes, and what it covers, prevents almost every dispute we've heard about second-hand.
Expect a distinction between the design and files made specifically for you, and the designer's own underlying tools, frameworks and internal templates. That second category staying with the designer is normal and doesn't limit what you can do with your site.
Our guide to web design contracts covers the clauses worth reading twice.
Third-party technology
Licences and accounts don't transfer just because you paid.
Most websites lean on things nobody owns outright: fonts, stock imagery, plugins, booking tools, payment providers, email services, analytics. Each comes with its own terms, its own renewal, and its own account holder.
Two practical questions cover it. First, which subscriptions does the site actually depend on to keep working? Second, whose name are they in? If a booking system your customers use is registered to your designer's email address, that's worth knowing now rather than at the point you part company.
Also ask about admin access to the platform itself. Read-only access to your own website is a reasonable thing to query.
Hosting explained covers where the site physically lives, which is a separate question again.
The question worth asking early
What happens if you leave?
Ask it before you start, not because you expect problems, but because the answer tells you a great deal about how the relationship is set up. Six things to pin down:
Transfer
What is handed over, in what format, and whether there's a charge for the time it takes.
Export
Whether the site can leave the platform it was built on, or whether it only exists inside a system you'd have to keep paying for.
Domain
How the domain moves to a registrar of your choosing, and who holds the authorisation code.
Accounts
Analytics, Search Console, email, booking and payment tools — who owns each login, and how they're reassigned.
Subscriptions
Anything recurring that the site relies on, and what happens to it when the relationship ends.
Migration help
Whether reasonable assistance is included, and where chargeable time begins.
Our position
Read the terms, not the sales copy.
Rather than make promises here that a contract has to honour later, our position on ownership is published in full in our Client Project Terms. Section 10 covers ownership and intellectual property; section 7 covers what happens if Managed Hosting & Care is cancelled; section 9 covers third-party services.
If anything in there is unclear, ask us before you commit to anything. We'd rather answer an awkward question early than have it surface a year in.
Common questions
Ownership questions we get asked.
This page is general business information rather than legal advice. For anything significant, take proper advice on your own agreement.
Next step
Not sure what you actually own?
Send us the details.
Tell us where your domain is registered and who built the site, and we'll tell you plainly what to ask for — whether or not you end up working with us.