Whoever builds your site, the finish line should look the same: the domain registered to you, the files and the words yours, and every login on your email address. Most designers are fine on this. Some contracts are not. Here is what I put in writing, and a ten-minute check you can run on the site you already have.
Do you own the site a designer builds for you? Only if the agreement says so. The legal and agency posts that rank for this question say the same thing: without a written assignment, the designer can keep rights to the design and the code (sources below). My project agreement hands you all of it at the end: code, content, domain, accounts. No lock-in.
Who should own the domain? You, always. The registrant of record controls where the name points and whether it renews. Register it in your own account, on your own card, and give the designer access instead of the keys.
To check yours: look the domain up at lookup.icann.org to find the registrar, log into that registrar and confirm the account is yours, then open the access page on your hosting, Analytics and Google Business Profile and confirm you are the owner, not a manager.
When someone asks me "do I own my website?", they usually mean the pages they can see. The honest answer covers five separate things, and a business can own four of them and still be locked out of its own name online because the fifth is registered to a designer's personal email.
The domain is the one that matters most. Files can be rebuilt. Photos can be re-shot. But the name your customers type, the one on your van and your invoices, is a registration, and the person who holds the registration decides where it points and whether it renews. That is why I treat domain ownership as the first thing to check, not a detail for later.
| What to own | Why it matters | How to check | What my contract says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Controls where your business name resolves. Lose it and you need a new address, new cards, and every old link breaks. | Look it up at lookup.icann.org for the registrar; log into that registrar; confirm the registrant contact is you. | Registered in your name at your registrar. I never hold it. The registration fee is yours, and so is the domain. |
| Code and design | Without it, moving to another builder means starting from zero. | Ask for the repository or a full export; confirm the contract assigns it to you. | Yours at the end of the project, every file handed over. A static site can be hosted anywhere, free. |
| Content: copy, photos, logo | Words written for you should be yours, not licensed back to you. | The agreement should say written content is assigned to you, not licensed. | I write the copy and it is yours. Three rounds of revisions included. |
| Hosting account | Whoever holds the login controls uptime, backups and your ability to move. | Ask whose name and card are on the account, and ask for the login. | Not included after launch unless you take a Care Plan ($199/mo). Otherwise the site is handed to you to host yourself, free for a static site. |
| Analytics, Search Console, Google Business Profile | Your history and your reviews live with the account owner. On Business Profile, Google's help page says managers "can't add or remove users" and "only owners can remove other owners and managers" (support.google.com/business/answer/3403100, read 15 September 2026). | Open each product's users or access page and confirm you hold the owner role, not manager. | Owned by you. Any access I have is access you can remove. |
Two rows deserve spelling out, because they are where the money hides.
Hosting is not ownership. After launch you own the files whether or not I host them. If you take a Care Plan ($199 a month to start: managed hosting and security, monthly edits, uptime and performance monitoring), the site lives on hosting I manage. If you do not, a static site can be handed to you to host free, and you never see a hosting bill from me. Either way the files are yours.
Third-party fees stay in your name on purpose. Your domain registration, your ad spend and any paid app you ask me to connect are billed to you, not through me. It is tempting to bundle those into one tidy monthly invoice from the designer, and it is exactly how a business ends up with a domain sitting in somebody else's account.
You do not need a designer's help for this, and it takes about five minutes.
Five questions, and what a good answer sounds like. Put the answers in the contract, not in an email.
"What happens if I cancel?" Mine: cancel before work starts and the deposit comes back in full. Cancel after work starts and you pay only for the work done; anything already paid beyond that is refunded (signed project agreement, section 8).
"Is there an hourly meter?" Mine: no. A fixed price and a date, in writing, before you commit. 50% to start, 50% on launch. Starter Site from $999; Business Site from $2,499; Growth Site + Tool from $4,999.
Search either question and page one is a row of agencies and one lawyer saying much the same thing. I read them so you do not have to. Every quote below was read 15 September 2026.
On the code. Phil Nicolosi, a lawyer writing at internetlegalattorney.com, says that under United States copyright law the creator is presumed to own what they create, and that if you hire an independent designer without a written development agreement saying otherwise, you are left with "an implied, non-exclusive license to use your website." Southtown Designs (post dated 15 July 2025, updated 22 July 2026) reaches the same place: the designer holds the copyright and the customer gets an implied licence, so the contract needs to say that on final payment "all website elements (source code, website files, visual design, CMS, database scripts) transfer to you." Thrive Agency's older post on the subject (16 June 2016) adds the one part everyone agrees on: anything you supplied, "editorial content, photography, artwork, etc., belong to you."
On the domain. T. Brooks Web Design is blunt: the company owner "should always be the registrant, administrative and technical contact of your domain name," not the designer. A checklist post at gtstu.com (28 August 2026) lists four things to hold yourself: the domain in your own registrar account, hosting billed to you with you holding the primary login, a full administrator login to the site rather than an editor account, and Analytics, Search Console and Business Profile "owned by an account you control." Its red flag is one I share: a designer who insists on keeping the domain "for management purposes" should be treated as a red flag "rather than a standard practice."
I agree with all of it. Where I would push harder is this: those posts tell you what a contract should say. I would rather show you mine. Ownership of the code, the content, the domain and the accounts passes to you at the end of the project, in the agreement you sign, not in a reassuring email.
First, the calm version: this is usually fixable, and the rules are on your side once the domain is in your name. The steps below come from ICANN's Transfer Policy, ICANN's registrant FAQ, and the transfer instructions published by GoDaddy and Cloudflare, all read 15 September 2026. Nothing here is legal advice; I build websites.
Route one: change the registrant to you. If the designer's registrar account holds the domain with the designer listed as registrant, the cleanest fix is inside that account: they change the registrant name, organisation and email to yours, or move the domain into an account in your name at the same registrar. ICANN's Transfer Policy defines a "Change of Registrant" as a material change to the registrant's name, organization or email address (section 1.1, icann.org/resources/pages/transfer-policy-2016-06-01-en). One side effect to know about: ICANN's FAQ says you "cannot transfer a domain name to a different registrar within 60 days" of changing those details, that some registrars let you opt out of the lock, and that they do not have to. Its advice, if you also want to leave that registrar, is to complete the transfer first and change the contact details after.
Route two: transfer the domain to your own registrar. Open an account at a registrar you choose. Ask the designer to unlock the domain and send you the authorization code. ICANN's FAQ explains the code, "also called an Authorization Code, AuthInfo Code, Auth-Info Code, or transfer code," is what a registrar uses to identify the domain holder, and that it is required to move a domain between registrars. You then start the transfer at the new registrar by entering that code. Cloudflare's instructions (developers.cloudflare.com/registrar/get-started/transfer-domain-to-cloudflare/) list the same sequence: unlock at the current registrar, get the auth code, submit it at the new registrar, then approve the confirmation the old registrar emails. On timing, GoDaddy's transfer-away page (godaddy.com/help/transfer-my-domain-away-from-godaddy-3560) says transfers "typically take 5-7 days to complete," and Cloudflare says most registrars process them within five business days, up to ten.
What the rules give you once you are the registrant. The registrar is on a clock. Transfer Policy section 5.2 says registrars must give the holder the AuthInfo code and lift the transfer lock "within five (5) calendar days" of the request if they do not offer a self-service tool. Section 3.7 lists the only grounds for refusing a transfer: fraud, a genuine dispute over who the holder is, unpaid past registration, an express objection from the holder, or a request within 60 days of the domain's creation or of a previous transfer. Section 3.9 says a transfer may not be refused for "Nonpayment for a pending or future registration period," and 3.10 says a registrar "must not employ transfer processes as a mechanism to secure payment." GoDaddy's page states its version of the 60-day rule: no transfers within 60 days of registration, transfer or a contact change "if the current registrant opted to apply a 60-day lock."
Every rule above is written for the "Registered Name Holder", the registrant. ICANN's policy binds registrars; it does not bind your designer. If the designer is the registrant and will not make the change, the rights the policy describes are theirs to exercise, not yours, and getting the name moved becomes a matter between you and them, and if it goes badly, for a lawyer. That is exactly why the five-minute check above, and the questions before you sign, matter more than any recovery procedure.
Three questions. If you can answer all three the way you want to, you own your website. If not, you know exactly what to fix.
Only if your agreement says you do. The legal and agency articles that rank for this question agree that, without a written assignment, the designer can keep rights to the design and code even though you paid for the work. So read the ownership clause before you sign. My project agreement hands everything to you at the end: the code, the content, the domain and every account, with no lock-in.
You. The domain is your business's address, and whoever is the registrant of record controls where it points and whether it renews. Register it in your own account at a registrar, pay for it on your own card, and give your designer access as a contact or delegate if they need it. I never register a domain in my name for a project; the registration fee is yours and so is the domain.
Ask, in writing, for the domain to be moved into a registrar account you control. There are two routes: the designer updates the registrant contact to you inside their registrar, or unlocks the domain and gives you the transfer authorization code so you can pull it into your own account at a registrar of your choice. The steps on this page come from ICANN's transfer policy and the registrars' own help pages, read 15 September 2026.
It depends entirely on what the payments are buying. Some monthly plans are a subscription: stop paying and the site goes away. Mine is a payment plan with an end. The Starter Site is $149 a month for 12 months, after which the payments stop and the site is yours outright, and if it were never delivered every payment would be refunded. Ask any designer offering monthly pricing the same question: what do I hold on the day the payments stop?
Send me your domain name. I will tell you which registrar it sits at, whether the public record shows it in your name, and what to ask for if it does not. Five minutes, no charge.
Works whether or not you end up building with me.