Do You Own Your Website? What Happens When You Cancel

Only if three things are yours: the domain, registered in your name; the design, code and words, transferred to you in writing; and the accounts the site runs on. Plenty of websites are effectively rented, so cancelling the plan means losing the site even though the business is yours. Check all three before you sign, not on the day you want to leave.

Who owns my website domain?

Whoever is listed as the registrant, in whichever registrar account holds it. If a web designer registered your domain in their own account, it can carry your business name and still not be under your control.

To check, log in to the registrar you pay for the domain, such as GoDaddy, Namecheap or Squarespace Domains. If you don't have a login, or you've never paid a registrar yourself, ask whoever built your site where the domain is registered and whose name is on it. A public search like ICANN's registration data lookup can help, but the owner's details are often hidden for privacy, so your own account is the better proof.

If the domain isn't in your name, ask for it to be moved to an account you own. Domains are cheap, and your email and every link to your business depend on one.

Who owns the website design and code?

This is the part most people assume. Under US copyright law, copyright belongs at first to whoever created the work. The "work made for hire" rule that gives it to the client covers employees, and outside contractors only for a short list of work types, with a signed agreement. And transferring copyright takes a signed, written document.

In practice: without a signed agreement that transfers the design, code and content to you, the person who built the site may still own them, and you may only have permission to use them. Read your contract for words like "assign" or "transfer" versus "license". A license lets you use it. An assignment makes it yours.

This is general information, not legal advice. A lawyer can read your actual contract.

What happens to my website if I stop paying?

It depends on where the site lives.

On a website builder

Wix says a Wix site has to be hosted on Wix's servers to work, so it can't move to another host. Squarespace can export some content to WordPress, and says not everything will export. If your domain is registered in your name you keep it, but the site itself mostly stays behind.

On an agency's platform or a website subscription

Some monthly website plans keep the site on the agency's own platform. When you cancel, the site stays with them unless the contract lets you buy it out. If that's the deal, get the buyout price in writing before you sign.

With your own files and your own hosting

If you have the files and the hosting account is yours, cancelling a designer's care plan changes who updates the site, not whether it exists.

What else should be in my name?

Your Google Business Profile. A profile can have several owners but only one primary owner. Make sure that's you, and give anyone helping you manager access. Managers can edit the profile but can't add or remove users or delete it.
Your reviews. Google reviews live on your Business Profile, which is one more reason to own it.
Your business email. If it runs on your own domain and the domain is yours, you decide where it goes.
Your phone numbers. If someone set up a tracking number or a texting number for you, ask who owns it and whether you keep it if you leave.
Your customer list. Ask how you'd export your contacts, and in what format.

Questions to ask before you sign

Is the domain registered in my name, in an account I can log in to?
Does the contract assign the design, code and content to me, or only license them?
Where is the site hosted, and whose account is that?
If I cancel, what do I keep, and what happens to the site?
Is there a buyout price, and what is it?
How much notice do I have to give, and is there a cancellation fee?

Where we stand

Here's what you own on each of our plans, in the same plain terms. It matches our terms and our FAQ.

The three-page website: you own it, and the domain is registered in your name. We host it for $30 a month. Cancel any time, and when the paid month ends we send you the site's files so you can host it anywhere.
Foundation: yours outright, on your own hosting, and the code goes wherever you want.
Growth and Scale: here you're buying a running system, not just a website. The site, the customer database, missed-call text-back and review requests are wired together on our platform, which is why they work. If you leave, you keep your domain, your content and photos, your customer database exported in full, and your review history. It's thirty days' notice, no cancellation fee, and we help with the move. You can also buy the site out as standalone files at any point and drop the monthly plan.
Retrofit: we add the follow-up system to the website you already have. Your site stays yours.

If owning the code matters more to you than the automation, choose Foundation. That's what it's for. See all four plans and their prices.