Do I Own My Website? Domain, Code, Content and Design

"Do I own my website?" sounds like a yes or no question. It isn't, because a website is made of four things that can each belong to someone else. Most business owners only find out when they want to switch providers.

Key takeaways

A website built by an outside designer belongs to the designer unless a written agreement transfers it to you.
You never own a domain outright; make sure you are the registrant.
You own content you or your employees created. Content the designer wrote or licensed depends on the contract.
On website builders you own your content, but you usually can't take the site itself elsewhere.
Monthly plans are often cheaper over five years, but with many of them you own nothing when you leave.

What the law says

In the US, the person who creates a work owns its copyright. There is an exception for "works made for hire", but for outside contractors it only applies to nine specific categories of work, and only if both sides sign a written agreement that says so. The US Copyright Office explains this in Circular 30. Most website work doesn't fit neatly into those categories, so the safe route is a signed copyright assignment to your business.

In the UK, the result is the same. The Intellectual Property Office warns businesses that if they hire a subcontractor to build their website, the subcontractor will be the copyright owner, and that a contract transferring ownership should be in place before the work starts.

The four parts of a website, and who owns each

The domain. Nobody owns a domain outright; you register the right to use it for a period. What matters is who the registrar lists as the registrant, because that person controls renewals and transfers. It should be you.
The code. Owned by whoever wrote it, unless assigned. On website builders like Wix, you can't export the site to run it elsewhere; Squarespace exports only some of your content. What that means when you want to leave: Cancel your website builder and switch.
The content. Text and photos you or your employees created are yours. Copy the designer wrote and images they licensed depend on the contract, and a stock photo licensed to the designer may not transfer to you.
The design. A layout is a creative work too. Whether you can keep using it with a new provider is in the contract, or it isn't.

Two more things belong on the list, even though they aren't copyright: the hosting account and the admin logins. If they are in the designer's name, you depend on them for access to your own site. The same happens at nonprofits when the volunteer who built the site moves on: Nonprofit website cost.

Paying monthly vs buying outright

Many providers offer a website as a monthly plan instead of a one-off build. In the UK this is sold as a pay monthly website. Here is an illustrative five-year comparison for a small business site with one small change a month. The assumptions are in the table so you can swap in your own quotes:

Cost	Buy outright	Monthly plan
Build or set-up	$5,000	$0
Hosting and domain, $20 × 60 months	$1,200	included
Maintenance plan, $100 × 60 months	$6,000	included
Changes, 1 hour at $75 × 60 months	$4,500	usually included up to a limit
Monthly fee, $150 × 60 months	none	$9,000
Total after five years	$16,700	$9,000
Who owns the site afterwards?	you, with a written assignment	often the provider

The monthly plan is about $7,700 cheaper here. The last row changes that the moment you want to leave: if the site isn't yours, the next provider has to rebuild it, and the saving shrinks by exactly that amount.

Monthly care, and still yours

With ShiftPress you pay monthly from €79, with hosting, domain, SSL and unlimited changes included. Your site is standard code in your own repository that you can download as a zip and run anywhere, with no exit fee. We rebuild your homepage for free before you decide.

See website care ↗

What to get in writing

Item	What the contract should say
Domain	You are the registrant
Code and design	Copyright is assigned to your business on payment
Copy and images	Assigned to you, or licensed in your name
Hosting and logins	Accounts in your name, or full admin access handed over
Exit	What you receive when you leave, in what format, and at what cost

More questions worth asking before you sign: Questions to ask a web designer. Why we built ShiftPress so you can leave with everything: No lock-in.

Frequently asked questions

Do I own my website?

Only if you created it yourself or a written agreement transfers ownership to you. In both the US and the UK, whoever creates the design and code owns the copyright, so a site built by an outside designer belongs to the designer unless you have a signed copyright assignment. Content you or your employees created is yours.

Who owns a website built by a web designer?

By default, the web designer. In the US, work by an outside contractor only counts as a work made for hire in nine specific categories and with a signed written agreement, which most website work does not fit, so you need a copyright assignment. In the UK, the Intellectual Property Office advises putting a contract transferring ownership in place before the work starts.

Do I own my domain name?

Not outright. Registering a domain gives you the exclusive right to use it for the registration period, as long as you renew. What matters in practice is who is listed as the registrant, because the registrant controls renewals and transfers. Make sure that is you or your business, not your web designer.

Do I own my website on Wix or Squarespace?

You own the content you create, such as your text and photos, but not the platform your site runs on. Wix does not let you export a site to run on other hosting, and Squarespace exports only some content. If you leave, you take your content and your domain, and the site itself has to be rebuilt elsewhere.

Is it better to pay monthly for a website or buy it outright?

Paying monthly is often cheaper over five years for a small business site, because hosting, maintenance and some changes are included. Buying outright makes sense when you need custom functionality, have someone to maintain the site, or must own the code. The deciding question is what you keep when you leave: if a monthly plan leaves you with nothing, switching means paying for a rebuild.

The bottom line

Ownership of a website isn't one thing, it is four: the domain, the code, the content and the design. Each one needs to be yours in writing before you pay for anything, whether you buy outright or pay monthly. Ask one question before you sign: what is mine when I leave?

Do I Own My Website? What You Own, What You Rent, and How to Get It in Writing