Who Owns Your Website? Domain, Hosting and Code Ownership Explained

Who Owns My Website? The Six Parts

How to Check Who Owns Each Part

1. Domain: look up your domain on ICANN's lookup tool for generic domains, or ask your registrar. For .pk domains, check the contact details with your registrar or PKNIC. The registrant name and email should be yours.
2. Hosting: can you log in to the hosting control panel yourself? Who receives the renewal invoice?
3. Admin login: do you have an administrator or store-owner account, not only an editor account?
4. Google accounts: in Analytics, Search Console and your Business Profile, check that you are listed as owner.
5. Code: do you have a recent full backup or access to the code repository?

Warning Signs of Website Lock-in

• You receive hosting or domain renewal requests from the developer, not from the provider.
• You have never logged in to your own site's admin panel.
• The developer says the theme or system is "theirs" and cannot be moved.
• Monthly fees continue, but you cannot get a list of what they cover.
• Your business email stops working whenever an invoice is late.

Paying for a Website Is Not the Same as Owning It

Many owners assume that paying for a site means owning it. In practice, ownership depends on whose name is on the accounts and on what your agreement says about the code and design. Copyright in creative and software work generally starts with whoever creates it, unless an agreement transfers it. That is why our contract checklist includes a clear ownership clause that applies once the final payment is made.

The Right Set-up From Day One

The safest pattern is simple: you create the accounts in your name and add your developer as a user. Google Analytics, Search Console and Business Profile all let owners add other users with limited permissions and remove them later. WordPress has user roles for this, and Shopify lets store owners add staff accounts. When the project ends, you remove the developer's access; nothing needs to be "transferred".

How to Take Back Control

1. Ask politely in writing for each login and the domain transfer code, referring to your agreement.
2. Start with the domain. If it is registered to you, the registrar can help you regain access to it.
3. Request a full backup of files and database, or the code repository transfer.
4. Claim your Google accounts through each service's ownership verification process.
5. Set up new hosting in your name and restore the backup there.

If the domain itself is registered to the developer, recovery is harder; this is why it must be in your name from the start. Our handover checklist lists everything you should receive at launch.

Frequently Asked Questions