Question
Who owns my website?
You should own all of it: the domain in your own name, the content and the photographs, the Welsh translation you paid for, and the site itself so it can move to any host. The common exception is a site built on a rented platform or a designer's own account, where you own the words but not the thing they sit on; ask before you pay, not after.
Answered by Daniel Stoychev, Webso Digital · 4 September 2026
The four parts, and who should hold each
The domain is the address, yourbusiness.wales or .co.uk, and it is registered to a named person or company at a registrar. It should be registered to you, with your email as the contact, and the registrar login in your hands. A domain registered by a designer in their own account is the most common way a business loses its website: the designer moves on, the renewal lapses, and the address goes to whoever buys it next.
The hosting is the computer the site runs on. A studio may host it for you under a yearly care plan, which is normal; what matters is that the site can be exported and moved to another host if you leave. A site on a rented platform, a page builder or a shop subscription, cannot be moved; you can export the words and the products, and the design and the structure stay behind.
The code and the design are the site itself. With a studio that builds from scratch, the finished site should be yours outright, with the files handed over on request. With a template or a theme, you have a licence to use it on that site, not ownership, and the licence often needs renewing.
The content is the words, the photographs and the Welsh translation. The words written for you and the translation you paid for should be yours by the contract; the photographs you took are yours already. Stock photographs are licensed, not owned, and the licence may not transfer if you move the site.
The five questions to ask before you pay
- Whose name is the domain registered in, and do I get the login?
- If I stop paying for hosting or care, can I take the site to another host, and what do you hand over?
- Is the design built from scratch, or is it a theme with a licence, and who renews the licence?
- Does the contract say the content and the Welsh translation belong to me?
- Is the Google Business Profile in my Google account or yours?
The last one is the one most people forget. The profile that puts you in the map pack should be owned by your Google account, with the studio added as a manager. A profile owned by a designer's account leaves with the designer.
How we do it
The domain stays in your name and we never move it to ours. The site is built from scratch on our stack and is yours; the files are handed over on request and the site runs on any host. The content and the Welsh translation are yours by the contract. The Google profile is in your account with us as a manager. You can leave with everything, and the pricing page says so.
Related questions
- My old designer has my domain and will not answer. What can I do?
- Check who the registrant is with a WHOIS lookup. If it is you, the registrar can help you regain access. If it is the designer, the registrar's dispute process or Nominet's, for .co.uk and .wales, is the route, and it is slow; start now.
- Do I own the site if it is on Shopify or Wix?
- You own the content and the products and can export them. The site itself, the design, the structure and the checkout, exists only on that platform and cannot be moved.