If your agreement does not say you own the site, you probably do not. Many web and marketing contracts license the website to you for as long as you keep paying, which means cancelling leaves you with nothing — no files, no content, sometimes not even the domain. Four assets decide it, and each is settled by a different clause.
Which four assets actually matter?
"The website" is not one thing. It is four, and they can be owned by four different parties.
- The domain name. Whoever the registrant is, owns it. If your provider registered it under their account, the address customers type belongs to them.
- The site itself — the design, templates and code. On a proprietary platform this often stays the provider's, by design.
- The content — copy, photos, and any custom graphics. Frequently licensed rather than transferred, especially stock photography.
- The phone number on the site. If a provider registered a tracking number, it can be theirs, and every sign, wrap and listing you own points at it.
The costly discovery is usually the domain or the number, because those are the two that make leaving expensive rather than merely annoying.
What wording should you look for?
Search the agreement for these terms and read what surrounds them.
| Look for | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| "license to use" / "right to use" | You are renting. Ownership did not transfer. |
| "during the term of this agreement" | Your rights end when payment does. |
| "work made for hire" / "all right, title and interest shall vest in Client" | Genuine transfer — this is the wording you want. |
| "proprietary platform" / "our content management system" | The site likely cannot be exported or moved. |
| Silence on the domain registrant | Check the registrar record yourself; silence is not ownership. |
Then ask one question in writing: "If I cancel today, what exactly do I leave with, and how is it delivered?" A provider who owns their answer will give you a specific list. A vague reply is itself the answer.
How do you verify it yourself, today?
You do not need the provider's cooperation for the first two checks. Look up your domain in a public WHOIS record and read the registrant organisation — that is who owns the address. Then call your own business number from a phone that is not in your contacts, and ask your telephony provider or carrier who the number is registered to.
For the site, ask for an export. A provider who can hand you the files and content on request is one you can leave, which usually means one worth staying with.
What should a fair agreement say?
A reasonable arrangement is simple to state: the domain is registered to your business, the site and its content transfer to you on full payment, the phone number stays yours, and on cancellation everything is handed over inside a defined window. Providers who intend to keep clients by doing good work have no reason to resist any of that.
That is GRIFFAIN's standing rule, in the contract rather than in a blog post: you own everything, full payment means full ownership, and if you leave, everything transfers within 30 days. Detail on the Conversion Websites page, and market pricing in what a website costs.
If you are mid-contract and unsure what you own, the free diagnostic reviews your setup and tells you what is actually in your name — yours to keep whether you hire us or not.
Questions owners actually ask
Do I own my website if I paid an agency to build it?
Not automatically. Without wording that transfers ownership, many agreements grant only a licence to use the site while you keep paying. Look for "work made for hire" or "all right, title and interest shall vest in Client".
How do I check who owns my domain?
Look up the domain in a public WHOIS record and read the registrant organisation. Whoever is listed as registrant owns it, regardless of who paid for it.
Can an agency keep my phone number?
Yes, if they registered it. Tracking numbers registered under a provider account can stay with the provider, which strips value from every sign, vehicle wrap and listing pointing at it. Confirm in writing that the number transfers.
What should I ask before signing?
One question: if I cancel today, what exactly do I leave with, and how is it delivered? A specific list is a good sign. A vague answer is the answer.
Read next: what a website costs · how GRIFFAIN works.