Who actually owns your website once it's built?

It should be you, full stop. Your domain name should be registered in your name, at a registrar you control — not tucked inside the agency's account "for convenience." That single detail decides whether you're a customer or a hostage.

What you should have direct access to, before or immediately after launch:

• The domain name, registered to you at a registrar like GoDaddy or Namecheap, with you as the account owner
• Login credentials to whatever platform hosts and deploys the site
• The actual source files, not just a login to a page builder you can't export content out of
• Any CMS or admin login used to update text, photos, or blog posts going forward

Watch for the proprietary-platform trap: some agencies build your site inside a closed system that only exists as long as you keep paying their monthly fee. Stop paying, and the site disappears — not because you own less of it, but because you never owned it in the first place. Ask directly, before you sign anything: "If I stop paying you tomorrow, do I keep my website?"

The fair standard is simple: a contract that spells out ownership transferring to you on final payment, and a designer who hands over every credential without friction when you ask. If getting a straight answer to that question feels like pulling teeth, that's the answer.