Pricing · 4 min read
Who owns your website? Check these five accounts before you find out.
A website is five accounts, not one. Here's how to check whether you actually control your domain, hosting, CMS and DNS, or whether someone else does.
Most business owners never think about who owns their website until they try to leave the person who built it. By then the domain sits in someone else's account, the hosting bill lands in an inbox they can't access, and the freelancer who built the site isn't returning calls. We see a version of this every few months at Lipsum, usually right after the relationship with a previous developer has already broken down.
A website is not one thing you either have or don't have. It's five separate accounts stitched together, and by default, whoever set the site up can end up holding all five. None of that is malicious most of the time. It's just how projects get built when nobody asks who owns what at the start.
The five accounts that actually run your website
Before you can walk away from a developer, agency or web host with your business intact, you need direct control of these:
- 1Domain registrar: the account that legally owns your yourbusiness.com name and controls renewal and transfer.
- 2Hosting account: the server where your site files, database and backups actually live.
- 3CMS admin login: the WordPress, Shopify or custom dashboard you use to edit pages day to day.
- 4DNS records: the settings that point your domain at your hosting, your email and any subdomains.
- 5Business email: if your inbox runs through the same provider as your site, losing one login can take down both.
Who holds what, by default
| Account | What it actually controls | Who typically holds it |
|---|---|---|
| Domain registrar | The name itself, renewal, transfer authorization | Whoever registered it first, often the agency's own account |
| Hosting account | Server, files, database, backups | Agency or freelancer's hosting panel |
| CMS admin login | Day-to-day content and page edits | Usually shared, rarely verified as a real owner-level login |
| DNS records | Where the domain points: site, email, subdomains | Registrar or host, almost never documented anywhere |
| Business email | The inbox tied to your domain | Same provider as the site in most small setups |
The pattern in that table is the problem. Four of the five defaults point back to someone other than the business that depends on the site.
60 days
ICANN-mandated lock period after any registrant name or email change on a domain
Source: ICANN Transfer Policy
That lock period matters because it turns a five-minute fix into a two-month wait if you only discover the problem after you've already fallen out with whoever registered your domain. Sort out ownership while the relationship is still good, not after.
How to check what you actually control right now
- 1Look up your domain on a WHOIS lookup tool and check the registrar name and the account email on file.
- 2Log into that registrar directly, not through a developer's dashboard, and confirm you can see billing and renewal.
- 3Ask your host for an owner-level login, separate from any admin account a developer set up.
- 4Check your DNS records for anything pointing to a service you don't recognize.
- 5Confirm your business email is either on its own account or documented clearly as tied to your hosting.
If you can't complete all five without asking someone else for a password, you don't fully own your website yet, whatever the invoice says.
Why this keeps happening
Most of the time it isn't a scam. A developer registers the domain because the client doesn't know how, or a freelancer sets up hosting under their own reseller account because it's faster. Nobody writes down who's actually supposed to hold what. The arrangement works fine until the business wants to switch developers, and then it becomes a negotiation instead of a formality.
We build every Lipsum site the other way around. You register the domain in your own name, you get owner-level hosting and CMS access from day one, and we document exactly what we manage versus what's yours. It costs us nothing extra and it means you're never stuck. See how that's priced.
Questions people also ask
How do I find out who owns my website's domain?
Run a WHOIS lookup on your domain name. It shows the registrar and, depending on privacy settings, the registrant details. If the registrant isn't your business, that's the first thing to fix.
What happens if my previous agency won't hand over access?
Start with the registrar, since that's the account that legally controls the domain name. If they won't transfer it, you may need to register a new domain and redirect traffic, which is disruptive but not fatal. Involve a solicitor if the agency is being unresponsive on a domain you paid to register.
Does losing website access affect my email too?
Often yes. If your business email runs through the same hosting provider as your website, losing access to one can take down the other. Check whether your email is on a separate account before you have a dispute, not during one.
