Who owns your website? How to check whether the domain and the code are yours

Your website should be yours: the code, or at least a full copy of the website, in your hands, and the domain (your address on the internet, like yourbusiness.com) properly secured. The safest option is to have it in your name or your company's; if whoever built your website registers it in their name to manage it, as we do, what matters is that they commit in writing to transfer it to you whenever you ask or if you leave. Without the code, or with the domain in someone else's name and nothing in writing, you depend on that person to switch providers and to keep your business's address.

People usually find out on the day they want to change something and discover that someone else holds the logins, so it's worth checking beforehand.

Domain, hosting and code: what each one is

• The domain is your address on the internet (yourbusiness.com or yourbusiness.es). It's registered for a set number of years with a registrar, the company that sets it up, and it has to be renewed on time. Whoever is listed as the registrant decides what happens to it.
• Hosting is the computer connected to the internet where your website's files are stored so it can be seen. You pay for it while you use it, like rent.
• The code is the set of files your website is made of: the design, the programming, the text and the photos. With a copy, your website can be set up on another host.

Why it matters who owns them

To switch providers. If the domain and the code are yours, switching is like moving house: you take the files to the new host, point the domain at it (you tell it where the website now lives) and keep your address. If they're in someone else's name, you first have to ask that person for them.

To keep your business's address. Your domain is on your business cards, your Google profile and your email, if it's something like info@yourbusiness.com. If the registrant is someone else and they stop renewing it, your website and your email stop working, and once the grace period for renewing it is over, anyone can register the domain.

Watch out, too, for template platforms that include hosting: on many of them, the website only works inside the platform, so when you switch you take the text and photos with you and the design has to be rebuilt.

How to find out whose name your domain is in

1. The public lookup (WHOIS or RDAP)

WHOIS and RDAP are the public lookup for a domain's registration data; according to ICANN, the organisation that coordinates internet domains, RDAP has been the official one since 28 January 2025 for .com, .net and the other generic domains. It's free:

• For a .com, .net or .org, use ICANN Lookup.
• For a .es, use the search on dominios.es, the .es registry run by Red.es.

You'll see the registrar (the company the domain is with) and the expiry date, but many of the registrant's details are hidden for privacy, so you won't always find out who owns it.

2. The registrar's control panel: the reliable check

Ask whoever built your website for access to the registrar's control panel (the account the domain is managed from) and to the hosting one, or for your own login to each. There you'll see the registrant with all their details, the expiry date and whether the domain renews automatically.

With .es domains, also check the administrative contact's email (the person listed on the domain for these procedures): if you transfer the domain to another registrar, Red.es asks for confirmation at that address, so you want it to be yours.

3. The code

Ask where your website's code is stored, request a full copy and check what your quote or contract says about ownership; if it says nothing, ask for it in writing.

What to ask for if the domain or the website is in someone else's name

Asking doesn't force you to switch providers: you can have everything in your name and keep working with whoever built your website. Ask in writing for:

1. A change of registrant for the domain, to your name or your company's. It's done from the registrar's control panel, usually with the current registrant's consent. If you'd prefer whoever built your website to keep managing it, what matters is that they commit in writing to transfer it to you whenever you ask or if you leave.
2. The authorisation code (also called AuthCode or EPP code), if you also want to move the domain to another registrar, for example to an account of your own with another company. It's a key generated by the current registrar, and the new registrar asks you for it before accepting the transfer; since November 2024, Red.es has also required it for .es domains.
3. Access to the hosting and, if you have email on your domain, to the email accounts.
4. A full copy of the website: the code, the text, the photos and, if it uses one, the database (the file where the website stores its content).

Before you commission a website, ask this

When you ask for a quote, ask:

• Whose name the domain will be registered in and, if it isn't yours, whether they commit in writing to transfer it to you whenever you ask or if you leave.
• When the code becomes yours.
• Whether you'll have access to the registrar's and the hosting control panels or, if not, how they'll hand them over when you ask.
• What happens to the website if you ever drop the maintenance plan.

Our guide on whether to build your own website or hire a pro has more questions to help you delegate it well, and how much a website costs in 2026 shows what every quote should include.

How we do it

At Zelerix we code every website from scratch, and this is how ownership works:

• We register, renew and manage the domain ourselves, so you don't have to worry about it. If you ever leave, or whenever you ask, we transfer it to you: we give you what you need to move it to your own domain registrar and put it in your name. It's in writing in our terms.
• The code is yours from delivery. If you pay in instalments (6 to 12 payments, with a 40% surcharge on the price of the website), it's yours when you finish paying.
• Maintenance has no minimum term. It costs €19 a month or €180 a year and includes hosting, domain renewal, backups and small changes, like text or photos. If you ever drop it, we give you the website so you can host it wherever you like.

And the person who designs and codes your website is the one who answers you when you message us.

A landing page (a single page) costs €450 and a corporate website of up to 5 pages, €900, IGIC included; our web design packs include the domain, hosting and 2 months of maintenance. Before you pay, we build you a free demo so you can see it on your phone: if you like it, we finish it, and if you'd rather leave it there, you owe us nothing.