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Who owns my website, and do I have to pay monthly?
Two ways of buying a website, what happens to yours when the payments stop, and the one question that decides everything.
Most people comparing website quotes are comparing the wrong number. They look at the price and miss the structure underneath it, and the structure is what determines whether they own anything at the end.
There are broadly two arrangements. Neither is a scam and both are common. But they are very different things, and they are not always explained as clearly as they could be.
The two models
Pay once, or pay monthly
| Pay once | Pay monthly | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay | One amount for the build, then usually just the domain each year. | A recurring fee, often with little or nothing up front. |
| Who owns the site | You. Files handed over on request, moveable to anyone. | Varies enormously. Sometimes you, often the provider. |
| If you stop paying | Nothing happens. There is nothing to stop. | The site commonly switches off, sometimes the same day. |
| What you get ongoing | Nothing unless you add it. Changes are quoted or on a plan you choose. | Should include hosting, security, backups, support and changes. Sometimes does. |
| Best for | A business that wants an asset and can live without hand-holding. | A business that genuinely wants someone managing it every month. |
| Worst case | Something breaks and you have nobody on call. | Three years of payments and you leave with nothing, not even the domain. |
A monthly fee is fair when you are getting something monthly. The problem is never the fee, it is a fee that buys nothing and never ends.
Do the multiplication
What monthly actually costs
Worth doing before you sign rather than in year three.
| Arrangement | Year 1 | Over 5 years | What you own at the end |
|---|---|---|---|
| $99 a month | $1,188 | $5,940 | Depends on the contract. Often nothing. |
| $150 a month | $1,800 | $9,000 | Depends on the contract. Often nothing. |
| $1,000 once, plus domain | $1,020 | $1,100 | The site and the domain, both in your name. |
Domain estimated at about $20 a year. The monthly figures can still be the right choice when the service behind them is real and you use it. They are a poor deal when nobody has touched the site since it launched.
The one that matters most
Whose name is the domain in?
This is the question that catches people, and it catches them years later when they are trying to leave. Your domain is your address on the internet. It costs about twenty dollars a year. If it is registered in your web designer's name rather than yours, you do not control it, and getting it back ranges from a favour you have to ask for to a thing that does not happen.
It is not always done maliciously. Plenty of builders register domains on a client's behalf because it is quicker, and think nothing of it. That does not help you if they stop answering emails or go out of business.
Ask for the registrant to be you
Your business name and your ABN on the registration, not theirs. For a .com.au there are eligibility requirements tied to an ABN or business name, so this is normal and expected.
Ask for account access
You should be able to log in to wherever the domain is registered, even if you never do. If access is refused, you have learned something important.
Check it yourself
Australian .com.au registrations can be looked up through auDA's WHOIS service. It takes a minute and it tells you the truth rather than what you were told.
Sort it before you need it
The time to fix a domain in the wrong name is while everyone is still friendly, not during the argument that made you want to leave.
Before you sign
Five questions, and get them in writing
What happens to the site if I stop paying?
The single most revealing question you can ask. If the answer is that it comes down, you are renting, and you should price it as rent.
Is there a minimum term, and what does it cost to leave?
Two or three year terms are common and not automatically unfair. Not being told the exit cost is the problem.
Can I take the site elsewhere?
Ask whether you get the files, and whether another developer could pick it up. Some platforms make this genuinely hard, and it is better to know that going in.
What exactly is in the monthly fee?
Hosting, backups, security updates, how many changes, how fast. "Support" on its own is not an answer.
Who is the domain registered to?
Covered above. It should be you, and you should be able to check.
Do I get a tax invoice?
From a business with an ABN. Website costs are generally a business expense, and there is more on how that usually works here.
Being straight with you
How we do it, and where monthly is genuinely better
We are pay once. A fix is $250, a template site is $500, a custom build is $1,000, paid after it is live and you are happy. The domain goes in your name from day one. There is no minimum term because there is nothing to be locked into, and if you want to take the site to somebody else you can.
Site care is optional, $20 a year, and cancelling it never costs you the site. That is deliberately small because it covers hosting and small changes rather than pretending to be a management service.
Where monthly genuinely wins: if you want somebody actively managing the site, posting updates, watching the analytics and making changes most weeks, a real monthly service is worth paying for and we do not offer that. Just make sure you are buying the service and not only the permission to keep your own website switched on.
Fair questions
The things people ask
Is a monthly fee always a rip-off?
No. It is fair when you are getting something every month. It is poor value when the site was built once, never touched, and switches off if you stop.
What if I already signed one?
Find out three things: the end date, the exit cost, and whose name the domain is in. That tells you what your options are. If the domain is yours, you have more room than you think.
Can I move my site to someone else?
If you own the files and the domain, usually yes. If it is on a closed platform, sometimes the content moves but the build does not. Ask before you commit, not after.
Do I still need to pay for hosting?
Something has to host it, but a small business site of a few pages can genuinely be hosted for very little or nothing on modern platforms. Paying $30 a month for five pages is worth questioning.
Free mockup
See your site before you buy it
Tell us the business name and what you do. We build a mockup of your own site and send it over. No contract, no minimum term, and nothing to pay until it is live and you are happy with it.
0468 053 175 · [email protected]