Ask ten agencies who owns their clients’ hosting and you will hear ten different arrangements, most of which were never decided on purpose. One client’s site sits on the agency’s reseller account because it was quicker at launch. Another client registered their own domain years ago with a personal email address nobody checks. A third pays for hosting on a card that belongs to a staff member who left. It all works until the day it does not: a renewal fails, a client wants to leave, or a site goes down and the person with the login is on a plane.
The question of who owns hosting and domains is worth settling deliberately for every client, and writing down. This post compares the common arrangements, explains what each one means when something goes wrong, and gives you wording for the conversation.
First, separate the pieces
“Hosting” is often used to mean everything that keeps a website online. In practice there are at least four separate accounts, and they can each belong to a different person:
- The domain registration. The name itself, held at a registrar. Whoever is listed as the registrant is, in practical terms, the holder of the domain.
- DNS. The records that point the domain to the web server and to email. Often managed at the registrar, sometimes at the host, sometimes at a separate DNS or CDN service.
- The hosting account. The server or plan where the WordPress files and database live.
- Email. Frequently a separate service again, such as a business email provider.
If a client is hazy on how a domain differs from hosting, send them our plain explainer on the difference between a domain and hosting before you discuss ownership. It saves a lot of confusion later.
The three common arrangements
| Client-owned | Agency-managed | Mixed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain registrant | Client | Agency (on the client’s behalf) | Client |
| Hosting account holder | Client | Agency | Agency |
| Who pays the provider | Client directly | Agency, billed on to client | Split |
| Agency access | Added user or shared login | Full | Full on hosting, user on domain |
| Leaving the agency | Simple: remove access | Needs a migration and transfer | Needs a hosting move only |
Client-owned hosting and domain
The client signs up with the registrar and host in their own business name, pays the bills and adds the agency as a user. This is the cleanest arrangement for ownership. If the relationship ends, the client already holds everything and simply removes your access.
The downside is control. You are working inside an account you did not choose, perhaps on a plan that is too small, with a host whose support you have never dealt with. Renewals depend on the client’s card and inbox, and a missed renewal is your emergency even though it was not your mistake.
Agency-managed hosting
The agency holds a hosting account, often a reseller plan or a server, and puts client sites on it. You pick the stack, you know the support team and you can fix things without asking for logins. Many agencies bill hosting on as part of a maintenance arrangement.
The risks are on the other side. If the agency’s account has a billing problem or a security incident, every client on it is affected at once. Sites sharing an account can also affect each other: one compromised site on a shared account can lead to others being infected if they are not isolated, a point covered in our post on how hacks spread across shared hosting. And when a client leaves, you have to move their site out, which takes time somebody has to pay for.
Mixed
A common middle ground: the client owns the domain, the agency hosts the site. This keeps the most valuable asset, the name, firmly with the client, while giving the agency a hosting setup it controls. It is a sensible default for many agencies, as long as the client really does have working access to the domain account.
The domain is the part that matters most
Hosting can be replaced in a day if you have a backup. A domain cannot. It carries the client’s email, their search history and every printed card and van livery with the address on it. Whatever you decide about hosting, the domain should be held in a way the client can always reach.
A few practical points:
- The registrant name should be the client’s business, not the agency and not an individual employee.
- The account email should be an address the client controls long term, ideally a shared role address rather than a person’s inbox, because registrars send renewal notices and transfer approvals there.
- Auto-renew should be on, with a payment method that will still be valid next year.
- Registrar transfer lock should stay on unless a transfer is actually under way.
- To move a domain to another registrar, the current registrar normally provides an authorisation code. Registrars commonly restrict transfers for a period after a domain is registered or moved, so do not plan a migration around an assumption that a transfer will be quick.
If an agency must register domains on clients’ behalf, register them in the client’s business name with their details, record that clearly, and be ready to hand over the account or move the domain whenever asked.
Questions to settle for each client
Run through these at the start of a project, or now for clients you already look after. Write the answers in the client’s site notes.
- Who is the registrant of the domain, and which email address is on the registrar account?
- Where is DNS managed, and who can log in?
- Whose name is the hosting account in, and who pays for it?
- Where does email live, and is it tied to the hosting plan? (Cancelling hosting can quietly cancel email.)
- Does the agency have its own login, or is it using the client’s credentials?
- When do the domain and hosting renew, and who receives the reminders?
- If the client left tomorrow, what would have to move, and who would do it?
The last question is the honest test. If the answer is “we’d need to work it out”, you have found your next small project. The sibling post on ending a client relationship cleanly walks through what a good exit looks like.
Access without shared passwords
Whoever owns the accounts, the agency usually needs access. Wherever the provider allows it, ask for a separate user for the agency rather than the client’s own login. Most registrars, many hosts and most email providers support additional users or delegated access, though the exact options differ by provider. A separate user means the client can remove you without changing their own password, and you can see who did what.
Where only one login exists, store it in a password manager the client can also see, not in an email thread. Our post on sharing client logins safely goes into user roles, password managers and revoking access when people change.
Sample wording for the conversation
Clients rarely object to sensible ownership; they just have never been asked. A short email usually does it.
For a new client: “Before we launch, we’d like the domain and hosting set up in your business’s name, with the bills going to you, so that you always own them. We’ll ask you to add us as a user so we can manage things day to day. If you’d prefer us to host the site on our account instead, that works too; the domain would still stay in your name.”
For an existing client on agency accounts: “While reviewing our records, we noticed your domain is registered under our account. We’d like to move it into your own name so it’s clearly yours. Nothing will change for visitors or email, and we’ll handle the steps with you. Could you let us know which email address you’d like on the account?”
For a client whose domain sits with a former employee or old developer: “Your domain is registered to an account we can’t reach. It’s worth recovering it now rather than when it comes up for renewal. Do you know who set it up? If not, we can ask the registrar what proof they need from your business to recover it, and help you prepare it.”
Responsibility when things break
Ownership and responsibility are related but not the same. A client can own their hosting and still expect you to sort out a server problem. Put the split in writing:
- Who contacts the host’s support when the server is down or slow.
- Who deals with DNS changes, and who approves them.
- Who handles email delivery problems.
- Who is responsible for renewals actually being paid.
- What happens if the hosting plan is too small for the site: who decides to upgrade, and who pays.
Our existing post on who fixes what between hosting and maintenance is written for site owners and makes a good attachment when you explain this split to a client.
Which arrangement should you choose?
There is no single right answer, but there are some sound defaults. Keep the domain with the client in nearly every case. Host on your own account only if you are prepared to run that account carefully, with isolation between sites, monitored backups and a clear plan for clients who leave. If you would rather not be in the hosting business at all, client-owned hosting with agency access is perfectly workable, as long as you know which host each client uses and have tested your access before you need it.
Whichever you pick, the arrangement should be the same on paper as it is in reality. That is the part that most often slips. For the wider picture of how agencies split this kind of work with an outside team, see our guide to WordPress outsourcing for agencies.
And if hosting, DNS and email problems on your clients’ accounts are taking up time your team would rather spend on builds, our page on white label hosting support describes how we handle those tickets for agencies.
Next in this series: A Standard Plugin Stack for Agency Client Sites
