On a website builder, whoever holds the account owns the site. Wix sites cannot leave Wix at all. Squarespace exports some pages to WordPress and leaves the design behind. Webflow can transfer a site between accounts and export static code on a paid plan. Check whose account your site sits in before anything else.
If you search “site ownership”, Google mostly shows you help pages from Wix, Squarespace and Webflow, each explaining its own rules in isolation. That is useful if you already know which rules apply to you. It is less useful if you are trying to work out whether you actually own the site somebody built for you, or whether you could take it with you if you left.
So we read the help documentation for each platform and put the answers side by side. Every row below comes from the platform’s own pages unless it says otherwise.
Who owns a site built on a website builder?
On every major builder, the answer is the same and it is not the one people expect. You do not own the site because you paid for it, or because it carries your business name. You own it if it sits in an account you control.
| Platform | Who owns the site | How it is identified |
|---|---|---|
| Wix | “The owner of the Wix account under which the content was created” | Usually the email address on the account. For paid sites, often the billing details of whoever paid. |
| Squarespace | The site owner, a role on the site | Shown in the site’s Permissions and Ownership panel, and transferable to a contributor |
| Webflow | The Workspace the site sits in | If it is in a freelancer’s or agency’s Workspace, they own it. If it is in yours, you do. |
| WordPress, self hosted | Whoever holds the hosting account and the files | The hosting login and the domain registrar account |
From Wix site and content ownership, Squarespace: change the site owner and Webflow site ownership, checked 2 October 2026.
The practical consequence is simple. If a designer built your site inside their own Wix account or their own Webflow Workspace, then by the platform’s rules it is their site, whatever the invoice says. Most designers will happily transfer it when asked. The point is that it needs to be asked, and done, while everybody is still on good terms.
The account question catches people out because builders feel like software you bought, and software you bought feels like yours. It is closer to renting a unit in somebody else’s building, where the name on the lease decides who gets the keys.
None of that is sinister. Designers build in their own accounts because it is easier during the project. The problem only appears two years later, when the designer has moved on and the login reset email goes to an inbox nobody checks.
Can you move a Wix, Squarespace or Webflow site to another host?
This is where the platforms differ most, and where the published answers are most often softened. Here is what each one actually lets you take.
| Platform | Can it leave the platform? | What you can take | What stays behind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wix | No | Nothing as a working site. Text and images have to be copied out by hand. | The whole site. Wix’s own help says all Wix sites “must be hosted on the Wix servers”. |
| Squarespace | Partly | A WordPress import file containing layout pages, one blog with its posts, and text, image and gallery blocks | The design and styles, custom CSS, store and product pages, portfolio, index, album and cover pages, headers, footers, video and audio blocks, drafts |
| Webflow | Partly, on a paid Workspace plan | Static HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images, which you can host anywhere | The CMS content, forms, site search, user accounts and ecommerce. Code export is not available on Site plans at all. |
| WordPress.com | Yes | Posts, pages, comments, categories and tags, importable into self hosted WordPress | The theme design, customisations and plugins. A full backup needs a Business or Commerce plan. |
| WordPress, self hosted | Yes | Everything: files, database, design | Nothing |
From Wix: exporting or embedding your site elsewhere, Squarespace: exporting your site, Webflow: exporting site code and WordPress.com: export, checked 2 October 2026.
In practice, leaving any builder means rebuilding the design. What varies is how much of the content comes with you. On Wix it is none of it automatically. On Squarespace it is the main pages and one blog. On Webflow it is a static snapshot that stops being a working site the moment it relies on the CMS or a form.
Builders are easier to use and cheaper to run because the platform does the hosting, security and updates. The price of that convenience is that the design belongs to the platform’s system. You are not buying a site you can move. You are buying a site you can keep paying for.
What happens if you stop paying?
The other half of ownership is what is left when the subscription ends. Here the domain matters more than the site.
| Platform | The site | A domain bought through the platform |
|---|---|---|
| Wix | Falls back to a free Wix address with Wix advertising, and your own domain is disconnected | A separate subscription. You keep it while it is paid. |
| Squarespace | Stays visible for 15 days while payment is retried, then shows “Website expired” and disappears from search | A separate subscription that stays active, and can be transferred away |
| Webflow | Not stated in the help pages we read. Ask before you cancel. | Usually registered with a separate registrar and connected, so it stays yours |
Squarespace from my site is past due and transferring a domain away. Wix lapse behaviour as described by Website Builder Insider.
Notice that every platform treats the domain as a separate thing from the site. That is good news. Even when the site cannot leave, the address customers know you by can, as long as it is registered in your name. It is the one piece worth protecting above everything else. The full version of why is in who owns your website.
What if a designer built it in their account?
This is the situation behind most ownership problems on builders, and each platform has a proper way to fix it.
- Wix: the designer transfers the site to your Wix account. The plan, the domain and any business email can move with it, as separate choices. The new owner becomes responsible for future payments.
- Squarespace: you are added as a contributor, then the designer transfers ownership to you from the Permissions and Ownership panel. Subscriptions and Squarespace domains move with it.
- Webflow: the designer transfers the site from their Workspace into yours. The paid Site plan and the custom domain move with it, with no downtime. Moving a paid site to a client needs the designer to be on a Freelancer or Agency Workspace plan.
From Wix: transferring a premium site, Squarespace’s ownership article above, and Webflow: transfer a site or plan.
Some things never transfer. Wix, for example, does not move Wix Payments accounts, ad campaigns, a purchased logo or blog statistics. Ask what will not come across before the transfer, not after. If the designer has stopped replying, the order to do things in is set out in how to get your website back.
How to check who owns your builder site today
This takes about five minutes and it is worth doing even if nothing is wrong.
- Log in yourself. Not through a link the designer sent. Go to the platform and sign in with your own email. If you cannot, the site is not in your account.
- Find the ownership setting. On Squarespace it is Permissions and Ownership. On Webflow, check which Workspace the site appears under. On Wix, check whether the site is listed in your own account dashboard.
- Check who pays. If the plan renews on somebody else’s card, that person is the paying owner as far as the platform is concerned.
- Check the domain separately. Look up your domain on a WHOIS or RDAP service and read the registrar name, then make sure you can log into that registrar.
Should you leave a website builder at all?
Usually not just because of this. Builders are a sensible choice for a lot of small businesses, and the lock-in is a fair price for not having to manage hosting, security and updates. The question to ask is narrower: if this platform raised its prices sharply or shut down a feature you rely on, how much would it cost you to start again somewhere else?
| Platform | If you had to leave tomorrow |
|---|---|
| Wix | Rebuild everything, copy content by hand |
| Squarespace | Rebuild the design, import the main pages and one blog into WordPress |
| Webflow | Rebuild anything dynamic, keep a static copy of the design |
| WordPress.com | Rebuild the design, bring all content across |
| WordPress, self hosted | Move the files and database to a new host, nothing rebuilt |
For a five page site, rebuilding is an afternoon to a few days of work. For a site with years of blog posts, products or bookings, it is a project. That is the real number to weigh, and the platform costs side by side are in which platform to build on.
If you take one thing from this page, make it the domain. You can rebuild a site in a week. You cannot easily rebuild years of people, links and listings pointing at an address you no longer control.
A builder site with the domain in your own registrar account is a perfectly safe arrangement. A beautifully portable WordPress site with the domain in your designer’s account is not.
Common questions
Do I own my Wix website?
You own it if it sits in your Wix account. Wix’s own rule is that the owner is whoever owns the account the site was created in, usually identified by its email address. You can use and edit it, but it cannot be exported to run anywhere other than Wix.
Can I move my Squarespace site to WordPress?
Partly. Squarespace exports layout pages, one blog with its posts, and text, image and gallery content as a WordPress import file. The design, styles, store pages, portfolio and video blocks do not come across, so expect to rebuild the look.
Can I export my Webflow site?
On a paid Workspace plan you can export the HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images. Site plans do not include export. The exported copy will not include CMS content, forms, search, user accounts or ecommerce, so it works as a static snapshot rather than a full site.
My designer built my site in their account. Is it mine?
By the platform’s rules, it belongs to whoever holds the account. Ask the designer to transfer it to your own account using the platform’s transfer feature. It is usually quick, and it is far easier to arrange while the relationship is good than after it ends.
Does my domain belong to the website builder?
No, if it was registered in your name. Builders treat the domain as a separate subscription from the site, so it can be kept or transferred away even if the site cannot move. Check the registrar and make sure the account is yours.
Builder or not, check what machines can read
Ownership is one question. Whether search engines and AI assistants can actually read your site is another, and our free checker answers it from your homepage in about ten seconds, without asking for an email.