If you stopped paying, what would you still have?
Most practice owners assume the answer is obvious. It is written down, and it is not the same from one agreement to the next.
So I read the published terms of the companies that build websites for chiropractors, dentists, physical therapists, vets and doctors. Not their sales pages, their actual agreements. Here is what is in them, word for word.
No vendor is named here. The point is the pattern, not any one company. Every quote was checked against the live page on 23 October 2026.
Some of them say the site is not yours
“The Customer’s website (including all graphical content and related HTML coding provided by [the vendor]) is the property of [the vendor] and the Customer has no rights to the website beyond the terms of its subscription.”
The same agreement goes on to say the design features and the source code belong to the vendor too. Everything except your practice name and the information you handed over.
“This Agreement is not a sale and does not convey to Customer any rights of ownership.”
The licence it grants is described as revocable, non-exclusive and non-transferable. When the agreement ends, the licence ends with it.
“we grant you a limited, revocable, non-transferable and non-exclusive license”
“If you cancel, you keep your domain and your own images and files, but the site itself is not exported.”
This one is on a pricing page rather than buried in terms, which is more than most do.
Then there is the one I think about most. A vendor offers a build with no upfront cost on a twelve month contract. At the end of it,“customer can buy the website + content at predetermined price.”
The predetermined price does not appear anywhere on the page.
Others say it plainly, the other way
“Every artifact we produce is yours from day one.”
“You own it. No proprietary framework, no licence to keep paying.”
“you own the site and domain”
So this is not an industry where everyone does the same thing. It is a real split, and which side your agreement falls on was decided the day you signed.
The clearest version of the choice
One vendor publishes both. Side by side, in their own words, two tracks.
“Full Website Ownership With Setup Fees”
You pay more up front and the site is yours.
“12-Month Contract / No Upfront Fee”
You pay nothing up front and you are on a contract.
That is the whole thing, stated honestly by a company that sells both. Paying less at the start and owning less are the same decision.
How to find out where you stand
Three things decide it, and they are separate. Ask about each one by name.
- The domain. Whose account is it registered in?
- The hosting. Whose account is the site actually running on?
- The files. If you asked for a copy of your site tomorrow, would you get one?
If any answer is somebody else, you are renting. Renting is not automatically the wrong call. Some owners would genuinely rather another company held all three, and that is a fair trade for not thinking about it.
What is worth avoiding is finding out by accident, in the middle of a disagreement, years in.
Where I stand
The website we build for you is yours. The design, the pages, the words and the code are yours from the day it launches, and they stay yours whether or not you keep working with us.
Your domain is yours. If you already own it, it stays where it is, in your account. If we buy it with you as part of the build, it is registered for your business and we transfer it to you on request.
We host what we build. The site runs on infrastructure we own and manage, which is how we keep it fast and secure without asking you to set up accounts you do not want. That is a service we provide, not a claim on your site.
If you decide to leave, you take the site with you. We hand over the domain, the site and the files. There is no exit fee, no buy-out price and nothing to negotiate. You do not need a reason and you do not need our permission.
That is not a dig at anyone above. It is a different arrangement, and you should know which one you are in before you renew. It is alsowritten into our terms, so you can check it the same way you would check theirs.