Should my domain be registered in my name or my web designer’s?
The short answer
In your name, or your business’s. The registrant, the person or company recorded as holding the domain, is the one who controls it. If your designer or agency registered it under their name or in their account, ask them to move it into an account you own. Moving it is usually free and protects you if you ever part ways.
Designers often register the domain while building the website. It’s convenient at the time and risky later: if they close their business, stop replying or fall out with you, you may not be able to renew the domain, change where it points or move to a new designer.
How to check
- Look up your domain at ICANN Lookup to see which registrar holds it. Personal details are usually hidden.
- Ask your designer which account the domain is in, and whose name is recorded as the registrant.
- Check whether you get the registrar’s renewal emails. If you don’t, the domain probably isn’t in your account.
How to move it into your name
- Open your own account at the same registrar, or at the registrar you’d like to use.
- Ask the designer to move the domain to your account. Most registrars call this an account change or “push”, and it’s usually free and immediate.
- Or ask for the domain’s transfer code and transfer it to another registrar.
- Update the registrant name and email to yours, and turn on two-factor authentication.
Words used here
- Domain registrar
- The company you buy (rent) your website name from — e.g. Namecheap, Cloudflare, Porkbun or GoDaddy.
- Domain
- Your website’s name, like mycoolstartup.com. You rent it year by year from a domain registrar.
- Two-factor authentication (2FA)
- A second check when you log in — usually a code from your phone. It stops most account takeovers. Turn it on for every provider.
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