Guide
Will you own your website, content, domain and accounts, and what happens if you leave?
On a Monograph build you own the domain, the content, the code and every account from the day your site goes live, and nothing is withheld if you leave. That is commitment 5 of the Monograph Standard: "You own your domain, your content, your code, and your accounts, from day one." Here is what ownership means for each part of a website, what to check with any agency, and the exact terms Monograph works to.
Most disputes about a practice website come down to four things: who is the registrant of the domain, who holds the login to the hosting and the analytics, who owns the words and pictures, and whether the code can be taken anywhere else. Each has a plain answer.
| Part of the site | Who owns it on a Monograph build | What to check with another provider |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Your practice is the registrant, in your own registrar account | Whose name is on the registration, and whose account it sits in |
| Text and images | Yours; anything Monograph writes or makes for you is assigned on final payment | Whether the contract assigns copyright to you, or only licenses it |
| Design and code | Assigned to you on final payment; the repository is handed over at launch | Whether the site runs on a platform you cannot export from |
| Hosting, DNS and email accounts | Opened in your practice's name; Monograph is an added user | Who is the account owner, and who pays the bill |
| Analytics, Search Console, Business Profile | Your practice is the owner; Monograph has delegated access | Whether you can remove the agency's access yourself |
| Booking, intake and refill data | Never held by Monograph; requests route into your own system | Where form submissions are stored, and by whom |
Your domain
The domain is the one part of a website that cannot be rebuilt. Patients have it on their prescriptions, Google has it in its index, and every printed leaflet points at it. On a Monograph build the registrant is your practice, the registrar account is yours, and the account email is one your practice controls, not an address at the agency. Monograph is added as a technical contact so it can manage the records, and that access can be removed by you at any time.
If an agency registered your domain in its own account, ask for a transfer to an account in your name before you change anything else. The registrant controls where the name points; whoever holds that account holds your website.
Your content
The text on your pages, the photographs you supplied and the images made for the site are yours. Anything Monograph writes or makes for you is assigned to your practice on final payment, and you may reuse it in print, in another site or anywhere else. The only exceptions are licensed stock images, which carry the licence terms listed in your proposal, and Monograph's own templates and tools, which stay Monograph's but are not needed to run your site.
Your code
A Monograph site is plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, made in advance and served from your own hosting account. There is no page builder, no plugin and no database that another developer would have to replace. The site's code and design are assigned to your practice on final payment, the repository is handed over at launch with a written note on how to build and deploy it, and any developer can take it from there.
Your accounts
Hosting, DNS, email, analytics, Search Console and your Google Business Profile are opened in your practice's name, billed to your practice, and administered by you. Monograph is an added user with the access it needs to do the work, and the credentials and recovery details are handed over at launch. You can remove Monograph's access yourself, without asking.
If you end Care
Care is the monthly maintenance plan: hosting management, updates, monitoring, content changes and a quarterly compliance re review. If you end it, your site stays up in your own hosting account, Monograph removes itself as a user, and nothing is deleted or switched off. You leave with a documented handover: what runs where, which records matter, and what to check each quarter. The terms for each service are on the services page.
Eight questions to put to any agency
Ask these before you sign, and ask for the answers in writing. A good agency will have them ready.
- Who is the registrant of our domain, and in whose account is it registered?The answer should be your practice, in your account.
- Who owns the text and images you write or make for us?Look for an assignment of copyright to you, not a licence to use it while you are a client.
- Can we take the site to another developer, and in what form?You want a repository or a full export of standard files, not an account on a platform you cannot leave.
- Whose name is on the hosting, DNS and email accounts, and who pays the bill?Yours.
- Can we remove your access ourselves?If the answer is no, you do not control your own accounts.
- Where are form submissions stored, and who can read them?For a health practice, the answer must not be the agency's inbox.
- What happens to the site if we stop paying the monthly fee?It should stay up in your account; only the maintenance should stop.
- What does the handover include when we leave?Credentials, records, a written note of how the site runs, and a date.
What this page does not decide
This page states Monograph's terms as published on this site. The agreement you sign governs your engagement, and where the two differ, the agreement applies.
Questions practices ask
Do I own my website domain?
You should, and on a Monograph build you do. The domain is registered to your practice, in a registrar account your practice controls, with your own email address on the account. An agency can be added as a technical contact to manage records, but the registrant is you.
What happens to my domain if I cancel hosting?
Nothing, if the domain is in your own registrar account: hosting and the domain are separate, and you point the domain wherever the site moves. If an agency registered the domain in its own account, ask for a transfer before you cancel anything, because the agency, not you, controls where the name points.
Who owns the content an agency writes for us?
Ask, and get it in writing. On a Monograph build the text, page layouts and images made for you are assigned to your practice on final payment. Photographs you supply remain yours throughout. Stock or licensed images carry their own licence terms, which the proposal lists.
Can we take the code to another developer?
On a Monograph build, yes. The site is plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript in a repository that is handed over at launch, with a written note on how to build and deploy it. There is no proprietary platform to leave behind.
- Applies to
- Practices in Canada buying a website from an agency, and Monograph's own Build clients
- Primary source
- The Monograph Standard, commitment 5, and the terms on the services page
- Source date
- 30 September 2026
- Last reviewed
- 30 September 2026
- Reviewer
- Behnaz Alijani, Pharm.D.
- What this page does not cover
- The contract that governs any individual engagement