€ 390 a month, and at the end I own nothing. That is the thought that makes most people hesitate before signing up for a website subscription. Not the price itself. It is the fear of being trapped, of renting a website and one day standing there with empty hands.
With us it works the other way around, and the core of it is simple: you are never locked in. You own the substance of the site from the first day, your domain, the source code, every asset, your CMS account, your content, and your data. Because all of that is yours, you are free to leave whenever you want and take the whole site with you. Nothing that matters is held on our side. While you stay, the € 390 a month covers the full service, a senior team that builds the site, hosts it, and keeps it maintained. That is the part you rent. The freedom to leave is built in.
What do you actually own with a website subscription?
With an Essential Web subscription you own everything the site is made of, and that ownership is exactly what keeps you free to leave. Your domain is registered in your name. The source code is yours. So are the design files and assets, your CMS account, your content, and the data the site collects. Nothing tangible sits locked with the provider, which is why you are never trapped.
In concrete terms:
- Your domain. Registered in your name from the start. You can move it anywhere, any time.
- Your source code. The actual code the site runs on belongs to you. If you leave, it leaves with you.
- Your assets. Design files, images, everything produced for the site. Yours to keep and reuse.
- Your CMS account. If the site uses a CMS, the account is in your name. We build on DatoCMS, hosted in the EU, and you hold the keys.
- Your content. Your copy, your images, your prices, your company story. Your work and your knowledge.
- Your data. Contact form enquiries, bookings, every line people enter. Your leads and your future customers.
That is the whole substance of the site. It is yours from the day it goes live, and it is the reason you can leave any time without losing a thing.
What does the monthly fee actually pay for?
The monthly fee pays for the ongoing service, not for the site itself, which is already yours. While you subscribe, € 390 a month covers a senior team that builds the site, hosts it on EU infrastructure, and keeps it maintained and up to date, all at one price. Hosting and running costs are part of that service, not a separate bill you carry. Stop paying and the service stops. Everything you own stays with you, and the hosting becomes yours to arrange.
This is where a subscription with us is the opposite of a website builder. On Wix or Squarespace your design lives inside their system, so you cannot export it and run it somewhere else. That is lock-in by design. The builder is fair about what it is, a rented setup, and for some people that is enough. With us you hold the source code, so if you leave, the site goes with you and keeps running. We stay fair about the builders. They are convenient and cheap to start. They just do not hand you something you own, which means the day you outgrow them you start over. If a hosted builder just raised your price, leaving Squarespace to own your website walks through what that move looks like in practice.
Here is the split in practice:
| What you can take with you | What the monthly fee covers while you stay |
|---|---|
| Your domain, in your name | Building and designing the site |
| The full source code | Hosting on EU infrastructure and running it |
| Every asset: design files, images | Maintenance, security, and updates |
| Your CMS account (DatoCMS, EU) | A senior team keeping the site alive |
| Your content and your data | Keeping everything current over time |
The left column is what you walk away with. The right column is the work you pay for while you stay. You pay for the service, never for the right to keep your own website.
What actually happens the day you cancel?
Because you already own the domain, source code, assets, CMS account, content, and data, leaving is simple and there is no lock-in to fight. You keep all of it. You take over hosting and maintenance yourself or move to another provider, and the site can keep running the whole time. You stop paying for our work. You never lose access to your own site.
Step by step:
- You cancel. After the 24-month initial term the contract runs month to month, so you give notice for the following month. In the first 30 days there is a money-back guarantee if the fit turns out wrong.
- You take full control of what is already yours: access to the source code and assets, your CMS account in your name, and an export of your content and form data.
- Your domain stays yours and points wherever you choose.
- You move hosting and maintenance to yourself or another provider. While you were subscribed we covered the hosting; now it becomes yours to arrange, and the site does not have to go offline for a single day.
If a provider cannot give you a straight answer here, that is the real warning sign. Ask who holds the code, whose name the domain and the CMS account are in, and how you get your data out. If the answers are not clear, you have learned enough. One level deeper, the register of which accounts exist and who should hold each one works for any provider, not only for us.
What do the contract terms say, in plain language?
Three things belong in writing before you sign: the initial term, how cancellation works after it, and the promise that one price really is one price.
With us the initial term is 24 months. After that your contract runs month to month and you can cancel any time. If the fit is wrong, the first 30 days come with a money-back guarantee, so you are not tied to a long commitment before you have seen how the work actually goes. The subscription assumes a longer relationship, because design, build, and ongoing care only add up over time. If you need a website for a three-month campaign and nothing else, a subscription is the wrong tool, and we will tell you that directly.
One monthly price covers everything we agreed on. No surprise invoice for an update, no extra line item because you want a phone number changed. What sits in each plan is spelled out under plans and pricing. The questions people usually want pinned down are covered in the frequently asked questions.
What about hosting and data if you are an EU business?
For a European business, two things matter beyond the domain: where the site is hosted and where the data lives. Both stay in the EU. While you subscribe, the site runs on bunny.net, a European network, as part of the service, and the CMS account runs on DatoCMS, also in the EU. Your domain is registered in your name and moves to any provider you choose. If you ever leave, the hosting becomes yours to arrange, and because everything is EU-based and portable, moving it stays straightforward. If you want to understand how domains, DNS, and email fit together, and why keeping them separate keeps you independent, the guide to DNS, domains, and email walks through it.
No lock-in: the site is yours, the service is what you rent
The honest summary: on an Essential Web subscription you are never locked in. You own the substance of the site from day one. Your domain, the source code, the assets, your CMS account, your content, and your data. While you stay, the monthly fee covers the full service that keeps it built, hosted, and maintained. The day you decide to part ways, you keep everything, take over the hosting, and run the site wherever you like.
If you want to weigh a subscription against a builder or an agency, the full comparison is in website builder, agency, or subscription. And if you already know you want a website you do not have to run and maintain yourself, take a look at the plans. After that it is only a question of which one fits you.