Unless a written clause says otherwise, the design and code of your website belong to the person who created them. Not to you, even after paying the invoice in full. In Canada, copyright stays with the creator until a written assignment transfers it. Ownership of your site is decided in the contract, at signing, and almost never anywhere else.
Most business owners discover this at the worst possible moment: while changing providers. This guide explains what the law says, describes the clauses observed on the Quebec market in 2026, and gives the 7 checks to run before signing a quote. It pairs with our guide on how to choose a web agency in Quebec, which covers the rest of the decision.
One thing up front: this is a practical overview, not legal advice. For an important contract or a dispute, talk to a lawyer.
What the law says, in two paragraphs
The default rule is counterintuitive. Under Canadian law, the author of a work holds the rights in it, and a website is a work: the design, the code, the copy. When the work is done by an employee in the course of their job, the rights go to the employer. When it is done by an outside provider, an agency or a freelancer, the rights stay with them until a written document assigns them to the client.
Concretely: if your agreement contains no ownership clause, you paid for a site you use, not a site you own. The nuance is invisible while everything goes well. It shows up the day you want to leave, rebuild elsewhere, or sell your business along with its assets.
The traps observed on the Quebec market
We went through the Quebec market this summer. Four patterns keep coming back in entry-level offers, with the real numbers we observed.
Conditional ownership. The site becomes yours after a commitment period, observed at up to 24 months. Leave earlier and you leave with nothing. The structure turns a purchase into a retention scheme.
The exit buyout. The monthly plan is affordable, and the exit clause prices buying your own site at several thousand dollars, close to $10,000 in the offers we reviewed. The entry price was low because the exit price was high.
Perpetual rental. The site is rented monthly and never becomes yours. Cancel, and it disappears. After three years at $75 a month, you have paid $2,700 and own no files, no design, no content.
Fee stacking. Setup fees on top of the monthly, then renewal fees, then extras for what the quote implied was included. The advertised price was not the total price.
None of these clauses is illegal. All of them are commercially defensible, and some fit specific situations. The problem is not that they exist. It is that they tend to be discovered after signing, because nobody asked the questions that follow.
The 7 checks before you sign
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The rights assignment is in writing. Look for a sentence like: "copyright in the design, code and content produced under this mandate is assigned to the client upon final payment". No clause, no ownership. Ask for it to be added before you sign.
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The domain is registered in your name. The registrant of the domain has to be you or your company, not the agency. It takes one minute to verify with a whois lookup. The domain is the most painful asset to recover in a conflict: it carries your address, your email and your rankings.
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Hosting and accounts are in your name. The hosting account, Google Analytics, Search Console, and the platform account if there is one. Our guide on web hosting explains why holding the hosting account changes the whole balance of power. Same logic for a store: the "who owns your store" section of our Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison covers platform accounts.
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The exit is described. What happens if you leave: in what format the files are handed over, within what delay, at what cost. A serious agreement answers all three in writing. "We'll figure it out" is not a clause.
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The advertised price is the total price. Add up the setup, the monthly, the year-two renewal and the per-change fees. Compare that three-year total with a site bought once. It is the only honest comparison between a monthly plan and a fixed price.
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The commitment period and termination are clear. How many months, what notice, what penalty. An unreadable termination clause is an answer to question 4.
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The content and licences follow you. Your text and photos are yours. For stock images, check whose name the licence is under: a licence held by the agency does not always follow you out the door.
The one question that covers all seven
"If we part ways in a year, what do I leave with, and what does it cost me?" A healthy agreement answers in two sentences. A $9,900 buyout clause also answers, in its own way. Ask before signing, and listen to the tone as much as the answer.
Monthly is not the problem, the exit is
Let's be fair to subscription models. Starting without upfront cash has real value for a new business, and $100 a month can be healthier for cash flow than a $3,000 cheque. The model is not a trap by itself.
It becomes one when the exit does not exist. An honest subscription lets you leave with the site for a clear balance known in advance. A trapped subscription leaves you the choice between paying forever and starting from zero. The difference between the two fits in one clause, and it can be read before signing.
Our model is the reverse: the price is on the page, the site is yours at delivery, the domain and accounts are opened in your name from day one, and there is nothing to buy back when you leave. We would rather keep clients because the work is good.
Check before, not after
Ownership of your site comes down to one contract read and two questions asked at the right moment. Before signing, everything is negotiable and corrections are free. After, every item becomes a negotiation.
If you are comparing quotes right now, our guide on how much a website costs in Quebec gives the market ranges to situate the prices in front of you. And if you want our quote in the comparison, it is free and the contract contains the assignment clause. You will know what to look for.
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Get a free quote in 60 seconds ↗Frequently asked questions
01Who owns a website built by an agency?
By default, the creator. In Canada, copyright in commissioned work stays with the person who made it until a written assignment transfers it to the client. Paying the invoice is not enough. The contract decides, which is why the ownership clause has to be read before signing, not after.
02My domain name is registered under my agency's name. Is that serious?
It is the first thing to fix. The domain is the hardest asset to recover in a conflict: lose it and you lose your address, your email and your search rankings in one shot. Ask for a registrant transfer into your name. An agency acting in good faith does it without argument; resistance to that request is an answer in itself.
03Is a website at $75 or $150 per month a good deal?
Run two calculations first. The total: $75 a month over three years is $2,700, and $150 is $5,400. Then the exit: if you cancel, do you leave with the site, or does it disappear with the subscription? A subscription can make sense to start without upfront cash, provided the contract spells out a clear way out. Without one, you are renting an asset that never becomes yours.
04What is a copyright assignment?
The written clause by which the creator transfers their rights in the work to the client. For a website, it should cover the design, the code developed for you and the content produced in the mandate, with a clear trigger, usually final payment. In Canada, an assignment has to be in writing to be valid. A verbal agreement transfers nothing.
05What if my provider refuses to hand over access?
Start with the contract: what it says about ownership and end of engagement frames everything else. Document your requests in writing, ask for specific items (domain, hosting, files, accounts) and set a deadline. If nothing moves, a formal demand letter is the next step, and for a real dispute, talk to a lawyer. The best time to solve this problem is still before signing.
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