On this pageThe table
Five ways to get back in, and who has to cooperate
The blank price is one I have not recorded. Note the column that matters most here: who has to cooperate for the route to work at all.
| Option | Real cost, first year | Hours it takes you | Who does the work | What breaks at six months | Who fixes it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Take back control yourself, through the registrar | Nothing | An afternoon, plus whatever the registrar's recovery process takes | You, and nobody else has to agree | Nothing. It only works if you are the registered owner | Not applicable. This is the route that leaves you dependent on nobody |
| Stay where you are and renegotiate | Whatever you already pay | As long as they take to answer | Them, if they choose to | Nothing changes, including the dependence | Them. That is the whole problem, and also the whole solution |
| Pay somebody by the hour to recover it | Price not public | Not recorded. It depends entirely on what they find | A technical provider you hire | Whatever was already fragile stays fragile | Them, on the terms you agree |
| Keep the domain, rebuild on WordPress with Vicou Studio | EUR 1,190 once, plus hosting in your name | Gathering your text and photos, then reviewing | Me for the site, you for the content, and whoever registered the domain if it is not in your name: your address only moves when they release it or when your registrar's recovery process hands it back | WordPress updates continuously, and running those updates sits outside the fixed price. It is quoted case by case | You. Repairs sit outside the fixed price and are quoted case by case. Six months of questions by email from me |
| Start again on a new domain | A new domain, plus whatever the new site costs | The same as any new site | You, or whoever you hire | The search history attached to the old address does not come with you | Nobody can restore it. That loss is the price of this route |
Take back control yourself, through the registrar
- Real cost, first year
- Nothing
- Hours it takes you
- An afternoon, plus whatever the registrar's recovery process takes
- Who does the work
- You, and nobody else has to agree
- What breaks at six months
- Nothing. It only works if you are the registered owner
- Who fixes it
- Not applicable. This is the route that leaves you dependent on nobody
Stay where you are and renegotiate
- Real cost, first year
- Whatever you already pay
- Hours it takes you
- As long as they take to answer
- Who does the work
- Them, if they choose to
- What breaks at six months
- Nothing changes, including the dependence
- Who fixes it
- Them. That is the whole problem, and also the whole solution
Pay somebody by the hour to recover it
- Real cost, first year
- Price not public
- Hours it takes you
- Not recorded. It depends entirely on what they find
- Who does the work
- A technical provider you hire
- What breaks at six months
- Whatever was already fragile stays fragile
- Who fixes it
- Them, on the terms you agree
Keep the domain, rebuild on WordPress with Vicou Studio
- Real cost, first year
- EUR 1,190 once, plus hosting in your name
- Hours it takes you
- Gathering your text and photos, then reviewing
- Who does the work
- Me for the site, you for the content, and whoever registered the domain if it is not in your name: your address only moves when they release it or when your registrar's recovery process hands it back
- What breaks at six months
- WordPress updates continuously, and running those updates sits outside the fixed price. It is quoted case by case
- Who fixes it
- You. Repairs sit outside the fixed price and are quoted case by case. Six months of questions by email from me
Start again on a new domain
- Real cost, first year
- A new domain, plus whatever the new site costs
- Hours it takes you
- The same as any new site
- Who does the work
- You, or whoever you hire
- What breaks at six months
- The search history attached to the old address does not come with you
- Who fixes it
- Nobody can restore it. That loss is the price of this route
Depending on your situation
The domain is registered in your name
Take it back yourself. You do not need their cooperation, you do not need to pay anybody, and you should do this before starting any other conversation.
You have not checked whose name the domain is in
Check it before anything else. It takes two minutes on a public lookup, and it decides which of these five routes is even open to you.
They are slow but still answering
Ask in writing for the four accounts, once, without an ultimatum. Most situations resolve here and nobody buys anything.
They have stopped answering entirely
Your registrar is the next door, not your former provider. What that door opens depends on your registrar's own recovery process and on whose account the domain actually sits in, so ask them what they can do for you rather than spending more weeks writing to somebody who has stopped replying.
The site itself is worth saving
Pay somebody by the hour to recover and move it. Rebuilding throws away work that may still be good.
You never want to be in this position again
Whatever you do next, register the domain yourself, in your name, on an account whose password only you hold. That single habit prevents this entire page.
The criteria that decide it
The one fact that decides everything
Whose name is on the domain registration. If it is yours, you can point the address wherever you like without waiting on anybody, and the conversation changes tone immediately. What owning the domain does not hand you is the site itself: the files and the database sit in the hosting account, and that is a separate thing to ask for. If it is not yours, every route on this page gets slower. A public lookup takes two minutes and tells you which registrar to ask; the name itself often comes from the account and the renewal receipts instead.
The four accounts to ask for, by name
Asking for the site back is vague and easy to deflect. Asking for four named things is not. The registrar account, where the domain is registered. The hosting account, where the files live. The site's own administrator login. And the DNS, which decides where the address points. Request those four in one written message. Whoever holds them will understand immediately that you know what you are asking for.
Most of the time, nobody needs to buy anything
This is the part a page like this has an incentive to leave out, so it goes near the top instead. In most cases the person holding your site eventually answers, or the domain turns out to have been in your name all along and your registrar has an account recovery process you can start yourself. Registrars run those processes on their own terms and on their own evidence; they do not decide who is entitled to what. You wait, you write, and it resolves. That outcome costs nothing, and it is more common than the one where you start again.
Where the legal line is, and why this page stops at it
Transfer rules between registrars, who owns the copyright in the files when there was never a written contract, and how a dispute actually proceeds: none of that is on this page. It is a US lawyer's work, and a web builder writing about it would be guessing in a place where guessing is expensive. If somebody is refusing outright and money is at stake, that is the call to make.
Why this pitch is a hard one, and I would rather say so
If you are reading this because one person locked you out, being asked to hire another single person is not obviously an improvement, and the argument that the one who builds it is the one who picks up the phone is probably what your last provider told you. What is actually different is not a promise about responsiveness. It is that the domain and the hosting are opened in your name from day one, on your own accounts, with your card. I never hold them, so there is nothing for me to withhold and no exit fee to pay. The files and the access I do hold are handed over within five business days once the work is paid in full, on the terms written into the contract. The first half of that is checkable in your own account today rather than taken on trust.
The quiz
Four questions, and you will know which route is open to you.
Whose name is the domain registered in?
Are they answering you?
How much does the address itself matter to you?
What do you want at the end of this?
Your result
Take it back yourself
The domain is registered in your name, which is the strongest position on this page. The next question is whether the registrar account it sits in is yours too: being the named registrant and holding the login are two different things, and a password reset goes to the email address on the account, not to the registrant. If that address is yours, reset it and point the domain where you want. If it is not, your registrar's recovery process is the route, and it is worth calling them before you write to anybody else.
This route is free and it needs nobody. It is the best outcome on this page, and it does not lead to me.
Stay where you are, on better terms
They are still answering, and the relationship is repairable. Ask in writing for the four accounts named on this page, one message, no ultimatum. Most people who reach this page end up here, and nothing needs to be bought.
Put the request in writing even if the conversation is friendly. It costs nothing and it changes what happens if things sour later.
Pay somebody by the hour to recover it
You want the existing site back rather than a new one, and you need somebody technical to deal with the accounts and move it somewhere you control. This is recovery work, billed by the hour, and it is the right answer when the site itself is worth saving.
No rate is shown here because I have not recorded one from a US provider at a stated date.
Start again on a new address
The old address is not worth the fight, or it cannot be recovered at all. You register a new domain in your own name and build somewhere you control. You lose the search history attached to the old address, and you stop waiting on anybody.
Losing the old address has a real cost in search results. Weigh it before choosing this, not after.
Keep the domain and have it rebuilt
You want out of the dependence, not just out of the login screen. I build the new site, and the domain and hosting are opened in your name on your own accounts from the first day. If you ever leave me, I hand over everything else within five business days once the work is paid in full, and there is no exit fee.
The honest caveat: I am also one person. What is different is written into how the accounts are set up, not into a promise about how responsive I am.
The concrete case: Vicou Studio
Who it is for
Somebody who wants out of the dependence rather than just out of the login screen, and who would rather start clean than fight for an old site. If the domain is already yours and the site is worth keeping, the free route above is the better answer.
What it costs
EUR 1,190, paid in two parts: EUR 357 on order and EUR 833 when the site goes live. Hosting and the domain are opened in your name, on your accounts, with your card.
The timeline
15 business days, counted on the French working calendar, about three calendar weeks, from the start date I confirm in writing once the deposit has cleared and your content is complete. The clock pauses by dated email whenever I am waiting on you.
What the fixed price does not cover
Recovering anything from the old site: its content, its addresses and its search history are not part of this. Any dealings with whoever currently holds your accounts. On a Shopify store the account transfers to you, but the store stays on Shopify because a Shopify theme cannot be moved.
When this is not the right answer
Most readers should not buy anything
The free routes at the top of the table resolve the majority of these situations. This page puts them first on purpose, because a comparison whose every row leads to the author is not a comparison.
I am one person too
If your problem is that a single provider became a single point of failure, hiring a different single provider does not fix that by itself. What changes is where the accounts live, and that is a structural difference rather than a character reference.
The legal questions are not answered here
Copyright in the files, transfer disputes, and what a contract entitles you to are outside what I can responsibly write. I am not a lawyer, and this page is general information rather than legal advice.
You are billed in euros
What that costs in dollars depends on the rate the day you pay, plus any foreign transaction fee your card charges. It is a real friction, and it belongs in any comparison you make.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find out who owns my domain name?
Start with a public domain lookup. It reliably shows which registrar the domain sits at and when it expires. It often will not show a name: most registrars now redact the registrant's contact details by default, not only when a privacy service was bought.
So the lookup usually tells you where to ask rather than who owns it. The name itself comes from the registrar account, the renewal receipts, or the card those renewals are billed to. If none of those are yours, treat that as your working answer for now and ask the registrar directly what it is able to confirm to you.
What exactly should I ask for?
Four things, by name, in one written message: the registrar account, the hosting account, the site's administrator login, and control of the DNS.
Asking for the site back is easy to deflect. Asking for four named accounts is not, and it makes clear you know what you are asking for.
Can they legally refuse to hand over my website?
That depends on what you agreed and what was written down, and it is genuinely a question for a lawyer rather than for me. What I can tell you is the practical side: if the domain is in your name, you can move the address regardless, and that is usually the fastest thing to establish.
Should I just start over with a new domain?
Sometimes, but not lightly. You lose the search history attached to the old address, which can be worth more than the fight. It is the right answer when the old address was never really yours or when recovering it would take longer than the business can wait.
Written by
Victor Rouvreau
I've been building websites for four years, for myself and for clients.
The About pageSources and date checked
- The Vicou Studio prices, timescale, handover and exit termsThe packages page, which is the contract
- Why the domain should be in your name from the startThe blog, how long it takes to build a website
- What ownership actually changes, costedThe blog, what a small business website costs
Page updated on September 27, 2026. It is reviewed at least once a quarter. If something here looks wrong or out of date, write to contact@vicou.studio: the page is corrected, or the claim comes out.