What happens to your website when you cancel: 17 vendors, clause by clause

The short version

When you stop paying for a website, three things decide what you keep: whose name is on the domain, where the files run, and what the contract lets you take. We checked every vendor's terms, help pages or FAQ on October 31, 2026, and read GoDaddy's, Townsquare's and LocaliQ's again on November 3. The table is the summary and the sections below give the wording. Where a vendor's pages are silent on a point, the cell says not stated. This is a reading of public terms, not legal advice; the order form you signed can override any of it.

Website builders: Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, Hostinger and Durable

Wix. Wix's export article says a Wix site has to be hosted and run on Wix's own servers. It says the content you build belongs to you but describes no way to export it, so you copy text and photos out by hand. You can connect a domain you already own. The plans page says its displayed prices cover yearly plans paid in full upfront.

Squarespace. The export article describes a WordPress-format .xml file. Text and image blocks come out, along with one blog page and its posts. Album, portfolio, store and several other page types do not, and neither do style settings, custom CSS or drafts, because many features depend on Squarespace's own code. The pricing page says you can cancel at any time and service continues through the period you paid for. The free domain on annual plans renews at the standard rate after the first year.

GoDaddy. The builder is now sold as Airo AI Builder. Its builder page, read November 3, 2026, says it starts free with 50 AI credits a month, that paid plans include a free domain, and that you can download your code anytime. It does not say what happens to the site or the domain when a plan ends, so ask in writing. GoDaddy's refund policy (last revised September 14, 2026) refunds annual plans within 30 days and monthly plans within 48 hours. Plans that include AI credits, Airo among them, qualify only if no credits were used and no AI-generated content was downloaded or exported, and there is no refund once the account is closed.

Hostinger. The support article on downloading backups says that is not available for websites created with Hostinger AI Builder. The article on exporting to WordPress says you can't export styles and layout, the online store, integrations, forms, collected submissions or SEO settings. The builder page, read November 3, 2026, showed Premium at a Black Friday sale price of $1.99 a month as $95.52 paid upfront for 48 months, renewing at $10.99 a month (about 5.5 times the sale rate, by our arithmetic), with a domain and mailboxes free for the first year.

Durable. The pricing page FAQ says that when you cancel, Durable will arrange to transfer your custom domain to you, which takes a couple of weeks and carries a minimum subscription time; the length was missing from the text we could read. The cancellation policy, dated March 25, 2026, says refunds are not automatically issued and access to your account and site continues until the billing period ends. We found no documented site export.

Field software websites: Jobber, Housecall Pro, WorkWave and NiceJob

Jobber. The website feature page says every Jobber plan includes the builder at no extra cost. The help center's website article, updated October 28, 2026, says your website will stay online as long as you have an active Jobber subscription. Per its custom domain article, IONOS manages, renews and cancels any domain bought through Jobber, or you can connect your own. Under the cancellation article, you can no longer reach clients, jobs, invoices or other stored data once the billing period ends, and no export steps are given. Our Jobber website versus custom website page compares the options.

Housecall Pro. The websites page offers 1, 5 and 15-page plans with no price shown, and says it can help you get a domain through Housecall Pro and AWS. Its terms, last modified July 1, 2026, say materials you upload remain yours and that Housecall Pro "retains sole and exclusive ownership" of materials it generates. On cancellation it will move your domain to a host you name if you ask in writing; if no instructions arrive within 30 days after the cancellation takes effect, it stops renewing the domain, and you are billed for transfer and maintenance charges. The terms also say cancelling your account removes your Pro Website; neither page describes a copy you can take.

WorkWave. WorkWave's website builder terms (revised January 1, 2024) say that when the service ends, WorkWave will immediately make your website inaccessible and you no longer have any rights to it. An order form can tie the builder to your core software subscription so both end together. Its website development and SEO terms set a one-year minimum that renews a year at a time and make the site inaccessible on cancellation, leaving you a perpetual license to use the custom content for promotion, not resale. Unless the service ended for non-payment or breach, WorkWave will make reasonable efforts for 30 days to transfer a domain it obtained for you, but it will not hand over email addresses it hosts. The master agreement (revised January 1, 2025) says WorkWave owns the work product of its marketing services, defined to include website development and SEO (§2.10), and provides a backup of your content only if asked within 30 days of termination, at its then-current fee (§8.5). RealGreen's pricing page, titled RealGreen by WorkWave, lists a Website Builder; WorkWave's terms page does not name RealGreen, so check which terms your order form names.

NiceJob. NiceJob's terms, last updated August 27, 2023, say Sites is an optional add-on that terminates automatically when the NiceJob service is cancelled, that termination may result in the deletion of all your content, and that NiceJob may choose to provide a backup but is not obligated to. The terms do not say who owns a Sites website or its domain, so get that answer in writing before you build.

All-in-one platforms: HighLevel, Thryv and Marketing 360

These sell a website as one feature of a CRM account, sometimes through an agency that resells them, and that account may not be in your name.

HighLevel. Its terms, last updated June 2026, say that for domains bought through HighLevel, HighLevel will be the listed registrant and administrative contact. To use other nameservers, you must transfer the domain to another registrar. The help article on cancelling, modified August 18, 2026, tells you to export what you want to keep, lists funnels and websites, and gives no steps; after cancellation, all funnels and related data will no longer be accessible. HighLevel keeps cancelled account data for 90 days and may then delete it permanently. If an agency built your site on HighLevel, ask whose account the domain and the site sit in.

Thryv. Thryv's Professional Website terms, last updated July 1, 2026, say the composition and design of the products Thryv creates are its sole and exclusive property. On termination, Thryv agrees to release your Client Content and your website's URL if it was your domain originally, and it will not release third-party content it licensed. The AI Website Builder terms, dated August 20, 2025, use the same release wording. We found no clause on a domain Thryv registered for you, so ask.

Marketing 360. Its Terms, last updated July 30, 2026, say Websites 360 sites may not be migrated to another hosting platform under any circumstance, and that the license to access them ends on cancellation or non-payment. Non-custom designs stay Marketing 360's copyright and are licensed to you on conditions; creative deliverables are yours once paid in full (§6). Its help article on cancelling says the site is taken offline once hosting is cancelled and that UXi and Websites 360 sites have no FTP or cPanel access, so you save your content first and point your domain at the new platform. A $12-a-year Lite plan keeps website, CRM and email marketing data archived. We found no clause on domains.

Marketing agencies: Scorpion, Hibu, Townsquare, LocaliQ and Footbridge

Scorpion. Scorpion's FAQ puts its marketing technology on a contract that typically runs 12 months, while digital advertising is typically month to month. It says you own your website after the contract term is complete, and that domains, content and imagery are yours, though not the underlying system: sites run on Scorpion's proprietary CMS. On leaving you receive the static files, the design assets and the content, and another vendor rebuilds the site. Its home services page says it transfers key accounts such as GA4 and Local Services Ads.

Hibu. The Smart Sites terms on Hibu's legal page say the domain name Hibu provides for your website will be registered to Hibu, and that Hibu will help you transfer it to your name if you ask. The Smart Site minimum term is 12 months, and Hibu stops renewing a domain when you cancel the service that came with it. The General Terms say that after cancellation you can no longer access the services, accounts may be deactivated or deleted, and backing up your data and content is your job (§22). You own Your Data (§18(a)), and you get a perpetual right to the written copy Hibu created only if you paid in full in advance (§16(b)). We found no clause that hands you the site design.

Townsquare Interactive. Townsquare's terms (updated October 2, 2026) say that upon termination you will no longer have access to or ownership rights in the website (§4.4(i)), and that Townsquare will permanently deactivate your properties and permanently delete your account and the material you supplied (§4.4(iv)). Material you supplied, including the domain name, stays yours (§2.15), and domain registration falls under separate hosting terms. You can ask for your lists, images, text, form submissions, latest ad creative and a domain and email release, but the request "must be made in writing at the time of termination".

LocaliQ. LocaliQ's US website product terms, last updated October 5, 2026, which we read in a browser on November 3, license the site to you instead of selling it. The license fee is paid as 12 consecutive 30-day cycle payments from launch (§4). While you pay in installments, the license is revocable and does not let you copy or move LocaliQ's materials; if fees go unpaid, LocaliQ revokes it, makes the site inaccessible, and your rights to the website end. Only after full payment do you hold a perpetual, irrevocable license, still non-transferable, that includes the right to copy and modify the LocaliQ Materials in the site (§9). Either way, the design, layout, templates, photos, text and software belong to LocaliQ or its licensors, apart from content you supplied (§10). Unless the agreement ended over your breach, LocaliQ makes commercially reasonable efforts for 30 days after termination to transfer a domain it obtained for you, explain how to move third-party accounts and send your Custom Content on a disk or by another method (§14). It does not hand over LocaliQ-hosted email addresses or passwords, licenses for themes, plug-ins, stock images and APIs do not transfer, and after the 30 days it may delete your content. A domain you supplied stays yours to renew. Its websites page says nothing about any of this, and our guide on how to cancel LocaliQ gives the exit steps.

Footbridge Media. Footbridge's FAQ says the content and domain always belong to you, that it requires no contract, and that if you cancel it provides all of your site files. The same FAQ says the forms, CMS, hosting, dashboard and review system stop working without an active subscription. Its program page lists $249 a month, month to month, with a refund if you cancel within the first 90 days. You leave with files and a domain and need new hosting, forms and an editor on day one. More on its program and terms in our Footbridge Media alternative page.

What do you lose that no export covers?

• Your page addresses. Search engines rank pages at specific URLs. If the new site uses different addresses with no redirects, the rankings those pages earned are lost. Keep a list of every URL so the next site can redirect each one.
• Form submissions and booking history. Hostinger's export article names collected submissions as something it cannot export, and Townsquare hands them over only on a written request at termination. Copy quote requests into your CRM as they arrive.
• Bundled email. WorkWave's and LocaliQ's website terms both say they will not transfer email addresses they host. Business email belongs on its own account under your domain; see getting a business email address.
• Integrations and photos. Booking widgets, chat and review feeds are rebuilt, not moved, and builders compress uploads, so keep your original photos elsewhere.

How do you check your own contract?

The public pages above are a starting point. What binds you is the order form you signed and the terms it points to.

1. Collect every document: the order form, master agreement and any website, SEO or tracking terms. WorkWave, for example, has a master agreement plus separate terms for its website builder and for website development, and its website terms control where the two conflict.
2. Search for the exit words. Domain, registrant, license, work product, termination, transition, deactivate, delete, export and backup. Each hit shows what you keep and what you rent.
3. Check the domain yourself. Log into the registrar where the domain lives and look at the registrant. If you can't log in, or the registrant is the vendor, request the transfer now, while you are a paying customer.
4. Put the exit deadlines on a calendar. Several windows open the day you cancel: 30 days to send Housecall Pro domain instructions, 30 days to ask WorkWave for a paid backup, 30 days of LocaliQ transition help before it may delete your content, 90 days before HighLevel may delete account data, and the moment of termination itself for Townsquare's written request.
5. Ask for the exit list in writing. Domain transfer, site files in a format another developer can host, form submissions, a customer data export, and admin access to your Business Profile and analytics. A written answer beats a sales page.

Our agency contract checklist puts these questions on one printable page, and the guide to marketing agency contract red flags explains what a good answer to each sounds like. For contract lengths and exit terms in one table, read agency contracts and ownership, compared.

How do you protect yourself before you sign?

1. Register the domain yourself, at a registrar you log into, in the company's name, and connect it to whichever vendor you choose. Hibu and HighLevel both put domains they sell in their own names. Our guide on buying a domain name explains the steps.
2. Read the term. Wix's displayed prices are for yearly plans paid in full, Hostinger's headline price is 48 months upfront, Scorpion typically asks for 12 months, and Hibu's Smart Sites and WorkWave's website development service have one-year minimums. Know when you can leave and what notice it takes.
3. Keep a master copy of the site: every page's text, every photo and the list of URLs, updated when the site changes.
4. Get the unanswered questions answered in writing: whether you get a copy of a Housecall Pro site, who owns a NiceJob Sites domain, how long Durable's minimum period is, and what happens to a domain Thryv or Marketing 360 bought for you.

Moving to a site you own

None of this means builders or agencies are a bad choice. For a new company, a builder is the fastest way to get a site live, and our builder versus custom comparison says so. The point is to know what you can take out, so a later move is a project rather than a loss. An owned site is a set of files on hosting you control, under your own domain. That is how our websites are built, with your company on the domain and the files in your own hosting account, and our pricing page lists everything you own when the work is done. When you move, the website redesign checklist covers the redirects, content and launch.

Frequently asked questions