Do You Own Your WordPress Files?

Price is the question people search. Ownership is the question they forget until they want to leave.

If someone else holds your WordPress files, you do not have a website. You have a lease. This is a buyer checklist, not a sysadmin guide.

Ask these four things in writing

• Who is on the hosting account? If the answer is the freelancer’s email, you do not own the door.
• Can you download a full backup? Files and the database. Not a PDF of the homepage.
• Are you locked to their page builder license? Some “sites” die when the subscription stops.
• What happens on the last invoice? You should walk away with an install you can move.

Theme shops vs a custom install

A theme license is not a design system. It is permission to look like the demo. We wrote the conversion math in why template sites cost conversions.

GridCraft ships a custom WordPress install. You own every file when we are done. That is on every package on pricing, including Starter at $199.

Red flags

• The only login they will give you is a “editor” role.
• The live URL sits on their branding subdomain forever, with no move path.
• They will not say who pays the host after month one.

Cost ranges without this paragraph are incomplete. The 2026 rundown is what a WordPress website costs. If you want a number for your scope, use the cost calculator or start on contact.