How to Know If Your Website Provider Is Holding You Hostage

At Wingard, we’ve heard it all. Small business owners stuck in website purgatory, entrepreneurs locked out of their own sites, clients trapped in endless contracts with no escape in sight. If this hits a little too close to home, you’re not alone.

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to stay in a toxic relationship with your website provider. You deserve a partnership built on trust, transparency, and flexibility. Let’s break down what’s normal (green flags) and what’s absolutely not (red flags).

🚩 Red Flags: When It’s Time to Rethink Your Website Provider Relationship

If you’ve experienced any of these, it might be time to start packing your digital bags:

• You aren’t given administrator access to your website’s backend. If your provider holds the keys and won’t give you full control of your website, you may not be able to make necessary updates or even access certain parts of your website controls at all. This is a huge red flag.hey are effectively saying we don’t trust you with your own website, and only we are allowed to update it.
  
  
• Refusal to hand over administrator access when specifically asked. Spoiler alert: It’s your website, not theirs. You paid for it and you own it. If the provider won’t give you full access and ownership, it’s time to rethink the relationship.
  
  
• Proprietary software traps. Some providers build your site on platforms that only they control, making migration next to impossible. This one is hard to back out of after the fact, but if you are able to see this red flag coming, it’s a good idea to pump the brakes and ask if there is a non-proprietary solution available that would allow you to control your own website destiny.
  
  
• Forced multi-year hosting agreements, or no option given to self-host. Here at Wingard, we are partial to hosting our WordPress sites on WP Engine simply because we believe they are the best-managed WordPress hosts out there, with 99%+ uptime and support at your fingertips. However, we understand that this solution isn’t the ideal situation for every single client, and we believe that you should have the final say in where your website is hosted.
  
  
• Inflexibility and resistance to your requests. Your hosting and maintenance provider works for you, not the other way around. If you find yourself constantly struggling to be heard, being told no to your basic update requests, or being ignored completely, this is a huge red flag. Your business deserves better.
  
  
• Unreasonable delays. It shouldn’t take a week (or more) to make routine updates. If you’re noticing this pattern, it can often mean that your provider is outsourcing your website development overseas, where time zone headaches and communication gaps abound. Your web team should be local, agile, and responsive, and you should not settle for double-digit delays.

If one or more of these red flags are present in your relationship with your current provider, it may be time to reclaim what’s yours. It’s not okay for someone who works for you to hold your website hostage. 

✅ Green Flags: What a Healthy Website Partnership Looks Like

Now, let’s talk about what you should expect from your website provider:

• Options and transparency. A trustworthy provider will walk you through the pros and cons of hosting with them versus hosting on your own. They’ll never pressure you into one option or bury you in fine print. The choice stays in your hands, where it belongs.
  
  
• Full access and ownership. You should have the keys to your digital kingdom. That means full administrator access to your website, your Google Analytics, your Google Search Console, and any other platforms tied to your site. Ownership = control = peace of mind.
  
  
• Friendly, flexible communication. You shouldn’t have to decode cryptic emails full of technical jargon or wait endlessly for responses to your update requests. A good partner answers your questions quickly (usually within one business day), explains things in plain language, and treats your business goals as their top priority.
  
  
• Reputable, top-tier hosting. The best providers won’t stick your site on some bargain-bin server with little to no features. They work with well-known, secure, and high-performance hosting companies to make sure your site loads quickly, stays secure, and can scale as you grow. And if something ever goes wrong, having top-tier support at your fingertips can be a lifesaver.
  
  
• No gatekeeping. A healthy relationship with your web provider means freedom to control your own assets. You should never feel locked out of your site, your tools, or your future decisions. The right provider gives you full access and is happy to teach you how to use it. Empowerment is the name of the game. After all, this is your site.
  
  

The best website partnerships don’t trap you—they empower you to make the right choices for your business. If it doesn’t feel like teamwork, it’s time to reconsider your partnership. Look for providers who offer you choices, access, transparency, and respect from day one.

🎯 A Simple Checklist: Questions to Ask Any Website Provider

Before signing any agreement, ask:

• Will I have full administrator access to my website?
• Am I allowed to host my site wherever I choose?
  
  
• Is my site built on an open-source platform (like WordPress), or are there any proprietary pieces of software that you are planning on using?
  
  
• What’s your typical turnaround time for website updates?
  
  
• Who will be working on my site, and where are they based?
  
  
• What happens if I choose to take my website elsewhere?
  
  

If the answers don’t feel right, trust your gut. There are providers out there who respect your business and your independence, and you deserve to find that collaborative partnership.

Bottom line? You own your business. At Wingard, we believe you should own your website, too. That’s why we build websites on open platforms, give our clients full admin access, and partner with trusted hosting providers to ensure speed, security, and scalability. We believe in honest communication, full transparency, and empowering you—not locking you in.

If you're ready for a website partner who treats your business like their own, let’s talk.