"No lock-in web agency" is not just another marketing line. It answers a widespread practice: the rented website, billed monthly for three or four years, that never belongs to you. As long as you pay, it exists. The day you stop, it disappears, along with your rankings and sometimes your domain name.
This article explains the difference between the two models, what "no lock-in" concretely means at MRTN Studio, and the questions to ask any provider before signing.
The rented website: how 36 and 48-month contracts work
The model looks attractive: no upfront investment, a modest monthly fee, a website delivered fast. But do the maths: €100 a month over 48 months is €4,800, often for a template reused across dozens of other clients. And at the end of the contract, you still own nothing.
What you are not always told: the website remains the agency's property, the domain name is sometimes registered in its name, and cancelling means losing everything, including the history you built on Google. You cannot leave with your website under your arm: that is exactly what makes the model profitable for the agency.
One question exposes this model: "if I stop paying, what do I keep?". If the answer is "nothing", you are renting, not investing.
What "no lock-in" means at MRTN Studio
At MRTN Studio, a website is a project paid once, from €1,500 for a custom showcase site. On delivery, everything belongs to you. Concretely:
- The code is yours. It is delivered with the website, and you can hand it to anyone you like, whenever you like.
- The domain name is registered in your company's name, never in ours.
- The subscription is optional. Maintenance and hosting at €59/month for the first year, then €79/month, with no imposed duration. If you stop, the website stays yours; you simply host it elsewhere.
- No locked technology. No proprietary CMS that only we hold the key to: standard, documented, transferable code.
This model forces us to earn your loyalty through service rather than through a contract. It is more demanding for us, and that is exactly how it should be.
Why so few agencies offer it
Because renting is an excellent model... for the agency. Revenue guaranteed by contract takes less effort than revenue earned through service. And a template rented to thirty clients costs far less to produce than thirty custom websites.
Let's be honest: renting can help a business starting out with no cash. The problem is not the monthly fee itself, it is the ownership and the imposed duration. Paying monthly for a real service (maintenance, hosting, improvements) is healthy. Paying monthly for the right to exist online is not.
The questions to ask before signing, with us or anyone else
- If I stop paying, what do I keep?
- Is the domain name registered in my company's name?
- Can I get the code and the content back, and in what form?
- Is there a minimum commitment period, and what exactly does it cover?
- What happens to my rankings if I switch providers?
A serious provider answers these five questions in writing, without taking offence. Evasive answers are an answer in themselves.
No lock-in does not mean no support
Giving up long-term contracts does not mean leaving you alone after launch. We stay committed to the result: performance, SEO, support. The difference is that you stay because the service justifies it, not because a contract holds you.
Our prices are public too: our article on how much a website costs in Nice details our real benchmarks. And to see how we work, everything is explained on our website creation in Nice page.