✓ Small WordPress teams that retain application responsibility
✓ Client portfolios needing explicit ownership and exit plans
✓ Readers comparing complete configurations rather than promotional prices
— A promise of unlimited custom-code support
— Readers expecting guaranteed speed or search rankings
— A stable current arrangement without a demonstrated reason to move
Price the total responsibility, not a markup
Agency-owned hosting can give a client one point of contact, but it also leaves the agency responsible for billing coordination, incidents and eventual exit work. A simple difference between a server price and a client invoice does not measure profit. Document the services included, the limits of support and the situations that require separately agreed work. Do not present infrastructure resale as effortless recurring income without considering those obligations.
Keep client access distinct from ownership
SiteGround documents client and collaborator capabilities that differ by plan, including white-label options on specified offerings. Cloudways team access and server ownership are another model. Compare the exact role a client needs instead of treating every dashboard login as equivalent. A client may require visibility without server-wide control; another may need to own the complete commercial relationship. Choose and disclose the model that matches the agreement.
Plan a fair and practical exit
If multiple clients share infrastructure, the departure of one client may require moving an application rather than transferring the entire server. Agree on how source, database, domain records and external services will be handed over. Keep current recoverable records and avoid making access depend on one person’s memory. This guide is an operating checklist, not a substitute for the legal and commercial terms of an actual resale agreement.
Review whether the model still helps
A fictional agency with a few stable maintenance clients may value centralized administration. A team with frequent client transfers might prefer client-owned accounts despite less consolidated billing. Review support effort, incident frequency and exit work against the amount charged. If the arrangement creates obligations the team cannot reliably meet, changing the ownership model can be more useful than searching for a cheaper server or adding another optional service.
The evidence behind this buying guidance
This guide draws on SiteGround client versus collaborator roles, Cloudways server transfers: owner and paid-account requirements, Cloudways support tiers and explicit exclusions. Merchant-controlled records describe the provider’s own capabilities, terms or standards; they do not independently validate those claims. Other cited records provide additional context. A different publisher or a research, regulatory or certification label does not by itself establish independence, relevance or product validation.
Verify any current price, plan limit, label direction, compatibility rule, or commercial term that would materially change the decision. The dated source ledger shows the underlying records so this conclusion can be checked and updated.
Sources used for this page
These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.
- SiteGround client versus collaborator roles — Alternative provider · siteground.com · Publisher independence not verified · checked 2026-09-21
- Cloudways server transfers: owner and paid-account requirements — Merchant documentation · support.cloudways.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-21
- Cloudways support tiers and explicit exclusions — Merchant documentation · cloudways.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-21