The developer has vanished, you have no access, and the site is alive and slowly dying. Step by step: what can still be saved, and in what order.
A website is three separate things: the domain, the hosting and the code. They are lost separately and recovered separately.
Start with the domain: open whois and see whose name is on it. It is the one part of a site that cannot be remade — everything else can be rewritten.
A website is three separate things, and they almost always live in different places: the domain (the address), the hosting (where the files sit) and the code itself. Each can be lost on its own. So the first question is not "how do we get our site back" but "which of the three do we already have".
The domain takes a minute to check: open a whois lookup and read the owner field. If it is your name or your company, the most expensive part is already yours and the rest is solvable. If it is the developer name, that is the main problem and the place to start.
A .ua or .com.ua domain is transferred by request to the registrar. If you ever paid for it with your own card, or renewal notices came to your inbox, that is grounds to contact the registrar directly instead of going through the developer.
The worst case is a domain registered to the developer and renewed three years ahead. Then there is no fast route: either negotiate, or move to a new domain and hold your positions with redirects. The second option costs money, but at least it depends on you.
The domain is the only part of a website that cannot be rebuilt. Code can be rewritten, copy can be rewritten, a domain cannot.
A site that opens is already handing itself to you — pages, text, photographs, styles. Everything can be pulled except the database and the admin panel. For a brochure site that is enough: the text and images are usually recovered in half a day.
What cannot be pulled: past enquiries, form settings, CRM connections. So while you are recovering files, put a new form on your own inbox straight away — otherwise you keep losing leads while you sort it out.
First: analytics and email, so you can see what is happening. Second: the domain in your name. Third: a copy of the site in your hands. Fourth: new hosting on your account. Only fifth: rebuilding the site itself. People usually start at the fifth, which is exactly why they lose the first.
For us this is a separate job: reviewing the situation is free, the migration starts at ₴8,000 depending on how much can be saved. The domain is registered to you, and the registrar screenshot with your name in the owner field arrives the same day.
| Part | Where to check | If it is not in your name |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | whois for your address | A request to the registrar; at worst, move with redirects |
| Hosting | Renewal emails in your inbox | New hosting on your account, we move the copy |
| Code and text | If the site opens, it hands itself over | We pull pages, text and photos in half a day |
So it does not happen again: the domain must be in your name, on hosting you control yourself.