By Abdelmadjid Cherfaoui · Founder
· 2 min read
Many businesses find out at the end of a project that they paid for software they cannot move, change or fully control. Ownership is easy to settle in the contract and expensive to fix afterwards. These are the five questions we would ask any developer or agency, including ourselves.
1. Who owns the source code?
Ask for the answer in writing. A good answer is that the code is yours once you have paid, and that you hold the repository from the first day, not only at the end. Be careful with a licence that lets you use the software without owning it, with code that lives only in the developer’s accounts, or with a promise to “send a zip file when we are done”.
2. Who owns the accounts it runs on?
Software depends on more than code: the domain name, the hosting account, app store listings, payment accounts and the third-party services it connects to. Each of these should be registered in your name, or at least be transferable to you. A developer who holds all of them can hold your project hostage, even by accident.
3. Can you get your data out, and in what format?
You should be able to export everything in an open format, such as SQL or CSV, at any time, not only when the project ends. Ask to see the export working before you need it.
4. What is it built on?
If the software depends on a proprietary framework, a no-code platform or a service that only one vendor provides, another team may not be able to take over if you part ways. Mainstream, open-source technology means a new developer can pick it up without asking permission.
5. What happens if you part ways?
Ask what the handover looks like: documentation written for the next engineer, administrator access, replaced passwords and keys, and a walkthrough session. Our own standard approach is described on the ownership and handover page.
Owning is not the same as running
Owning your software does not mean you have to manage servers. Many clients prefer to have someone host, update and monitor it for them. That works well as long as the arrangement can end without losing anything: the code, the accounts and the data stay yours, and the handover applies on the day you leave.
If you are about to sign a software contract and want a second opinion on these points, tell us what you are looking at.