How to Give Your Web Developer Access to Hosting and Domain Accounts

Last updated on October 12th, 2026 at 05:09 pm

Most major hosting companies and domain registrars now let you add another user, delegate, collaborator or account manager. Your developer gets their own login, you keep ownership of the account, and you can remove their access later for any reason.

If you are working with Small Business Fanatics, use jl@smallbusinessfanatics.com whenever the instructions below ask for your developer’s email address. This guide covers the most common hosting companies, domain registrars and DNS providers we encounter while managing WordPress websites.

What Access Should You Give a Web Developer?

Give your developer enough access to do the work, but avoid handing over your primary account credentials whenever the provider offers a better option.

Depending on the project, a web developer may need access to:

• Your hosting control panel
• Website files and databases
• Domain and DNS settings
• SSL certificate settings
• Backups and staging environments
• PHP and server settings
• Your WordPress dashboard

They usually do not need access to your credit card, billing profile or primary account password. If you are giving someone access because your website needs ongoing updates, security monitoring or troubleshooting, see our WordPress maintenance services.

 

How to Give a Developer Access to GoDaddy

GoDaddy uses a system called Delegate Access. It lets another person access products in your GoDaddy account without giving them your password or access to sensitive account information such as your payment methods.

1. Log in to your GoDaddy account.
2. Open Delegate Access.
3. Find People who can access my account.
4. Click Invite to Access.
5. Enter your developer’s name and email address.
6. Choose the appropriate access level.
7. Click Invite.

The developer will receive an invitation and use their own GoDaddy account to access the products you have authorized.

View GoDaddy’s official Delegate Access instructions.

 

How to Give a Developer Access to Namecheap

Namecheap has a Share Access feature for domains. This allows another Namecheap user to manage selected domain settings while you remain the domain owner.

1. Log in to Namecheap.
2. Open Domain List.
3. Click Manage next to the domain.
4. Open the Sharing & Transfer tab.
5. Find Share Access.
6. Enter your developer’s email address or Namecheap username.
7. Click Add.
8. Select the settings the developer is allowed to manage.
9. Enter your account password to confirm the change.

The person receiving access needs their own Namecheap account. Namecheap lets you choose which domain settings they can modify, so there is usually no reason to share your primary Namecheap login.

View Namecheap’s official domain sharing instructions.

 

How to Give a Developer Access to Hostinger

Hostinger provides Account Sharing specifically for situations like giving a developer or collaborator access to your hosting services.

1. Log in to Hostinger hPanel.
2. Click your profile icon.
3. Select Account Sharing.
4. Click Give Access.
5. Enter your developer’s email address.
6. Select the appropriate access level.
7. Select which services the developer can manage.
8. Click Give Access.

The developer can manage websites, files, databases and hosting settings based on the access you grant. Hostinger restricts shared users from sensitive actions such as changing your profile information, managing payment methods or deleting your account.

View Hostinger’s official Account Sharing instructions.

 

How to Give a Developer Access to SiteGround

SiteGround calls this type of user a Collaborator. For WordPress websites, collaborators can access the site’s Site Tools without logging into the owner’s personal SiteGround account.

1. Log in to your SiteGround Client Area.
2. Open Websites.
3. Find the website you want to share.
4. Open the Actions menu.
5. Select Manage Users.
6. Click Add Users.
7. Select New User if the developer has not already been added.
8. Enter the developer’s name and email address.
9. Click Add.

The developer receives an email invitation. SiteGround’s current system gives a new collaborator 48 hours to accept the invitation.

View SiteGround’s official collaborator instructions.

 

How to Give a Developer Access to WP Engine

WP Engine allows account owners to add additional users through its User Portal and assign different levels of access.

1. Log in to the WP Engine User Portal.
2. Expand Users.
3. Click Account Users.
4. Click Invite account user.
5. Enter your developer’s information.
6. Select the appropriate role and website environments.
7. Click Invite user.

One important distinction: adding someone to your WP Engine hosting account does not automatically add that person as a WordPress Administrator. Hosting access and WordPress dashboard access are separate permissions.

View WP Engine’s official user management instructions.

 

How to Give a Developer Access to Kinsta

Kinsta lets you give a developer access to individual websites instead of your entire company account. For most small businesses, that is the better choice.

1. Log in to MyKinsta.
2. Go to Sites.
3. Select the website.
4. Open User management.
5. Click Invite users.
6. Enter your developer’s email address.
7. Choose Site administrator or Site developer.
8. Click Invite users.

Use the role that provides the access required for the project rather than automatically granting company-wide access.

View Kinsta’s official user management instructions.

 

How to Give a Developer Access to DreamHost

DreamHost uses Account Privileges. This lets you give another person access to specific areas of your DreamHost account instead of sharing your primary login.

1. Log in to your DreamHost panel.
2. Open Account Access.
3. Click Grant Privileges to a New Person.
4. Enter your developer’s name and email address.
5. Select the privileges they need.
6. Click Set Privileges.

DreamHost can provide fairly granular access, including permissions related to domains, databases and hosting plans. Be careful with domain privileges because some permissions can also affect email accounts associated with the domain.

View DreamHost’s official Account Privileges instructions.

 

How to Give a Developer Access to Cloudflare

Cloudflare is often where a website’s DNS is managed, even when the website is hosted somewhere else. That means your developer may need Cloudflare access in addition to hosting access.

1. Log in to Cloudflare.
2. Select your account.
3. Go to Manage Account > Members.
4. Click Invite.
5. Enter your developer’s email address.
6. Choose the appropriate scope.
7. Assign the necessary role or roles.
8. Continue to the summary.
9. Review the permissions and send the invitation.

Cloudflare supports scoped permissions, so avoid giving someone unrestricted account access when they only need to manage a particular domain or technical function.

View Cloudflare’s official account member documentation.

 

How to Give a Developer Access to Squarespace Domains

Squarespace allows domain owners to invite additional Domain Managers. This is especially relevant for domains that were moved to Squarespace following the migration of Google Domains customers.

Each domain manager uses their own Squarespace account.

1. Log in to Squarespace.
2. Open your domains dashboard.
3. Select the domain you want to share.
4. Open the domain’s permissions settings.
5. Invite the developer as a Domain Manager.
6. Enter their email address.
7. Send the invitation.

Keep in mind that Squarespace permissions can work differently when a domain is connected to and shares permissions with a Squarespace website.

View Squarespace’s official domain permissions guide.

 

How to Give a Developer Access to cPanel

cPanel is different from the companies above because it is hosting control panel software used by many different hosting companies.

Newer cPanel installations may include Manage Team, which lets the account owner create separate team users and assign roles.

1. Log in to cPanel.
2. Look under Preferences for Manage Team.
3. Click Create Team User.
4. Enter a username for your developer.
5. Enter their email address.
6. Choose the option that allows the user to set their own password.
7. Assign the appropriate roles.
8. Create the user.

Not every hosting company enables cPanel’s team management features. If Manage Team is missing, ask your hosting provider whether they offer separate users before sharing the primary cPanel password.

View cPanel’s official Manage Team documentation.

 

What About Bluehost?

Bluehost’s account management interface and available user permissions can vary depending on the account and hosting product. If your Bluehost dashboard provides a Users & Roles or similar account-user feature, use that instead of sharing your primary password.

If you do not see a separate account access option, contact Bluehost support and ask specifically how to provide a web developer with hosting access without sharing the account owner’s login.

Visit the official Bluehost Help Center.

 

Understanding How Hosting Access and WordPress Administrator Access Are Different

This trips up a lot of website owners. Creating a WordPress Administrator account does not necessarily give your developer access to your hosting company, server or domain name.

A WordPress Administrator can generally manage:

• Pages and posts
• Plugins
• Themes
• WordPress users
• Most WordPress settings

Hosting or domain access may be required to manage:

• DNS records
• Nameservers
• PHP versions
• Server configuration
• Databases
• Server-level backups
• SSL certificates
• Website files when WordPress is inaccessible
• Staging environments

If you only need to add someone to WordPress, go to Users > Add New User inside your WordPress dashboard and select the appropriate role. WordPress also maintains an official guide to user roles and capabilities.

 

Should You Give a Web Developer Administrator Access?

If the developer is responsible for actually fixing, migrating, maintaining or troubleshooting the website, limited read-only access may not be enough. The better approach is to give them the technical permissions required to do the work while keeping ownership, billing and unrelated services under your control. This is one reason separate user accounts are better than password sharing. You can see who has access and remove that access without changing your own login.

 

Working With Small Business Fanatics?

If we asked you for hosting, domain or DNS access, you generally do not need to send us your primary password. Use jl@smallbusinessfanatics.com when your provider asks for the email address of the developer, delegate, collaborator or account manager. If your hosting company is not listed above, send us the name of the provider. We’ll tell you which type of access we need.

Not sure whether your website has technical or SEO problems in the first place? Start with our Free SEO Audit. We’ll identify the issues worth addressing before you start changing things.