If you’re a tech fan and own a website, then you’re probably on a few relevant Subreddits. If that’s the case, I can bet you’ve seen multiple rants from different people complaining of the same thing: “My developer wants $100 a month for maintenance. It feels like a scam because nothing is breaking.”
It’s easy to assume nothing is happening behind the scenes when nothing’s wrong with your site. I get it, but you’re paying for prevention, and when it’s done right, it feels like nothing. Problems don’t get a chance to surface with performance checks, updates, and backups stopping hacks, crashes, and downtime.
Let’s get to the bottom of what happens during those ‘silent’ months, why ongoing website maintenance matters for your business, and how to make sense of website maintenance costs.
The Simple Truth: Website Maintenance Is Like Car Maintenance
Most people don’t struggle with the idea of car maintenance. Everyone understands why it’s necessary to regularly change the oil, rotate the tires, and replace parts.
You don’t wait for your engine to seize up on the highway and then say, “Now I’ll start taking care of it.” The same applies to digital assets: you need to conduct regular website health checks.
If You Only Pay When It Breaks, You Pay More
When businesses skip maintenance, they usually meet me when something has already gone wrong. The site is down, emails stopped working, and the admin won’t load. Worse still, it could be a hacking attack.
At that point, you’re no longer paying for maintenance. You’re paying for emergency repair. Emergency work costs more, takes longer, and almost always comes with business damage attached:
- Lost leads.
- Lost sales.
- Lost trust.
Monthly maintenance exists to keep you out of that situation.
‘Nothing Is Happening’ Is Actually the Goal
I’m always surprised when I come across rants complaining that “nothing is happening” with a monthly maintenance plan. In reality, this is actually the goal.
I get it. People like some drama, and normalcy can be boring, but the silence people complain about doesn’t come with luck alone. It’s the result of:
- Applying compatible updates.
- Patching vulnerabilities.
- Running backups.
- Watching systems.
As soon as your site starts needing attention, just know you’ve been slacking on the maintenance efforts we just listed.
Your Website Is a Living System
Your website is constantly evolving and needs regular maintenance to keep running smoothly. Think of it like the human body. It demands proper care and attention, or you could fall sick and even die. Your website also requires frequent updates because:
- WordPress keeps updating.
- Plugins update too.
- Servers change.
- Security threats evolve.
Even without using your site, maintenance is still necessary because the environment around it keeps changing. So, you need to make a deliberate effort to keep your site compatible, protected, and stable.
What Website Maintenance Really Includes (The Silent Work)
What did you think website maintenance meant before learning about it? It’s not just logging into the admin panel and tapping one button. Real website maintenance is a layered system, and most of it happens quietly in the background.
Core, Theme, and Plugin Updates
The most visible aspect of website maintenance is updating core, theme, and plugin files. Those updates fix security holes, patch bugs, and improve compatibility.
Blindly running updates is one of the fastest ways to break a site. You need to review updates, apply them safely, and check the site afterward to ensure nothing conflicts or crashes.
This alone prevents a huge percentage of website failures.
Security Monitoring and Protection
This may not be common knowledge, but bots scan most commercial websites daily in search of vulnerabilities. You may not know when such bots are scanning your site until they successfully launch an attack.
You need to:
- Scan for malware.
- Manage firewalls.
- Patch vulnerabilities.
- Preventing spam.
- Secure logins.
Backups and Disaster Recovery
Backups are essential because you could be a victim of hacking attacks or site failures. When hackers compromise your site, they could delete critical files or hold them for ransom. When your site goes down, you’ll want to get it up as quickly as possible.
Part of your maintenance must focus on setting up automated backups that are stored off-site, tested, and ready to restore quickly. When something goes wrong, you don’t want to be scrambling to restore corrupt or outdated backups.
Uptime, Error, and Health Monitoring
Sites don’t always fail dramatically. Sometimes,
- Forms stop sending.
- Pages throw errors.
- Servers hiccup.
- Features quietly break.
Proper maintenance monitors for downtime, performance issues, and system errors.
Performance and Database Care
Over time, websites collect clutter, such as:
- Old revision.
- Spam entries.
- Bloated plugins.
- Inefficient scripts.
Ongoing maintenance keeps the site lean, fast, and secure.
Fixing Small Issues Before They Become Big Problems
Most site owners have seen small issues snowball into larger problems that affect the entire website. For example:
- Outdated plugins cause security vulnerabilities.
- Broken links can decrease search engine rankings.
- Bloated scripts slow down site loading times.
What You’re Actually Paying For Each Month
When I explain website maintenance to clients, I tell them they’re buying risk reduction, time, and peace of mind. That $100 (or whatever your plan costs) covers updates and keeps your site healthy, so your business runs smoothly.
1. Risk Reduction
Every update, scan, and backup is an investment you make against downtime, hacks, or data loss. It’s like insurance for your website: you pay a small monthly fee to protect your site and manage risks.
That’s how you reduce the chances of your site being vulnerable to security breaches or malware attacks.
2. Time Savings
The time you need to troubleshoot website issues or figure out how to update plugins is way more than the time you’d spend with regular maintenance. That time would be better spent focusing on other tasks, such as creating new content and interacting with your audience.
You can save loads of time by regularly backing up your website and investing in security measures.
3. Business Continuity
Businesses rely heavily on their websites to generate revenue and maintain a strong online presence. If it’s hacked, your sales will plummet and brand reputation will be damaged.
You need to keep your site live, fast, and functional by checking that:
- Checkout forms work.
- Contact forms send messages.
- Pages load quickly.
- Links aren’t broken.
- Images display correctly.
Website Maintenance Cost: What Actually Determines the Price
Websites vary in function and complexity, so their maintenance needs vary as well. Here’s what really drives website maintenance pricing.
1. The Size and Complexity of Your Website
A five-page brochure site is very different from an e-commerce store, a membership platform, or a lead-generation machine with custom features. The more moving parts your site has, the more there is to monitor, update, test, and protect.
Complexity increases risk, and risk increases the level of maintenance required. You need to factor hidden costs when budgeting for your website project.
2. The Level of Protection and Support
Some plans only cover basic updates and backups, while others include security hardening, uptime monitoring, performance checks, and small fixes each month.
As expected, the price increases with faster response times, proactive monitoring, and hands-on support.
3. The Experience Behind the Service
Quality maintenance includes:
- Testing.
- Troubleshooting.
- Recovery planning.
- Knowing how to fix things when they don’t go smoothly.
Experience shows up when an update conflicts, a site gets infected, a server fails, or a backup needs to be restored correctly. That knowledge is part of what you’re buying.
What Website Maintenance Packages Usually Include
Website maintenance packages typically include a combination of services and support to ensure your website runs smoothly and continues to improve. Also, they differ depending on each business’s needs and requirements.
Therefore, packages fall into tiers based on the level of support and services provided. Let’s explore some tiers:
1. Entry-Level Care Plans
This category works great for all the folks starting out and are skeptical, especially our friends ranting on Subreddits. Entry-level maintenance focuses on updating your site, backing it up, and protecting it.
They usually include WordPress, theme, and plugin updates, routine backups, and basic security monitoring. This level is best for simple sites that don’t change often but still need protection from hacks, data loss, and update failures.
2. Business-Level Maintenance Plans
Established businesses with systems in place need active site management, so they go for business-level plans. This package comes with everything in the entry-level care plans, topped up with:
- Uptime monitoring.
- Performance checks.
- Monthly reporting.
- Small fixes.
You need to pay extra for this package if your website generates leads or books appointments.
3. Growth-Focused Care Plans
You need these plans when your website is crucial for your daily operations or sales. They usually include priority support, deeper security hardening, speed optimization, staging environments, ongoing improvements, and faster response times.
At this level, maintenance does more than keep the site alive, as it also keeps it competitive.
What a Real Maintenance Plan Should Look Like
Anyone in the publishing space will, with good reason, be doubtful of maintenance fees, especially when:
- You have never had to use such services before.
- You have been let down by a previous maintenance provider.
- You get reliable, silent maintenance without any reporting.
- You don’t have enough information about the benefits of maintenance.
Your package should never be invisible or vague. If you’re paying every month, you should know what’s happening. Here’s what I believe every legitimate website maintenance plan should include.
1. Clear, Ongoing Activity
You shouldn’t be guessing whether anything is happening. A real maintenance plan includes documented updates, security activity, backups, and monitoring.
Even if nothing went wrong that month, work was still done, and it should be traceable.
2. Some Form of Monthly Reporting
This doesn’t have to be a ten-page technical document. You only need to know what’s happening with your website.
You should be able to see:
- What was updated?
- Whether backups ran.
- If any threats were blocked.
- Whether issues were found and handled.
When all you get is silence because the maintenance is working, but you’re not getting any reports, doubt will creep in naturally. Transparency builds trust.
3. A Defined Scope of Support
You should know exactly what your plan covers.
- Does it include small fixes?
- Form issues?
- Update conflicts?
- Performance problems?
- Emergency response?
4. A Human You Can Reach
If your website supports your business, maintenance should have a face behind it. You should know who’s responsible for your site and how to reach them when you need help.
Real maintenance is a relationship, not just a plugin stack.
5. Proactive Communication
You’ll enjoy working with maintenance gurus like me, because we always warn you of potential issues in advance. We’ll have a good talk about updates that could change how your site functions, or if your site’s growth needs require better hosting or themes.
The Bottom Line: What You’re Really Paying For
In my experience, I interpret “My developer wants $100 a month, and nothing is even breaking,” as meaning, “My maintenance is working.”
You’re paying for quiet, not chaos! You’re paying for the updates that didn’t crash your site and the vulnerability that got patched. What about the backup that you never got to use but was there for you just in case?
Be thankful your forms keep working, your images load fast, and your site doesn’t crash when you get a viral post. Be even more thankful that the checkout never failed you and blocked your income.
In case you want to look through my direct recommendations, here’s my idea of a perfect website maintenance package.
