How to Choose a Website Maintenance Company (Without Getting Burned)

I've been on both sides of this conversation. As someone who runs a website maintenance company, I know what separates providers who actually do the work from ones who collect your monthly payment and pray nothing breaks.

Finding the right provider shouldn't require a leap of faith. But most business owners don't know what to look for, and the industry doesn't make it easy. Everyone's website says they offer "comprehensive solutions" and "proactive monitoring." Those words mean nothing without specifics.

Here's what to actually evaluate, what questions to ask, and which red flags should make you walk away.

What a Website Maintenance Company Should Actually Do

Before you start comparing providers, you need to know what you're shopping for. A lot of businesses sign up for "maintenance" without understanding what that word covers.

At minimum, website maintenance includes:

• Software and security updates — keeping your CMS, plugins, and dependencies current
• Backups — regular, tested, stored somewhere separate from your hosting
• Uptime monitoring — someone should know your site is down before you do (tools like UptimeRobot can check every 5 minutes)
• Security scanning — checking for malware, vulnerabilities, and unauthorized changes
• Performance checks — making sure load times aren't creeping up
• Content updates — small changes like updating business hours, swapping photos, or adding a new team member

Some companies bundle hosting into the maintenance plan. Others don't. Some include content updates; others charge extra per change. The specifics matter more than the label.

If you want a deeper look at what these tasks involve, our website maintenance checklist covers each item in detail.

How to Evaluate a Website Maintenance Company

Once you know what you need, here's how to figure out if a provider can actually deliver.

Look at Their Own Website

This sounds obvious, but it's the first test most people skip. If a website maintenance company has a slow, outdated, or broken site, that tells you something. Pull it up on your phone. Check the load time. Click through a few pages.

If their own house isn't in order, yours won't be either.

Ask What's Included (and What's Not)

Get a written breakdown of exactly what the monthly fee covers. The most common frustration I hear from business owners switching providers is "I thought that was included."

Specifics to pin down:

• How many content updates per month?
• Is hosting included or separate?
• What's the response time for urgent issues?
• Are there extra charges for anything beyond the standard plan?
• Who owns the site and domain if you leave?

That last one matters more than you'd think. If they registered your domain under their account, you could lose it when you cancel.

Check How They Communicate

Good maintenance is invisible when things are working. But when something breaks — and something always breaks eventually — communication speed matters.

Ask about:

• How do you reach them? (Email, phone, Slack, ticket system?)
• What's the typical turnaround for non-emergency requests?
• Do you get a dedicated contact or a rotating support queue?

Some companies route everything through a ticket system with no way to reach an actual person. That might work for enterprise clients. For a small business, it usually doesn't.

Look for Proof They're Doing the Work

A good provider should be able to show you what they've done. Monthly reports, change logs, uptime stats — something that proves they're earning the fee.

If a provider can't tell you what they did last month, they probably didn't do much.

Red Flags That Should Make You Walk Away

I've heard enough horror stories from business owners to compile a list. These are the warning signs:

They won't give you a straight price. If the answer to "how much does this cost?" involves a 30-minute sales call, the pricing is designed to extract maximum revenue from each prospect. Our cost breakdown covers what fair pricing looks like across the industry.

They lock you into a long-term contract. Annual contracts aren't inherently bad, but be cautious of any provider that requires 12+ months upfront with heavy cancellation penalties. Good providers retain clients because the service is good, not because leaving is painful.

They can't explain what they do in plain English. If every answer involves buzzwords and acronyms without substance, move on. You should be able to understand what you're paying for.

They don't touch your actual site. Some "maintenance" companies only handle hosting and backups but never log into your site. Backups are important, but they're one piece of the puzzle.

You can't reach a real person. When your site goes down on a Tuesday morning and the only option is a support ticket with a 48-hour SLA, that's a problem.

They built your site and now won't release it. This is more common than it should be. If a company makes it difficult to transfer your site, your domain, or your data, they're using your business as leverage.

Questions to Ask Before You Sign

Cut through the marketing with these:

1. What does a typical month look like for one of your clients? This forces them to describe their actual workflow instead of reciting features.
2. Can I see a sample maintenance report? If they don't produce reports, you have no visibility into what they do.
3. What happens if I want to cancel? The answer reveals a lot about how they view the relationship.
4. Who owns my domain and hosting account? The answer should be "you do." Anything else is a dealbreaker.
5. What's your response time when something breaks? Get a number, not "we respond quickly."
6. Do you work with sites like mine? If you're running a custom-coded site and they only know WordPress, or vice versa, it's a mismatch.

If you're still deciding whether you need professional maintenance at all, our comparison of DIY vs professional website maintenance breaks down when it makes sense to handle things yourself.

What Good Maintenance Looks Like in Practice

Here's what you should expect from a provider that's actually doing their job:

Monthly updates without you asking. Software updates, security patches, and dependency updates should happen on a regular schedule. You shouldn't have to request them.

Fast response times. For small business sites, "fast" means hours for urgent issues and 1-2 business days for routine requests. Not a week.

They tell you about problems before you discover them. If your SSL certificate is expiring next month or your contact form stopped working, you should hear about it from your provider — not from a customer who tried to fill it out.

Clear, readable reports. You don't need a 20-page PDF. You need a summary: what was done, what's coming up, and whether anything needs your attention.

No surprises on the invoice. The monthly fee is the monthly fee. If something falls outside the scope, they should tell you before doing the work, not after.

How Red Rock Handles Website Maintenance

I'll be upfront: this is the pitch section. But I think it's useful context for what a straightforward maintenance setup looks like.

At Red Rock Web Design, our plan is $150/month. That includes hosting, SSL, daily backups, security monitoring, performance optimization, and content updates. One plan, one price.

You get direct access to me. Text, email, or call. When something needs to change on your site, you tell me and it gets done.

Because we build custom-coded sites (not WordPress), there are fewer moving parts that can break. Updates are simpler. Security surface area is smaller. That means maintenance is less about putting out fires and more about keeping everything running well.

For details on what's included, see our maintenance services page.

When We're NOT the Right Fit

If you're running a WordPress site with 50 plugins and an e-commerce store, we're probably not your best option. We specialize in small business sites — typically 5-15 pages, built from scratch. If your needs are more complex than that, a larger agency with WordPress-specific expertise would serve you better.

Similarly, if you need 24/7 phone support or guaranteed 15-minute response times, that's an enterprise-level SLA that a one-person operation can't promise. I'm honest about that.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should website maintenance cost per month?

For a small business website, expect to pay between $50 and $300 per month depending on what's included. Plans on the lower end typically cover just hosting and backups. Plans in the $100-$200 range usually add security monitoring, software updates, and content changes. Anything above $300/month is either an enterprise-level service or includes extras like SEO and marketing. Our full cost guide breaks this down in detail.

Can I maintain my own website instead of hiring a company?

Yes, and for some people it makes sense. If you're comfortable updating software, running backups, monitoring security, and handling performance optimization, DIY maintenance can save you money. The tradeoff is your time and the risk of missing something. Most small business owners find that their time is better spent running the business. We wrote a whole post comparing the DIY approach vs hiring a professional if you want the full breakdown.

What's the difference between website hosting and website maintenance?

Hosting is the server space where your website lives — it keeps your site accessible on the internet. Maintenance is everything else: updates, backups, security, performance tuning, and content changes. You need both, but they're different services. Some companies bundle them together, others sell them separately. Make sure you know which you're getting.

How do I know if my current maintenance provider is actually doing anything?

Ask for a report. A good provider should be able to show you what updates were made, what was backed up, what security scans found, and what the uptime looked like over the past month. If they can't produce that information, or if the answer is vague, that's your answer.

Should I choose a local website maintenance company or does location matter?

For most websites, location doesn't matter. Maintenance work is done remotely — there's no reason someone in your city would do a better job than someone across the country. That said, some business owners prefer a local provider for the ability to meet face-to-face and the shared understanding of the local market. It's a preference, not a requirement.

Ready to Stop Guessing?

Finding the right website maintenance company comes down to asking the right questions and watching for the red flags. If a provider can't clearly explain what they do, show you proof of the work, or give you a straight answer on pricing, keep looking.

If you want to talk through what your site actually needs, reach out and let's figure it out together.