How Much Does Website Maintenance Cost in 2026?

Let me save you an hour of Googling: website maintenance costs anywhere from $50 to $5,000+ per month. That's an absurdly wide range, and it's not very helpful. So let's actually break down what you should be paying, what you're getting for that money, and where most businesses get burned.

I run a web design business in St. George, Utah, and I talk to small business owners every week who are either overpaying for maintenance they don't need, or paying nothing and watching their website slowly fall apart. Both are bad. Let's fix that.

What Does Website Maintenance Actually Include?

Before we talk numbers, let's define what we're actually paying for. "Website maintenance" is one of those terms that means wildly different things depending on who's selling it.

At a minimum, website maintenance should cover:

• Security updates and patches - Keeping your site safe from hackers
• Software updates - CMS, plugins, themes, dependencies
• Backups - Regular, tested backups you can actually restore from
• Uptime monitoring - Knowing when your site goes down before your customers do
• Performance checks - Making sure your site stays fast
• SSL certificate management - Keeping that padlock icon in the browser
• Bug fixes - Things break. Someone needs to fix them.

Some providers also include content updates, SEO monitoring, analytics reporting, and design tweaks. The more that's included, the more you'll pay. Simple enough.

Website Maintenance Cost Ranges in 2026

Here's what the market actually looks like right now:

Basic Maintenance: $50 - $200/month

This is where most small businesses should land. At this tier, you're getting:

• Regular backups
• Security monitoring and updates
• Software/plugin updates
• Basic uptime monitoring
• Minor bug fixes
• SSL management

This is the "keep the lights on" tier. Your website stays secure, stays online, and doesn't fall behind on updates. For a brochure site or a small business website with 5-15 pages, this is usually all you need.

Mid-Range Maintenance: $200 - $500/month

At this level, you're adding:

• Content updates (a few hours per month)
• Monthly performance reports
• SEO monitoring
• Analytics review
• Priority support
• More frequent backups

This makes sense for businesses that regularly update their website content, run a blog, or depend heavily on their website for lead generation. If your website is a core part of your sales process, this tier is worth considering.

Premium/Enterprise Maintenance: $500 - $5,000+/month

This is for e-commerce sites, large content platforms, membership sites, or businesses where downtime directly costs money. You're getting:

• Dedicated support team
• 24/7 monitoring
• Immediate response times
• Regular design updates
• A/B testing
• Advanced security (WAF, DDoS protection)
• Database optimization
• Load testing

If you're running an online store doing six figures or more, or a SaaS product, this tier makes sense. If you're a local plumber with a five-page website, it absolutely does not.

What Actually Affects Your Cost

Not all websites are created equal, and your maintenance costs depend on several factors:

1. Your Platform (CMS)

This is the biggest cost driver most people don't think about.

WordPress sites need more maintenance. Period. Plugins need updating, themes need patching, and the core software needs regular attention. WordPress powers about 40% of the web, which also makes it the biggest target for hackers. More maintenance work = higher costs.

Custom-coded sites (like what we build at Red Rock Web Design) need significantly less maintenance. No plugins to update, no theme conflicts, no database bloat. The maintenance is mostly monitoring, backups, and the occasional content update.

Squarespace/Wix sites handle their own platform updates, but you're locked into their ecosystem and limited in what you can optimize.

2. Site Complexity

A 5-page brochure site is cheaper to maintain than a 200-page e-commerce store with user accounts, payment processing, and inventory management. More pages, more features, more things that can break.

3. How Often You Need Changes

If you're updating content weekly, that costs more than "set it and forget it." Some businesses need seasonal updates, menu changes, or regular blog posts. Others just need to make sure the site stays online.

4. Your Traffic Volume

Higher traffic means more server resources, more potential security threats, and more things to monitor. A site getting 500 visitors a month has different needs than one getting 50,000.

The Hidden Costs Most People Miss

Here's where businesses get surprised. The monthly maintenance fee isn't always the whole picture.

Hosting

Many maintenance plans don't include hosting. That's an additional $10-$100/month depending on your needs. Some providers bundle it in, some don't. Always ask.

Domain Registration

Your domain name costs $10-$20/year. It's cheap, but if you forget to renew it, someone else can snag it. Your maintenance provider should be tracking this for you.

SSL Certificates

Most hosting providers include free SSL through Let's Encrypt now, but some premium SSL certificates cost $50-$300/year. For most small businesses, the free option works perfectly fine.

Emergency Fixes

What happens when your site gets hacked at 2 AM on a Saturday? Some maintenance plans cover emergency response. Others charge extra for it, sometimes at premium hourly rates ($150-$300/hour). Read the fine print.

Content Creation

Maintenance keeps your site running. It doesn't create new content for you. If you need blog posts, new pages, or updated photography, that's usually a separate cost.

Third-Party Tools

Contact forms, email marketing integrations, analytics tools, booking systems - these often have their own monthly fees that exist outside your maintenance plan.

How Red Rock's $150/Month Compares

I'll be transparent about what we offer because I think it's a fair deal, but I also want you to understand when it might not be the right fit.

Our monthly website maintenance at $150/month includes:

• Hosting - included, not extra
• SSL - included
• Daily backups - included
• Security monitoring - included
• Content updates - need to change your hours, swap out a photo, update pricing? Just ask
• Performance optimization - ongoing
• Direct access to me - you text or call me directly

Here's the thing that makes it work: we build custom-coded websites, so there's dramatically less that can go wrong, which means I can offer comprehensive maintenance at a lower price point than agencies managing WordPress sites with 30 plugins.

We also offer a one-time option at $3,500 if you'd rather own it outright. You'll still need hosting and someone to handle updates, but you're not locked into a monthly payment.

When We're NOT the Right Fit

I'm going to be honest here because I'd rather you find the right solution than sign up for something that doesn't work:

• E-commerce with hundreds of products - You probably need a dedicated platform and more specialized support
• Enterprise-level sites - If you need 24/7 phone support with SLAs and a dedicated team, you need an agency
• Custom web applications - SaaS products, membership platforms, and complex web apps need specialized ongoing development, not just maintenance

For most small businesses with a 5-20 page website that needs to look professional, load fast, and generate leads? We're a really good fit. Check out our maintenance packages for the full breakdown.

How to Evaluate a Maintenance Provider

Before you sign up with anyone (including us), ask these questions:

1. What exactly is included? Get a specific list, not vague promises.
2. What's NOT included? This is often more revealing.
3. What's the response time? "We'll get to it" is not an answer.
4. Do you own your website? Some providers hold your site hostage. If you leave, can you take your website with you?
5. Is hosting included? If not, what do they recommend and what will it cost?
6. What happens if my site gets hacked? Is emergency response included or extra?
7. Can I see examples of sites you maintain? Check their speed scores on Google PageSpeed Insights.
8. Is there a contract? Month-to-month is ideal. Long-term contracts benefit the provider, not you.

DIY Maintenance: Is It Worth It?

Can you maintain your own website? Sure. Should you? Depends. We wrote a full comparison of DIY vs professional maintenance if you want the detailed breakdown.

If you're technically inclined and enjoy it, doing your own updates and backups can save money. But most business owners I talk to would rather spend their time running their business. The math usually works out: if your time is worth more than $50/hour, and maintenance takes 3-4 hours a month to do properly, you're better off paying someone.

Plus, there's the expertise factor. I catch security vulnerabilities and performance issues that most business owners wouldn't know to look for. An ounce of prevention and all that.

FAQ

How much should a small business pay for website maintenance?

Most small businesses with a standard brochure or lead-generation website should expect to pay between $50 and $200 per month for solid maintenance. This should cover backups, security, updates, and basic support. If someone's quoting you $500/month for a five-page site, they're either including a lot of extras you may not need, or they're overcharging.

Is website maintenance worth the cost?

Short answer: yes. A hacked website costs thousands to clean up. A slow website loses customers every day. An outdated website with broken links and expired SSL certificates tells potential customers you don't care about your business. Maintenance is insurance against all of that. The question isn't whether you can afford maintenance - it's whether you can afford not to have it.

Can I do website maintenance myself?

You can, but it depends on your technical comfort level and your platform. If you're on WordPress, you'll need to regularly update core software, plugins, and themes, run backups, monitor security, and troubleshoot conflicts. If your site is custom-coded, there's less to do, but you still need to handle hosting, SSL, backups, and content updates. Most business owners find it's not the best use of their time.

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

Hosting is the server where your website files live - think of it as renting space on the internet. Maintenance is the ongoing work to keep your site secure, updated, fast, and functional. You need both. Some providers bundle them together (like we do), while others charge separately. Always clarify what's included.

How often should a website be maintained?

Security monitoring and backups should happen daily. Software updates should be applied as they're released (usually weekly or monthly). Content reviews and performance checks should happen monthly. A full security audit and comprehensive review should happen quarterly. We've published a complete maintenance checklist broken down by frequency. If someone tells you they "check on it every few months," that's not maintenance - that's neglect.

The Bottom Line

Website maintenance isn't exciting. Nobody wakes up thrilled about plugin updates and SSL renewals. But it's the difference between a website that works for your business and one that's slowly becoming a liability.

Find a provider who's transparent about pricing, specific about what's included, and responsive when you need them. Whether that's us or someone else, the worst thing you can do is nothing.

Ready to stop worrying about your website? Let's talk about what you actually need.