Website Support vs Website Maintenance: Are They the Same Thing?

"Website support" and "website maintenance" get thrown around like they mean the same thing. Half the companies selling these services use the terms interchangeably. The other half act like there's some obvious difference everyone should already know.

Neither approach helps you figure out what your website actually needs. So let me break it down: what website support and maintenance each cover, where they overlap, and how to make sure you're not paying for one when you need both.

What Website Maintenance Actually Means

Website maintenance is the proactive stuff. Think oil changes for your car. It's the regular, scheduled work that keeps your site running before anything breaks.

Here's what falls under maintenance:

• Software updates. Content management systems, plugins, and frameworks all release updates. Some fix bugs. Some patch security holes. Ignoring them is how sites get hacked.
• Security monitoring. Scanning for malware, checking SSL certificates, reviewing user access. The boring stuff that prevents the expensive stuff.
• Backups. Regular, tested backups of your files and database. "Tested" is the key word here. A backup you've never restored is just a file that might work.
• Performance checks. Page speed testing, image optimization, caching configuration. Slow websites lose visitors, and Google notices too.
• Uptime monitoring. Knowing your site went down at 2 AM instead of finding out from a customer at 9 AM.
• Content updates. Swapping out seasonal promotions, updating hours, adding new team members. The stuff that keeps your site accurate.

Maintenance follows a schedule. Weekly, monthly, quarterly. The whole point is preventing problems, not reacting to them. If you want to see what professional website maintenance services look like in practice, we break it down on that page.

What Website Support Actually Means

Website support is reactive. Something breaks, you need help, you call someone. Or something needs to change and you don't have the skills (or the time) to do it yourself.

Support covers things like:

• Bug fixes. A form stopped working. A page looks broken on mobile. The checkout flow throws an error. You need someone to diagnose and fix it.
• Feature requests. You want to add a booking calendar, integrate a new payment processor, or restructure your navigation. That's development work triggered by a specific need.
• Troubleshooting. Your email isn't sending from the contact form. Your site loads slowly on certain browsers. Something changed and you don't know what.
• Emergency response. Your site got hacked, your host went down, or you accidentally deleted a page. You need someone who picks up the phone.
• Training and guidance. You want to learn how to update your own content, or you need someone to walk you through your analytics dashboard.

The key difference: support doesn't follow a schedule. It happens when you need it. Some months that's ten hours of work. Other months it's zero.

We've covered this topic in depth in our guide to website support if you want the full picture.

Where Website Support and Maintenance Overlap

Here's where it gets murky. And honestly, this is the industry's fault.

A lot of tasks sit right in the middle. Take security. Monitoring for threats and applying patches? That's maintenance. Cleaning up after a hack? That's support. But the person doing both is usually the same person, using the same tools, looking at the same dashboard.

Same story with content updates. Adding a new blog post on a schedule is maintenance. Rewriting your homepage because your services changed? That's closer to support. But functionally, someone's logging into your site and editing content either way.

The overlap gets bigger when you look at how companies package these services. Some sell "maintenance plans" that include support hours. Others sell "support retainers" that include routine maintenance. The labels change, but the work is often identical.

Here's what matters more than the terminology: are you covered for both?

If your plan only includes scheduled maintenance, you're stuck when something breaks unexpectedly. If you only have on-demand support, your site is slowly deteriorating between those calls because nobody's doing the preventive work.

What You Actually Need (It Depends on Your Site)

I'm going to be straight with you: the answer depends on what you're running.

Simple 5-10 page static site: You need minimal maintenance (hosting, SSL, backups, occasional content updates) and almost no support. Static sites don't have databases to corrupt or plugins to break. They just sit there and work.

WordPress or CMS-based site: You need real maintenance. Updates, security patches, database optimization, plugin compatibility checks. You'll also want support access for when an update breaks something, because that's a matter of when, not if.

E-commerce site or web application: You need both, and you need them from someone who understands your tech stack. Scheduled maintenance keeps the revenue flowing. Support access means someone can fix the checkout bug before you lose a weekend's worth of sales.

Page builder site (Wix, Squarespace, etc.): The platform handles most maintenance. You might still want support for design changes, integrations, or SEO work that goes beyond what the builder offers.

The mistake I see most often: businesses paying for a maintenance plan that's really just "we'll update your plugins once a month." Then something breaks, the provider says "that's not covered," and suddenly you're paying emergency rates on top of your monthly plan.

What Website Support and Maintenance Costs

Costs vary depending on what's included, but here's what the market looks like:

Maintenance-only plans: $50-$300/month for basic sites. This typically covers updates, backups, security monitoring, and minor content changes. The low end is often automated tools with minimal human oversight. The high end includes actual human review and testing after updates.

Support-only retainers: $100-$500/month for a block of hours (usually 2-5 hours). Unused hours may or may not roll over. The hourly rate baked into most retainers works out to $75-$150/hour.

Combined plans: $150-$500/month for both maintenance and support bundled together. This is what most small businesses should look for. You get the preventive care and the safety net in one agreement.

Per-incident support: $100-$300 per issue if you don't have a retainer. Fine for sites that rarely need help, but expensive if something big breaks.

How Red Rock Handles Website Support and Maintenance

I'll be transparent here: this is the pitch section.

Red Rock's $150/month plan covers both maintenance and support in a single agreement. Hosting, SSL, backups, security monitoring, performance optimization, content updates, and direct access to me when something needs attention.

The reason I bundle everything: splitting maintenance and support into separate line items creates confusion and coverage gaps. If you're paying me to keep your site running and something breaks, fixing it should be part of the deal.

When we're not the right fit: If you have a WordPress site with 30 plugins, a membership portal, and an e-commerce store, you probably need someone who specializes in WordPress maintenance at scale. We build custom-coded sites, and that's where our maintenance expertise runs deepest. If your site runs on a stack we didn't build, we'll tell you upfront.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is website support the same as website maintenance?

Not exactly, though they're related. Maintenance is the scheduled, proactive work that prevents problems: updates, backups, security monitoring, performance optimization. Support is the reactive work that happens when something breaks or needs to change. Most businesses need both, and many providers bundle them together under one plan. The terminology varies by company, which is why it's worth asking exactly what's included before signing anything.

How do I know if my current plan covers both support and maintenance?

Ask your provider three questions. First: "If my site goes down at midnight, what happens?" If the answer involves waiting until business hours or submitting a ticket, your support coverage might be limited. Second: "What scheduled tasks do you perform each month?" If they can't give you a specific list, the maintenance side might be thin. Third: "Is there a limit on support requests?" If yes, find out what counts as a request and what the overage rate is.

Can I handle website maintenance myself and only pay for support?

You can, and for simple sites it makes sense. If you're comfortable running updates, checking backups, and monitoring security on your own, you'd only need a support provider for the things you can't handle. Just be honest about how consistently you'll actually do the maintenance work. "I'll check it every month" often turns into "I haven't logged in since August." If that sounds familiar, a managed plan that covers both is probably cheaper than the emergency support call you'll eventually need.

How often should website maintenance be performed?

It depends on the task. Backups should run daily or weekly. Software updates should be reviewed and applied at least monthly. Security scans should run continuously or weekly at minimum. Performance checks and content reviews work well on a monthly or quarterly cycle. Our website maintenance checklist breaks this down by timeframe if you want the full schedule.

Do I need website support and maintenance for a brand new site?

Yes, from day one. New sites still need backups configured, security monitoring enabled, and SSL certificates managed. And new sites tend to need more support initially, not less, because you're still working out content changes, finding bugs that didn't surface in testing, and adjusting things based on real user behavior. Starting maintenance early is always cheaper than fixing months of neglect later.

The Bottom Line

Website support and maintenance aren't the same thing, but you probably need both. Maintenance keeps your site healthy. Support keeps you covered when something unexpected comes up. The best arrangement is a provider who bundles them together so you don't have to think about which category your problem falls into.

If you're not sure what your site needs, or you're paying for a plan and aren't clear on what you're getting, let's talk about it. I'll give you an honest assessment, even if the answer is "what you have now is fine."