“Maintenance” is the vaguest word in the website world. One party means a monthly round of updates, another a fully monitored site with backups and emergency help. That makes prices hard to compare. In this article we explain what belongs in good WordPress maintenance, what the three ways of arranging it cost, and which questions to ask before you sign anything.
What does WordPress maintenance include?
A WordPress website consists of WordPress itself, a theme, on average 15 to 30 plugins and the server (with PHP and a database) it all runs on. Each of those parts gets regular updates, and every update can break something. Good maintenance therefore covers at least this:
- Updates of WordPress, plugins and theme, including checking that the site still works afterwards. Updating is easy; knowing it went well is the real work.
- Backups, daily, stored somewhere other than the server itself, and tested from time to time.
- Security: firewall, login protection, malware scanning and responding to critical flaws such as the PHP flaw of 21 October.
- Server and PHP kept up to date, including upgrading to a supported PHP version in time.
- Monitoring: knowing the site is offline before a customer tells you.
- Speed: caching, images and periodic database clean-ups.
- A point of contact for small changes and questions, with an agreed response time.
Anything not on this list is not maintenance but hosting (the server) or development (new features). Keep them apart when you compare quotes.
Three ways to arrange it, and what they cost
| Do it yourself | Freelancer or agency | Monitored maintenance (EM + Verploy) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | €0, plus your own time: count on 2 to 4 hours a month | Usually €50 to €150 a month, depending on response time | From €29 a month, hosting included (excl. VAT) |
| Updates | Manually, when you remember | Monthly or weekly round | Daily, every update tested on a copy first |
| Check after update | You click around yourself | Varies widely per provider | Automatic; if something fails, the previous version is restored |
| Response to a critical flaw | When you happen to see the news | Within 1 to 3 working days | Same day, monitored |
| Risk | High: one missed or failed update, and your site is down | Medium: depends on the person | Low: the platform monitors, people decide |
The prices in the middle column are an indication based on what we see with clients who switch to us; always ask exactly what is included. Our own prices are on the maintenance page.
Why “doing it yourself” is often the most expensive
An update takes you five minutes. A failed update costs you an afternoon, and if your online shop is down in the meantime, revenue too. Most business owners who do their own maintenance therefore end up doing the opposite over time: they stop updating, for fear of breaking something. That is exactly how sites get hacked. Not because of one missed button, but because of months of postponing.
Where the real difference lies
Anyone can install updates, even a plugin. The difference between a cheap and a good maintenance package comes down to three things:
- Testing before it goes live. Risky updates (WooCommerce, page builders, PHP upgrades) should run on a copy of your site first.
- Checking after the update. Not “is the site reachable”, but: does the contact form still work, can people still check out, has the homepage not shifted?
- Rolling back when things go wrong. Automatically, within minutes, without you having to call anyone.
We built Verploy because we could no longer keep up with this by hand for more than 260 websites. The platform does the testing, checking and rolling back; we keep an eye on it and step in where a human is needed.
Five questions to ask any maintenance provider
- How often are updates done, and what happens afterwards to check everything still works?
- Where are my backups stored, how long are they kept and when was one last restored?
- What happens with a critical flaw outside office hours?
- Who upgrades the PHP version, and do they test it first?
- What happens to my site and my data if I cancel?
If you don’t get a clear answer to one of these questions, you know enough.
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