Website maintenance cost per month: what's included

What website maintenance costs

Maintenance is the service with the widest price range in the industry and the vaguest description. The same three words — updates, backups, monitoring — sit behind a few euros a month and behind several hundred. The difference isn't in the words. It's in who does the work, how often, and what happens at three in the morning.

With us, from

€40/month

The market

A very wide range

The price measures

Time, not the site

Is it compulsory

What's included

Eight things without which it isn't maintenance.

If any of them is missing from the description you've received, ask explicitly. It isn't necessarily a problem — but you should know in advance.

Core and plugin updatesRegularly, not “when we remember”. An abandoned plugin is the most common way in for a breach — see what to do with a hacked site.

Backups off the serverA backup sitting next to the site is lost along with it. A useful backup is somewhere else and made at a known frequency.

Checking that the backup restoresThis is the part that's usually missing. A backup nobody has tried to restore is an assumption, not insurance.

Monitoring that the site is upAn automatic check every few minutes. The point is that you hear it from us, not from a customer.

Checking for malicious codeRegularly comparing the files with what's expected. An infection often runs for months without anything looking different.

Hours for changesChanging a text, adding a page, a new photo. This is the part that actually gets used every month.

A report on what's been doneShort, once a month. Without it you're paying for something you can't check.

Who responds, and how fastA person's name and a response time. “Write to the general inbox” isn't maintenance — it's a wish.

The difference

Six questions that reveal what you're paying for.

The same description can mean a completely different service. These six questions bring out the difference in five minutes.

Who presses the button?Automatic updates with no human involved are cheap and sometimes break the site on a Saturday. Updates that go through a review take time — and that time is exactly what you're paying for.

Where are the backups, and how far back do they go?On the same server or elsewhere. From yesterday or from a month ago. With an infection discovered late, yesterday's backup is no use.

How many hours are included, and what happens to unused ones?Do they roll over or expire? Either is acceptable, as long as it's said up front.

How fast do you react when the site is down?During working hours or around the clock. A shop that's down on a Saturday evening loses more than the cost of maintenance.

What explicitly ISN'T included?New features, redesign, copywriting, work on ads. A good contract lists them, so there's no dispute.

How is it cancelled?With what notice, and do you get your data? With us, that's published in advance.

Honestly

When you need it and when you don't.

Monthly maintenance isn't compulsory and isn't for every site. Here's how to recognize your case.

You need it if you sell onlineA shop that's down loses money every hour. Here monitoring and a fast response pay for the plan by themselves.

You need it with WordPress and pluginsThe more parts, the more updates. A site with fifteen plugins and no maintenance is a matter of time.

You need it if the site brings in enquiriesThree days of downtime means three days without enquiries — and usually nobody notices until it's been a week.

You don't need it for a simple brochure siteA few pages with no database and no forms need a check once or twice a year, not a subscription.

You don't need it if you have your own personIf someone in the company already does it and knows how — pay them, not twice.

You don't need a “big package” up frontStart with the smallest. If the hours run out every month, then move up — not the other way round.

Questions

Short answers.

If your question isn't here, call us — we answer by phone too.

+359 882 95 89 89

Why do maintenance prices vary so much?

Because different work hides behind the same word. Automatic updates with no human involved cost almost nothing; the same with a review, a backup and a check costs time.

Don't ask “how much does it cost” but “how many hours of human work are included, and what happens if the site goes down on a Saturday”.

Is maintenance compulsory with you?

No. The site is yours without it too — from day one. Maintenance is monthly and can be cancelled with notice.

If you'd rather someone else or your own person took it on, we hand over everything needed to keep it running.

What happens if I don't use the hours?

The core of the plan isn't the hours but the updates, backups and monitoring — they run every month, whether or not you've asked for a change.

So a month without changes isn't a wasted month. But if the hours never get used, tell us — we'll move you to a smaller plan.

Can I have just backups, without the rest?

You can, but it's a half-measure. Backups without updates mean that sooner or later you'll be restoring — and a backup without a check that it restores is peace of mind on credit.

Does maintenance include new features?

No. The hours are for changes to what exists — a text, a photo, a page, a setting. New functionality is quoted separately, so it's clear what it costs.

What would it cost for you?

Send us your site's address and what it runs on. We'll tell you which plan is enough — including if the answer is “none”.

+359 882 95 89 89 office@illumi.bg

Sofia, Bulgaria We reply within 24 hours In business since 2012