A ZERO FAFF guideNo. 3
How much does website maintenance cost?
A short, honest book about what proper website care involves, and what it’s worth
ZERo FaFF
The short answer
Proper care: from £175 a month.
That’s where our plans start, with no VAT to add, for a WordPress website looked after by real people: updates tested before they go live, backups proven every month, and help on hand when it breaks.
You’ll see cheaper plans advertised. We read the price pages of 13 UK providers in November 2026, and the lowest-priced plans typically cover updates and backups, with no changes included. Plans with three or more hours of someone’s time, or priority help, were mostly £250 to £450.
So the real question isn’t what’s cheapest. It’s how much is actually being done for the money.
By Ross Thompson, Director of Technology & Innovation at ZERO FAFF, Durham. Checked and updated November 2026.
A word before we start
Why we wrote this
We sell website care, and we’re proud of how we do it. This book shows you what proper care involves, so you can judge anyone who offers it, us included.
You’ll see exactly what each of our plans includes and what it costs. You’ll also see how we handle the bills around a plan: hosting, plugins and domain renewals, all at the supplier’s price, with zero mark-up from us.
Every figure from elsewhere is sourced at the back. Where something is only our opinion, we say so.
Contents
What’s in the book
- What are you actually paying for?4
- What does it cost?6
- Same words, different job9
- What does your site need?10
- Is it worth it?12
- What we charge14
- Eight questions to ask16
- Good questions, straight answers17
- What happens next19
Chapter one
What are you actually paying for?
A website is a bit like a van. It needs proper servicing, by someone who knows what they’re looking at.
- Tested updates. WordPress and its add-ons (plugins), updated on a private copy first.
- Backups that work. Daily and off-site, with a recovery tested every month.
- Security and monitoring. Watching for attacks, and for the site going down.
- Renewals. Your domain, hosting, padlock certificate and licences, all tracked.
- A clear record. Every change logged, and a plain-English update each month.
- Someone on hand. A real person who starts on it when something breaks.
Chapter one, continued
Why it can’t just be left to run
Security firm Patchstack, which sells protection for WordPress, counted 11,334 new weaknesses in 2025. That’s 42% more than in 2024.
WordPress itself had just six, all low priority. So the more plugins a site has, the more there is to look after.
Other things move on as well. PHP, the language WordPress runs on, stops getting security fixes for version 8.2 on 31 December 2026. Padlock certificates now last 200 days at most, falling to 100 next March.
Chapter two
What does it cost?
It depends how much is being done. Here’s what we found on 13 UK providers’ own price pages.
That’s a small sample, so treat it as a rough map. Some leave out hosting, and most don’t say whether VAT is included.
What a price can’t show you is the work behind it. One agency puts “proper” maintenance at £250 to £500 a month, and calls £50 to £150 untested automatic updates. Chapter three shows you how to tell the difference.
Chapter two, continued
The bills around a plan
| What | Rough UK price |
|---|---|
| Hosting | About £14 to £50 a month for decent WordPress hosting. Watch for low first-year prices that jump on renewal. |
| Domain | Roughly £10 to £30 a year. |
| Licences | Depends on your paid plugins. Ask for a list. |
Prices we found are before VAT, or don’t say.
Chapter two, continued
Why a person’s time matters most
The biggest jump in price comes when a real person’s time is included. An automatic update costs a provider very little. Testing it, checking your site still works and fixing it if it doesn’t takes someone’s time.
It’s also what you’ll notice when something goes wrong. You get somebody who already knows your site, not a stranger starting from scratch.
Our Full Support plan includes two hours of changes a month, and Priority includes four, for wording, design tweaks and small improvements. If you only change things now and then, Essential keeps the site safe, and we quote for changes as you need them.
Chapter three
Same words, different job
Two plans can promise the same things and do very different work.
| The plan says | It could mean | Or it could mean |
|---|---|---|
| Updates | Run automatically, then a report | Tried on a private copy first, then checked |
| Backups | Taken and stored on the same server | Stored elsewhere, and a restore actually tested |
| Monitoring | An alert goes off | Someone acts on it, in an agreed time |
| Support | An email address | A stated response time, and repairs included |
Our plans are built on the right-hand column: updates tested first, backups proven monthly, and the first hours of recovery included.
Chapter four
What does your site need?
£275 a month
Full Support adds two hours of changes a month, and checks on your forms and connected systems.
A rough guide to our plans, not a quote. No VAT to add, with hosting and licences paid directly at cost.
Chapter four, continued
What to do with your answer
Essential, £175 a month
Your site needs keeping safe, but rarely changes. Tested updates, proven backups, monitoring and recovery help.
Full Support, £275 a month
A site that brings in business. Two hours of changes a month, checks on your forms and systems, and next-working-day responses.
Priority, £400 a month
A site your business leans on every day. Four hours a month, front-of-queue support and agreed emergency cover.
On Wix, Squarespace or Shopify?
The platform handles the updates, and we can do the rest. We update and add pages for clients on a monthly retainer. Ask us for a price.
Chapter five
Is it worth it?
£175 a month works out at about £5.75 a day, with no VAT to add. For that, your website is updated, backed up, watched and looked after, and you’re not the one doing it.
We won’t try to scare you into it. The government’s latest survey found 43% of UK businesses had a cyber breach or attack in a year, but most were phishing emails rather than hacked websites.
The better reasons are what your site earns, what your own time is worth, and who’s around when something stops working. For most businesses with a site that brings in work, we think that adds up quickly.
Chapter five, continued
Doing it yourself, by the job, or a plan
| Option | Best when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Yourself | You’ve the time to test updates and can restore a backup | An update breaking the site on your busiest day |
| By the job | Changes are rare, and nothing’s urgent | Nobody watching in between, and a queue when it’s urgent |
| Plan | The site brings in regular business | Cheap plans that may not test anything, so ask what’s included |
A quick sum. Say a new customer is worth £500 to you, and your site brings in two a month. That’s £12,000 a year coming through it. Essential costs £2,100 a year, or just over four of those 24 customers.
That’s only an example, so swap in your own figures. It also leaves out the value of your own time.
Chapter six
What we charge
Three plans for WordPress websites, with no VAT to add. No set-up fees, and a six-month minimum, then monthly rolling.
£175 a month
Essential
Updates tested on a private copy, daily off-site backups with a monthly recovery test, security and uptime monitoring, a record of every change, renewal tracking and a monthly update. If the site goes down, we start the same working day, with the first two hours of recovery included. Changes are quoted separately.
£275 a month
Full Support
Everything in Essential, plus two hours of changes a month, checks on your forms and connected systems, a detailed report with recommendations and next-working-day responses. First four hours of recovery included.
£400 a month
Priority
Everything in Full Support, plus four hours a month, front-of-queue support, agreed emergency cover outside working hours and a quarterly review call.
Chapter six, continued
Zero mark-up, no surprises
- Zero mark-up. Hosting, plugin licences and domain renewals are paid directly, at the supplier’s own price. We add nothing on top.
- Nothing hidden. We track every renewal and tell you what’s due. We’re not VAT registered, so there’s no VAT to add, and there are no set-up fees.
- A real person. Someone who knows your site, with a plain-English update every month.
- Still yours. Your website, domain and accounts stay yours.
- A clean handover. After the six-month minimum it rolls monthly. Give us a month’s notice whenever you like, and we’ll hand everything over.
How that compares. In our sample, plans with three or more hours or priority help were mostly £250 to £450 a month, and most providers don’t say whether VAT is included. Priority is £400 with no VAT to add. That includes four hours of changes, front-of-queue support and emergency cover.
Chapter seven
Eight questions to ask
0 of 8 asked.
Good questions, straight answers
What people ask
How much does website maintenance cost in the UK?
It depends how much is being done. We charge from £175 a month, with no VAT to add, for tested updates, proven backups, monitoring and recovery help. Of 13 UK providers we checked, plans with only updates and backups ran from about £20 to £80, with an hour or two of changes £50 to £150, and with three or more hours or priority help mostly £250 to £450.
How much does website maintenance cost per year?
Our plans come to £2,100, £3,300 or £4,800 a year, with no VAT to add. Hosting, your domain and licences are extra wherever you go, and with us you pay those directly at zero mark-up.
How much does WordPress maintenance cost?
WordPress is what most of the plans we checked cover, so the same figures apply. Busy sites and online shops pay more, because there’s more to test.
Good questions, continued
Is website maintenance necessary?
WordPress sites need keeping up to date, and most weaknesses are found in plugins. You can do it yourself if you’ve the time to test updates and restore a backup. If your site brings in business, it’s worth leaving to someone who does this for a living.
Does hosting include website maintenance?
Sometimes in part. Many managed hosts handle backups and some updates, but don’t assume they’ll check your site still works afterwards or make changes for you.
How much does online shop maintenance cost?
More, because payments and orders need testing after every update. Tell us what yours does and we’ll tell you exactly what it costs.
Can you help if my site is on Wix, Squarespace or Shopify?
Yes. The platform handles updates and security, and we update and add pages for clients on these platforms on a monthly retainer. Ask us for a price.
The final chapter
What happens next
Getting a straight answer about your site takes three steps, and the first one is just a chat.
A quick chat
Tell us what your site does and what’s worrying you. No hard sell, zero faff.
A look and a clear answer
We’ll tell you what it needs and exactly what that costs. If it doesn’t need us, we’ll say so.
We look after it
If you go ahead, updates, backups and monitoring start, and you get a plain-English update every month.
So, what does yours need?
Let’s have a look.
Send us your site and tell us what it does for your business. We’ll tell you what it needs and exactly what it costs, with no surprises.
Or ring us on 07842 897868
- No set-up fees
- Zero mark-up on hosting and licences
- You keep ownership of everything
- Replies the same day, usually
Thinking of a new site instead? Read what a website costs, or have a look at our website page.
The small print
Where the numbers came from
- Plan prices: the price pages of Website Helper, Ben’s Web Service, Zanet, Matthew Temple, Blake Mark Productions, The WordPress Guy, Little Nerd, TDW, WP Care Pros, WP Helpdesk, Hotsource, Urban Haze and Nomad Developer. Most don’t say whether VAT is included.
- Patchstack, State of WordPress Security in 2026: sells security
- UK Government, Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/26
- PHP supported versions
- CA/Browser Forum, certificate lifetimes
- ALT Agency: sells maintenance
- Hosting from Krystal and SiteGround UK. Clean-up price from Website Helper. All sell these services.
All checked November 2026. Prices change, so check before you buy.