Website Maintenance Cost — What You'll Really Pay Monthly

Everyone asks "how much does a website cost to build?" but the monthly maintenance cost runs forever. Over 5 years, maintenance often exceeds the build cost.

Business SizeMonthly CostAnnual CostWhat's Included

Personal/Blog$15 – $50$180 – $600Hosting, domain, basic security
Small Business$50 – $200$600 – $2,400+ SSL, backups, email, basic updates
Ecommerce (SMB)$200 – $800$2,400 – $9,600+ Payment processing, app subscriptions, monitoring
Ecommerce (Enterprise)$800 – $3,000$9,600 – $36,000+ Dedicated support, performance optimization, CDN
Web Application$200 – $2,000$2,400 – $24,000+ Server scaling, database management, CI/CD

These are 2026 global averages. Actual costs depend on your platform, traffic level, and feature complexity. Our calculator shows monthly costs alongside the build estimate.

Hosting is your biggest recurring expense (unless you're on a SaaS platform where it's bundled).

SaaS platforms (hosting included):

• - Shopify: $39-399/month (hosting, SSL, CDN all included)
• Wix: $17-59/month
• Squarespace: $16-65/month
• BigCommerce: $39-399/month

Self-hosted platforms (you pay separately):

• - Shared hosting (SiteGround, Bluehost): $3-25/month — fine for small WordPress sites
• Managed WordPress (Kinsta, WP Engine): $30-300/month — faster, auto-updates, staging
• Cloud hosting (Cloudways, DigitalOcean): $10-200/month — scalable, good for growing sites
• Managed Magento (Cloudways, Nexcess): $50-450/month — Magento-optimized servers
• Custom VPS (AWS, GCP): $50-2,000/month — full control, requires DevOps knowledge

Rule of thumb: Budget 3-5% of your website's build cost per month for hosting. A $10,000 website needs $300-500/year hosting. A $50,000 website needs $1,500-$2,500/year.

For a detailed platform comparison, see our dedicated guides.

Security isn't optional — it's the cost of doing business online.

SSL Certificate:

• - Free: Let's Encrypt (included with most hosts)
• Paid: $10-200/year (for EV certificates with company name in browser)
• SaaS platforms: Always included

Security monitoring:

• - Sucuri: $10-30/month (firewall + malware scanning)
• Wordfence (WordPress): $0-99/year
• MageReport (Magento): $15-30/month
• Cloudflare Pro: $20/month (DDoS protection + CDN)

Backups:

• - Host-included: Most managed hosts offer daily backups
• Third-party: UpdraftPlus ($70/year), BlogVault ($89/year), Rewind ($9-99/month)
• Manual: Free but risky (and you won't do it consistently)

The cost of NOT investing in security: A hacked website costs $5,000-$50,000 to clean up (incident response, customer notification, SEO recovery, legal compliance). $30/month for Sucuri is insurance.

Websites aren't "set and forget." Software updates, content changes, and bug fixes are ongoing.

DIY maintenance (small sites):

• - WordPress updates: 30 min/month
• Plugin updates: 30 min/month
• Content updates: 1-4 hours/month
• Cost: Your time only

Managed maintenance plans:

• - Basic ($50-150/month): Core updates, security monitoring, monthly backup verification
• Standard ($150-300/month): + Content updates (up to 4 hours), performance monitoring
• Premium ($300-800/month): + Priority support, A/B testing, conversion optimization

Developer retainer (for custom work):

• - 5 hours/month: $250-750 (small fixes, content updates)
• 10 hours/month: $500-1,500 (feature additions, integrations)
• 20 hours/month: $1,000-3,000 (active development, complex changes)

For a full cost breakdown including maintenance, use our calculator and select a maintenance plan in Step 9.