Website maintenance costs about $0 to $50 a month for most small business sites in 2026, and you can usually skip the agency. Squarespace lists plans from $19 a month on annual billing with hosting and SSL included, and WP Engine lists managed WordPress from $28 a month with updates and backups handled for you. The Bureau of Labor Statistics put median pay for web developers and digital designers at $99,520 in May 2025, about $47.85 an hour, which is why paid human hours are the expensive part.
What does website maintenance actually cost in 2026?
Most small sites cost $0 to $50 a month to maintain when the platform does the work. A self-managed WordPress site on a managed host runs about $28 to $115 a month. Paying a person for monthly care is a separate line item, and vendors rarely publish those prices.
Here are the numbers from vendor pricing pages, collected in October 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor page before you buy.
| Option | Listed price | What the vendor says is included |
|---|---|---|
| Squarespace | $19 to $99 a month on annual billing ($25 to $139 monthly billing) | Unlimited bandwidth, free SSL on all plans |
| Wix | $17.77 to $159.77 a month on yearly plans | Hosting with advanced security monitoring, 99.99% uptime |
| Webflow | $15 to $25 a month for Basic and Premium site plans, billed yearly | Hosting and unlimited backups with one-click restore |
| WordPress.com | $4 to $45 a month on annual billing | Hosting, malware removal, WAF, automated core updates; real-time backups from Business ($25) |
| WP Engine | Essential starts at $28 a month, billed annually | Automated WordPress and PHP updates, backups, security patching, 24/7 support |
| Kinsta | $35 to $115 a month for single and WP plans in the 35,000 to 125,000 visit range, with higher tiers up to $450 | Free SSL, managed WAF, free malware removal, 14 to 30 days of backups |
| Sucuri | Security platform $229 to $549 a year, firewall $9.99 to $19.98 a month | Malware cleanup on every plan, firewall and CDN |
That is the real floor. Hosting, SSL, backups and security patching are bundled into the price on every platform above. For an extra look at what a rebuild costs instead of upkeep, see our breakdown of how much a website redesign costs.
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What does “website maintenance” include?
Maintenance means five jobs: hosting and uptime, software updates, backups, security, and content or fix requests. Platforms like Squarespace and Wix absorb the first four. On self-hosted WordPress someone has to own all five, either you, a host, or a paid person.
1. Hosting and uptime
Someone has to keep the server running. Webflow, Wix and Squarespace include this in the plan price. Kinsta and WP Engine charge for it directly, and both are priced by monthly visits. WP Engine lists Essential for 25,000 to 400,000 visits a month.
2. Software updates
WordPress core, themes and plugins need regular updates. WP Engine lists automated WordPress and PHP updates in Essential, and offers AI plugin and theme updates as an optional add-on. WordPress.com lists automated core updates on every plan, including Free. Hosted builders such as Squarespace and Wix push updates for you.
3. Backups
Webflow lists unlimited backups on all site plans. WordPress.com includes real-time backups with one-click restore starting at its Business plan. Kinsta lists 14 to 30 days of retention depending on plan. If your plan has no backups, add them, because restoring from a backup is the cheapest way to survive a hack or a bad update.
4. Security
Sucuri sells a security platform at $229, $339 or $549 a year and says unlimited manual malware cleanups are included on every plan. Kinsta includes free malware removal on its plans. WordPress.com lists malware removal, a WAF and DDoS protection even on Free. Pay for a separate security plan only if your host does not cover this.
5. Content changes and fixes
This is the only job that needs a person. Updating a phone number, swapping a photo, fixing a broken form. If you run a hosted builder, you can do all of it yourself. On WordPress you can too, but a broken plugin conflict is where people start paying for help.
How much does a freelancer or developer cost per hour?
The only hourly figure we can source is government wage data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports median pay of $99,520 a year for web developers and digital designers in 2025, which works out to about $47.85 an hour. That is employee wages, not a billing rate. A freelancer or agency bills more than wages to cover taxes, tools and idle time, so treat $47.85 as a floor, not a quote.
Use it for a sanity check. If a task takes a developer two hours a month, the wage value is about $96 a month before any markup. A retainer that charges several times that for “monitoring” should come with a list of what you receive. Agencies and freelancers do not publish retainer rates the way hosts do, so we are not printing a range we cannot source. Ask for three written quotes and compare them against the hosting prices above.
For context on agency pricing in general, our guide to how much a marketing agency costs covers how retainers are usually structured.
DIY, platform included, maintenance plan or agency retainer: which should you pick?
Pick the platform-included option if you run a small brochure or lead-generation site. Move up only when a specific job (security incidents, ecommerce uptime, heavy custom code) is costing you more than the plan. The table below puts the four choices side by side.
| Option | Typical cost | Who does the work | Our take |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY on a hosted builder (Squarespace, Wix, Webflow) | $15 to $100 a month depending on plan | You, for content changes only. The platform handles hosting, SSL and updates | Best for most small businesses. Pick this by default |
| DIY on managed WordPress (WP Engine, Kinsta, WordPress.com) | $4 to $115 a month for typical plans | The host handles updates and backups. You handle content and plugin choices | Best if you need WordPress features or already have a site on it |
| Maintenance plan (security service or freelancer on a small monthly plan) | Security services list $229 to $549 a year (Sucuri); freelancer plans are quoted individually | A vendor monitors and fixes. You still make content edits | Best for WordPress sites on cheap hosting that lacks malware cleanup |
| Agency retainer | Quoted per client, not published by vendors | A team handles updates, fixes, and requests | Best only for multi-site, ecommerce, or compliance-heavy businesses with no internal owner |
Notice what is missing: a case where a small business needs an agency retainer purely for hosting, updates and backups. Every host above includes those.
When do you actually need an agency?
You need an agency when the cost of downtime or a bad change is higher than the retainer. That is true for stores that sell around the clock, sites with custom code nobody on your team understands, and companies with legal or security review requirements. It is rarely true for a five-page brochure site.
Three signs the retainer pays for itself:
- Your site has custom integrations or code that break when plugins update.
- Downtime costs you real sales each hour, and your plan lacks 24/7 support. WP Engine lists 24/7 technical support in Essential, so check whether you already have it.
- You have no one internal who will log in once a month.
Three signs it does not:
- You run a hosted builder where updates and hosting are included.
- Your changes are a few edits a quarter.
- The agency’s list of services mostly repeats what your host already does, such as backups and security patching.
Ask any agency for a line-by-line list of what the retainer covers, then compare it against your host’s pricing page. Whatever overlaps is money you are paying twice.
What is the honest case for skipping the agency?
Usually you can skip it. The hosts above sell updates, backups, SSL and security patching as part of the price, so a retainer that repeats them is a duplicate cost. The jobs that remain, small content edits, are minutes of work on a builder.
The risk of skipping is narrow and specific: a hacked or broken self-managed WordPress site with no backups. That is fixed by choosing a plan with backups (WordPress.com Business, Kinsta, WP Engine or Webflow) and by keeping an admin login you can reach. Our post on whether a monthly SEO retainer is worth it applies the same test to a different line item: demand a written scope before you sign.
One caution on what is not tested here. We did not measure site speed, uptime or breach rates across these hosts, so we are not claiming one is safer than another. We are comparing listed prices and listed inclusions. If search visibility is what you want from the site, upkeep does not produce it by itself. Visibility comes from being cited and covered, which is the work Subscribe PR does through its services.
FAQ
How much does website maintenance cost per month?
For a small business, expect $0 to $50 a month beyond your domain when you use a hosted builder or managed host. Squarespace lists plans from $19 a month on annual billing, WP Engine starts at $28 a month, and Webflow lists Basic at $15 a month. Hiring a person on top is a separate cost that vendors do not publish.
Do I need a maintenance plan for a WordPress site?
Not if your host does the work. WP Engine includes automated WordPress and PHP updates, backups and security patching in Essential, and Kinsta includes free malware removal. WordPress.com lists automated core updates on every plan. Add a separate security plan, such as Sucuri at $229 to $549 a year, only if your host lacks malware cleanup.
What does a freelance web developer charge per hour?
We cannot source a billing rate from a primary document. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports median pay of $99,520 a year for web developers and digital designers in 2025, about $47.85 an hour. That is employee pay, not a freelance rate, so a freelancer’s invoice per hour will be higher. Get written quotes rather than relying on averages.
Is Squarespace or Wix cheaper to maintain than WordPress?
Usually yes, because the platform handles hosting, SSL and updates inside the plan price. Squarespace lists $19 to $99 a month on annual billing, and Wix lists $17.77 to $159.77 a month on yearly plans. Self-hosted WordPress can cost less on paper but moves updates, backups and security to you or a paid helper.
Are website backups included in my hosting?
It depends on the plan. Webflow lists unlimited backups on all site plans, and Kinsta lists 14 to 30 days of retention. On WordPress.com, real-time backups start at the Business plan at $25 a month, not on Free, Personal or Premium. Check your plan page, and if backups are missing, add them before anything else.
When should I hire an agency to maintain my site?
Hire one when downtime or a failed update costs more than the retainer: busy stores, custom code, or compliance requirements with nobody internal to own the site. For a brochure site on a hosted builder or managed host, the platform already covers hosting, updates and backups, so ask for a written scope before you pay.
The short answer
Website maintenance is mostly a line item you already pay for. Hosting, SSL, backups and patching ship inside plans from Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, WordPress.com, WP Engine and Kinsta, so the real cost for most small businesses is $15 to $115 a month and an hour of your time. Buy a person only when downtime would cost more than the retainer.
Fix the site first, then ask the harder question: does anyone find it? Curious how AI search describes your business today? Get your free AI visibility report.
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