How Much Do WordPress Maintenance Plans Cost?

2025 Pricing Guide – If you are researching WordPress maintenance, you have probably realized one thing quickly: pricing is all over the map. You will find offers ranging from $25/month to $3,000+/month, which makes it nearly impossible to budget confidently.

So what should you expect to pay? And more importantly, what should you actually get for that investment?

Let’s break down real-world WordPress maintenance costs so you can make an informed decision for your business.

The Three Main Approaches (And What They Actually Cost)

Option 1 – DIY WordPress Maintenance

Do it Yourself Maintenance: $25-90/Month (Plus Your Time)

Many business owners start here, and for simple sites, it can work. But realistically there are still costs that you need to keep in mind.

Out-of-pocket expenses:

Security plugins (premium versions): $100-300/year
Backup solutions: $50-200/year
Performance optimization tools: $100-400/year
Monitoring services: $50-200/year

Total tool costs: $300-1,100 annually or roughly $25-90/month

The real cost: Your time

Plan for 2-8 hours monthly depending on your website’s complexity. That doesn’t include time spent learning, troubleshooting problems, or handling emergencies. For many business owners, those hours are worth far more than the money saved.

DIY makes sense if:

You genuinely enjoy technical work
Your site is simple with minimal plugins
Downtime doesn’t directly cost you money
You have consistent time available each month
You have some technical or coding experience

Option 2 – Done For You WordPress Maintenance

Entry-Level Professional Maintenance: $300-1000/Month

This is where professional service begins. You are paying for expertise, reliability, and peace of mind.

What you typically get:

WordPress core, plugin, and theme updates with testing
Regular automated backups
Security monitoring and malware scans
Uptime monitoring with alerts
Email support during business hours

Best for:

Small business websites
Informational sites and blogs
Sites with 5-15 plugins
Straightforward functionality without complex customization

The limitation: These plans typically focus on maintenance only. Content updates and development work are usually not included or severely limited. In our service offerings, we offer a discounted rate for hourly work when you are on any of our maintenance plans which does make this a more viable option for smaller companies that don’t need much extra work on their site.

Mid-Tier Professional Plans: $1000-2,000/Month

This is the sweet spot for most active businesses. You get comprehensive maintenance plus ongoing support and improvements.

What’s included:

Everything in entry-level plans, plus:
Regular content updates (reasonable monthly allocation)
Minor functionality improvements
Basic development work
Staging site testing before updates go live
Monthly check-in meetings

Best for:

Active business websites that change regularly
Growing eCommerce sites
Sites requiring content updates
Sites with 15-30 plugins
Businesses where downtime directly impacts revenue

This level makes sense when your website is actively supporting business growth and you need more than just “keep the lights on” service.

Premium/Enterprise Plans: $2,000+/Month

For businesses where the website is constantly changing and new features need to be added, or the site is much larger or more complicated you often need a more comprehensive plan.

What you get:

Everything in mid-tier plans, plus:
Significant development hours included
Comprehensive performance optimization
Custom development and integrations
Marketing and technical consulting
Multiple sites management

Best for:

Large eCommerce sites
Enterprise websites with complex functionality
Mission-critical applications
Sites with 30+ plugins or custom plugins/custom code
Sites that are constantly changing

Option 3 – Ignore Maintenance Entirely ($0/Month… Until It Isn’t)

Some people choose to do nothing and hope for the best. It costs nothing upfront, which sounds appealing when budgets are tight.

Here’s why that’s a risky gamble:

Security breaches are expensive. Professional cleanup from a hack typically costs $1,500-5,000+, plus the revenue lost while your site is down or blacklisted by Google.
Outdated sites eventually break. That “minor” plugin compatibility issue turns into a complete site failure, often at the worst possible time. Emergency fixes cost 2-3x normal rates.
Google penalizes slow, insecure sites. Your search rankings drop as competitors with faster, more secure sites move ahead. Lost visibility means lost business.
Recovery costs more than prevention. Sites that go years without maintenance often need complete rebuilds ($10,000-50,000+) because fixing accumulated issues costs more than starting fresh.
Backups only matter if you have them. We’ve seen too many businesses lose years of content, customer data, and custom functionality because they didn’t have working backups when disaster struck.
Your site becomes a liability. Outdated WordPress sites get hacked and used to send spam, host malware, or attack other sites. You could face legal issues or hosting termination.

Bottom line: Ignoring maintenance isn’t really a $0 option. It’s a gamble where you are betting your entire web presence that nothing will go wrong. The odds aren’t really in your favor.

Red Flags: Pricing That is Too Good to Be True

Be cautious of comprehensive maintenance plans under $75/month from US-based agencies. At that price point, something has to give. Usually it’s support quality, response times, or the thoroughness of testing. Often at this pricing the work is being offshored or mostly automated.

Warning signs to watch for:

Guarantees that sound impossible (“guaranteed never hacked”)
Vague service descriptions
No clear emergency response protocol
Pressure to buy immediately without understanding your site

What Really Determines Your Maintenance Cost?

Several factors influence what price you will need to pay:

Site complexity: A simple 10-page site needs less attention than a custom eCommerce platform with 50+ plugins.

Business criticality: If an hour of downtime costs you thousands in lost sales, premium service with emergency response makes financial sense.

Update frequency: Sites requiring regular content updates, new features, or integrations need mid-tier or premium plans.

Your time value: What is your hourly rate worth? If DIY maintenance takes 5 hours monthly, you are “paying” $500-1,000+ in opportunity cost at your typical business owner rates.

Growth trajectory: A growing business benefits from a maintenance partner who can implement improvements, not just keep things running.

The Real Question: What’s Downtime Worth to Your Business?

Here’s a perspective shift that helps clarify the value: What would one day of website downtime cost your business? What would a week cost your business? I have seen websites down over a week before the owner found someone who could get the site back up and running. Is that ok for your business?

Professional maintenance isn’t just about preventing problems. It’s insurance against costly disasters.

Making the Right Choice for Your Business

The best maintenance approach depends entirely on your specific situation:

Choose DIY if you have a simple site, limited budget, technical interest, and time available
Choose entry-level professional for small business sites where basic protection is enough
Choose mid-tier professional when your website actively supports business operations and growth
Choose premium/enterprise when your website is mission-critical and downtime has immediate financial impact

Want more details on exactly what should be included in WordPress maintenance? Check out our complete WordPress maintenance guide for 2025, which covers everything from daily tasks to quarterly audits.

Not Sure Which Level You Need?

Every website situation is different. The right maintenance plan depends on your specific site complexity, business goals, and growth plans.

At MantyWeb, we’ve been maintaining WordPress sites since 2009, and we’ve learned that the best maintenance plans are built around your actual needs rather than a one-size-fits-all package. Which is why we currently quote every maintenance plan based on our customer’s needs and do not offer any set plans.

We would be happy to have a quick conversation about your website maintenance needs. We will ask a few questions about your current setup, your business priorities, and help you understand what level of maintenance makes sense for your situation. No pressure, no obligation. Just straight talk about what you actually need.

Let’s talk about your WordPress maintenance needs →

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