What does website maintenance cost?
Bought separately, website maintenance usually costs 25 to 150 € per month, or 50 to 90 € per hour. With a subscription it is simply included, with no separate bills.
What is website maintenance exactly?
Website maintenance is everything that keeps your site running the way it should, even when you are not paying attention to it. Think of updating the technology behind the site, making back-ups, checking whether your contact form still works, spotting broken links, keeping an eye on loading speed and adjusting a text or photo now and then.
A website is not a painting you hang up once and then forget. It is more like a car: it drives fine, but it needs a service every so often to stay reliable. Skip those services and you often only notice when something breaks. And then you are worse off than if you had simply kept it up.
Why you should not put off maintenance
Maintenance might feel like something that can wait, but it touches three things that have a direct effect on your customers and your revenue.
Security. The software behind a website gets regular updates, often because a vulnerability has been found somewhere. If you do not install them, your site becomes an easy target. A hacked site that suddenly shows odd adverts or goes offline out of nowhere costs you customers and trust.
Speed. A slow site drives visitors away. People do not wait ten seconds; they click back and move on to the next one. Maintenance keeps things light and fast, so a visitor stays instead of leaving.
Findability. Google pays attention to whether a site is safe, fast and error-free. A neglected site slowly slips down the search results, even if you change nothing about your texts. Good maintenance helps you stay findable, without you having to do anything for it.
What does website maintenance cost if you buy it separately?
If you buy maintenance separately, there are roughly two forms. Some freelancers and agencies work with a fixed monthly amount, usually somewhere between 25 and 150 € per month, depending on how much they keep an eye on for you. Others work by the hour and charge 50 to 90 €, so you pay per job: an update here, a text change there.
The sting is in the separate bills. Your hosting runs apart, your domain name apart, updates apart, and every time you want to change something another little invoice turns up. Before you know it you are paying more than you thought and you never quite know where you stand. That very uncertainty is why many entrepreneurs keep putting maintenance off, with all the risks that brings.
With a subscription it is simply included
With a website on subscription you pay one fixed amount per month and the maintenance is simply part of it. No separate bills, no surprises afterwards. With us that starts at 49 € per month for Website Start, and that includes hosting, security, updates and maintenance all together. If you want new content on your site every month, you choose Website Groei for 89 € per month. If your business is mainly about appointments and customer contact, there is Website Compleet with an online appointment planner and AI customer service for 139 € per month.
The idea is simple: you run your business, we keep the technology healthy. Need a change? You just call or email and we sort it out. Your domain name is in your name, so should you ever want to switch, you take everything with you: the site, the texts and the domain. Honest, no small print.
Frequently asked questions
Can't I just do the maintenance myself?
You can, and for some people it works fine. But count on time and attention: you have to keep up with updates, make back-ups and keep an eye on whether everything still works. For most entrepreneurs that time is more valuable than handing it over to someone who is doing it for you anyway.
What happens if I do not maintain my website?
In the short term often nothing visible. But over time the site gets slower, more vulnerable to hacks and harder to find in Google. You usually only notice when it goes wrong, and by then repairing it costs more than preventing it would have.
Is maintenance always included with a website subscription?
Not always, so check carefully. With some providers you pay a low monthly amount, but updates and changes come on top of that separately. With us everything is in the fixed amount, so you never end up facing surprises.