Table Of Contents

We have re-iterated in all our WordPress related blogs about how it still, even after being launched in 2003 as a simple blogging tool, enjoys dominance over the other CMSs used in website development. Almost 43% of the market share is captured by WordPress for all the websites that are on the internet today. It has sustained all the paradigm shifts and has always found its way to stay relevant by tackling all the competition that has come along, viz. Joomla, Drupal, and other.

For any WordPress development process, there are three main parts involved:

  1. Cost of developing a WordPress website.

  2. How to hire a WordPress developer?

  3. Maintaining a WordPress website.

While we covered the first two topics previously with a comprehensive blog for each, we intend to complete this series by addressing the most common question after the development of a WordPress website, i.e. What is the cost of maintaining a WordPress website?

Estimating the cost of maintaining a WordPress website isn’t a single line answer. There is no fixed cost associated with this question. We need to look into several aspects that directly or indirectly affect the WordPress website maintenance cost. Let’s explore each in detail.

Why does a WordPress website need maintenance?

Everything that is developed needs timely maintenance and WordPress websites are no exception to that. Every website developed requires maintenance from time to time to ensure that it stays relevant to the latest updates and changes in the trends. In order to stay ahead or at least at par with the competition, it is essential to maintain your WordPress website.

Maintaining your WordPress website regularly ensures:

  • Error and bug free performance.
  • Safety and security from various types of cyber-threats.
  • Regular backup of the website.
  • Database maintenance.
  • Good site linking and backlink performance.
  • Optimized performance.
  • Optimized content updates.

WordPress website maintenance offers a lot of other benefits which we can explore in detail, if you are looking to maintain your WordPress website. Let us explore the activities that are involved in the maintenance of the WordPress websites.

Activities included in WordPress website maintenance

Maintaining a WordPress website is a continuous process that entails various sub-activities. These activities collectively ensure that your WordPress website is up and running and is ready to withstand the shifts that happen either due to version upgrades, deprecation, or other updates. Let’s explore the activities that are involved in maintaining a WordPress website.

WordPress Core Updates

WordPress at it’s core as a system receives the core updates in the architecture, new features, and security patches. Keeping the core updated is essential to ensure the optimal website performance and prevent any security vulnerabilities.

Theme and Plugin Updates

Themes and plugins are integral parts of a WordPress site. They also receive updates that improve compatibility, fix bugs, and enhance security. Regular updates ensure that the theme or plugin continues to function properly with the latest version of WordPress.

Website Backups

Regular backups are necessary to safeguard your website data. In case of a crash or hacking attempt, you can restore your site quickly without losing important information. Backups can be stored locally or on cloud services.

Security Screening

WordPress websites are prone to cyber-attacks. Monitoring websites continuously for security threats and malware scanning helps prevent malicious activities and data breaches.

Database Optimization

Over time, WordPress tends to store a lot of data in the database like post revisions, spam comments, and transient data. Regular clean up of the database ensures speed and optimal website performance.

Performance and Speed Optimization

Activities like caching, minimizing JS/CSS, image optimization, and reducing the server response time are essential for user experience and SEO. Regular audits ensures that website’s performance and speed are optimized to meet the incoming requests.

SSL Certificate Renewal

An SSL certificate ensures that your website uses HTTPS, providing a secure connection for visitors. It needs regular renewal to maintain security, especially for e-commerce or data-sensitive websites.

SEO Monitoring

SEO practices evolve at a rapid pace. It is essential to make SEO related adjustments for websites to stay updated with recent algorithm updates using various SEO plugins. SEO maintenance involves keyword research, performance tracking, and making the necessary adjustments to stay competitive in search rankings.

Uptime Monitoring

Uptime monitoring helps track when your website is down. Regular maintenance ensures that any downtime is immediately addressed, minimizing loss of traffic or sales.

Content Updates

Regularly updating website content like blogs, images, or product descriptions is essential to keep the website fresh and engaging. This also includes making layout changes and updating banners.

The activities included in the maintenance of a WordPress website aren’t limited to the aforementioned ones. On a case-to-case basis, the activities can change and new activities might come up. It is essential to analyze what sort of activities your website will need.

Factors that affect WordPress website maintenance cost

Let us now dive deep into the factors that are taken into consideration while calculating the maintenance cost of a WordPress website.

Website size and complexity

WordPress is used to create a single blog and also complex websites, such as an eCommerce website. This is an important factor that is considered while calculating the cost of maintenance of a WordPress website. The more complex the website is, the higher the cost of maintenance. The number of pages a website includes also increases the cost of maintenance.

Number of plugins

WordPress websites often rely on plugins for added functionality. The more plugins a website uses, the more updates and compatibility checks are needed, especially if they come from different developers.

Hosting plan

The hosting environment impacts maintenance. Managed WordPress hosting plans often include updates, backups, and security, reducing the need for external maintenance. While unmanaged hosting plans add more responsibilities to the website owner or maintenance team.

Type of maintenance

A small blog with a single page requires little to no maintenance compared to a website which is an eCommerce store with different kinds of third party services and plugins integrated into it. Maintenance of theme updates, library updates, plugin updates, and security updates are required for an eCommerce store as compared to a simple blog website.

Custom code

Websites that involve custom themes or heavily modified plugins require specialized care. Updating custom code is more complex than updating off-the-shelf themes or plugins, as updates could break the custom functionality.

Support and troubleshooting needs

Some businesses require ongoing support for troubleshooting issues, fixing bugs, or making technical adjustments. More complex or frequently updated sites tend to require more support.

The factors may vary based on the custom maintenance requirements and the industry the website is developed for. For example, a social media platform developed using WordPress requires comments and user-generated content moderation to ensure that the platform remains safe and free from spammy content.

How much does a WordPress Website Maintenance Cost?

After having looked into the reasons for website maintenance, activities included in WordPress website maintenance, and factors that affect the WordPress website maintenance cost calculation, let’s address the real question for which we have come this far. What is the cost of maintaining a WordPress website?

If we want to set a range, the cost of maintaining a WordPress website can range anywhere from 150 USD to 2000 USD per month. However, it all depends on the factors we saw in the point above. Let’s dive into the categorization of the cost based on the kind of website you have.

Type of Website Cost / month (USD)
Blog website $50 - $150
Informative multi-page website $100 - $250
Feature based multi-page website $350 - $500
eCommerce website $500 - $1000
Social Media and other UGC platforms $750 - $1500

The costs mentioned in the table are for indicative purposes as the actual cost is calculated taking into account the factors involved and the industry of the websites. It also includes the custom requirements from the website owners which they want the maintenance providers and WordPress development company to undertake.

Looking for your WordPress website maintenance?

Contact Nimblechapps today! Contact us

Who should you hire for WordPress website maintenance?

Let’s now dive into the type of team you can hire, ensuring that your WordPress website is maintained to suit the latest technology shifts and updates.

Hire a freelancer

Perhaps the best way to start your maintenance idea with. A WordPress freelancer can associate with you if your website isn’t too complex and requires occasional maintenance. You can hire a freelancer to work for a few hours a month, as and when needed, typically pay only for the hours worked rather than a monthly retainer.

Pros:

Cost effective.

Flexible working hours.

Quick turnaround time for minor changes.

Cons:

May have multiple clients at the same time.

May lack the ability to handle complex updates.

Lack of accountability compared to the other two on the list.

Hire a dedicated team

This involves hiring a dedicated team that works on your payroll. They are just like any other employee of yours and are dedicated to working on your technical needs. However, they don’t directly contribute to the revenue of the business.

Pros:

Full control over the team and their work.

Immediate availability for urgent tasks.

Easier collaboration with other internal teams.

Cons:

Higher costs due to salaries, taxes, and other government compliances.

Not fully utilized in the absence of maintenance tasks.

Requires ongoing training to keep up with industry updates.

Hire a WordPress development company

The third and perhaps the best type of resource you can hire for maintaining your WordPress website. A WordPress development company like Nimblechapps can provide a dedicated resource on monthly basis to work on the support and ongoing maintenance. These resources work under the banner of the company hence, the cons of both the above methods are addressed where the accountability lies with the company from whom you hire and you don’t have to incur ongoing salary costs. These companies have multiple support plans from which you can choose.

Pros:

Access to a team of experts with diverse skill sets.

Higher scalability to handle large projects or multiple tasks at once.

Well-established processes and accountability for long-term support.

Cons:

Communication might involve going through multiple layers.

Less direct control over day-to-day tasks.

Higher cost than freelancers.

While it may seem that the investment to maintain a WordPress website is high, over the time, there are certain tips which you can follow to reduce the ongoing cost of maintaining a WordPress website.

Use managed hosting

Managed hosting includes automatic updates, backups, and security, reducing the need for external maintenance services.

Limit plugin usage

Only install necessary plugins to reduce the complexity of maintenance and the potential for conflicts, thereby lowering costs.

Automate backups

Use automated backup tools to minimize the need for manual backups and reduce the time spent on this task.

Use lightweight themes

Use a lightweight, well-coded theme to minimize the need for performance optimizations and reduce security risks.

Do simple maintenance tasks in house

Handle basic tasks like content updates, image optimization, and broken link fixes internally to avoid outsourcing costs.

Less custom code

Limit custom code usage to avoid the extra time and expertise needed for maintenance, updates, and troubleshooting.

Explore more tips in detail by connecting with a WordPress development company and ensure that the maintenance costs are lowered moving forward.

Final thoughts

Owning and running a website doesn’t end at just developing it once and letting it be. A WordPress website requires continuous maintenance and support in order to adapt to the ever evolving WordPress core, themes, plugins, third party libraries, and APIs. Either you run a simple blog or a complex social media platform, WordPress website maintenance is inevitable, be it today or in near future. WordPress maintenance involves a plethora of activities which are tough for for a single person to manage. Weighing your maintenance requirements and the budget you have against the type of website you have can give you an idea about the cost you will incur for the maintenance of a WordPress website. If you want to learn more about WordPress website maintenance, connect with Nimblechapps.