Short answer: a website care plan covers hosting, security, backups, updates, uptime monitoring and a set amount of change work each month. Small brochure sites typically cost £25 to £100 a month, sites with bookings or memberships £100 to £400. If a plan does not include support hours or a monthly report, it is hosting with a better name.
What a care plan should actually include
There is no industry standard, which is exactly why plans vary so much in value. A reasonable plan covers six things.
Hosting and domain. Where the site lives, with SSL kept valid so browsers do not warn visitors away.
Backups. Taken automatically, stored somewhere other than the server itself, and tested. An untested backup is a hope, not a backup.
Updates. Core software, plugins and dependencies kept current, applied on a staging copy first where the site is complex enough to warrant it.
Uptime and security monitoring. Automated checks that alert someone when the site goes down, rather than relying on a customer telling you.
Support hours. A defined allowance for changes each month. Without this you are paying for insurance rather than service.
Reporting. A short monthly note covering what was done, whether traffic moved, and anything that needs a decision.
What it should cost
| Site type | Typical monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Static or Next.js brochure site | £25 to £60 |
| WordPress brochure site | £40 to £100 |
| Site with bookings or a members area | £100 to £250 |
| E-commerce or custom platform | £200 to £400 and up |
Our own maintenance pricing is published in full on our pricing page, including what each tier covers.
The plans that are not worth paying for
A few patterns come up repeatedly when we audit what clients are already paying for.
Hosting resold at a markup. If the plan is £60 a month and the only deliverable is hosting that costs £8, you are paying for nothing.
Unlimited support with no definition. In practice this usually means small text edits only, with anything meaningful quoted separately.
No reporting at all. If you cannot tell whether the work is happening, assume you will not notice when it stops.
Plans that hold your site hostage. If cancelling means losing the site because you never owned it, that is not a care plan, it is a lease. Establish ownership before you sign, as covered in how to brief a web design agency.
Does the platform change what you need?
Substantially, yes. This is one of the strongest practical arguments in the platform decision.
WordPress sites need genuine, continuous attention because core, theme and plugins all update independently and can conflict. That work is real and it justifies a real fee.
Static and Next.js sites have far less to go wrong, so a lower fee is appropriate. Anyone charging WordPress-level maintenance for a static site should be able to explain what the money buys. Our comparison of Next.js and WordPress covers the maintenance difference in detail.
Do you actually need one?
You need one if your website generates enquiries or revenue, if it runs on WordPress, if it takes bookings or payments, or if you have nobody internally who could fix it.
You can probably skip a formal plan if the site is a static one-pager you rarely touch and you are comfortable renewing hosting yourself. Even then, budget for someone to be available when something breaks, because it will.
Make the maintenance earn its keep
The best care plans do more than keep the lights on. Using the monthly support hours to improve conversion rather than just fix typos is what turns a cost into an investment.
Our guide to getting more enquiries from your website sets out what those improvements usually are, and most of them are small enough to fit inside a standard support allowance.
Budgeting from scratch? What a website costs in the UK covers the build alongside the running costs so you can plan the full three-year picture.
Common questions
How much should a website care plan cost?
Expect £25 to £100 a month for a small brochure site and £100 to £400 a month for a site with bookings, memberships or e-commerce. Anything charging more should be delivering measurable work, not just hosting.
Do I need a care plan if my website is static?
You need less than a WordPress site does, but you still need hosting, domain renewal, uptime monitoring, backups and someone to make changes. The cost should be noticeably lower.
What happens if I do not maintain my website?
On WordPress, outdated plugins and core files become the most common route to a site being compromised or breaking after an update. On any platform, an unmaintained site drifts out of date and quietly stops producing enquiries.
Can I cancel a website care plan?
You should be able to, on reasonable notice. Before signing anything, confirm in writing that you own the site, the domain and the content, and that you can take them elsewhere.
Let's build something that actually works.
One senior person builds your project from start to finish, with trusted specialists brought in when a job needs them. No account managers, no layers, no juniors learning on your budget.