Understanding Website Maintenance Costs: A Complete Breakdown for 2025 

If you haven’t updated or performed website maintenance in a while, you might be in for an unwelcome surprise. In fact, 88% of users are unlikely to become customers if they have a poor user experience while browsing your website. 

Luckily, website maintenance can fix the issue. You can expect to pay $100 to $250,000 yearly, depending on the size and scope of your website. Some factors that affect your maintenance expenses include: 

• Domain renewal
• Hosting plans 
• Content and security updates 

But what makes website maintenance cost so much? 

In this article, we’ll discuss the considerations for website maintenance, including a cost breakdown, how much you need to spend on maintaining different websites, and whether professional maintenance services are better than a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach. 

Website Maintenance Costs at a Glance 

There are five factors that determine your annual essential website maintenance expenses: domain name renewal, a hosting plan, SSL (secure sockets layer) certificate fees, website plugin fees, content updates, and security updates. Here’s how much you can expect to spend for each: 

• Domain name renewal: $10 to $20 per year
• Hosting costs: $60 to $120 per year 
• SSL certificate: $10 to $50 per year 
• Website plugins: $0 to $100 per year 
• Content updates: $0 to $5000 per year 

These expenses can wildly differ because various factors like having an in-house content team can drastically change your annual website maintenance costs. 

Essential Website Maintenance Costs: Key Factors Affecting Your Bottom Line 

Each component of website maintenance has several factors that can influence their upkeep costs. Here’s what you need to consider for each maintenance element. 

Domain Name and Plan Renewal 

Web.com’s AI domain name generator tool for better website maintenance. 

Your brand value, online discoverability, and reputation are tied to your website’s name. You don’t want to compromise your online presence by forgetting to renew your domain. Several hosting fees can affect the maintenance fees you have to deal with. 

• Top-level domain (TLD) choice: Common TLDs like .com or .org are more affordable to maintain. On the other hand, premium TLDs such as .io or .tech will lean on the more expensive side.
• Registrar policies: Different registrar services have varying pricing structures. Factors like multi-year plans or limited-time discounts are some website maintenance packages that can reduce your maintenance fees.  
• Market demand: Popular and premium domains included increased maintenance costs and premium fees. 
• Add-ons and features: Additional features included by website hosting providers will influence your renewal costs. For example, with Web.com’s premium DNS services, you can secure your website with additional and automated protection.  

Price Breakdown Per TLD 

Easier website maintenance with the help of Web.com’s domain services. 

Depending on your website’s TLD, you should expect different tiers of annual fees. 

• .com: The most popular and most affordable TLD, costing $10-20/year.
• .org: A popular TLD for non-profits organizations, and slightly more expensive costing $15-25/year. 
• .net: A TLD associated with network-related organizations that costs $15-25/year. 
• .io. A premium and trendy TLD often used by tech startups, costing $30-60/year. 
• .tech: Another premium, in-demand TLD associated with technology brands that costs $30-50/year. 
• .shop and .store: Commonly used TLDs for eCommerce business and storefronts with a cost of $20-50/year. 
• Country code TLDs: Country code TLDs (.us, .ca, .eu, etc.) have varying prices, averaging $10-40/year. 

Tips for Managing Domain Renewal Costs 

• Choose wisely: Expensive domains don’t necessarily mean better domains. Instead, pair your website with a TLD that aligns with your brand identity.
• Register for multiple years: Registrars offer discounts when you pay upfront for plans that cover several years. 
• Consolidate domains: If you plan to run multiple websites, managing them with a single registrar will simplify management and reduce costs. 
• Monitor renewal dates: Watch out for your domain’s expiry date to avoid incurring penalties. Pay the domain name and plan renewal fees before the expiration date. 
• Consider privacy protection: Protecting your privacy increases maintenance costs but will pay off in the long run. Additional privacy protection costs an extra $10-20 annually but protects your private information from being publicly listed in WHOIS directories. 

Hosting Costs 

Website hosts keep your website online and help accommodate the traffic it receives. Staying on top of your hosting fees will keep your website in working order and running smoothly 

Types of Website Hosting and Their Costs 

Less hosting and web maintenance costs through Web.com’s web hosting services. 

Shared Hosting 

• What it is: Your website shares servers with other websites.
• Cost: $5-15/month 
• Best for: Smaller websites with a low traffic volume. 
• Advantages 
  • Affordable: Shared hosting is the most cost-friendly hosting plan. 
  • Easy to manage: The hosting provider handles your server’s updates and maintenance. 
• Disadvantages 
  • Limited resources: In a shared hosting plan, you have less customization over your domain. 
  • Slower performance in peak traffic: If you experience a traffic spike under a shared hosting plan, your website has less leeway to manage the incoming traffic and might experience less than optimal performance. 

Virtual Private Server (VPS) 

• What it is: A virtual environment where the hosting provider distributes resources to your website.
• Cost: $20-80/month 
• Best for: Medium-sized businesses that require websites to have more customization features and handle a higher traffic volume. 
• Advantages 
  • Better scalability: VPS-hosted domains can handle more traffic than shared hosting and offer increased website optimizations to avoid downtime and overloaded servers. 
  • More customization: You’ll have more control over your website’s server settings. 
• Disadvantages 
  • More technical: Fully using all the features of VPS hosting requires technical know-how to configure settings. 
  • More expensive: You need to pay higher fees to use a VPS package.  

Dedicated Hosting 

• What it is: You rent a physical server to manage your website.
• Cost: $80-500/month 
• Best for: Large corporations, enterprise websites, or eCommerce platforms. 
• Advantages 
  • Most control: You get complete control over your website’s server settings and traffic management. 
  • Dedicated resources: Websites receive dedicated resources such as bandwidth, memory, and processing power. 
• Disadvantages 
  • High costs: Maintaining your personal server generates the most fees over any other hosting plan. 
  • Requires server management proficiency: Because you have direct control over your website servers, you need a dedicated team to manage their use. 

Cloud Hosting 

• What it is: Website hosts provide your website with a network of servers over the cloud.
• Cost: $10-300/month 
• Best for: Growing business with fluctuating traffic. 
• Advantages 
  • Scalable: Cloud-hosted websites offer features that can handle different levels of traffic. 
  • Highly reliable: Cloud hosting has redundancy features that help avoid website downtime caused by errors. 
• Disadvantages 
  • Costs can add up: Depending on your website’s traffic, you might pay more than you expect for your hosting plan. High traffic volume can also result in additional fees. 
  • Complex billing: Cloud hosting has a pay-as-you-go structure, meaning your maintenance fees can fluctuate based on the number of resources you use.  

Managed WordPress Hosting 

• What it is: Hosting optimized to make running a WordPress-based website easier.
• Cost: $15-70/month 
• Best for: WordPress users looking for hands-off management. 
• Advantages 
  • Optimized for speed and performance: A type of hosting scheme that enables a smooth WordPress experience. 
  • Includes WordPress-specific tools: It features tools for making WordPress a hassle-free experience, such as easy access to WordPress plugins and tools. 
• Disadvantages 
  • Limited to WordPress websites: You can only access the optimizations and features when running a WordPress-based site. 
  • Higher cost: WordPress hosting is more expensive than a shared hosting plan. 

Factors That Influence Hosting Costs 

• Traffic volume: More traffic equates to higher hosting expenses. 
• Storage: Websites that require a lot of media files (images and video) need more storage space, which results in increased fees from website hosting providers. 
• Security: Website hosts provide up-to-date security measures like firewalls, malware protection, and two-factor authentication (2FA) cost more. 
• Support features: Feature-rich web hosting packages include 24/7 tech support and website builders, which can increase the overall fees. 
• Scalability: Hosting plans that better support website growth costs more to maintain. 

Tips To Reduce Fees from Your Hosting Provider 

• Start small: Choose hosting packages designed to fit your business size. Upgrade later when you need premium features and access to better traffic handling.
• Look for discounts: Choose web hosts that offer discount plans, such as multi-year packages. For instance, check out Web.com’s web host services. 
• Avail of all-in-one platforms: Save money by partnering with a website hosting provider with plans featuring integrated security solutions, personal blog services, and management software. 
• Compare provider: Look for hosting providers that offer the features you need without unnecessary add-ons that inflate prices. 
• Monitor resource usage: Choose plans that align with your current traffic and storage needs. Use monitoring tools to get an accurate measurement.  

SSL Certificates 

Enhanced security from web hosting providers like Web.com. 

An SSL certificate is a security measure that protects communication between users and your website. SSL certificates accomplish this task by encrypting the transmitted data. When a website address starts with “https://,” it signals the host installed an SSL certificate. 

How SSL Certificates Enhance Your Website 

Data Security 

• Data encryption: Concealed data makes it difficult for hackers to access private information. 
• Authentication: SSL certificates verify your website’s identity, proving to visitors that they’re on the correct site. 
• Trust indicators: Modern websites display a padlock icon on websites with SSL certification, which signals to users that your site is secure. 

Better Search Engine Optimization Performance 

• Search engine optimization (SEO) ranking factor: Google highly regards site security, so it considers sites with HTTPS to be a positive ranking indicator, resulting in a higher position when searching related terms.
• User experience: A secure site builds a better brand identity, proving to users that your site is safe, reducing bounce rates, and improving SEO performance. 
• Browser warning: Most web browsers prompt users with a “Not Secure” warning when visiting sites without SSL certificates. Visitors who encounter the warning might avoid your website, harming your reputation.   

Free vs. Paid SSL Certificates 

Free certificates: Select providers include free SSL certification that covers basic encryption needs. 

• Advantages 
  • Zero costs for the certification 
  • Ideal for smaller websites and eCommerce stores 
  • Easy to set up since most website providers include automatic integration 
• Disadvantages 
  • It only provides domain validation, the lowest level of authentication. Organization and extended validation aren’t offered in free SSL certificate plans. 
  • It has shorter validity, lasting for, at most, 90 days — leading to frequent renewals. 
  • It doesn’t include warranties or a dedicated support system 
• Ideal for: Basic websites and blogs that require minimal security. 

Premium SSL certificates: Paid hosts include advanced SSL certification that provides enhanced security and validation. 

• Advantages
  • Increased validation options, such as organization validation (OV) and extended validation (EV), display more trust indicators, like company names in the browser bar. 
  • Better support systems, including warranties, that protect your business and customers if data fails to encrypt correctly. 
  • Includes multi-domain options that protect multiple domains and subdomains using a single certificate. 
• Disadvantages 
  • Requires a cost to maintain the SSL certification. 
  • Setting up the certificate requires some technical knowledge. 
• Ideal for: Businesses and eCommerce platforms that handle sensitive data like credit card information and user data. 

Average Cost of SSL Certificates 

Depending on your SSL certification plan, you should expect to pay between nothing and $500. Here’s what you need to know about the average costs of an SSL certificate. 

• Free SSL certificate
  • Ideal for personal blogs and websites. 
  • $0/year 
• Domain Validation (DV) 
  • Provides basic encryption and is the quickest to obtain. 
  • Ideal for small business websites and blogs. 
  • $10-50/year 
• Organization Validation (OV) 
  • Verifies the organization’s identity in addition to domain ownership.  
  • Suitable for bigger businesses that want to build their trust and reputation with customers. 
  • $50-200/year 
• Extended Validation (EV) 
  • Provides the highest level of trust with a rigorous verification process. 
  • Best for large eCommerce platforms that handle a lot of sensitive information. 
  • $100-500/year 
• Wildcard SSL certificate 
  • Secures a domain and all its subdomains with a single certificate 
  • Handles certification of all subdomains under a single domain, making it ideal for businesses handling multiple ventures. 
  • $150-300/year 
• Multi-domain SSL certificate 
  • Secures multiple domains using a single SSL certificate. This is a good option for organizations with multiple domains that target different customers, such as region-specific domains. 
  • $200-500/year 

Plugins and Tools 

Installing plugins and tools can enhance your website’s performance and improve the management experience. For instance, Web.com hosts business email features that can help consolidate your brand identity by providing a professional email address attached to your website. However, plugins can incur additional fees for website maintenance. 

Here’s how plugins and tools can affect your website maintenance costs. 

• Licensing fees 
  • Premium plugins usually come with advanced features you must pay for annually. 
  • Expect to pay between $10-50/year for basic paid plugins. 
  • More robust plugins like SEO tools, analytic software, and eCommerce integrations can cost $100-500/year. 
• Updates 
  • Plugins and tools need frequent maintenance to remain compatible with your website’s management software. 
  • Potentially free if you do it yourself, but it requires technical knowledge. 
  • Expect to pay $50-200/month if you hire professional maintenance services. 
• Performance optimization 
  • If plugins aren’t regularly up-to-date or you install excessive plugins and tools, your website will experience slowdowns and a poor user experience. 
  • Caching plugins like WP Rocket can optimize your plugin library for $50/year. 
  • Professional maintenance services can audit and optimize your plugins and tools for $100-500/project. 

Tips for Reducing Plugin and Tool Maintenance Fees 

• Choose wisely: Only install the plugins you need and only use trusted and verified tools. 
• Use all-in-one software: Reduce bloat by choosing feature-rich plugins. 
• Audit regularly: Frequently update your tools and uninstall unused plugins. 
• Invest in quality plugins: Choosing reliable software that includes troubleshooting support can avoid future issues. 
• Lifetime licenses: Opt for plugins that have one-time costs to reduce your maintenance fees. 

Content Updates 

Content updates are part of website maintenance. They ensure your website remains relevant, engaging, and aligned with your customers. 

Because websites must consistently produce content, they are a persistent and continuing maintenance expense. Here’s what you need to know about content update types, their costs, and how to minimize them. 

Types of Content Updates 

Content	Purpose	Cost
		Freelancers	Agencies	In-house
Blog posts and articles	Adding new articles or updating evergreen content	$50-300 per post, depending on its length and complexity	$500-1000 for professionally researched and optimized projects	Employee salary is dictated by your contracts
Product pages	Updating product prices and images for inventory or new product releases	$50-200 per page, depending on page complexity, descriptions, and integrations	$100-500 depending on the number of product pages, and the scale of the optimization project	Determined by  your employee’s compensation
Multimedia content	Replacing outdated graphics to enhance brand identity or improve the user experience	Between $50 to $200/hour depending on your request’squality and scope	Up to $5000 for large scale projects	Potentially free or around $20 depending on the type of stock images you use
Seasonal and campaign-specific updates	Updating banners and promotions based on availability and period, such as Black Friday deals	$25-300 based on your request’s complexity	$100-500, depending on the complexity required for designing landing pages, email templates, or banners	Varying costs based on your agreements with employees
SEO audits and optimization	Updating meta tags, descriptions, keywords, and internal linking to enhance website ranking in search engines	$76-200 per hour, based on the size of your website	$2000-10000 per month depending on the agency’s level of experience and reputation	Costs depend on your team members’ compensation

Reduce and Manage Content Update Costs 

• Automate updates: Experiment with automated software to streamline recurring updates. 
• Repurpose existing content: Turn old content into a different format, like using an old blog post as a reference for a new video project. 
• Schedule batch updates: Roll out content strategically to combine updates into a single scheduled session. 
• Leverage free tools: Use tools like Grammarly or Canva to reduce reliance on professional services. 
• Build in-house teams: Avoid hiring third-party agencies by creating an in-house team dedicated to producing your content. 

Cost Breakdown by Website Type and Size 

Maintenance fees can vary based on your website maintenance provider, the website size, and the type. 

Here’s a detailed cost breakdown for the most common website categories: 

Category	Domain name	Hosting	SSL certificate	Plugins and tools	Content updates	Security	Estimated total cost
Personal blogs	$10–$20/year	$5–$15/month for a shared hosting plan	Free or $10–$50/year for a paid SSL service	Free, or up to $20/month for premium tools	DIY	$0–$50/year for basic malware scanners and firewalls	$100–$500/year
Small business websites or portfolios	$10–$20/year	$10–$80/month, either shared or VPS hosting	Free or $50–$100/year for OV SSL certification	$50-200/year for basic tools like Elementor  $100-300 for SEO tools like Yoast Premium and SEMrush	DIY or freelance updates that costs $50-200/year	$50–$200/year for firewalls, malware protection, and data backup	$300–$2,000/year
eCommerce Websites	$10–$20/year	$10–$80/month, either shared or VPS hosting	$50–$300/year for EV or Wildcard SSL for advanced security	$300–$1,500/year for eCommerce integration tools and 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for payment gateways  $500–$1,000/year for advanced tools like inventory management systems and marketing automation software	$500–$1,000/year for professional work	$100–$500/year for advanced malware protection and PCI compliance tools	$1,500–$5,000/year
Enterprise websites	$50–$200/year for a premium TLD	$500–$2,000/month for dedicated or enterprise-level cloud hosting	$200–$1,500/year for EV SSL with increased warranty protection	$1,000–$10,000/year for enterprise-level integration tools like CRM software and custom APIs  $1,000–$5,000/year for analytic tools like Google Analytics 360 or Adobe Analytics	$5,000–$20,000/year for professional agencies that create better content and include different languages  $10,000–$100,000/year for developers to create bespoke tools and integrations	$1,000–$5,000/year for dedicated firewalls, DDoS protection, and 24/7 monitoring	$25,000–$100,000+/year

DIY vs. Professional Website Maintenance Service 

Frequent website maintenance will help keep your website and online brand functional, secure, and up-to-date. If you’re a small business just starting out with your website, you might get away with a DIY approach by handling website maintenance personally. But as you scale up and grow your brand, optimizing a website without professional help becomes increasingly tricky. 

Here’s a brief comparison to help you understand the difference between DIY website maintenance and outsourcing to a website maintenance service expert. 

	DIY	Professional
Cost	Free	$50-500/month or more
Personal time investment	High	Low
Personal expertise needed	Moderate to high	Low
Security management	Basic (limited to free tools)	Advanced
Performance optimization	Limited	Comprehensive
Risk of errors	High	Low

We recommend DIY maintenance for smaller websites, especially when: 

• It is a low-budget project like personal blogs or, at most, a small business website. 
• Your website has minimal features that don’t require consistent updates. 
• You have technical experience with website building, or you’re willing to learn the technicalities of website maintenance services. 

However, a DIY approach becomes unfeasible once your website reaches a certain size and gets heavy traffic, especially when: 

• You operate a professional website that you can’t afford any downtime, such as an online storefront. 
• You have no experience with website maintenance service or don’t have the time to train a team or learn it yourself. 
• You need advanced security to handle private data and enhanced analytic tools to monitor website performance. 

Resources To Help Learn DIY Website Maintenance Service 

If you’re willing to spend time and effort learning self-service website maintenance, you can potentially severely decrease your expenses. You won’t need to rely on professional maintenance services. Your only costs are your time and effort. 

So, if you’re down for a learning session, and find maintenance services too expensive to handle, here’s what you can do to upgrade your website maintenance expertise. 

Blogs 

• Website Builder: If you’re looking to expand your website maintenance and building expertise, you can browse our blog’s build category to find a variety of different topics about website management. 
• Smashing Magazine: A treasure trove of tips on web performance, design, and periodic maintenance tasks. 
• Bluehost Blog: Offers actionable articles on managing WordPress websites, troubleshooting plugins, and performance tuning. 

Online Courses 

• Coursera & edX: Take online tutorials on beginner to advanced courses on website maintenance. Look for topics like “WordPress Maintenance” or “Website Optimization.” 
• LinkedIn Learning: They have practical courses like “Website Maintenance for Small Businesses,” covering security updates, backups, and content management. 
• Udemy: Offers affordable courses on niche website maintenance topics, like managing CMS platforms or understanding web hosting. 

YouTube Channels 

• WPCrafter: Focuses on WordPress maintenance, from backups to plugin updates. 
• Traversy Media: Covers everything from website hosting to web maintenance. 
• Bluehost Channel: Helpful tutorials that discuss a variety of website maintenance topics like keeping WordPress websites updated and secure. 

Forums and Communities 

• Reddit: Subreddits like r/WordPress and r/web_design are great for asking questions and learning from others’ web maintenance fails and successes. 
• Stack Overflow: Ideal for technical troubleshooting. 
• WordPress Support Forums: A go-to place for WordPress-specific issues. Depending on your WordPress host, you can check out either the WordPress.org or WordPress.com forums to get all your website maintenance know-how. 

Tools and Automation 

• Google Search Console: Monitors site health, indexing issues, and performance. 
• GTmetrix: Tracks website speed and performance issues. 
• ManageWP: A tool for managing multiple websites, with features for backups, updates, and security scans. 
• Yoast SEO: Keeps your content optimized during regular updates. 
• Web.com: Includes helpful tools that can “dumb down” website maintenance, like AI-tools and a dedicated help section that can address all your maintenance concerns. 

Books 

• “WordPress All-in-One For Dummies“: A beginner-friendly resource for maintaining WordPress sites. 
• “Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine, and Conversion Rate Secrets” by Andrew B. King: A deep dive into improving site performance and maintenance. 
• “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug: Focuses on usability, a critical part of ongoing website management. 

Practice Platforms 

• Test Environments: Free and premium website builders provide testing environments where you can test updates and plugins without affecting your main site. 

Planning for Website Maintenance Success 

Recurring website maintenance is undoubtedly bothersome. It incurs additional costs, takes time and effort, and must be performed frequently. However, neglecting website maintenance comes with penalties that outweigh any expenses. 

Improper maintenance can lead to security breaches that compromise sensitive data — and losing customer data can result in legal action. Take Sony’s data breach in 2011, which cost them $15 million in a class-action lawsuit. 

Before jumping to a professional maintenance team, assess your website’s needs. Depending on the website size, DIY maintenance might be sufficient, and free tools and free SSL certification could be adequate. 

But if you’re just starting out with building your ideal website, consider Web.com. With 24/7 expert support and built-in analytics, together, our partners at Web.com can help you create a website that will fulfill all your needs. 

Website Maintenance Cost FAQs