WordPress Maintenance Plans Compared, From $39 a Month
Compare three levels of ongoing WordPress care, priced per month and set out feature by feature so you can see exactly what each tier patches, backs up, scans and repairs. Malware removal is included from $79 — the same cover starts at $239 elsewhere. No setup fee, no minimum term, and a 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan. 100+ sites currently under management.
WordPress maintenance costs $39 to $149 a month depending on how much the site earns. Expect updates, off-site backups, uptime monitoring and security scanning at every tier; malware removal and staging appear higher up. Anything under $30 a month is automated with nobody watching.
What will this cost me?
Second and further sites are 20% off. Excludes the cost of one bad release.
30-day money-back guarantee · No setup fee · Cancel anytime
| What you get | Starter $39 per month Blogs, portfolios and brochure sites Start Starter | Most chosen Professional $79 per month Small businesses and lead-generation sites Start Professional | Business $149 per month Stores, membership sites, anywhere downtime costs money Start Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core, plugin and theme updates | Monthly | Weekly + PHP version management | Weekly, tested on staging first |
| Off-site backups | Weekly, 30-day retention | Daily, 60-day retention | Daily, 90-day, multi-location |
| Uptime monitoring | 5-minute checks | 1-minute checks | 1-minute + 2-hour restore |
| Malware scanning | Weekly | 24/7 real-time | 24/7 + file integrity monitoring |
| Malware removal | Not included– | Included | Included |
| Security hardening suite | Login URL + XML-RPC off | Full suite, 10 measures | Full suite + blacklist recovery |
| Two-factor authentication | Not included– | Included | Included |
| Performance optimisation | Not included– | Server cache, WebP, CWV monitoring | Full CWV work, CDN, minification |
| Staging environment | Not included– | Not included– | Included, regression tested |
| Emergency hacked-site cleanup | Not included– | Not included– | Unlimited |
| WooCommerce checkout testing | Not included– | Not included– | After every update |
| Support response | Email, 48 hours | Priority email, 24 hours | 8-hour priority + account manager |
| Monthly report | Included | Detailed, with 30 min support credit | Bi-weekly + 2 hours support credit |
Every plan is month-to-month. Annual billing pays for ten months and covers twelve.
Which plan fits
Most sites belong on Professional. It is the first tier that includes malware removal rather than charging for it after the fact, and it is the point at which updates move from monthly to weekly — which matters, because the window between a vulnerability being published and being exploited is now measured in days.
Starter is honest cover for a site that does not earn money directly: a portfolio, a blog, a brochure site. Monthly patching, weekly off-site copies, and someone watching whether it is up.
Business exists for sites where an hour of downtime has a number attached. Everything is tested on a staging copy before it reaches the live site, hacked-site recovery is unlimited rather than billed, and the restore target is two hours rather than “as soon as we can”.
Where none of the three obviously fits, the tier usually follows from the state of the site rather than from its size. The free instant site audit reads the outside of a site and returns what it found on the spot, which is normally enough to tell whether this is a monthly job or a weekly one.
What every plan includes, regardless of tier
- A named engineer, not a ticket queue. The same people every month.
- Manual updates. Nothing is auto-updated and hoped for.
- Off-site backups, stored away from the server they protect.
- A written monthly report with versions, dates and what actually happened.
- Cancellation in one email, with your backups handed over.
What none of them include
Hosting. We are deliberately not a host, because a provider who both hosts your site and audits its uptime has a conflict of interest. We work on whatever stack you already have, and will tell you plainly where it is the problem.
New design or development work. Ongoing care keeps what exists working; building something new is quoted separately.
A price only means something against the alternative. The hours it replaces are counted in doing maintenance yourself versus paying for it, the criteria for judging anyone charging this are in how to compare maintenance providers, and the work being bought is WordPress maintenance in full.
What this costs elsewhere
| Provider | Entry plan | Malware removal from | Staging from |
|---|---|---|---|
| This service | $39 | $79 | $149 |
| WP Buffs | $89 | $239 | $359 |
| maintenance-wp | $43 | $184 | $358 |
| Maintainn | $59 | – | – |
| Market average | $246 | – | – |
Competitor figures from their own published pricing, checked May 2026. Market average per Codeable research.
One-time work
- $199 Emergency hacked-site cleanup Included free on Business
- $149 One-time security audit Written report, 24 hours
- $199 Migration to our management No downtime, rehearsed cutover
- $299 WooCommerce setup Payments, tax, checkout tested
- 20% off Additional website 20% off per extra site, any plan
The service that covers this
diy vs managed wordpress maintenanceDecide whether to maintain your WordPress site yourself or pay a monthly fee, using the arithmetic rather than the sales page. Your hours at your own…
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Questions people ask before calling
Can I change plan later?
Yes, in either direction, effective the next billing cycle. Moving up is prorated; moving down takes effect at renewal so you are never charged twice for the same month.
What happens if my site is hacked on the Starter plan?
We clean it. On Starter and Professional it is a one-time $199 charge, and that fee is credited against your first month if you move up to Business, where recovery is unlimited and included.
Do you need admin access to my site?
Yes, plus access to your host. We create our own account rather than using yours, restrict it to what the work requires, and it is revoked the day you cancel.
How fast do you actually respond?
Starter is email within 48 hours, business hours. Professional is 24 hours, prioritised. Business is 8 hours with a named account manager. A site down or actively compromised is answered at any hour on every plan, nights and weekends included.
What if I have more than one site?
Every site after the first is 20% off, on any plan. Agencies managing several client sites usually want the white-label arrangement instead, which is priced differently.
Is there a contract?
No. Every plan is month-to-month and cancels in one email. Annual billing exists because it is cheaper, not to lock you in - cancel an annual plan and the unused months are refunded.
Why is this cheaper than the market average?
Lower overhead and one platform. We do not run sales staff, we do not resell hosting, and we do not maintain expertise in five CMSes. The market average is $246 a month per Codeable research; ours starts at $39.