Website Maintenance Cost Guide 2025: Essential Expenses Explained

When you create a website, it's easy to overlook the ongoing costs of maintaining it. In fact, many people are surprised by the monthly expenses that are required to keep their sites live and secure on the internet.

Whether you're running a personal blog or establishing a large online store, understanding website maintenance costs can prepare you for the future. Our website maintenance cost guide covers all the key points you need to keep in mind.

An overview of website maintenance costs

Here are some key costs to keep in mind to ensure your site remains secure and accessible to visitors.

Domain name

When you set up your website, you probably purchased a domain name. Many hosting providers provide the domain name for free for the first year. However, you'll still have to pay for the domain name renewal. You have to periodically re-register the domain name, or you’ll lose the right to use it.

Domain name renewal costs can vary significantly. Most domains cost between $10 and $30 every year. However, different top-level domains (TLDs), such as .com, .org, .io, and .ai can come with different costs.

Another related cost is domain privacy protection. This optional service hides your personal information from the public. Some hosting providers, like Hostinger, offer domain privacy protection for free, while others charge for it.

Web hosting

Web hosting is a key element in calculating website maintenance fees, as it’s an essential ongoing cost for keeping your site live. The hosting provider you pick will make a big difference to your website maintenance costs.

Subscription lengths are a big factor in web hosting costs, and the longer your subscription, the lower your monthly costs will generally be. You should also check the renewal price after the introductory pricing period ends to ensure it remains affordable. In addition, some hosting providers include premium features in their plans that will help lower your overall expenses.

The web hosting type that you choose will also affect your maintenance costs. Shared hosting and managed WordPress hosting tend to have lower monthly costs. These types of hosting save you from managing your own servers, which would require in-house technical support.

SSL certificate

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates authenticate a website's security protocols, adding “S” to HTTP. Having an SSL certificate means visitors can be confident that your site can safely process personal data, such as credit card information. Without it, many browsers will mark your site as being unsafe.

Most hosting providers give you an SSL certificate for free as part of their services. If they don’t, you may need to spend a few dollars every year to keep your SSL certificate active.

CMS and website builders

Many small business owners use content management systems (CMSs) or website builders to create their sites. These offer easy ways to build a site without having to hire a developer. Popular all-in-one web building platforms include Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.

In some cases, these come with one-time-only fees, while others require subscriptions. You should keep these fees in mind as they may add to your overall website maintenance costs.

Technical maintenance

Keeping your site up and running requires technical support. Some standard support tasks include:

• Updating plugins, themes, and extensions
• Running regular security scans
• Performing regular backups
• Optimizing your database for speed and functionality

While you can handle some of these tasks yourself, professional tech support can help you address more serious issues, such as being hacked. Paying for tech support can also help manage urgent issues and prevent problems from arising in the first place, though it’s — of course — an extra cost for your site.

Plugins, themes, and extensions

While there are many free plugins, themes, and extensions, you'll likely find yourself paying for tools to access premium features and services. These costs are likely to affect how much you pay to maintain your site.

You may also want to consider the costs of integrated search engine optimization and marketing tools, which you need to track and optimize the performance of your site.

Ecommerce features

Ecommerce tools are often an extra expense. If you run an online store, you'll need inventory management, payment processing, and other tools to take orders and ship products.

Some hosting providers offer ecommerce hosting that includes these features, which may help save money in the long run. If you pay for these tools separately, there will be additional costs to maintain your site, of course.

Should I maintain my website or hire a professional?

The best choice will depend on your business needs and your budget. A complex ecommerce site may benefit from professional website maintenance services, while a simple static site may be manageable in-house.

DIY maintenance is a low-cost option, and many hosting providers offer tools to help you along, as well as managed hosting plans. However, you may run into problems if your site has issues you can't fix.

Paying for website maintenance services is an extra expense, but it may ultimately save you time and resources while giving you the confidence that your site is secure and up to date. If something does go wrong, you also have professional support at hand to promptly address the issue.

How much does website maintenance cost?

Website maintenance costs range, depending on a site's complexity. Here are some estimates of website maintenance pricing based on the type of site:

• Blog: $5/mo to $100/mo
• Small to medium business site: $35/mo to $500/mo
• Large ecommerce site: $750/mo to $5,000/mo

Site maintenance costs will vary depending on your needs and the services and providers you opt for. Of course, you can start with the essentials and add more tools over time. It's a good idea to review your site at least once a year to see whether you can save money or need to upgrade features.

FAQs

Bottom line

Website maintenance costs will depend on your site's complexity. Personal sites require relatively little maintenance, but large online stores will require regular technical work.

Keeping your website maintenance costs reasonable starts with choosing a reliable hosting provider. Beyond their price, you'll want to consider features like free SSL certificates, ecommerce tools, and automated updates. With this in mind, you can determine your long-term site maintenance budget.