A WordPress site has running costs after launch: hosting, a domain and maintenance. Here’s what each costs per month, what a maintenance plan should include, and when you can skip it.

Mohtsham Ahmad5 min readPricing guide
Ask about a maintenance plan All insights

Short answer

WordPress maintenance typically costs NZD $200–$500 a month for a professional plan covering updates, backups, security monitoring, uptime checks and small fixes. On top of that, budget about NZD $25–$80 a month for hosting and NZD $25–$40 a year for a domain. A small, simple site can be maintained yourself if you have the time and test updates safely.

TL;DR

Skim this first.

  1. 01A maintenance plan typically costs NZD $200–$500 a month, depending on site size and support needed.
  2. 02A professionally maintained site costs roughly NZD $225–$580 a month in total, including hosting.
  3. 03WooCommerce stores sit at the top of the range: more plugins, more updates, more at stake.
  4. 04Skipping maintenance is how most WordPress sites get hacked or break after an update.
On this page
  1. Quick answer
  2. What a maintenance plan should include
  3. What drives the price up or down
  4. Is maintenance worth it?
  5. When you can do it yourself
  6. For agencies
  7. The bottom line
  8. Key takeaways

WordPress is free, but running a WordPress website isn’t. After launch you’re paying for hosting, a domain and, unless you do it yourself, maintenance. Here are the real monthly numbers, what you should get for them, and when you can safely do it yourself.

Quick answer: monthly WordPress costs

CostTypical priceNotes
Maintenance planNZD $200–$500/monthUpdates, backups, security, uptime checks and small fixes
HostingNZD $25–$80/monthQuality managed WordPress hosting
DomainNZD $25–$40/yearRenewed annually
SSL certificateFreeIncluded with most quality hosts
Premium plugin licencesVariesOften NZD $50–$300/year in total

Prices in New Zealand dollars. Australian and US prices are similar once converted.

All in, a professionally maintained WordPress business site typically costs between about NZD $225 and $580 a month. If you maintain it yourself, the floor is hosting plus your domain: roughly NZD $30–$85 a month.

What a maintenance plan should include

Updates alone aren’t a maintenance plan. A proper plan covers:

  • Core, theme and plugin updates, tested so an update doesn’t break the site
  • Off-site backups, daily or weekly, stored away from your server and tested occasionally
  • Security monitoring and malware protection, with a plan for what happens if the site is hacked
  • Uptime monitoring, so problems are spotted before your customers notice
  • Performance checks, so the site stays fast as content and plugins are added
  • Small changes and fixes, like text edits or replacing images, within an agreed amount of time

What drives the price up or down

Small business site

From NZD $200/month

5–15 pages · few plugins · low risk

A brochure site with a contact form and a handful of plugins. Updates are quick, there’s little to break, and changes are occasional.

Larger site or WooCommerce store

Up to about NZD $500/month

Many pages or products · payment gateways · higher risk

Stores have more plugins, more frequent updates and much more at stake: a broken checkout costs sales every hour it’s down. They also need closer monitoring of orders, payment gateways and speed.

Other factors that move the price:

Number of pluginsEvery plugin needs updating, and every update is a chance for a conflict.
Page buildersElementor, Divi and WPBakery updates need extra testing.
How much support you needA few text edits a month costs less than regular new pages or features.
Response timeSame-day fixes cost more than next-business-day support.
Traffic and revenueA site that earns money every hour needs closer monitoring.

Is maintenance worth it?

What it costs when it’s skipped:

  • Hacked sites. Outdated plugins with known security holes are the most common way WordPress sites get hacked. Cleaning up malware, restoring the site and getting off Google’s warning lists takes far more time than staying updated.
  • Broken sites after a delayed update. The longer updates are left, the more likely several big ones conflict at once.
  • Lost data. Without off-site backups, a server failure or bad update can mean rebuilding from scratch.
  • Slow decline. Sites get slower as content and plugins pile up, and nobody notices until rankings and enquiries drop.

When you can do it yourself

DIY maintenance is reasonable if:

  • The site is small, with few plugins and no online store
  • Your host provides automatic off-site backups and a staging site
  • You have time each month to update, test and check the site
  • You’re comfortable restoring a backup if something breaks
If you do it yourself: take a backup before every update, update on a staging copy first if your host provides one, and update plugins one at a time so you know which one caused a problem.

For agencies: white-label maintenance

Agencies often have more client sites than they want to maintain in-house. A white-label maintenance plan means a developer looks after those sites under the agency’s brand, with no contact with the agency’s clients. Pricing is usually per site per month, so the agency’s margin stays clear.

The bottom line

  1. Professional WordPress maintenance: NZD $200–$500/month
  2. Hosting: NZD $25–$80/month; domain: NZD $25–$40/year
  3. WooCommerce stores need more care and sit at the top of the range
  4. Backups must be off-site, and updates should be tested
  5. A small, simple site can be maintained yourself with the right host and habits
Mohtsham Ahmad

WordPress developer and web strategist. I build fast custom themes, page-builder sites and WooCommerce stores for businesses in New Zealand, Australia and the USA.

Key takeaways

Keep these.

  1. 01
    Maintenance is insurance, not overhead.

    Fixing a hacked or broken site costs more than a year of updates and backups.

  2. 02
    Backups must be off-site and tested.

    A backup stored on the same server disappears with it.

  3. 03
    Price follows risk.

    Stores and sites with many plugins need more care than a five-page brochure site.

  4. 04
    Know what’s included before you sign.

    Updates alone aren’t a maintenance plan.

Related services

Put this into practice.

Keep reading

Related insights.

View all
Get started

Tell me about your site and what you need each month. I’ll reply with a plan and a fixed monthly price.

or email hello@mohtsham.com