Most small business owners budget for building a website, then get surprised by what comes after: renewal emails, plugin warnings, a contact form that quietly stopped working, or a menu that's three price changes out of date. That ongoing work is website maintenance. It isn't glamorous, but it's what keeps a site secure, accurate and useful to customers.
This guide explains what maintenance includes, what each part tends to cost in the US market, and how to choose between handling it yourself and paying someone. The price ranges below are general and vary widely by provider, platform and region, so treat them as a starting point for questions, not quotes.
What website maintenance includes
"Maintenance" means different things to different providers, which is why prices are hard to compare. These are the usual pieces.
1. Domain name
Your domain (yourbusiness.com) is rented yearly from a registrar. A standard .com typically costs somewhere in the range of $10 to $25 a year, though some registrars charge much more on renewal than in the first year. The single most important rule: register the domain in your own name and account, not your web designer's. If you ever change providers, you'll need it.
2. Hosting
Hosting is the server space that makes your site load. Options range from basic shared hosting, often only a few dollars to around $15 a month, to managed hosting for platforms like WordPress, which commonly costs $20 to $50 or more a month. Website builders (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify and similar) bundle hosting into their subscription. For a typical local business site, you don't need expensive hosting. You need reliable hosting that loads quickly on a phone.
3. SSL certificate (the padlock)
SSL encrypts the connection between a visitor and your site and shows "https" in the browser. Browsers warn visitors about sites without it. Today most hosts and builders include a free certificate that renews automatically, so this is usually a $0 line item. If someone is charging you separately for a basic SSL certificate every year, ask why.
4. Software and security updates
If your site runs on WordPress or another self-hosted system, the core software, theme and plugins all need regular updates. Updates fix security holes, but they can occasionally break a page, so they should be done after a backup and checked afterward. This is the part of maintenance most often skipped, and the most common reason small sites get hacked. Sites on builders or static hosting have far less of this work, because the provider handles the platform for you.
5. Backups
A backup is a copy of your site you can restore if something goes wrong. Good practice is automatic backups stored somewhere other than the website's own server, plus an occasional test restore. Many hosts include backups; some charge a few dollars a month. The key question to ask any provider is not "do you back up?" but "how fast can you restore it, and have you tested that?"
6. Content edits
New hours, a price change, a new service, a holiday closure, fresh photos. For many local businesses this is the most valuable part of maintenance, because outdated information costs customers. Some maintenance plans include a set number of edits or hours each month; others bill per request. Freelancers in the US commonly charge somewhere around $50 to $150 an hour for small edits, depending on experience and location.
7. Monitoring and fixes
This covers checking that the site is up, the contact form still delivers messages, links work, and pages load quickly on mobile. It also covers fixing things when they break. A form that silently stops sending email can cost you leads for weeks before anyone notices.
8. Search and listing upkeep (sometimes)
Some providers include basic SEO tasks: updating page titles, adding new service pages, checking Google Search Console for errors, and keeping your Google Business Profile consistent with the site. Others treat this as a separate service. Be wary of anyone promising specific rankings; nobody can guarantee them.
Typical cost ranges by approach
These are broad, general market ranges for a small local business site (roughly 5 to 15 pages), not a price survey. Your actual cost depends on the platform, how much changes, and how fast you need help.
- DIY on a website builder. You pay the builder subscription (business plans commonly fall somewhere around $15 to $50 a month) plus a domain, and you do the edits yourself. Lowest cash cost, highest time cost.
- DIY on self-hosted WordPress. Hosting, domain, and possibly premium plugins or themes. Cash costs can be low, but updates, backups and security are your job.
- Freelancer, pay as you go. Hourly or per-task billing. Works well if changes are rare. Ask about response time; a freelancer who takes a week to change your hours isn't a bargain.
- Maintenance retainer from a freelancer or agency. A fixed monthly fee for updates, backups, monitoring and a set amount of edits. In the US these commonly range from roughly $50 to several hundred dollars a month, depending on what's included.
- Managed website plan. Hosting, updates, edits and often marketing tasks bundled into one monthly price. Costs more than DIY, but someone else is responsible for keeping things working and current.
For a broader look at build costs, see our guide to what a small business website costs by industry.
DIY or managed: how to decide
Doing it yourself makes sense when your site is on a simple builder, your information rarely changes, and you (or someone on your team) will actually log in each month. Paying for help makes sense when the site runs on a platform that needs regular updates, when information changes often (menus, prices, seasonal hours), or when the time you'd spend is worth more running the business. Our comparison of a DIY website builder vs a managed website walks through the tradeoffs in more detail.
Whichever you choose, keep these in your control:
- The domain registrar account, in your name.
- Admin access to the website, or at least a guaranteed way to get your content and files.
- Your Google Business Profile and analytics accounts, with you as an owner.
- A written list of what your maintenance fee covers and how quickly requests are handled.
Questions to ask before paying for maintenance
- What exactly is included each month, in writing?
- How many content edits are included, and how fast are they done?
- How often are backups taken, where are they stored, and how quickly can you restore?
- Who owns the domain, the site files and the content if I leave?
- Is there a contract or minimum term, and what's the cancellation notice?
- What isn't included (for example new pages, redesigns, ad spend or third-party subscriptions)?
A simple monthly maintenance checklist
- Submit your own contact form and confirm the message arrives.
- Check hours, phone number, prices and any seasonal banners.
- Open the site on a phone and tap the main buttons (call, directions, book or order).
- Apply pending software updates after a fresh backup, if your platform needs them.
- Look at Google Search Console for errors and pages that dropped out.
- Confirm the domain and hosting are set to auto-renew with a valid card.
Our small business website checklist covers the launch basics that this monthly routine keeps in place.
How Buildzaro handles it
If you'd rather not do this yourself, our monthly plans include a website and its upkeep. As listed on our pricing page, Starter is $129/mo (DIY tools), Managed Growth $249/mo, Managed Pro $449/mo, and Premium starts at $799/mo. There's no long-term contract; plans can be cancelled with 30 days' notice. If you prefer to own a site outright and handle upkeep elsewhere, one-time packages are listed on the same page. Third-party fees such as POS subscriptions and payment processing are separate.
General information, not legal advice. Platform policies change; check the platform's current rules before acting. We don't guarantee rankings, reviews or revenue.