The short answer
Website maintenance packages usually come in three tiers: hosting and backups, then a monthly allowance of small changes, then ongoing work such as new pages and reports. For a small business site, many providers charge roughly $50 to $300 a month, with larger retainers above that. Spell out what's included, and cap the hours.
What goes in each tier
Names vary, and "care plan" and "maintenance package" usually mean the same thing. What matters is what the client gets. Here's a common three-tier shape, with rough US ranges.
| Tier | What it includes | Commonly charged | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep it running | Hosting, security certificate, backups, updates, uptime checks | $50 to $150 a month | A brochure site that rarely changes |
| Keep it current | All of that, plus an hour or so of small changes and a short monthly note | $150 to $300 a month | Most local businesses |
| Keep it growing | All of that, plus new pages or posts, search checks and a monthly report or call | $300 to $900 or more a month | Businesses that spend on marketing |
Those ranges are a guide and not a rate card. Published figures disagree, and most come from firms selling this service. FatLab's guide runs from $25 to more than $600 a month across its tiers, and WebsiteSetup puts a small business site at $30 to $250 a month, including hosting and domain renewal.
The low end deserves care. A plan under about $50 a month is often little more than hosting, with extra fees waiting when something breaks. Say plainly what yours covers, so nobody finds out during an emergency.
Work out your own price
Start from your time, because that's the cost that grows. Here's an example for the middle tier at $179 a month, using an $80 hourly floor. Your floor may be different.
| Line | Example |
|---|---|
| One hour of changes | $80 |
| 20 minutes on the note and admin | $27 |
| Your builder or hosting cost for this site | $8 |
| Card fee at 2.9% plus 30 cents | $5.50 |
| Total cost | $120.50 |
| Left over at $179 | $58.50 |
Two things follow from that math.
The hour is the whole game. If a client uses two hours one month, that month's margin is gone. So cap the hours, and batch your work. Doing all your clients' changes on one fixed day takes far less time than answering each as it arrives.
Sites that use nothing still pay. Many clients go quiet for months. That's normal, and it's what pays for the busy ones. Don't feel bad about it, as long as you're sending the note that shows you're watching the site.
Say what a small change is
This one definition prevents most arguments. Put it in the agreement, and repeat it at handover.
Usually included
- New hours, prices, phone numbers or staff
- Swapping a photo, or adding a few
- Editing a paragraph or a section's words
- Adding a holiday notice or a seasonal offer
- Adding a review the owner has approved
Usually quoted separately
- A new page, or a new feature such as booking
- A redesign or a new color scheme
- Writing new content from nothing
- Search work beyond the basics
- Anything that takes longer than your cap
Set three more rules while you're there.
- Response time. "Within two business days" is a promise you can keep. "Same day" isn't, unless you're charging for it.
- Rollover. Unused hours usually don't carry over. If you'd like to be generous, allow one month's worth.
- Emergencies. Say what counts, such as the site being down, and how to reach you.
Sell what the site actually needs
What a plan should include depends on how the site is built.
A WordPress site needs real upkeep. Plugins, themes and the core software all need updating, and things can break when they do. If you look after one, updates and backups are worth paying for, and that's your first tier. Before you take on an old one, spend an hour checking what's installed and when it was last backed up, and charge for that hour.
A hosted builder handles its own software, so there's little to patch. Don't charge for patching nobody does. Sell what still takes a person, which is changes, facts kept true, a monthly look at what came in and someone to call. Website as a service takes this idea further by rolling the build and the upkeep into one monthly price.
On Shingle, for instance, hosting and software are handled for you, and a client's change costs 5 credits when you ask for it in plain words and nothing when you edit by hand. The plan is $49 a month with 1 live site and $7 a month for each more, so 10 live sites are $112, which works out to $11.20 a site, and monthly client reports in your brand come with it. Checkup lists fixes that help a site be found, which gives you something real for the note.
How to sell it
Put it in the first proposal. Treat the monthly plan as part of the offer, with the price beside the build fee. Selling it after launch is much harder, because the owner thinks the job is finished.
Make it the default. "The site comes with the monthly plan, and you can drop it with 30 days' notice" gets a different answer from "would you also like a maintenance package?". Be honest about what dropping it means.
Sell what they'd otherwise have to do. Owners don't care about backups. They care that their new prices are up by Friday, and that someone answers when the phone number changes.
The monthly plan means you never have to think about the website. When your hours or prices change, you text me and it's done within two days. Each month I'll send you a short note with what came in.
Answer the obvious objection.
"Why do I pay monthly if the site's finished?"
The site keeps running on hosting that has to be paid for, and your business keeps changing. You can do the changes yourself if you'd rather, and I'll show you how. Most owners would rather spend that hour on a job.
Offer a year up front. Two months free for paying yearly gives you cash and keeps them longer. Your numbers should still work at ten months' money.
Move existing clients onto a plan
If you've already built sites with no plan attached, those clients are the easiest sale you'll make. They know you, and they've probably asked you for a change or two by now. Wait for a reason to get in touch, such as a change request, and offer it then.
Hi Dana, happy to make that change. It's $80 on its own, or it's included if you'd like the monthly plan, which covers hosting, small changes within two days and a short note each month, for $129. If you'd rather keep paying per change, that's fine too.
If you're already hosting their sites for free, tell them in writing, give them 60 days' notice and explain what they're getting. Some will leave, and those were probably costing you money.
Send the monthly note
A client who can see what came in has less reason to cancel. Keep it short enough to read on a phone, and stick to what the numbers show.
Northside Plumbing, October
18 requests came through the site, up from 12 in September. Most were about water heaters.
I changed your winter hours, added the new service van photo and fixed a broken link on the contact page.
One idea for November: you get a lot of drain questions, so a short page on drain cleaning might be worth adding. It's $150 if you'd like it.
That's a made-up example. The last line matters as much as the rest, because small add-ons are how a plan grows without you ever having to pitch.
Put it in writing
A monthly plan outlasts the build, so give it its own terms. Our contract checklist has sample wording. At the least, cover these.
- Term and notice. Month to month with 30 days' notice is common and easy to sell.
- What's included, with the hour cap and your definition of a small change.
- Price changes, with how much notice you'll give.
- Late payment, and what you'll do about it.
- Leaving. What they take with them, and how long you'll keep the site up. They should own their domain, whatever else happens.
Whether a plan is taxable depends on your state and what's in it, so ask your accountant. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.
What goes wrong
- Unlimited changes. Someone will take you up on it. Cap the hours.
- A hosting plan dressed up as care. If the only thing you do is host, clients find out when they ask for something.
- No note. A client who hears nothing for a year starts asking what the $179 is for.
- Doing changes as they arrive. Constant interruptions make every client feel expensive. Batch them.
- Charging too little at the start. Raising a monthly price later is awkward. Start where the numbers work, using the pricing calculator.
- Holding the site over a late bill. Pause the work if you must, follow your contract, and keep their domain out of it.
- Taking on old sites blind. A cheap plan on a neglected site can turn into a long week the first time it breaks.
