How much does keeping a site running really cost per year? We break it down
Many people think of a site as a one-off purchase: I paid to have it made, and that is it. Meanwhile a site is more like a car, buying it is one thing, but keeping it in good shape is a cost that returns every year. The good news: these costs are predictable and usually small. Let us break them down so you know what you actually pay for.
Note: we do not give specific amounts here, because they depend on the provider, the type of site and its size. The point is for you to know which items make up the annual cost and which are essential.
Essential costs: without them the site does not work
- The domain. An annual fee for your address on the internet (e.g.
yourcompany.com). It is the most basic recurring cost, if you do not pay it, you lose the address, the site and company email. - Hosting. Space on the server where the site "lives". Usually paid yearly. Its quality determines the site's speed and stability, this is not a good place to save the last penny.
- An SSL certificate. Responsible for the padlock and
https. Often available free (Let's Encrypt) and included in hosting, but it is worth making sure it works and renews automatically.
That is the absolute minimum. These three items make the site available online at all.
Costs easy to overlook, but important
- Updates and security. A site based on a system like WordPress or Joomla needs regular updates to stay secure. It is work that happens "in the background", but genuinely protects you from break-ins and downtime.
- Backups. A regular backup stored off-server is your insurance. It may be included in hosting or in care, but it simply must exist.
- Monitoring. Keeping an eye on whether the site works, whether it has been infected and whether the domain or certificate expiry is approaching.
- Small fixes and content changes. Updating the offer, adding a page, swapping photos, over time something always comes up.
Optional costs: depending on needs
Depending on what the site is for, sometimes there are also: professional email on the domain, paid plugins (e.g. for a shop), newsletter or booking tools, or marketing activities (SEO, advertising). That is no longer "maintenance" but development, it is worth separating one from the other.
Why it is worth pulling it together
The biggest problem is not the size of these costs, because they are usually reasonable, but that they scatter across different places and dates. The domain with one provider, hosting with another, the certificate somewhere else again, and payment reminders land in random inboxes. The result: something expires at the least convenient moment and the site goes down.
That is why it makes sense to pull site maintenance into one predictable whole: so that someone keeps an eye on deadlines, updates and backups, and you do not have to track several invoices and dates. That is exactly what site care is about, it turns scattered, easy-to-miss costs and tasks into one thing off your mind.
Want to know what the real maintenance costs of your particular site look like and what is worth organising? Get in touch, we will lay it out concretely.