If you have been researching what website maintenance costs in Ireland, or around the world in 2021, you will notice a huge price disparity between website maintenance providers, hosts and freelance professionals.

This disparity in website maintenance pricing is due to many reasons including website maintenance packages, agency experience, previous successes, current clients & whether you choose to outsource or conduct DIY website maintenance.

With that being said, there are several consistent websites maintenance costs and upkeep fees that all website owners must pay for.

It’s important to know what you are paying for regarding website maintenance. This allows you to choose whether it is something that you should DIY or hand off to professionals such as the digital marketing team here at VIMAR (1).

Today we are here to give a website maintenance cost breakdown. You will find estimates of what you should expect to pay based on your website type and the website maintenance services that you require.

Website Maintenance Costs FAQ

Before we delve into the costs of website maintenance let us answer some FAQs regarding website maintenance and its importance to your business.

Why Should I Update My Website?

With over 3.5 billion searches per day and close to two hundred million active websites to choose from, it’s important to make your website stand out.

Slow load speeds, bad navigation or broken plugins are just a few simple reasons that a visitor will leave your site.

If a visitor comes to your site for information or to make a purchase and this process becomes complicated, you can be sure that they will leave and go to your competition. Scheduled site maintenance and updating of your website will increase the chances of those visitors staying on your site.

What is Website Maintenance?

Website maintenance is the process of updating your website for search engines, your visitor’s user experience and the overall functionality of your site. This can include everything from:

  • Content creation
  • Technical maintenance
  • Hosting service
  • WordPress maintenance
  • Plugin updates and removal
  • Security patching

From simple steps such as publishing a blog to translating your site into multiple languages, regular site maintenance is required to ensure you provide the best user experience and to beat the competition.

How Much Should I Expect to Pay in 2022?

Website maintenance costs vary widely, this is based on many factors we will examine further below, however, for a very basic low maintenance site you can expect to pay from €20 to €200 per month. Read on to delve further into the pricing breakdown and what you should expect to pay.

What Costs Cannot Be Avoided?

Certain costs such as web hosting, SLL certificate and domain registration cannot be avoided even on the most basic of sites.

Should you wish to save money on the experience and knowledge of a web marketing agency, certain tasks such as content creation, publishing, security scanning etc can be done by yourself or an In-house team.

Though further problems can occur from wasted time and human error when conducting such tasks. We will delve further into DIY maintenance a little later.

Risks Associated with Not Maintaining Your Website

If you fail to maintain your site, the impact on your brand and online presence can be quite large. A well-maintained site:

  • Looks Professional
  • Conducts all necessary functions
  • Can function as a transaction hub or area for information
  • Adds additional credibility to your business
  • Maintained websites protect user data
  • Maintained website look good for search engine results

Without maintenance, you may have a broken site that is unattractive for users, fails to function properly and damages your brand identity. Even a simple website can do wonders for a business, but one that looks outdated and unused will not.

Why do prices vary?

Prices vary depending on the type of website you have, the functions of that site, your hosting plan and whether you choose to conduct DIY maintenance or hire the service of professionals.

If you decide to outsource your website maintenance, the packages that are provided, the experience levels and the length of contract all impact website maintenance costs. We will break down this difference further.

Another factor in pricing difference is your location. Should you be a local store in a small town your site visitor numbers, and online features will be far less than a city-based site competing with a large opposition.

How often should I maintain my website?

Simple to use sites can be updated yearly. If it is for simple advertising, then a few updates are needed.

If you collect user data, conduct transactions, update your blog and content regularly or use an eCommerce platform, then regular maintenance and updating is required.

More complex sites require additional plugins and features. Monthly or even weekly updating and upkeep may be required.

Regular maintenance is also required if you have a high-ranking site and lots of competition, it’s important to stay ahead of the competition.

Website maintenance cost in 2021

Website Maintenance costs can fall under two categories, the type of website you have, and the website maintenance services that you need. The website maintenance service a website requires is the same, while the type of website you have depends on your business and needs. Certain websites need far more work and updates than others. We are going to look at the different types of websites below and some of the services and costs you can expect to pay:

Website Types

Type of Website Monthly website Maintenance Costs
Personal Website/Blog €5-€25/Month
Professional Blog €25-€75/Month
SME Website €35-€100/Month
Corporate website €200-€3500/Month
Custom Business Website €350-€4500/Month
Ecommerce sites €1500-€2500/Month
Custom Ecommerce store €2000-€5000/Month

Use the above as a cost estimate of your website maintenance. Below we will break down the costs further, so you have a better idea of where your money goes.

Website maintenance cost services

Website maintenance costs vary by service and provider but there are eight core services that all websites need. Some of these may fall under the umbrella of DIY website maintenance, but some cannot.

Here is a breakdown of some of the main costs associated with maintaining your website. These costs are estimates and current pricing plans for certain tools and services.

  • Domain name – €10- €240/year. This can vary if you choose to use an aide. or .com name for your website.
  • SSL certificate – €0- €50/month.
  • Web hosting providers – €3.75- €20.00/month.
  • Email hosting – €1- €5/month.
  • Tech support – €0- $€1,000/month.
  • Search engine optimization – €0- €800/month.
  • Content updates – €0 – €3,000 total.
  • General updates – €0- €200/month.

General Breakdown of costs and Estimates

Domain name:

Your domain name will be your unique online website name. It should reflect your brand, blog or eCommerce store and be the chief brand identity for your online presence.

Domain name registration is required and usually comes with an annual fee from a domain name provider. This is one website maintenance cost that you cannot avoid. Thankfully, it is easy to renew domain names and registrations can usually be done by non-tech-savvy individuals.

Cost can vary depending on the popularity of your name, the address you chose to use whether. i.e., or .com and the plan you choose, annual, Bi-annual etc.

Registrant .com
HostGator €2.50/Month
Namecheap €5.20/Month
GoDaddy €5.99/Month basic

It’s important to note that these prices are based on minimum sign up periods.

Increased renewals fees are also part of normal registrar T&Cs. If you choose to do this yourself, remember to shop around for the right deals. Many registers will include a basic SSL certificate and several other benefits that can help you save money in the long term. Check what they have to offer before committing to anything.

SSL certificate

SSL certificates encrypt and protect your data and that of your site visitors. Many website builders and hosts will offer SSL certificates as part of their packaging. It’s important to ensure that you have one, as search engines prioritise those with certificates and protection.

Website address bars that contain “HTTPS” and a padlock icon have SSL certificate protection and this allows both site visitor’s and search engines to know that a site is protected.

Though a basic website will suffice with standard a standard SSL certificate, VIMAR recommends that Ecommerce stores and those which gather large amounts of customer data purchase increased security. Sitelock is a great additional SSL security feature.

If you are unsure of how to improve your website security, then talk to the professionals at VIMAR. We provide all the services you need to ensure your website is as secure as possible.

Web hosting providers

If you choose a website builder such as WIX or Squarespace, then this is another cost that you can avoid when setting up your site.

Though should you want more control and the additional benefits of a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress, you will need to employ the use of a web hosting provider.

The web hosting provider you use will determine your site speed, functionality and the configurations you can employ on your site. If you want your site to be more than a simple advertising board, then you will need a content management system (CMS) and host.

Web hosting is another cost that incurs an annual fee. The most common types of hosting are shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting, each comes with its own set of pros and cons.

Shared hosting is the most common and cost-effective hosting choice, though we will provide a breakdown of what each entails below.

Standard shared hosting costs

Hosting Provider Costs
Bluehost €2.55/Month
Sideguard €3.99/Month
HostGator €2.40/Month

Again, many hosting plans will be based on minimum term contracts. Its import to look at their features and what they can provide.

Shared Hosting – Shared hosting means you will share a server and its resources with other websites. This has the power and resources for most small to medium-sized websites. Should you require more service space it is always possible to update to different plans in the future.

Dedicated Hosting – Large sites, especially those conducting transactions may take on dedicated hosting when the time is right. This means a server features additional storage and tools that are dedicated entirely to your site and provide powerful protection against downtime and other issues. VIMAR only recommends this when your site has reached its capacity as costs can be quite high.

Email hosting

If you have gone through the effort of creating your brand and site, the next logical step is to have a dedicated email address containing your business email. This can be used to contact your email list, partners and potential clients.

Having a dedicated email address even for small businesses adds a layer of professionalism and credibility to your business. Though many hosts and domain registrars may offer free email hosting, many businesses opt for their own email hosting plans as they add more functionality and flexibilities to how you craft emails and campaigns.

If you have a strong marketing team and a belief in your email marketing capabilities, then opting for a paid email marketing plan is the better option. Thankfully having your own “@domainname.com” is one of the most inexpensive websites maintenance costs.

Email Host provider Cost
Mail Chimp €13.00/Per Month
Bluehost €2,55/Per Month

Tech support

Website builders such as WIX and hosting platforms such as Bluehost come with tech support and coverage for the length of your contract with them.

If you want more concentrated and professional services that are tailored to your needs, then it’s important to consider outsourcing your tech support needs to web development professionals such as the team at VIMAR.

Tech support packages come in various forms and depend on what you need and what your tech support provider has to offer. Website maintenance costs, usually fall under the umbrella of tech support and can range from SEO, theme upgrades, plugin updating and removal along with much more.

Cost depends again on your website type. Small business and blog website maintenance costs can be as low as €50 per month, while eCommerce sites and larger blogs may be upwards of €500 per month depending on the services provided.

Cost may fluctuate or remain steady depending on your pricing plan also.

Monthly maintenance costs or one-off deals may affect your pricing and budget.

It’s important to remember that maintenance costs should not be billed by hours conducted but by service provided. You may encounter one provider who can do a professional job in several hours or a more budget-friendly option that takes weeks. In the end, the costs may be the same, but the quality is far different.

Check out what your third-party provider has done in the past and look at how they can benefit your business.

Search engine optimization

SEO (2) involves the onsite and offsite aspects of improving your site to be discoverable by search engines. This includes:

  • Keyword research
  • Link building
  • Updating of old bloats and files
  • Improving set speed

One aspect of SEO that has remained constant is the need to update and improve the content, be this including additional keywords or updating old information. Search engines find this as an indicator of a useful and active site.

Regular updating of certain aspects of your site can be down in houses such as content creation, keyword research and certain technical aspects, though it is important to have a general idea of SEO before you start.

Outsourcing your SEO needs is common for many website owners as they cannot dedicate the time to the constant maintenance and updating that many sites need. It is important to talk to your chosen SEO content marketing agency about the services that they provide and the packages that they have.

Content updates

Though SEO and content creation almost go hand in hand certain changes are obvious. Not all content needs to be SEO based and not all SEO tasks are content based.

But content creation (3) is an important part of website maintenance. Visitors do not want to find articles posted several years ago, content that is clearly out of date or wrong and images and videos that simply do not fit.

It’s important to have regularly posted, entertaining, educational and/or informative content on your site. This can come in many mediums from written posts to videos, graphics and much more.

Similar to the cost of SEO, content creation varies by package and the requirements of your site.

You can use in house professionals or outsource to a professional company that can take care of this aspect of your website maintenance as part of a package. We will look at aspects of DIY website maintenance that you can take care of yourself should outsourcing not be an option.

General updates

General updates can be easy to make yourself on smaller sites, however, for a larger site, those tasks may become too complicated and time-consuming.

General updates primarily focus on keeping on top of scheduled and unscheduled updates that can affect your website from Plugins to WordPress themes and CMS core updates.

Outsourcing to professionals such as VIMAR will free up time and have professional developers on your side who ensure no updates affect the functionality of your site. It also means you don’t have to check for updates or operate these updates yourself as we do it for you.

Website Builder Costs €10-€30/Month

Some business owners prefer the ease of use of website builders. They are less complicated to manage for the non-tech orientated individual, but this of course means they come with limitations.

Website builders offer all-in-one solutions for basic blogs and websites and are a good choice for those starting out .

Though the costs of migrating these sites to self-hosted platforms can be tricky in the future, so it’s important to study your options.

You’ll typically get hosting, a domain name, basic SSL security, and tech support included as part of your website builder packages.

Website Builder Monthly Cost
Square Space €11/Month Basic Plan
WIX €8.50/Month Basic Plan

Do I need to outsource my website maintenance costs?

Pros of outsourcing website maintenance

Outsourcings to a dedicated team of digital professionals have a wide number of advantages for your business. The most obvious one being the time saved conducting tasks that you are not trained for, or which take too much time. The time and costs associated with such tasks can be better spent on other aspects of your business from customer relations to its instore roles.

Outsourcings regular website maintenance usually comes as part of a package that includes the above-mentioned tasks along with an array of other features such a data backup, social media management, advertising etc.

Of course, if you choose a sole freelancer of an entire agency will contribute to the service you receive, and the costs associated with each task.

Cons of outsourcing website maintenance

The most obvious con of outsourcing website maintenance is the cost. As we have seen costs vary widely depending on your business type and website.

If you have a simple site that doesn’t receive much traffic but is necessary for your business. A small investment of €50 a month is a small amount to pay.

Whereas if you have a large site conducting multiple transactions and requiring extensive security, monthly plans that cost €1000’s are not that big in the large scale of things.

DIY Website Maintenance

Certain aspects of website maintenance costs can be kept down, by conducting tasks in house. Though there are obvious benefits and risks to doing so, which we will look at.

Benefits of DIY Maintenance

The primary benefits of conducting DIY website maintenance are seen in terms of cost and content production.

If you choose to do the work yourself or have an employee, take care of certain aspects of your website maintenance, the costs associated will be far less than if you outsourced to a web design company.

You could pay an hourly rate for work conducted or a fee per project.

Regarding content production, you would have full control over all aspects of the media and content produced. Creating what you feel is in line with your business. The loss of control is something that many business owners worry about when they hand over their website needs to a third party.

Risks of DIY Maintenance

Without sounding too dramatic, the risk of DIY maintenance can often be quite high. Several barriers may prevent a website owner from conducting the correct website maintenance or conducting any at all.

Time: Many website owners will be surprised at the amount of time that it takes to maintain and update a website. From scheduled theme and plugin updates to rearranging content, updating for SEO and searching for hosts etc, it can be quite time-consuming. Unless you have an in-house professional, who knows how to conduct each task associated with website maintenance you may find yourself scrabbling for time.

Experience: It is possible to learn many of the aspects of website maintenance, but to learn them to a professional degree and in a way that you can conduct each area of maintenance satisfactorily will take quite some time. You may have some in-house staff who can take care of the technical aspects of your website or create content but having an in-house team who can do it all will be difficult to find unless you are a large corporation.

When errors do occur: From, time to time bad things happen. Either by human error, faulty coding, broken plugins, crashed transaction centres etc. The list can be endless and if you do not have a team on hand when this does occur, it can cost you.

Between downtime and the cost to hire a professional to remedy the situation, you could be looking at a huge bill. Something that could have been avoided, if you had outsourced your website maintenance to a professional team.

Maintenance Pricing Recap

Having viewed website maintenance rates and the different approaches that you may take with your business website, let us have a recap of pricing and what you can expect to pay for each of the 8 core website maintenance services

  • Domain name – €10- €240/year. This can vary if you choose to use an aide. or .com name for your website.
  • SSL certificate – €0- €50/month.
  • Web hosting providers – €3.75- €20.00/month.
  • Email hosting – €1- €5/month.
  • Tech support – €0- $€1,000/month.
  • Search engine optimization – €0- €800/month.
  • Content updates – €0 – €3,000 total.
  • General updates – €0- €200/month.

Remember these are basic website maintenance pricing structures and that yours will vary on the type of site you have, the security you need, and the development type you decide to undertake.

VIMAR and Your Website Maintenance

Should you choose to outsource your website maintenance services you may be wondering what a particular agency such as VIMAR can offer you.

Some necessities such as web hosting, SSL certificate and CMS platforms such as WordPress come with annual fees which are often incorporated into our overall packaging.

What you are truly paying for with the maintenance service provided by VIMAR is tech support, monitoring, security patching and updating.

What all of this means is your site should never face any major difficulties in conducting business.

It also means, should issues arise the team at VIMAR are on hand to discover and remedy any situation that arises.

VIMAR have website development professionals(4), content marketing strategist and designers collaborating with numerous clients and customers.

We provide them with up to date and well-maintained websites that both our clients and their visitors love to explore and navigate through.

Providing maintenance services on a month-to-month basis but are always happy to discuss options and packages that suit your business requirements (5).

We provide hosting options from separate servers to self-hosted plans should your business require such added maintenance services.

Our Monthly Maintenance pricing plans include

  • Website Updates
  • SSL certificate
  • Security Scanning
  • SEO
  • Content Creation
  • CMS and Plugin updates
  • Emergency Solutions
  • Customer Support
  • Ecommerce support
  • Technical Support