How much does website maintenance cost per month? For a small Australian business site, allow roughly $100 to $300 plus GST each month for a managed care plan, depending on the checks and support hours included. That is a planning range, not a surveyed market average; a plan with content changes or complex ecommerce support can cost more.
The important word is maintenance. A cheap hosting account keeps files online. Someone still has to check that updates have not broken your enquiry form.
What the monthly fee should buy
A useful care plan names the work, how often it happens and who responds when something fails. WordPress core, plugin and theme updates should be checked, not simply switched to automatic and forgotten. A working backup matters more than a line on a proposal that says “backups included”. Ask when one was last restored successfully.
Monitoring can catch downtime and security issues, but alerts alone do not fix them. Check whether the supplier investigates a failed form or plugin conflict within the fee. Also ask when support is available. A next-business-day response might be fine for a brochure site; a busy store needs a different conversation.
At Optimise Online, the published WordPress Care plan is $149 plus GST per month and includes monthly checks, updates, security and backup verification, with two hours for technical fixes. Care Plus is $249 plus GST per month and adds a two-hour monthly allowance for intentional changes, such as copy, page and layout updates. These are our current advertised prices, checked in November 2026, not a claim about what every Perth provider charges. Hosting is selected separately, with advertised combined options starting at $184 plus GST per month. See the current WordPress hosting and care plans for live terms and prices.
Three questions that change the quote
Does the plan include repair time?
One provider may update software and send a report. Another may test the site, investigate conflicts and include a set amount of fix time. Those are not equivalent services. Find out whether unused hours roll over, whether emergency work has a different rate and what counts as a billable job.
Are content changes included?
Adding a team photo, changing opening hours or replacing a page section is intentional work, not routine technical care. Some plans include a monthly allowance; others quote each request. If your business changes its services regularly, that difference will matter more than a small gap between headline fees.
Is hosting on the same invoice?
Some packages bundle a server with maintenance and some keep the lines separate. Ask for the total monthly price, including GST, licences, backup storage and any security tools. A domain name is usually a separate renewal. Comparing two care prices without their scope is like comparing two insurance premiums without reading the cover.
When a monthly plan makes sense
If the site receives enquiries, takes payments or carries sensitive customer submissions, ongoing checks deserve an owner. A five-page brochure site still needs updates and recoverable backups, though it may not need a large monthly change allowance. Someone in your team can do the work if they have the access, time and confidence to test after updating.
Agree on a written boundary: which website is covered, which plugins and integrations are supported, what gets checked each month, and what happens when a larger rebuild is needed. Ask who owns the hosting account and where backups live if the relationship ends. A care plan should leave you with fewer unknowns and no new dependency you cannot exit.
Before signing, request one example monthly report with identifying information removed. It should show actual checks, issues found and work completed, not a page of green ticks without dates. Ask whether support time covers troubleshooting only or can also be used to improve a page. That answer tells you whether you need care, a change allowance or both.
Frequently asked questions
Can I cancel a care plan?
That depends on the agreement. Check notice periods, handover of backups and whether you retain administrator access before signing.
Will automatic plugin updates replace a care plan?
Automatic updates can reduce routine work, but they cannot judge whether a booking form still works afterwards. Test the important customer journeys and keep a restorable backup.
Does a care plan cover a hacked site?
Not necessarily. Ask whether cleanup, restore work and incident response are included or quoted separately, and what steps the provider takes to prevent a repeat.
What if I need more than the included hours?
Ask for the extra hourly rate and approval process in writing. A good arrangement tells you the likely cost before the team starts the additional work.
Choose the work, then the plan
Write down the checks you cannot afford to miss and the content changes your team actually makes. Compare those against the scope of our website hosting and maintenance service, or book a discovery call to discuss the right level of care.
