Services
WordPress maintenance and care plans
WordPress maintenance and support keeps your site fast, secure, and online while you focus on running your business. WordPress needs regular care: core and plugin updates, backups, security monitoring, and quick fixes when something breaks. Skip that care and small problems grow into hacked sites, broken pages, and lost sales. Our maintenance plans handle the routine work and give you someone to call when you need a change or a fix. We update carefully on a staging copy first, so an update never takes your live site down. You get regular backups, uptime monitoring, and a clear report of what we did each month. It is the difference between hoping your site is fine and knowing it is.
Price
About 15 to 20% of the build cost per year
For a typical $2,000 small business site that is roughly $300 to $400 a year; for a $6,000 to $20,000 store, roughly $900 to $4,000. The exact figure is in your written quote.
Who this is for
- A business that relies on its website for leads or sales and cannot afford it to be down or hacked
- A team with no developer on staff that wants a person to call, not a ticket queue
- A store owner who needs updates tested before they reach the live checkout
- An organization that had a site built elsewhere and now needs someone to look after it
What's included
- Careful core, theme, and plugin updates
- Regular offsite backups you can restore
- Security monitoring and malware scanning
- Uptime monitoring with quick response
- Small content and design edits each month
- Broken link and error checks
- Performance checks to keep pages fast
- A clear monthly report of the work done
Scope: what is in and what is usually separate
A fixed-scope quote only works if the scope is clear. This is how we usually draw the line; anything in the right column can be added and priced separately.
| Included in a typical quote | Quoted separately or not included |
|---|---|
| Core, theme and plugin updates, tested on staging first | New features, redesigns or new pages beyond the edit allowance (quoted separately) |
| Scheduled offsite backups with restore tests | Hosting, domain, CDN and premium plugin fees |
| Security monitoring, malware scanning and hardening | Recovering a site that was hacked before the plan started (available as a one-off job) |
| Uptime monitoring with a response commitment | SEO campaigns and content writing |
| A monthly allowance of small content and design edits | Support for custom code we did not build, until we have reviewed it |
| A monthly report of everything done | Third-party service outages we do not control |
Our process, step by step
- Onboarding review. We audit the site: WordPress and PHP versions, plugin list, backups, security settings, hosting, forms and any custom code, and fix urgent problems first. You get: a baseline report and a care plan.
- Set up the safety net. We configure offsite backups, uptime and security monitoring, a staging copy and access for our team. You get: monitoring in place and a tested restore.
- Monthly care cycle. Updates go to staging, get checked, then go live. Backups and scans run on schedule and we act on anything they flag. You get: a site that stays current without surprises.
- Requests and fixes. You email or call with edits and problems. Small edits come out of your monthly allowance; anything bigger is quoted first. You get: changes made, usually within the agreed response time.
- Reporting. Each month you get a plain-language report: what was updated, what was fixed, uptime, backups and anything we recommend. You get: a record you can show your team.
What you receive at handover
- A written care plan with response times
- Offsite backups you can access
- Monitoring alerts to us and, if you want, to you
- A staging site for safe testing
- Monthly reports
- A direct email and phone contact
WordPress maintenance services: which level of care fits
Maintenance is not one product. The right level depends on how much the site earns, how often it changes and how much risk you can accept. We scope it with you rather than sell a fixed tier.
| Option | When it fits |
|---|---|
| Essential care | A brochure site that changes rarely. Updates, backups, security scanning, uptime monitoring and a small edit allowance. |
| Business care | A lead-generating site that changes monthly. Everything in essential care plus faster response times, staging-tested updates and a larger edit allowance. |
| Store care | A WooCommerce site. Adds test orders after every update, gateway and extension checks and priority response when checkout is affected. |
| One-off support | You do not want a plan but something is broken now. Quoted as a fixed job; a plan is optional afterwards. |
Technologies we use
- WordPress
- PHP
- MySQL
- WP-CLI
- Cloudflare
- Git
- phpMyAdmin
- REST API
What drives the cost
We quote fixed-scope after a free consultation rather than publishing a rate card, because the same service can be a small job or a large one. These are the factors that move the number.
- Site complexity. A store or membership site has more moving parts to test after every update than a ten-page brochure site.
- Response time. Faster commitments cost more because someone has to be available.
- Edit allowance. More monthly hours for content and design changes raise the plan cost.
- Custom code and plugin count. More code and more plugins mean more to review and more that can break on update.
- Starting condition. A neglected site often needs a one-off cleanup before a plan can keep it stable.
See the pricing page for how we scope and quote, or send a brief through the contact page for a written estimate.
How long it takes
Onboarding takes about a week: audit, backups, monitoring, staging and a first round of safe updates. After that the care cycle runs monthly, with security patches applied as they are released.
- How out of date the site is when we start.
- Whether the host supports staging and server-level backups.
- How much custom code we need to review before we can update safely.
Risks and how we manage them
- An update breaks the site. Updates run on a staging copy first, and we keep a backup from minutes before every production change.
- Backups that cannot be restored. We test a restore during onboarding and periodically after, not just when disaster strikes.
- A hack discovered weeks later. Daily malware scans, file-change monitoring and login hardening catch problems early.
A worked example (illustrative)
Illustrative only. A physiotherapy clinic had its site built two years ago and has not updated it since. Onboarding finds 23 outdated plugins, no offsite backups and a login page open to brute-force attempts. Week one: backups, monitoring, hardening and staged updates. From month two the clinic sends two or three small edits a month and receives a one-page report.
Why choose us
- Updates tested on staging before going live
- Real backups you can actually restore from
- A person to call, not a ticket queue
- Monthly reports so you know it is handled
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Why do I need WordPress maintenance?
WordPress, its themes, and plugins release frequent updates for security and features. Without regular updates, backups, and monitoring, sites become slow, break, or get hacked. Maintenance keeps your site secure and running so it keeps working for you.
Do you update on the live site directly?
No. We update on a staging copy first, test that everything still works, then apply the update to your live site. That way an update never takes your site down without warning.
What happens if my site gets hacked?
With a plan in place we have recent backups and monitoring, so we can clean the site and restore it quickly. We also harden it afterward to reduce the chance of it happening again.
Can I ask for content changes?
Yes. Most plans include a set amount of small edits each month, such as updating text, swapping images, or adding a page. Larger projects are quoted separately so you always know the cost up front.
Do I have to be a current client to get a plan?
No. We take on maintenance for sites we did not build. We start with a review to understand the site, fix any pressing issues, then keep it healthy going forward.
What do WordPress maintenance services usually include?
At minimum: core, theme and plugin updates, offsite backups, security scanning, uptime monitoring and a way to reach a real person. Better plans test updates on staging first, include a monthly edit allowance and send a report. Ours include all of those.
What is WordPress maintenance mode?
Maintenance mode is a temporary screen WordPress shows visitors while updates are installing, and a setting or plugin you can use to hide a site during bigger changes. It is not the same as a maintenance plan. Under our plans, most updates happen on staging so your visitors never see a maintenance screen.
Can you take over a site built by another developer?
Yes. Most of the sites we maintain were built elsewhere. Onboarding includes a review of the theme and any custom code so we know what is safe to update.
WordPress maintenance and care plans
Get a fixed quote in 24 hours
Tell us what is wrong or what you need. Within 24 hours you get a written, fixed price or the questions we need answered to give you one.
- A reply within 24 hours
- Fixed price agreed before any work starts
- You own the code, content and accounts
Site down or hacked right now? Call +1 (365) 440-1786 or email info@fourcents.ca.
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