In this guide · 8 sections
What website maintenance actually covers
"Maintenance" gets used for anything from a monthly report to unlimited design work. A useful plan covers these jobs:
- Updates: the CMS, theme and plugins (on WordPress), or reviewing apps and theme updates (on Shopify).
- Backups: daily, stored off-site, and tested by actually restoring one now and then.
- Monitoring: checking that the site is up, the SSL certificate is valid, the domain hasn't expired and your email isn't on a blocklist.
- Security: admin accounts with two-factor sign-in, old users removed, a firewall or login protection where the platform allows.
- Small changes: new prices, opening hours, a staff photo, a banner for a promotion.
- A short report: what was updated, anything that failed, anything you need to decide.
Redesigns, new pages and new features are separate projects. A good plan says clearly where small changes end and quoted work begins.
Running costs vs labour
It helps to split the bill into what goes to providers and what goes to the person doing the work.
| Cost | Paid to | How often | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain renewal | Your registrar | Yearly (or up to 2 years ahead for .sg) | Keep auto-renew on and a working card on file |
| Hosting or platform plan | Your host, Shopify, Wix or WordPress.com | Monthly or yearly | Shopify Basic is S$29/month paid yearly (Oct 2026, per Shopify pricing) |
| Business email | Microsoft or Google | Per user, monthly or yearly | Separate from the website on most platforms |
| Premium plugins, themes or apps | Each vendor | Usually yearly or monthly | Licences often need renewing to keep getting updates |
| Backup service | Your host or a backup provider | Monthly | Some hosts include daily backups |
| Labour | You, a freelancer or a care plan | Monthly | Updates, checks, small changes, fixing what breaks |
Ask anyone quoting for maintenance which of these are included and which are billed to you separately. A cheap plan that leaves out backups or plugin licences is not cheap when something breaks.
Why the platform changes the cost
Self-hosted WordPress
WordPress core, the theme and each plugin get regular updates, many of them security fixes. CSA's advice on updating software promptly puts it plainly: updates fix known weaknesses, and out-of-date software gives criminals time to use them. On a WordPress site, that means someone checks and applies updates every month, with a backup taken first in case an update breaks something.
Shopify, Wix and other hosted builders
The platform patches its own software and handles hosting and SSL. Maintenance shrinks to content changes, reviewing apps, checking checkout and forms, and keeping admin accounts secure. Many owners handle this themselves.
Custom-built sites
Bespoke code needs a developer who knows it. Make sure you have the source code, the hosting login and written notes, so you are not tied to one person.
What happens when nobody maintains the site
These are the usual ways an unmaintained small business website fails:
- The domain expires. The website and every email address on that domain stop working. For .sg domains, SGNIC also suspends new domains whose administrative contact hasn't completed VerifiedID@SG within 21 days.
- The SSL certificate lapses, and browsers show a "Not secure" warning that scares visitors away.
- An outdated plugin is exploited, and the site starts redirecting to spam or is flagged by Google.
- A form silently stops sending, so enquiries go nowhere for weeks.
- There is no recent backup when something goes wrong, so the site has to be rebuilt.
All five are cheap to prevent and expensive to fix after the fact.
A monthly maintenance checklist you can do yourself
- Take a backup (or confirm last night's automatic backup ran) before changing anything.
- Apply CMS, theme and plugin updates; on Shopify, review any app or theme update notices.
- Load the home page, a service or product page, and the contact page on your phone. Submit the contact form and check the email arrives.
- Check the padlock (HTTPS) and the domain's expiry date at your registrar.
- Remove admin users who no longer need access, and make sure every admin uses two-factor sign-in.
- Update anything out of date: prices, opening hours, holiday notices, staff.
- Every three months, restore a backup to a test copy to prove it works.
Put the checklist in your calendar as a recurring 30-minute task on the first working day of each month. Most problems are caught simply because someone looked.
Red flags in a maintenance contract
- The domain or hosting is in the provider's name, so leaving them means losing your site or email.
- No mention of backups, or backups stored on the same server as the site.
- A long minimum term with no clear way to cancel or take your site elsewhere.
- "Unlimited changes" with no definition of what counts as a change.
- No written report, so you can't tell whether anything was done.
- Licences for premium plugins held in the provider's account, which lapse when you leave.
If you are already in this position, our guide to moving a website without losing SEO explains how to take back control safely.
Do it yourself or get help?
On Shopify or Wix, the checklist above is often all you need. On WordPress, or if you simply don't want to think about it, a care plan hands the job to someone else. Our care plans are fixed monthly prices, cancel any time:
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Monitor | S$29/month | Uptime checks every 5 minutes, SSL and domain expiry alerts, email blocklist monitoring, monthly health report |
| Care | S$129/month | Everything in Monitor plus monthly CMS, theme and plugin updates, daily off-site backups and up to 1 hour of small changes |
| Care Plus | S$349/month | Everything in Care plus up to 3 hours of changes, replies within 4 business hours, workspace health checks and a quarterly security review |
Hosting fees are billed to you by your provider, and the accounts stay in your name. See all three on the care plans page.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the platform and what is included. Expect yearly running costs for the domain, hosting or platform plan, email and any paid plugins, plus labour for updates, backups and changes. IT Sorted's fixed care plans are S$29, S$129 or S$349 a month.
Less than WordPress, because the platform handles hosting, security patches and SSL. You still need to keep content current, review apps, test checkout and forms, and keep admin accounts secure with two-factor sign-in.
Check for updates at least monthly, and apply security updates as soon as they are released. Take a backup first, then test the main pages and forms after updating.
Your website and all email on that domain stop working until it is renewed, and after a grace period someone else may be able to register it. Keep auto-renew on with a valid card and check the expiry date regularly.
It is worth it if your site brings in enquiries or sales and nobody in the business will do the monthly checks. If you are on Shopify or Wix and happy to spend 30 minutes a month, you can usually do it yourself.