“How much does maintenance cost?” is usually asked only when the first invoice arrives after launch. It’s better to know in advance, because the difference between two technologies can be several times larger than the difference in the build price. This guide explains what maintenance includes, how much time it realistically takes and how to budget for your own site.
Short answer
Fixed yearly costs are the domain and hosting — for a small business usually 100–250 KM (about 50–130 EUR). On top of that comes labour: a WordPress site with plugins needs regular monthly updates and checks, while a custom static site needs very little maintenance. Budget = hours per year × your provider’s hourly rate + fixed costs.
What maintenance includes
- Technical updates — the system (e.g. WordPress), theme and plugins, and the PHP version on the server.
- Backups — automatic, stored off the server, with an occasional test that they can be restored.
- Monitoring — alerts when the site is down, SSL certificate and domain expiry.
- Security — checking for suspicious changes, blocking login attacks, removing malicious code.
- Content changes — text, prices, images, new pages.
- Speed and SEO — periodic speed checks, errors in Google Search Console and broken links.
Fixed yearly costs
| Item | Approx. per year | Note |
|---|---|---|
| .ba domain | 30–55 KM | The first year is usually more expensive |
| Hosting | 60–150 KM | For a small site; online shops and larger sites more |
| Premium licences | 0 to a few hundred KM | Common with WordPress themes and plugins |
| Business email | with hosting or per user | See the guide on business email |
These ranges match the guide how much a website costs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which also explains where the figures come from. 1 EUR = 1.95583 KM.
How much time maintenance takes
This is where sites differ most. Rough estimates from practice, for a typical small-business website:
| Type of site | Regular maintenance | Why |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress with 10–20 plugins | about 1–2 hours a month | Frequent updates, checking nothing broke, backups |
| Online shop (WooCommerce etc.) | 2–4 hours a month or more | Payments, shipping and plugins must keep working together after every update |
| Custom static site | a few hours a year | No database or plugins; you monitor the domain, SSL and backups |
Content changes come on top — they depend only on how often you change things.
How to work out your budget
- Add up the fixed costs (domain, hosting, licences, email).
- Estimate the hours of regular maintenance for your type of site from the table above.
- Add the hours for content changes you plan during the year.
- Multiply the hours by your provider’s hourly rate and add the fixed costs.
If a provider offers a monthly plan, compare it with that calculation. A good plan states exactly what is included — hours or number of changes, backup frequency, response time — not just “website maintenance”.
Three ways to pay
- As needed — you pay only when something needs doing. Good for static sites that rarely change; risky for WordPress, because updates get skipped.
- Monthly plan — a fixed amount for updates, backups and a set number of changes. Predictable, but check that you actually use what you pay for.
- Annual contract — for companies and institutions that need a guaranteed response time and a work report.
How to keep maintenance costs down
- Fewer plugins — every plugin is another update and another thing that can break.
- Simpler technology for sites that rarely change. The differences are explained in WordPress or a custom website.
- Keep all logins yourself — then you can change providers without a costly takeover. If you’re already in that situation, see how to take over your website from an agency.
- Batch your changes — five changes at once take less time than five separate requests.
Want to know what maintenance would cost you?
Send me your website address. I’ll check what it’s built with and how many plugins it uses, and you’ll get a realistic estimate of the yearly costs.
Engimotive · Published October 28, 2026