What a £69 per month WordPress maintenance plan actually gets you

What are you actually paying for?

“What do I actually get for £69 a month?”

It’s a fair question, and one I’d ask too. WordPress maintenance is one of those services where, if it’s done well, you barely notice it’s happening. Nothing breaks, nothing gets hacked, and your website quietly keeps working. That’s the point, but it also makes it hard to see where the money goes.

So rather than a list of buzzwords, here’s an honest breakdown of what my Standard WordPress maintenance plan includes, what a typical month looks like behind the scenes, and, just as importantly, what it doesn’t cover.

Who the £69 plan is for

The Standard plan is designed for small business websites of 1–5 pages: the typical brochure site for a consultant, tradesperson, coach or local service business. If your site is bigger, or runs a WooCommerce shop, it needs more looking after, and I’ll quote for that separately rather than squeeze it into a plan that doesn’t fit.

What’s included every month

• WordPress core updates. WordPress releases security and maintenance updates regularly, plus major versions like the recent WordPress 7 release. I apply them, then check the site still works afterwards, which is the part most people skip.
• Plugin updates. This is where most of the risk lives. The vast majority of WordPress vulnerabilities are found in plugins and themes rather than WordPress itself (I cover this in more detail in WordPress security basics for small businesses). Keeping them updated closes those holes before someone else finds them.
• Theme updates. Your theme gets the same treatment, so it stays compatible with the latest WordPress and PHP versions.
• Off-site backups. Your files and database are backed up regularly and stored away from your hosting server. If something goes badly wrong, whether it’s a failed update, a hack or a hosting problem, your site can be restored.
• Up to 1 hour a month of bug fixes. If something on the site stops working, I’ll fix it within your included time. No separate invoice for small problems.
• Email support. You email me directly. No ticket system, no call centre, no waiting days for someone to pick up your request.

What a typical month looks like

Most of the work happens on a regular weekly schedule, so problems are caught early rather than piling up:

In a quiet month, that might mean routine updates and nothing else to report. In a busy month, it might mean holding back a plugin update that conflicts with your theme until a fix is released. Either way, you don’t have to think about it.

What the £69 plan doesn’t cover

Being clear about this upfront saves awkward conversations later:

• Performance optimisation and Google Search Console fixes. These are part of the Pro plan (£99/month), which is aimed at 6–10 page sites. If your site is noticeably slow or has indexing problems, Pro is usually the better fit.
• Phone support. Also part of Pro. The Standard plan is email support.
• Work beyond the included hour. Anything bigger, like new pages, redesigns or new features, is charged at my hourly rate of £50, and I’ll always tell you before I start.
• WooCommerce shops. Online stores have more moving parts (payments, stock, customer data), so they need a custom estimate.

The real cost: year one

There’s a one-off £99 set-up fee, which includes a website audit so I know exactly what I’m taking on. Plans are invoiced monthly in advance, and all prices exclude VAT. So your first year looks like this:

In my article on website design costs in Horsham, I noted that maintenance typically runs anywhere from £300 to £2,000 a year. The Standard plan sits in the lower middle of that range, for a hands-on service rather than an automated one.

There are no contracts. You can cancel at any time.

Is it worth it?

The honest comparison isn’t £69 versus nothing. It’s £69 versus what happens when nothing is done. I’ve written about the hidden costs of a neglected WordPress website: hacked sites, lost enquiries, emergency repair bills and search rankings that take months to recover. One emergency clean-up can easily cost more than a year of maintenance.

That said, it isn’t for everyone. If you’re comfortable handling updates yourself, have reliable backups, and know how to roll back a broken plugin, you may not need it. Where it makes sense is for business owners who’d rather spend their time running the business than troubleshooting their website.

One thing hosting doesn’t do

A common assumption is that “my host looks after all that.” Most hosting companies manage the server, not the website. They generally won’t update your plugins, test your contact form, or fix a layout that broke after an update. That gap is exactly what a maintenance plan fills. If you’re reviewing your setup as a whole, my UK web hosting and maintenance can work together, but they’re separate things.

Getting started

If your site is 1–5 pages and you’d like someone to keep it updated, backed up and working, the Standard plan is a sensible starting point. It starts with the website audit, so you’ll get an honest read on your site’s current state before anything else. You can compare all the options on my WordPress maintenance plans page, or read more about my wider WordPress support services.