Quick answer: maintaining a small business website costs $50 to $500 per month ($600 to $6,000 per year) with a maintenance plan, according to GoDaddy. The minimum every site pays is the domain, $10 to $20 per year, plus hosting: $5 to $15 per month on shared hosting, or free on platforms like Vercel for modern sites. The SSL certificate is usually included.
Many businesses discover what their website really costs after launch: the domain renewal, the hosting, the plugins, the "maintenance plan" the agency charges every month. Here is the full breakdown so you know what is required, what is optional and how much you should pay.
What a website costs every year
| Item | Cost | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Domain (.com) | $10 to $20 per year | Yes, and always in your name |
| Shared hosting | $5 to $15 per month | Yes, unless your site is hosted for free |
| Managed hosting | $20 to $150+ per month | Only if your site needs it (busy WordPress sites, stores) |
| SSL certificate | Free, or $10 to $100 per year | The free one is enough for a small business |
| Maintenance plan (small business) | $50 to $500 per month | No, it depends on how your site is built |
| Maintenance plan (online store) | $300 to $1,000 per month | Recommended if you sell online |
Source: GoDaddy, how much it costs to maintain a website (2026).
What a maintenance plan includes
- Updates for WordPress, the theme and the plugins.
- Backups and security monitoring.
- Checking that the site still loads and the forms still work.
- Small changes to text, photos or prices, depending on the plan.
As a benchmark, agencies put yearly maintenance at 15% to 20% of what the site cost to build, according to Clique Studios. If your site cost $20,000, that is $3,000 to $4,000 per year.
Why some websites cost much more to maintain
Expensive maintenance almost always comes from how the site was built. A WordPress site with twenty plugins needs constant security updates and breaks after months without attention. A builder like Wix does not break, but it charges the subscription every year, forever. A simple, modern, well-built site has no plugins to update and can be hosted for free while traffic is normal.
What it costs to maintain a site built by Bripe Media
None of our plans has a mandatory monthly fee. The $850 website plan includes domain and hosting for the first year. From year two you only pay about $20 per year for the domain, registered in your name, plus hosting depending on the plan you choose.
If your current site costs you more every month than it brings in, compare with what it costs to redesign it or build a new one.
How to pay less to maintain your website
- Register the domain in your own name and turn on auto-renew.
- Ask for a site that does not depend on plugins that need weekly updates.
- Do not pay for SSL if your host already includes it for free.
- Before signing a maintenance plan, get in writing what it includes each month.