How Much Does It Cost to Maintain a Website in 2024?

One of the most well-known benefits of choosing website software product developent services instead of creating a standalone app is the website maintenance cost: it is not a secret, that most websites or even web applications are cheaper to create and maintain, compared to full-fledged mobile or desktop applications.

Despite web app development services taking less time, being cheaper and easier in most cases, they also have limitations. For instance, even modern Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) cannot compete with native or even hybrid mobile apps for iOS and Android: they offer fewer features and worse performance, than standalone applications.

However, today we are not discussing the pros and cons of web application development but rather trying to find out how much does it cost to maintain a website. So, first of all, we have to define the major factors which shape the cost of website maintenance.

Factors Affecting Web Maintenance Costs

Frankly, like with any other software development project, numerous factors can either increase or decrease the cost of software development. Yet, we can define the most crucial aspects that significantly set website maintenance costs.

1. Type and Complexity of the Website or Web Application

The first and most obvious aspects are the type and complexity of your future web application's development.

For instance, if you are willing to create a simple blogging website or share your thoughts, you need a far smaller budget than building a full-fledged eCommerce platform like eBay or Amazon.

To cut a long story short, each website or web application type has unique and specific requirements. So, the development cost, website updates, and maintenance prices will differ.

Eventually, each industry has regulations and demands. For illustration, eCommerce website maintenance services are a more complex task, which demands a high level of data privacy and transaction security, real-time updates, database connection, profile and login features, etc. Finally, if you want to develop a huge online marketplace, you need to ensure the capability to maintain a high number of users simultaneously.

At the same time, small business website maintenance cost will be less due to a limited number of features and protocols. Once again, it can even be a simple blog page, showing only plain text to the users.

2. Frequency of Updates

Another important factor, which impacts the website maintenance price is the frequency of updates, patches, etc.

It is a must-have option for any web maintenance services, which helps ensure a seamless user experience, adjust some website settings, implement new features, fix bugs, etc. Website updates and maintenance include almost all post-release software design and development processes.

Besides, don’t forget about constant content updates, or other user-oriented elements.

3. Hosting and Server Costs

Apart from website design and development, it must also be hosted on the servers and domains.

The price of website hosting and maintenance highly depends on third parties, whose services you will decide to use. Most of them usually range from 1 and up to thousands of US dollars per year. For instance, one of the most popular domains (.com) costs around 10-60 US dollars for annual renewal.

The cost to maintain a website per month on a server usually varies between 1-15 US dollars.

Still, more complex or secure solutions, personal server maintenance, and other “extras” might cost much more, depending on your needs and IT vendors’ offers.

4. Security Measures

Website hosting and maintenance cost depends also on the applied security measures and policies.

For example, one of the most common and basic web security certificates, Secure Socket Layers (SSL) can cost from 8 to 60 US dollars per year, depending on the chosen validation option.

However, don’t forget about extra measures, which help to protect your web application from other threats, which include firewalls, various additional custom development tools, and regular security monitoring. Not to mention the need to have a dedicated security officer on board, which is a preferable solution for almost any business website.

5. Content Management

Website management and maintenance includes content planning and administration.

One of the most efficient ways to do so - is to use ready-made Content Management Systems (CMS). Fortunately, many platforms and aggregators like WordPress or its alternatives offer such SaaS solutions for a low price.

Mostly, CMS options are used as an admin section of a website, where programmers can implement code adjustments, and content creators and authors can add content like text, pictures, videos, audio, or other types of files. It is also possible to develop custom solutions to have even more control and built-in features.

Regardless of your decision, you will have to pay for such software. Still, these systems are not the main content-related factor, which impacts the cost of website maintenance.

6. Developer Rates and Maintenance Plans/ Development Team(In-House vs. Outsourcing)

The cost of website maintenance highly depends on its development as well.

For instance, one of the most crucial aspects is the developers’ rate and type of team cooperation. Among the most popular solutions for software development cooperation types is choosing between in-house vs outsourcing developers.

You need an in-house team if you require more control over web app development and easily excessive software engineers. However, if you are looking for ways to decrease website design and maintenance cost - an outsourced dedicated team is your choice. Communicating with such developers demands being more flexible and disciplined.

Yet, both approaches show approximately the same high-quality results and expertise level.

7. Third-Party Services and Integrations

Last but not least, third-party services and various supportive software solutions are paid. So, each “extra” SaaS or API integration will most likely increase the final website maintenance and support services price.

The best way to manage and plan your web maintenance price related to third-party software is to plan and define the main tools or third parties needed for the project.

Fortunately, most industries and types of web applications have lists of must-have features and services. The easiest way to choose the best options is to examine some MVP startups, similar to your idea: case studies include only the most crucial functionality with almost no “extras,” helping to define the most essential tools and software solutions for your project.

Average Cost to Maintain a Website

The average cost to maintain a website varies due to many factors. It is impossible to define an average cost to maintain a website, which will show at least approximate numbers suited for all cases.

For instance, a personal online blog can be either free, if you use user-oriented platforms like WordPress or cost around 1,000 US dollars if you want to create a website with numerous add-ons and features.

However, if you are interested in “numbers”, not “words”, we can try to define the average web application maintenance cost by your business scale and needs.

Obviously, website maintenance and support services price for small businesses is the cheapest. Most such companies can easily outsource website maintenance and development, significantly reducing the development cost.

Additionally, it is possible to reduce ongoing website maintenance costs by choosing cheaper options and basic security certificates, more affordable domains and servers, etc. Approximate website design and maintenance cost for small businesses ranges from 6,000+ US Dollars.

Mid-size businesses have a bigger audience and more user expectations. So, it requires more spending on, at least, security protocols, better connections, and more server solutions like VPS.

Besides, don’t forget that the number of functional options and services extends and scales, according to business goals and needs. So, the overall price will extend, depending on the required plugins, APIs, or any other third-party software solutions.

Moreover, bigger web projects require a dedicated support team to update and improve the website, resulting in higher website maintenance services cost.

As a result, mid-size website design and maintenance cost starts at 16,000+ US Dollars and scale, depending on demands and business expectations.

Talking about the average cost to maintain a website for large or even enterprise-level businesses, we have to understand, that there are much more requirements, limitations, and pressure.

There is no need or possibility to estimate the price for such web application development because the number of features and their variety exponentially scales and increases the final price.

Instead, we can concentrate on such website hosting and maintenance cost.

Frankly, most spending is similar to the previous cases. However, such projects are much more complex and demanding, so choosing the best and fullest packages is preferable. Once again, it will require more servers and better databases.

Moreover, having a dedicated team of content creators, support services, etc., is a must-have option for big websites and applications. Thus, remember that in addition to the team's salaries, you will have to spend money on various analytical tool subscriptions, etc.

To sum up, large-scale website maintenance costs start at 8,000 US dollars, and this does not include the spending on custom website design and development. Website design and maintenance costs for large-scale businesses, including custom software development, further support, and hosting, start at 45,000 US dollars.

Ways to Optimize Website Maintenance Costs

Luckily, optimizes website maintenance cost and decreases it is possible. To do so, you must follow simple but effective rules.

Regular Monitoring and Proactive Updates

By regular monitoring and updating the website, you can not only keep a high level of web app performance optimization and user experience but also spend less money on further checking and updates by constantly taking small steps for scaling and budget optimization.

Investing in Quality Development

Another evident yet crucial approach is to find and hire a reliable dedicated software development team and outsource website maintenance & creation.

As a result, it would be easier and cheaper to achieve high-quality results and maintain the website, with no need for extra QA and testing practices.

A reliable and experienced development team will design and develop a manageable website with little or no code-related issues, delivering an efficient and optimized product.

Planning and Budgeting for Maintenance

Finally, it is worth planning and budgeting your website maintenance during the project discovery phase. Clearly, it will require some adjustments during the development.

Still, having even approximate website maintenance cost at hand makes it easier to pick the best solutions.

If you are willing to design and develop a website or a web app but have no idea where to start - contact us. We would gladly discuss your ideas!