Website Maintenance Costs in 2026: What You Should Actually Pay
Agencies charge $50 to $500+/mo for maintenance.
Typical 2026 maintenance pricing: $50 to $150/mo for a basic small-business site, $150 to $500/mo for e-commerce or content-heavy sites, and $500+ for custom builds, usually covering hosting, updates, backups, security patches and small content changes. The dirty secret: on modern hosted platforms, most of that list is automated, and the line item you are really paying for is "small content changes", i.e., someone typing your new hours into a CMS. That is the bill AI deleted: on PISCES, hosting, SSL and updates are included, and content changes ARE the product: you type the change in plain English and the site updates, 25 to 250 edits a month included in $29 to $99 plans.
What legitimate maintenance includes (and what to ask)
- Hosting, SSL, backups, security patches: table stakes; automated on any modern platform.
- Software updates: a real, ongoing cost on WordPress specifically (plugins break; updates conflict). If you are quoted maintenance, ask what stack makes it necessary.
- Content changes: ask the included-hours number and the overage rate; this is where retainers quietly balloon.
- Monitoring and uptime: worth having; should not be a separate line item.
Fair test for any quote: "which of these tasks would exist if my site were on a modern hosted platform?" The honest answers are shorter than the invoice.
What it costs
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 AI build + publish a one-pager on a free address (with badge) |
| Launch | $29/mo | 3 pages, your own domain, 25 AI edits a month, no badge |
| Pro | $99/mo | 25 pages, blog, Stripe store, booking, full Next.js code export |
Full details on the pricing page.
See your site rebuilt by AI, free
Paste your current website's URL and PISCES rebuilds it, 10x better, in about 90 seconds. Keep it only if you love it.
Get my free rebuild →Frequently asked questions
Is a website maintenance plan worth it?
On WordPress with plugins: usually yes, something WILL break. On hosted platforms (builders, AI platforms): mostly no; the platform does the maintenance, and you are buying content changes you could type yourself.
How much should a small business budget for its website per year?
All-in on the AI route: about $360 to $1,200/yr including the labor of changes. Traditional route: $500 to $2,000/yr maintenance ON TOP of the $3,000 to $15,000 build. That difference is most of the argument.
What is PISCES?
PISCES is the AI website builder from Marketing By Magnet: paste your current site's URL (or answer a few questions) and the AI builds your entire site in about 90 seconds. Free to build and publish a one-pager; $29/mo for your own domain; $99/mo for blog, store, booking and full code export.