Prices for M1 come straight from the price list, so they’re always current. Outside figures are linked to their sources.
Typical UK website maintenance prices
Here are the ranges from the UK guides I checked this month, rounded. Each guide slices it slightly differently, but the levels line up.
| Level | Typical monthly cost | What it usually covers |
|---|---|---|
| Basic care | Roughly £30 to £100 a month | Updates, backups and basic monitoring for a brochure site |
| Managed | Roughly £75 to £300 a month | Tested updates, security monitoring, a monthly report and some support time |
| Support and changes | Roughly £300 to £600 a month | Priority support, development time and regular improvements |
| Ecommerce or business-critical | Roughly £200 to £600 a month and up | Checkout testing after updates, faster response times, more frequent backups |
Ad hoc website help is usually charged by the hour, at roughly £50 to £100 an hour in the UK. Hosting is sometimes included in a maintenance plan and sometimes separate, so check which.
As one guide puts it, two providers charging £150 a month can be selling completely different things. Compare what’s included, not just the price.
What website maintenance should cover
Website maintenance is the work that keeps a site safe, working and current after launch. A decent plan covers these, in writing:
- Updates. The platform, theme and plug-ins updated on a schedule, and checked afterwards so an update doesn’t break a form or a page.
- Security. Monitoring, an https certificate that renews, and a plan for what happens if something goes wrong.
- Backups. Regular copies of the whole site, stored somewhere else, and actually tested.
- Hosting. Where the site lives. See web hosting. Cheap shared hosting can make a site slow; that affects visitors and Core Web Vitals.
- Small changes. New prices, opening hours, a photo, a new team member. Most plans include a set amount of time each month.
- A named person. Someone who answers, with the response time written down.
What maintenance usually doesn’t include: new features, a redesign, new pages written from scratch, SEO campaigns or ads. Those are quoted separately.
What happens if nobody maintains your site
A website doesn’t stay the same when you leave it alone. The software under it keeps changing.
- Security holes stay open. WordPress’s own security guidance says you should always keep up to date with the latest version, because older versions don’t get security fixes and the details of fixed holes often become public. The same goes for plug-ins and themes.
- Things break quietly. A contact form that stops sending is the classic one. The site looks fine, and enquiries go nowhere. The guide to websites that don’t get enquiries shows how to test yours.
- No way back. Without recent backups, a hack or a bad update can mean rebuilding from scratch.
- It goes stale. Old prices, old phone numbers and last year’s opening hours cost trust and calls.
Doing it yourself
If you built your site on Wix or Squarespace, the platform handles the software updates, security and hosting as part of your monthly fee. What’s left is keeping the content current, which you can do yourself.
On WordPress or a site a developer built, you can still do it yourself if you’re comfortable:
- Turn on automatic updates where it’s safe, and remove plug-ins you don’t use.
- Set up automatic backups stored away from your hosting, and try a restore once so you know it works.
- Check your site on your phone each month, and send yourself a test enquiry.
- Keep a list of logins: domain, hosting, website and email, in a password manager.
- Know when your domain and hosting renew, so nothing lapses.
If that list sounds like a chore you’ll put off, that’s the honest reason to pay someone.
What M1 Studio charges
The Website Care Plan is £250 a month, with no VAT. Each month: hosting, security, backups and updates; small changes, up to about 1 hour a month; and a short monthly report. Anything over 1 hour a month is quoted before it’s done. It’s month to month, with 30 days’ notice to cancel. Site built elsewhere? I check it’s compatible first.
If you want more each month, the Foundation Plan is £500 a month and adds small changes, up to about 3 hours a month; 4 Google Business Profile posts a month; and a review call with Sammy every 3 months. After a Foundation Build, your first 3 months of the Website Care Plan are included after launch. No card is taken and nothing renews automatically: carry on only if you want to.
You never have to take a plan. A site I build is yours, and you can move it to your own hosting. Your domain and any paid plug-ins are paid at cost or directly by you, and listed before you agree.
Sources
Market ranges above are rounded from these guides. Prices change, so check the current page before you buy.
- Website Maintenance Cost UK: 2026 Pricing Guide, Yellow Peach, accessed 30 September 2026
- How Much Does Website Maintenance Cost in the UK (and What Should It Include)?, Digital Otter, accessed 30 September 2026
- Cost of Website Maintenance UK 2026, Dotwise, accessed 30 September 2026
- Hardening WordPress, WordPress Developer Resources, accessed 30 September 2026