What website maintenance should include, and what to ask before you sign

Who this is for

You run a business with a website or an app, and someone offers you a monthly maintenance plan, or you already pay for one and cannot tell what you get. This guide explains what maintenance is, how it differs from hosting and support, and gives you seven questions to ask before you agree. It contains no prices on purpose: amounts depend on the size and risk of your site, and the questions matter more than the number.

Hosting, maintenance and support are not the same

• Hosting keeps the site reachable: servers, certificates, uptime.
• Maintenance keeps the software reliable: updates, security fixes, backups, checks and small repairs.
• Support is the human route: who you contact, how fast they answer, and what they will do for you.

A plan may include one, two or all three. Many problems start when a customer thinks one of them covers the others, for example when “we host your site” is read as “we keep it up to date”.

Seven questions before you sign

1. What is included, and what is quoted separately? Ask for the list in writing: updates, security fixes, backups, monitoring, small changes, new features. Anything that says “as needed” without a limit is not a scope.

2. Who owns the accounts? The domain, the hosting account, the code repository and the admin logins should be in your name, or at least with full access for you. If the provider holds them, you cannot leave without their help.

3. Are backups stored elsewhere, and has a restore been tested? A backup on the same server as the site disappears with it. Ask where copies are kept, how often, and when a restore was last tried. A backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a backup.

4. Are updates tested before they go live? Applying updates automatically is quick and sometimes breaks the site. Ask what is checked afterwards and what happens if an update fails.

5. How fast do they answer, and what counts as urgent? “Within one business day” and “within one hour when the site is down” are very different promises. Ask for both numbers, and for the hours they apply.

6. How many hours are included, and what do extra hours cost? A fixed monthly base with a number of included hours and a published hourly rate for the rest is easy to understand. Ask what happens to unused hours and who approves extra work before it starts.

7. What do you get every month, and how do you leave? Look for a short report of what was actually done, not a screenshot of a dashboard. Then ask about the notice period, any fee for leaving, and whether you receive the site, the backups and the documentation when you go.

Red flags

• A price but no written list of what it covers.
• No answer, or a vague one, about who owns domain, hosting and logins.
• “Unlimited changes” at a very low monthly price. Someone pays for the time, and it is usually your site’s quality.
• No stated response time, so “support” means nothing you can hold them to.
• Long minimum terms with a fee for leaving, and no mention of handover.
• Reports that list tools instead of work.

If you already have a plan

Send the provider the seven questions by email and keep the answers. If most come back clear, you are in good shape. If several do not, you now know what to fix: ask for the scope in writing, move the domain and accounts to your name, and ask for one restore test.

When to get help

Ask someone independent if:

• you cannot tell what your current plan covers
• the provider is the only one with the logins and you want that changed
• an update broke something and you do not know whether it is covered
• you want your site or app checked before you sign or renew

We offer an independent check of an existing site and can take over its care. See Maintenance and support, or book a call for a free 30-minute video call. This guide also fits next to the launch check.