If you have a WordPress website, some level of ongoing maintenance is not optional — it's part of keeping the site secure and working. The question is whether you handle it yourself or have someone do it for you.
What happens if you don't maintain a WordPress site
WordPress, plugins, and themes release updates regularly. These updates include security patches. If a plugin has a known vulnerability and you don't apply the update, your site is exposed to that vulnerability until you do.
Beyond security, updates can also cause conflicts — a plugin update breaking something it previously worked fine with. Catching these quickly requires someone checking.
Who can skip a maintenance plan
If you're a developer or technically confident with WordPress, you can handle updates and monitoring yourself. Some people do this reliably. If that's you, a maintenance plan is redundant.
If you're on a managed starter site from NC Digital, the infrastructure is handled for you — maintenance works more simply than a self-hosted WordPress setup.
Who should have a maintenance plan
If you have a WordPress website, you're not a developer, and you don't have time to check in regularly — a maintenance plan is worth it. You're not just paying for tasks; you're paying for someone to care about your site so you don't have to.
Our £50/month plan covers the technical essentials. If you also want the site to grow, our £75/month plan includes 1 page plus 1 case study or blog post per month.
Read more about what our maintenance plans include or get in touch to discuss your website's needs.
What a website maintenance plan usually includes
A good maintenance plan covers the jobs that keep a website safe, fast and working:
- Software and plugin updates: WordPress, themes and plugins updated safely, with a backup taken first
- Security monitoring: firewall, malware scans and fast action if something looks wrong
- Backups: regular off-site backups, so the site can be restored quickly
- Uptime monitoring: an alert if the site goes down, before your customers notice
- Small content changes: new prices, photos, opening hours or staff updates
- Speed and health checks: broken links, forms that have stopped sending, and slow pages
How to choose the right level
- A simple brochure site that rarely changes: basic updates, backups and security monitoring are usually enough.
- A site that brings in most of your enquiries: add uptime monitoring, form checks and a set amount of editing time each month.
- An online shop or a site you are actively growing: you need more frequent checks, faster response times and time for new pages or SEO work.
What affects the cost?
The cost depends on how much is included: how often updates run, how quickly problems are fixed, and how much editing time you get each month. See our website maintenance packages for what we include, or read how much website maintenance costs in the UK.
Frequently asked questions
Can I maintain my own website? Yes, if you are comfortable updating WordPress and plugins, keeping backups and fixing problems when an update breaks something. Many owners find it is not a good use of their time.
Is hosting the same as maintenance? No. Hosting keeps the site online. Maintenance keeps the website itself updated, secure and working.
Do I need a plan if my website is new? A new site still needs updates from the first month. Plugins and WordPress release security fixes regularly.