Most outages come down to one of four things — expired domain, expired or suspended hosting, a broken update, or a compromise — and you can identify which in about ten minutes without any technical help. Knowing which one it is determines who you call and what it should cost.
The costs are worth knowing upfront, because they shape the decision. In India, cleaning up a hacked WordPress site typically runs ₹20,000–50,000 or more, which is frequently higher than the original build cost for a budget site.
The moment it happens
My website went down and I have no one to call — the second half of that sentence is usually the real problem. The developer who built it hasn’t replied in months, there’s no maintenance arrangement, and you don’t know whether to contact a hosting company you’ve never spoken to.
Ten-minute diagnosis
| What you see | Likely cause | Who fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Site and business email dead | Domain expired or moved | You, via the registrar |
| Site down, email fine | Hosting expired, suspended, or a server fault | Hosting provider |
| “Account suspended” page | Hosting unpaid | Whoever owns the hosting account |
| Site loads with strange links, spam pages, or redirects elsewhere | Compromised site | A developer, plus a hosting scan |
| White screen or an error message after an update | Broken plugin/theme update | A developer; often a 30-minute fix |
| Browser warning about security | Expired certificate | Hosting provider, usually free to renew |
Start with a WHOIS lookup on your domain: it shows the expiry date immediately. If the domain expired, nothing else matters until it’s renewed — and there’s a grace window, so act quickly.
What to do in the first hour
- Check the domain expiry (WHOIS). Renew it yourself if you hold the account.
- Find out who your hosting provider is. If you don’t know, the original invoice or the developer’s message usually names it; a WHOIS/DNS record can also indicate it.
- Log a ticket with the hosting company directly. Most have chat support and can confirm whether the account is unpaid, suspended, or the site is faulting.
- If the site is compromised, take it offline deliberately rather than leaving it serving spam. A hosting provider can do this in minutes and it protects your name and your search presence.
- Don’t pay anyone for an emergency fix before knowing the cause. An expired ₹900 domain and a ₹30,000 malware cleanup are different problems, and they get quoted the same way by whoever answers first.
Whom to call when there’s no developer
- Hosting provider support — the most underused option. They handle suspensions, certificates, server faults and can often restore a backup.
- Any competent local developer, for a paid audit — expect a diagnostic fee, and ask what it covers before agreeing.
- A maintenance provider — several will take over an existing site after a paid audit and then keep it stable monthly.
What you’ll be asked for in all three cases: hosting login, admin login, and domain access. If you don’t have them, gathering those is the actual first job, and it’s the reason the handover checklist matters at build time.
Stopping it recurring
Outages cluster in sites nobody is maintaining. Published Indian maintenance plans average roughly ₹20,000 a year, with small-business plans commonly ₹15,000–30,000 annually and lower-end options from about ₹2,000 a month. Against a ₹20,000–50,000 cleanup, and against the cost of being offline during a working week, that’s usually the cheaper path — but only if the plan actually includes backups, updates and a stated response time. Ask for those three specifically; “maintenance” without them is a subscription, not protection.
The other half of prevention is access. Hold the domain and hosting accounts yourself and keep a downloaded backup, so any developer can help you on any day.
What to do this week
- Run a WHOIS check and note your domain expiry date; put it in your calendar with a month’s warning.
- Find out who your hosting provider is and confirm whose name the account is in.
- Collect the three logins — domain, hosting, site admin — in one place.
- Download a backup of the site, or ask for one.
- Decide whether the site matters enough to be on a maintenance plan. If customers reach you through it, the answer is probably yes.
If you want it done the certain way
Send us the domain and whatever access you have and we’ll diagnose it before quoting anything — sometimes it’s a ₹900 renewal, not a rebuild, and we’ll say so. Where we do take over a site, the domain and logins go into your name so you’re never dependent on one phone number again. WhatsApp us; we reply in about five minutes between 9am and 7pm.
Related reading
- Why developers stop replying after full payment
- What website maintenance should actually cover
- Domain vs hosting vs website: what you’re paying for
- Can a developer take your website offline?
FAQ
How much does it cost to fix a hacked website in India?
Cleanup for a compromised WordPress site typically runs ₹20,000–50,000 or more depending on the damage and whether a clean backup exists. Holding a recent backup is what usually reduces it.
My website and email both stopped working. What does that mean?
That combination usually points to the domain rather than the site — most often an expired or transferred domain. Check the WHOIS expiry date first, because there is a limited grace period to renew.
Can I fix a downed website without the original developer?
Often yes. Hosting support can address suspensions, certificates and server faults, and any competent developer can work on the site if you hold the hosting and admin logins.
