For a small brochure site, ₹1,000–2,500 a month is a fair range; for a site you edit regularly, ₹2,500–5,000; for a store handling orders, more — and annual maintenance contracts for small sites commonly land between ₹15,000 and ₹30,000. The number matters less than what’s listed against it.
The moment it happens
What’s a fair monthly amount to keep a website healthy is a question you ask when a renewal quote arrives with a maintenance line on it, or after you’ve been charged ₹500 for a phone-number change and started wondering whether a plan would be cheaper.
There’s no published rate card, so you have no idea whether the figure quoted is generous or absurd.
What the money should buy
A maintenance plan is not a service; it’s a list. Ask for the list and the price becomes assessable.
A reasonable one includes:
- Backups, taken automatically, stored somewhere other than the same server, and restorable.
- Software and plugin updates, done regularly — this is the main thing that prevents a compromise.
- Uptime monitoring, so someone knows the site is down before you do.
- A stated number of content edits — a phone number, a price, a photograph. Usually expressed as a monthly allowance or hours.
- A response time for when something breaks. “Within one working day” is a real commitment; “we’ll look into it” isn’t.
- SSL renewal and basic technical hygiene.
If a quote says only “maintenance — ₹X”, ask which of those six are included. The answer, more than the number, tells you whether you’re buying a service or a subscription to being answered.
Fair ranges by site type
| Site type | Reasonable monthly | Reasonable yearly | What drives it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Static 5-page brochure, rarely edited | ₹1,000–2,500 | ₹12,000–30,000 | Mostly backups, updates, occasional edits |
| Site edited monthly — offers, gallery, content | ₹2,500–5,000 | ₹30,000–60,000 | Edit volume |
| Store with orders and payments | ₹5,000 upward | ₹60,000 upward | Order data, payment integrity, faster response needed |
| Custom-built application | Quoted individually | — | Depends entirely on the build |
The annual figures line up with what the Indian market commonly charges for small business AMCs — roughly ₹15,000 to ₹30,000 a year. A quote materially above that range for a simple brochure site deserves an itemised explanation.
What makes it worth paying
Two specific numbers make the case better than any argument about diligence.
Cleaning up a compromised WordPress site in India typically costs ₹20,000 to ₹50,000 or more — frequently exceeding what the site cost to build. Most compromises follow from software left un-updated for months. A plan that keeps updates current is buying against that.
And ad-hoc edits are expensive per unit. If you’re paying ₹500 for each small change and making two a month, you’re already at ₹12,000 a year with no backups, no monitoring and no response commitment attached.
The three cases where paying nothing is right
To be honest rather than to sell a plan:
1. A genuinely static site you never touch. Five pages, no CMS, no forms holding data, hosting that includes automatic backups. Your risk is low and your edit volume is zero. Keep your own backup copy and pay per change.
2. You can do the updates yourself. If you’re comfortable clicking update in WordPress once a month and taking a backup, you have the substance of a plan for free. Many owners can. This is a legitimate saving, not a false economy — provided you actually do it.
3. The quote is padding. A “maintenance” charge with no list against it, on a site that hasn’t been touched in two years, is a renewal by another name. Ask what was actually done in the last twelve months. The answer is often nothing, and that’s a fair basis to decline.
The question that settles a maintenance quote
Two lines, sent to whoever quoted you:
Could you list what’s included monthly — backups, updates, monitoring, number of edits, response time? And what was done on my site in the last twelve months?
The first half tells you what you’re buying. The second tells you whether last year’s charge bought anything. A provider doing real work answers both easily.
What to do this week
- Ask for the six-item list against any maintenance quote you’ve received.
- Ask what was actually done on your site in the past year.
- Count how much you spent on ad-hoc changes last year, and compare.
- Check whether your hosting already includes automatic backups.
- If declining a plan, download your own backup and note the update task in your calendar.
If you want it done the certain way
We price maintenance against a written list — backups, updates, monitoring, a set number of edits, a response time — so you can judge the number. If your site genuinely doesn’t need a plan, we’ll tell you and charge per change instead. WhatsApp us; we reply in about five minutes between 9am and 7pm.
Related reading
- What is website AMC and do you need it?
- ₹500 to change a phone number?
- My website is down and I have nobody to call
- Does a backup of your website exist?
FAQ
How much does website maintenance cost per month in India?
Roughly ₹1,000–2,500 for a static brochure site, ₹2,500–5,000 for one edited regularly, and more for a store. Annual contracts for small business sites commonly fall between ₹15,000 and ₹30,000.
What should a website maintenance plan include?
Backups stored off-server, regular software updates, uptime monitoring, a stated number of content edits, a committed response time, and SSL renewal. A price with no list against it isn’t a plan.
Can I skip website maintenance?
Reasonably, if the site is static, your hosting backs up automatically, and you keep your own copy — or if you’ll do the updates yourself. The risk of skipping on a CMS site is compromise, and cleanup in India typically costs ₹20,000–50,000 or more.
