A fair AMC for a small business website is ₹1,000–2,500 a month, or ₹15,000–30,000 a year — and a quote is only assessable if it lists six specific things. “Maintenance — ₹X” with nothing against it isn’t a plan; it’s a subscription to being answered.
Fair rates 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 | 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 |
| Custom application | Quoted individually | — | Depends on the build |
The annual figures match what the Indian market commonly charges for small business AMCs. A quote materially above that band for a simple brochure site deserves an itemised explanation.
The six items a plan must list
Ask for these specifically. Their presence or absence is what makes the number judgeable.
1. Backups — taken automatically, stored somewhere other than the same server, and restorable. Ask where they’re kept and how old the newest is. A backup stored only inside the hosting account doesn’t help if the account is lost or suspended.
2. Software and plugin updates, done regularly. On a CMS this is the main thing preventing a compromise.
3. Uptime monitoring, so somebody knows the site is down before you do.
4. A stated number of content edits — a phone number, a price, a photograph. As a monthly allowance or hours.
5. A response time. “Within one working day” is a commitment. “We’ll look into it” isn’t.
6. SSL renewal and basic technical hygiene. Note that free certificates via Let’s Encrypt are standard with most hosting, so a separate recurring SSL fee deserves a question.
What makes it worth paying for
Two numbers make the case better than any argument about diligence.
Cleanup for a compromised WordPress site in India typically runs ₹20,000–50,000 or more — frequently exceeding what the site cost to build. Most compromises follow from software left un-updated for months, which is item 2 above.
Ad-hoc edits are expensive per unit. If you’re paying ₹500 for each small change and making two a month, that’s ₹12,000 a year with no backups, no monitoring and no response commitment attached. A ₹1,500 monthly plan would cost less and include all three. The ad-hoc update trap.
What a plan doesn’t cover
Being clear so you aren’t surprised twice:
- New pages or new features. That’s a project, quoted separately.
- A redesign.
- Content writing beyond the edit allowance.
- Recovery from something you deleted, unless a backup exists — which is why item 1 matters most.
- Traffic or marketing. A different purchase entirely.
The three cases where paying nothing is right
We’d rather tell you this than sell a plan you don’t need.
1. A genuinely static site you never touch. Five pages, no CMS, no forms holding data, hosting that includes automatic backups. Low risk, zero edit volume. Keep your own backup copy and pay per change.
2. You’ll do the updates yourself. Take a backup, then click update, once a month. That’s the substance of a plan for free, and many owners can manage it. Legitimate — provided you actually do it.
3. The quote is padding. A “maintenance” charge with no list against it, on a site nobody has 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.
The two questions that settle any maintenance quote
Could you list what’s included monthly — backups, updates, monitoring, number of edits, response time? And what was actually done on my site in the last twelve months?
The first 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.
The free version, if you decline a plan
Five things, and they cover most of the risk:
- Download your own backup and keep it off the server. Why this matters most.
- Put both domain and hosting expiry dates in your calendar with 30-day reminders, auto-renew on, card current. A missed domain renewal takes down your site and business email together.
- Do CMS updates monthly, after taking a backup.
- Set a quarterly reminder to open your own site on your phone and read it as a customer would. Ten minutes, four times a year — this is what stops a site becoming one of the abandoned ones.
- Agree a per-change rate in advance with one developer, so you’re not negotiating during an emergency.
Why “update my website” is often a cheaper request than you think
If you’re searching for someone to update your website rather than maintain it, be specific in the enquiry — it changes the price:
- “Change these five prices and two photographs” is an hour’s work, not a project.
- “Add a page for a new service” is a small job with a per-page rate.
- “The site looks old” is a redesign conversation, and worth checking whether stale content is the real complaint first.
Most “the site looks old” requests turn out to be a few hours of content updating. Repair versus rebuild.
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 twelve months.
- Total what you spent on ad-hoc changes last year and compare with a plan.
- Check whether your hosting already includes automatic backups.
- If declining a plan, download a backup and set both renewal reminders today.
If you want it done the certain way
We price maintenance against the six-item list with a stated response time — and if your site genuinely doesn’t need a plan, we’ll say so and charge per change instead. Backup, both renewal dates and all logins handed to you either way. WhatsApp us; we reply in about five minutes between 9am and 7pm.
Related reading
- Outgrown your cheap website? When and how to rebuild
- What is website AMC and do you actually need it?
- What’s a fair monthly maintenance amount?
- ₹500 to change a phone number? The ad-hoc update trap
- Is a website “finished forever” once it’s made?
FAQ
How much does website maintenance cost in India?
₹1,000–2,500 a month for a static brochure site, ₹2,500–5,000 for one edited regularly, and more for a store. Annual AMC contracts for small business sites commonly run ₹15,000–30,000.
What should a website AMC 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 monthly updates yourself after taking a backup. The risk on a CMS site is compromise, and cleanup in India typically runs ₹20,000–50,000 or more.
Is it cheaper to pay per change or take a plan?
Count last year’s ad-hoc charges. Two ₹500 changes a month is ₹12,000 a year with no backups, monitoring or response commitment — a ₹1,500 monthly plan usually costs less and includes all three.
I just want someone to update my website — what should I ask for?
Be specific: “change these five prices and two photographs” is an hour’s work, not a project. Vague requests like “the site looks old” get quoted as redesigns, and are often a few hours of content updating instead.
