WordPress Maintenance Cost in Australia (2025)

Your WordPress site is one of your main business assets. Like any asset, it needs ongoing care to stay secure, fast and reliable.

In Australia, WordPress maintenance cost usually sits somewhere between $100 per month and $3,000+ per month, depending on several factors.

The exact figure depends on how your site is built, how critical it is to the business and how much ongoing support you need.

In this guide, we break down what’s included in WordPress maintenance, the main factors that affect your costs, and how to choose a plan that matches the role your website plays in your business.

Table of Contents

• How much does WordPress Maintenance cost?
• What’s included in a WordPress Maintenance plan?
• Factors Affecting WordPress Maintenance Cost
• One-off vs Recurring Costs
• Tips to reduce WordPress Maintenance Cost
• How to choose the right Maintenance plan
• Conclusion
• WordPress Maintenance Cost FAQs

How much does WordPress Maintenance cost?

WordPress maintenance cost in Australia ranges from about $100 per month to $3000+ per month.

Basic maintenance for a simple brochure site sits at the lower end of that range, while ongoing support for complex or revenue-generating sites is at the top end.

Some providers charge per hour instead of a fixed plan.

For example, at Nirmal Web Studio, our maintenance rate is $110 per hour, and many clients choose a 20-hour monthly plan, which comes to $2,200 per month.

The table below shows how WordPress maintenance cost typically changes by website type.

What’s included in a WordPress Maintenance plan?

WordPress maintenance is much more than simply clicking the “update” button. It is an ongoing process that keeps your website secure, stable, fast and backed up, so it can support your business every day. 

A well-managed site is less likely to break, get hacked or slow down as it grows. A structured maintenance plan brings all of these tasks together, instead of leaving them to chance.

Below are the key areas that are usually included in a professional WordPress maintenance service:

Regular Updates

Updates are the backbone of WordPress maintenance. They keep your site compatible, secure and functioning properly.

Most plans will include:

• Updating WordPress core to the latest stable version
• Keeping themes and plugins up to date
• Checking the site after updates for visible issues
• Using staging for higher-risk or complex sites

Handled properly, updates become routine and low risk, instead of a stressful “big bang” every few months.

Backups and Recovery

Backups are your insurance policy if something goes wrong.

A proper maintenance plan will take automated backups on a set schedule, store copies away from your main server, and have a clear process to restore the site if needed.

In practice, this means that if an update breaks the site, a plugin causes issues, or the server has a problem, you can roll back to a recent, clean version rather than start from scratch.

Security Protection

Security protection focuses on reducing the risk of your site being compromised and detecting issues early if they occur.

A solid WordPress maintenance service will typically:

• Scan the site regularly for malware and vulnerabilities
• Use firewall rules and login protection to block common attacks
• Apply security patches promptly when new issues are discovered

Rather than treating security as a one-off task, it becomes a continuous layer of monitoring and prevention around your site.

Performance Optimisation

Performance work is about how quickly and smoothly your site loads for visitors.

Over time, databases grow, new plugins are added, and content builds up, which can all slow a site down if nothing is done.

A typical optimisation cycle might involve measuring page speed, cleaning up the database, reviewing caching and image sizes, and then re-testing after changes.

WordPress Support

Support is the practical help you receive when something on the site needs attention. This can include resolving bugs, fixing layout or display issues, assisting with small content changes, or answering questions about how to use WordPress and key plugins.

For example, if a form stops sending enquiries after an update, or a layout breaks on mobile, support time is used to diagnose the problem and put things right.

Monthly Reporting

Monthly reporting gives you visibility into what is happening behind the scenes.
Instead of wondering what you are paying for, you can see a clear summary of maintenance activity.

A typical report might cover:

• Backup and security status, including any warnings
• Incidents that were found and how they were resolved
• Recommendations for improvements or upcoming priorities

This makes it easier to track the health of your site over time and to make informed decisions about future changes and investments.

If you’re a business based in Brisbane and are looking for a team to take care of your website, our WordPress maintenance Brisbane team is here to help!

Factors Affecting WordPress Maintenance Cost

WordPress maintenance cost is not a fixed number.

Two sites can sit on the same hosting but have completely different maintenance needs and price points.

The main drivers are the type of website you run, how complex it is, the plugins and theme you use, how much traffic you get, and the level of security or compliance you need.

1. Type of Website

The type of website is often the biggest factor.

• A simple blog or brochure site usually sits at the lower end of the website cost range. It has fewer features, fewer plugins, and a lower risk if something breaks.
• A small business site with more pages, forms, and integrations needs more regular checks and support.
• A WooCommerce or eCommerce site is almost always more expensive to maintain. You are dealing with payments, customer data, orders, and many extra plugins. Any issue can impact revenue, so maintenance needs to be more frequent and more thorough.

In short, the more the site is tied to sales or operations, the more important its maintenance becomes, and the higher the cost is likely to be.

2. Size and Complexity

The larger and more complex a site becomes, the more time it takes to maintain.

A site with a handful of pages and a simple layout is straightforward to look after. By contrast, a site with many templates, custom post types, forms, landing pages, and third-party integrations needs more testing whenever updates are applied.

Custom-built features also add complexity.

3. Traffic and Performance

Higher traffic usually means higher expectations for performance and uptime.

A low-traffic site can tolerate minor dips in speed or short periods of downtime. An eCommerce store or busy business site cannot.

Slow pages, timeouts, or errors can quickly turn into lost enquiries or lost sales.

To keep performance stable, high-traffic sites often need:

• more frequent monitoring
• more proactive optimisation
• stronger hosting and caching setups

All of this adds time to the maintenance workload and therefore increases cost.

4. Security and Compliance level

Finally, security and compliance play a major role in WordPress maintenance costs.

Sites that handle payments, personal data, or operate in regulated industries (for example, finance, healthcare, or education) usually need more security measures and more frequent checks.

The higher the risk and the higher the impact of downtime or a breach, the more effort is required to manage that risk properly. That extra effort is reflected in the maintenance fee.

One-off vs Recurring Costs

When you look at WordPress maintenance costs, it helps to separate one-off costs from recurring costs.

They both affect your budget, but they work very differently.

One-off WordPress costs

One-off costs are usually reactive. You pay for a specific issue or job when it appears.

The following are the usual one-off costs:

1. Minor fixes and troubleshooting

• Small bugs, layout issues, form problems, simple plugin conflicts. 
• Often 2–6 hours of work, so roughly $220–$660 at $110/hour.

2. Fixing a hacked or broken site

• Cleaning malware, restoring backups, repairing damage, hardening the site.
• Commonly 10–30 hours, depending on severity, so around $1,100–$3,300+.

3. One-time performance or security clean-up

• Doing a full audit, fixing obvious issues, and handing it back.
• Usually 5–20 hours, so roughly $550–$2,200.

These jobs tend to arrive unexpectedly and often at the worst time (during a campaign, busy season, or after months of no maintenance).

Recurring costs

Recurring costs are proactive. You pay a fixed monthly fee to keep the site looked after continuously.

Typical monthly ranges:

Basic care for a simple brochure site

• Around $95–$300 per month.
•  Light updates, backups, and basic security on a small site.

Ongoing maintenance for a small–medium business site

• More plugins, more pages, and more support needs.
• Often $300–$900 per month, depending on scope and response times.

High-touch maintenance for business-critical, WooCommerce or custom sites

• Regular updates, monitoring, performance, plus a chunk of developer time.
• At your rate of $110 per hour, a 20-hour plan comes to $2,200 per month and is suitable for sites that need constant attention and improvements.

Instead of paying only when something breaks, you are smoothing out the cost and reducing the chance of major incidents.

Tips to reduce WordPress Maintenance Cost

You cannot avoid WordPress maintenance cost entirely, but you can control it.

Most unnecessary spending comes from preventable problems, poor-quality plugins, and leaving issues too long.

These practical steps help keep your maintenance bill under control without cutting corners on quality or security.

1. Use trusted themes and plugins

Your theme and plugin choices have a direct impact on how much time your site needs each month.

Well-supported products are updated more often, documented better, and less likely to break when WordPress changes.

Cheap, abandoned or “stacked” plugins (several doing the same job) almost always lead to more maintenance work.

Here are some tips:

• Choose reputable, actively maintained themes and plugins
• Avoid using multiple plugins for overlapping features
• Remove plugins you are not actually using

Fewer, better tools almost always mean a lower long-term WordPress maintenance cost.

2. Update regularly

Irregular updates are one of the biggest drivers of unexpected cost.

If you leave updates for months, you end up with a large jump, more conflicts, and a higher chance that something will break.

A more cost-effective approach is to update in small, regular batches.

You can use a simple rhythm like:

• Small brochure site: review updates every 1–2 weeks
• Business or lead-generation site: review updates weekly
• WooCommerce or membership site: review updates several times per week

Short, frequent update windows are quicker to test and safer to roll back if there is an issue.

3. Invest in decent hosting

Cheap hosting often looks attractive, but it usually pushes your website maintenance costs up elsewhere.

Slow servers, overcrowded environments and poor support mean more time spent firefighting performance and reliability problems.

Better hosting typically gives you:

• more stable performance
• better backups and tooling
• faster help when there is a server-side issue

That means your maintenance time can focus on improving the site, not compensating for weak infrastructure.

4. Fix issues early

Small problems rarely stay small.

A minor error in the error log, a plugin warning, or a slightly broken layout might not feel urgent today, but it can turn into a much bigger job if ignored.

A warning message on a contact form plugin might only take an hour or two to resolve now. Left alone, it could later turn into missing enquiries, broken styling or a full plugin failure, which takes much longer (and costs more) to investigate and repair.

Raising issues early and acting on them quickly keeps both risk and cost down.

5. Bundle work instead of ad-hoc

Ad-hoc requests and emergency fixes are almost always billed at a higher effective rate.
They are harder to schedule and usually come with more pressure and urgency.

If you know you will need ongoing help, it is often more cost-effective to bundle that work into a defined monthly plan.

This approach smooths out your spending and makes it easier to plan website improvements over the year.

How to choose the right Maintenance plan

Choosing the right WordPress maintenance plan is about fit, not just price.

The plan should match what your website does for the business, how critical it is, and how often it changes.

Follow these steps to find a plan that fits you:

1. Start with your site goals

Begin by asking what role your website plays. 

• Is it mainly there to provide information and credibility?
• Does it generate leads and enquiries every week?
• Does it handle bookings, logins or online sales?

The more your site is tied to revenue or operations, the more important reliability, speed and fast support become.

That usually means a higher level of maintenance and a higher share of your marketing or IT budget.

2. Match the plan to your site type

Different site types have different maintenance needs.

• Simple brochures or small business sites can often work with a lighter plan that focuses on updates, backups, security and a little support.
• Lead-generation sites with forms, landing pages and integrations typically need more support time and closer monitoring.
• WooCommerce, membership or custom sites almost always need a higher plan that includes regular testing, performance work and priority support.

If your site takes payments or logins, it usually belongs in the “stronger maintenance” group, even if it looks visually simple.

3. Check what’s included

Two plans at a similar price can offer very different value. Always look at the details, not just the headline cost.

Key questions to ask:

• How often are WordPress core, theme and plugins updated?
• How are backups handled, and how long are they kept?
• What security measures and monitoring are included?
• How many hours of support are included each month, and what can that time be used for?
• Are performance checks or small improvements part of the plan, or only break-fix work?

A clear, written scope helps you compare providers and avoid surprises later.

4. Watch for red flags

Low prices or vague promises can be expensive in the long run.

Be cautious if you see:

• very cheap plans with no clear description of tasks
• no mention of backups, restore testing or security
• “unlimited support” with no examples or boundaries
• no reporting, so you cannot see what has been done each month

A professional WordPress maintenance plan should feel structured, transparent and easy to understand.

5. When to upgrade your plan

Your maintenance needs will change as your website grows.

It may be time to move to a higher plan if:

• Your traffic, enquiries, or sales have increased significantly
• You are launching new features, sections or campaigns regularly
• Support requests are exceeding the hours included in your current plan
• Issues are taking too long to resolve, or you are seeing repeated problems

At that point, increasing your monthly investment in maintenance is often cheaper than dealing with more frequent downtime, lost leads or rushed fixes.

Conclusion

Keeping a WordPress site healthy is ongoing work. It needs regular updates, backups, security checks, performance tuning and support to keep doing its job properly.

For businesses in Sydney and across Australia, the right maintenance plan depends on how important your website is, how complex it is and how often it changes.

When you treat maintenance as a planned, ongoing investment, you reduce risk, avoid surprise emergencies and keep your website ready to support your marketing and growth.

If you’d like an expert to review your WordPress site and recommend a suitable maintenance plan, you can reach out to our team at Nirmal Web Studio and we’ll walk you through the options.

WordPress Maintenance Cost FAQs

How much does WordPress maintenance cost per month in Australia?

For most small to medium WordPress sites in Australia, WordPress maintenance cost typically ranges from $100 per month and $3,000+ per month, depending on the size and complexity of the site and the level of support included.

Business-critical, WooCommerce, membership and custom sites usually sit higher, often from $1,200 up to $3000+ per month, because they need more frequent updates, tighter security, performance work and regular developer time.

How much should I budget per year for WordPress maintenance?

As a simple guideline, many businesses budget from $1,000–$3,000 per year for a basic brochure site, and from $5,000–$25,000+ per year for sites that drive leads, bookings or online sales.

If you are on a structured monthly plan (for example, a 20-hour maintenance plan at $110 per hour, which comes to $2,200 per month), the annual WordPress maintenance cost becomes a predictable line item that you can build into your overall marketing or IT budget.

Is WordPress maintenance cheaper than other platforms?

In many cases, yes.

Because WordPress is so widely used and well supported, there is a large ecosystem of hosting, plugins and specialist agencies, which often makes ongoing maintenance more cost-effective than fully custom or proprietary platforms.

The key cost drivers are less about the platform itself and more about how the site is built: the number of plugins, custom features, traffic levels and how critical the site is to the business.

Does WooCommerce cost more to maintain?

Yes, WooCommerce almost always costs more to maintain than a standard WordPress site.

A realistic WooCommerce maintenance cost is often in the range of $1,200 to $2,200+ per month, depending on store size, order volume, and how often things change.

You’re not just maintaining pages, but products, orders, payments, shipping rules, discounts, customer accounts and extra plugins or integrations.

Because every update can affect the cart and checkout, and because stores need stronger security and performance, WooCommerce maintenance naturally sits higher than a typical brochure or business site.

Can I maintain my WordPress site myself?

You can maintain a WordPress site yourself, especially if it is small, low risk and you are comfortable working in the dashboard.

You would need to manage updates, backups, basic security checks and troubleshooting when something breaks.

However, the real cost of DIY maintenance is the time you spend learning, testing and fixing issues, plus the risk of mistakes during updates.

For sites that generate leads or revenue, many businesses find that a professional maintenance plan is a safer and more predictable way to manage monthly WordPress maintenance costs.

How often should WordPress plugins and themes be updated?

For most business sites, it is sensible to review and apply updates at least once a week. For WooCommerce, membership and high-traffic sites, updates are often checked several times per week, with higher-risk changes tested on staging first.

Leaving updates for months at a time increases the risk of conflicts, security issues and larger, more expensive jobs later.

What happens if I don’t maintain WordPress regularly?

If WordPress themes and plugins are not maintained, they gradually become outdated and more vulnerable to security issues.

Over time, you are more likely to see errors, broken features, slow performance and compatibility problems with newer PHP or server setups.

In the worst cases, neglected sites are hacked or go offline, which can lead to data loss, lost enquiries or lost sales, and higher one-off repair bills.

Regular maintenance is usually far cheaper and less disruptive than recovering from major issues later.