Website maintenance cost: what it involves and what you pay

The website is built, launched and shared with friends and customers. Job done, you think. Then six months later a customer tells you the site won't open, or it is showing a strange advert, or it still lists last year's prices.

That usually happens because nobody was given the job of looking after the website once it went live. This post explains, in plain words, what maintenance actually involves, what it costs, and when you can skip paying for it.

What does website maintenance cost?#

Website maintenance means keeping your site safe, fast and up to date after launch: regular updates, backups, security monitoring and small changes like prices, photos or timings. At 77-Technologies, every business website includes 1 month of free support after launch, and after that our optional care plan starts from PKR 10,000 a month. Separately, your domain and hosting renew every year, typically PKR 10,000–15,000 for a business site, billed at cost.

Think of it like servicing a car. Even a new car needs its oil changed, or one day it stops on the road. When maintenance is regular, big problems are rare, and the ones that do happen get fixed quickly.

What work does maintenance actually involve?#

Every website is a little different, but the core jobs are the same four:

1. Updates. The software and tools your website runs on release new versions regularly, often to close security holes. If your site stays on an old version, it keeps a door open that everyone else has already shut. Updates also need care, so that a form or button doesn't quietly break.
2. Backups. A full copy of the website, kept somewhere safe on a regular schedule. If a mistake is made, the hosting has a problem or the site is hacked, yesterday's working version can be brought back. Making backups isn't enough: someone should occasionally check that one can actually be restored.
3. Monitoring and security. Checking that the site opens, loads quickly, has a valid SSL certificate (the padlock) and hasn't had anything suspicious added to it. A problem caught before a customer notices costs far less.
4. Small changes. New prices, a new phone number, Eid timings, photos of a new product, a reworded page. Small jobs, but outdated information breaks customer trust faster than anything.

One more job is easy to forget: the yearly domain and hosting renewal. If the payment fails or nobody notices the reminder, the site goes offline one morning, and sometimes the domain itself is lost.

What happens if nobody maintains the site?#

This isn't meant to scare you. These are simply the situations we see again and again:

• The site gets hacked. An outdated site has a fake page, a bad link or an advert slipped into it. Google may show visitors a warning, and customers turn back right there.
• There is no backup. Something breaks, and it turns out no copy exists. The site has to be rebuilt almost from scratch.
• The domain expires. The renewal email went to a former employee's or designer's inbox, and nobody saw it.
• The information is stale. A switched-off number, an old address, prices from two years ago. The customer calls, gets no answer, and goes to the next shop.

None of these problems is expensive on its own; they just get ignored. That is why maintenance should be one clearly named person's or team's responsibility.

What does this look like for a real business?#

Here is a hypothetical example. Say you run a small clinic in Johar Town, Lahore, and your website has an online booking form. After an update, the form silently stops sending messages. Patients fill it in, nothing reaches you, and you only find out two weeks later when someone complains.

With regular monitoring, that problem is spotted the same day. With a recent backup, the site is back in working order within hours. That is the real value of maintenance: fewer problems, and the ones that happen stay small.

What is included in our care plan?#

Every business website we build comes with 1 month of free support after launch; if something breaks in that time, we fix it free. After that, you can choose our care plan, from PKR 10,000 a month. It includes:

• Regular updates and backups.
• Monitoring, so problems are caught early.
• Small changes, up to 4 hours a month.
• A response within 4 working hours if the site is down or hacked.

Without a care plan we still help, but each problem is billed separately and the response time isn't fixed in advance. Domain and hosting are a separate cost: typically PKR 10,000–15,000 a year for a business site, billed at cost, with the accounts in your own name. The full details are in our packages, and common questions are answered in our FAQ.

Does every website need a care plan?#

Honestly, no. If your site is a few pages, changes once or twice a year, and you have someone reliable who handles updates and backups, you can simply pay for work when you need it.

But if your website takes orders, bookings or payments, or you change prices and photos every month, regular maintenance usually works out cheaper. Even a single day offline costs you customers and trust.

Whichever route you choose, one thing is non-negotiable: the domain, hosting and every account for the website should be in your own name.

Your website maintenance checklist#

• You know your domain and hosting renewal dates, and the reminder emails come to your own inbox.
• You know when the last backup was made and where it is kept.
• One person or team is responsible for updates.
• Your phone number, address, timings and prices on the site are current.
• Once a month, you open the site on your own phone and test the forms and the WhatsApp button.

If you'd like someone to look after your website, or just want to know what yours needs, send us a short message and a real person on our Lahore team will reply.