What actually needs maintaining
- Hosting and the domain renewal, so the site stays online
- The SSL certificate that keeps the padlock in the address bar
- Software and plugin updates where the platform needs them
- Regular backups you can actually restore from
- Uptime monitoring so you're not told by a customer
- Broken links and outdated content
- Small changes — prices, hours, new photos, a new service
What UK maintenance typically costs
| Level | Typical monthly cost | What you usually get |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting only | £5–£25 | The site stays online; everything else is yours |
| Basic care | £25–£60 | Hosting, SSL, backups, monitoring, minor edits |
| Managed care | £60–£150 | The above plus regular content updates and reporting |
| Full retainer | £150–£500+ | Ongoing development, SEO work, larger changes |
What you can reasonably do yourself
If you're comfortable logging in, changing text and hours is easy on most modern sites, and a good designer will show you how during handover.
What people tend to skip is the invisible half — backups nobody tests, certificates that quietly expire, forms that stop delivering after an email change. Those are the failures that cost real money, because you find out weeks later when a customer mentions they never heard back.
The most expensive failure: a form that stops working
It's remarkably common. An email address changes, a spam filter tightens, a plugin updates, and enquiries silently vanish. There's no error message and no alert — just a quiet month. Whatever you decide about maintenance, test your own contact form once a month and check the message arrives.
Signs of a care plan worth avoiding
- You don't own the website or the domain while you're paying
- A long minimum term with penalties for leaving
- Vague wording like "ongoing optimisation" with no specifics
- No stated response time for changes
- Backups mentioned but never testable
- You can't take the site elsewhere if you want to
Is a care plan worth it?
It's worth it if your website brings you work, if you don't want to think about the technical side, or if you'd struggle to fix things quickly yourself. For a business winning jobs through its site, a monthly fee is minor next to a fortnight offline.
It's not worth it if your site is a simple brochure you rarely change, you're comfortable managing hosting, and you have a reliable backup habit. I'd rather tell you that than sell you something you don't need.
How GrowthLine care plans work
Care plans start at £49 a month and cover hosting, SSL, backups, uptime monitoring and small content updates. They're month-to-month with no lock-in, and you own your website and domain whether or not you take one. If you'd rather manage everything yourself, that's fine — I'll hand over the site and the access, and you can come back later if it stops being fun.