Website maintenance services, by the month, with no lock-in
Updates, backups, monitoring, security patches and small changes, for a monthly fee, for websites and applications built on Next.js, React, TypeScript, PostgreSQL and a headless CMS. If your site runs on something else, WordPress for example, the opening review tells you whether we are the right supplier. There is no minimum term: you stop by email, effective at the end of the current month, and everything stays in your name.
Updated
From
£390 ex VAT a month
- Commitment
- None, stop at month end
- Billing
- Monthly
You need this if
- The site has not been updated since it went live, and nobody knows who holds the log-ins.
- An outage on a Friday evening was reported on Monday morning, by a customer.
- You are not sure a backup exists, or that it can be restored.
- The smallest change means a quote and a three-week wait.
- The agency or freelancer who built the site has stopped replying.
What the care plan includes
-
Updates
The framework, libraries, CMS and connectors are updated every month, first on the test environment, then in production.
-
Backups
A daily backup of the database and files, kept for 30 days in your own account, and a restore test every quarter.
-
Monitoring
Uptime, forms, certificates and links to the ERP are checked round the clock. Alerts are handled in working hours.
-
Security patches
A critical vulnerability published for a component of your system is patched within five working days (our target), without waiting for the monthly update.
-
Small changes
Two hours a month for everyday requests: a piece of text, a form field, a page, a setting.
-
Monthly report
One page: what was done, incidents and how long they lasted, requests handled, what is coming up.
Example: a month of maintenance
A typical month, by way of illustration. The situations are fictional.
- 1
On the 3rd, a security update for the framework is released: it is tested, then deployed the next day.
- 2
On the 9th, the sales office asks for a ‘customer order number’ field on the contact form: it is live on the 11th.
- 3
On the 14th at 10.20am, monitoring reports that the link to the ERP has stopped, after a password change on the ERP side. It is back at 11am.
- 4
On the 22nd, the previous night’s backup is restored on the test environment to check it is complete.
- 5
On the 30th, you receive the report: four interventions, no downtime for visitors, one recommendation for next month.
How a month runs, how to start and how to stop
Start
A review of access, code, hosting and backups, then monitoring is set up. For a system we built, the plan simply takes over from the month of fixes.
1 week
Every month
Updates, backups and monitoring run without you having to think about them. Your requests go to a single email address, and each gets a dated reply.
Ongoing
Month end
You receive the report and the month’s invoice. A request that goes beyond the plan is priced at a fixed fee before any work is done.
1 report
Stopping
An email is enough. We hand over the up-to-date documentation and the latest backup. The accounts are already in your name: there is nothing to get back.
At the end of the current month
What the price covers
The starting price is for one website, application or automation on one hosting account, during working hours. The exact fee depends on how many systems and connections there are to watch; it is fixed in writing before we start.
- Care plan: updates, backups, monitoring, patches
- from £390 ex VAT a month
- Small changes
- 2 hours a month included
- Work beyond the plan
- quoted, at a fixed price
- Review of a site we did not build
- included in the first month
- Minimum term
- none
What a website maintenance plan covers
A website that works today stops working without warning: a certificate expires, a library is no longer patched, the ERP moves to a new version. Maintenance means doing, on a schedule, the things nobody remembers to do.
| Task | How often | What it prevents |
|---|---|---|
| Framework and library updates | Every month | Known vulnerabilities and incompatibilities piling up. |
| Backup of database and files | Every day | Lost orders, customer accounts or content. |
| Restore test | Every quarter | The backup that turns out to be unusable on the day you need it. |
| Uptime and form checks | Round the clock | The outage a customer reports, or the quote request that never arrived. |
| Checks on links to the ERP or CRM | Round the clock | Orders stuck between two systems. |
| Checks on automations we built | Round the clock | A workflow that has stopped while orders or invoices wait unread. |
| Certificate and domain name | Alert 30 days before expiry | A site offline because a renewal was forgotten. |
Monitoring runs round the clock; alerts are handled in working hours. Hosting stays in your name and is paid directly to the provider. We administer it.
Response targets
We work Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm UK time. The times below are targets, not guarantees, counted in working days. Picked up means that someone has read your message and is working on it.
| Situation | Example | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Blocking | The website or portal is down, orders cannot be placed. | Picked up the same working day. |
| Disruptive | A feature misbehaves but there is a workaround. | Picked up within two working days. |
| Critical security vulnerability | A component of your system is affected by a published vulnerability. | Patched within five working days. |
| Change request | A piece of text, a field, a page. | Answered within two working days, done on a date agreed with you. |
Fixes, upkeep and changes: what is in the plan
- Fixes: included. Something that worked has stopped working. We find the cause and put it right, whether the fault lies in the site, the hosting or a link to another system.
- Upkeep: included. Updates, backups, restore tests, monitoring. This is the bulk of the plan, and it is what keeps fixes rare.
- Changes: included up to two hours a month. Small changes go through the plan. Beyond that, each change is priced at a fixed fee and agreed in writing before any work is done.
- Not included. Writing or editing your copy (you send the text, we put it online), search engine optimisation, campaigns and desktop IT support.
The plan covers websites, customer portals, web applications and bespoke software, and also the automations and CRM links we built. Re-tuning an automation for a new document layout uses the two monthly hours; beyond that it is quoted. The starting price of every service is on the pricing page.
When this plan is the wrong choice
- A brochure site of a few pages, with no connected forms or integrations. Your host’s managed plan or a freelancer will do what is needed for less.
- A site built on technology we do not work with. We work with Next.js, React, TypeScript, PostgreSQL and headless CMSs. For anything else, the opening review will tell you whether we are the right supplier.
- A site too old to update. When every patch breaks something else, upkeep costs more than a website redesign. We say so at the end of the review.
- An in-house IT team that can take it on. We document the system and hand it over.
Frequently asked questions
How much do website maintenance services cost?
From £390 ex VAT a month for updates, backups, monitoring, security patches and two hours of small changes. The exact fee depends on how many systems and connections there are to watch.
Is there a minimum term?
No. You stop by email, effective at the end of the current month. The hosting accounts, the code repository and the domain name are already in your name.
Will you take on a site you did not build?
Yes, after a one-week review: access, code, hosting, backups. If the site is built on technology we do not work with, or if a redesign would cost less than the upkeep, we tell you before we start.
Is hosting included?
Administering it is. The hosting itself is in your name and paid directly to the provider. Systems we build are hosted in the European Union; a site we take over stays where it is unless you ask us to move it.
How quickly do you respond to an outage?
Our target is to pick up a blocking outage the same working day, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm UK time. Monitoring runs round the clock, but alerts are handled in working hours: the plan does not include cover at night or at weekends.
What if our requests go over the two hours?
We tell you before we go over. The request is then priced at a fixed fee, and you decide whether to do it now, later or not at all.
Read next
- Service
Website redesign
Your site rebuilt around your products and the quote request, protecting your search rankings. from £8,000 - Service
Customer portal
Your customers track orders and find their documents without calling the sales office. from £10,500 - Service
Audit
A review of the website, the tools and the manual tasks, with a costed roadmap. fixed price £1,650 - Studio
Pricing
Our starting prices are public.
Start with a fixed-price audit
In one to two weeks you know what to build, in what order and in what price range. The audit fee is deducted from the first project we build for you.
£1,650 ex VAT 1 to 2 weeks See a sample report