Three words that get used as if they mean the same thing, on quotes and invoices, usually without anybody explaining them. They are three separate things, they cost different amounts, and knowing which one you are buying is the difference between a fair price and a bad surprise.
Hosting is the land
Your website is a set of files. Those files have to live on a computer that is switched on all the time, so that when someone types your address the files are there to send back. That computer is the host, and renting space on it is hosting.
It is the plot of land your house sits on. Without it, there is no site, only files on somebody’s laptop.
What it costs. Anywhere from free to a few hundred dollars a month, and the range is that wide because different kinds of site need different things. A simple business site built as plain files can host for free or close to it. A site built on WordPress needs more: a database, more processing, and someone keeping the software patched, which is why those plans cost more.
Worth knowing. I build sites as plain, fast files rather than on WordPress, which is why hosting for the sites I build is free to about $25 a month. On my monthly care plan it is included. I currently host client sites on Cloudflare, though the specific company matters less than the type of site.
Maintenance is the upkeep
Maintenance is the routine work that happens whether or not you ask for it: software updates, security patches, backups, watching that the site is actually up, renewing the certificate that puts the padlock in the address bar.
It is the eavestroughs and the furnace filter. Nobody notices it until it has not been done.
What it costs. Care plans across the market run roughly $50 to $500 a month. The cheap end is automated: backups and updates run themselves and a human looks only if something breaks. The expensive end includes real people watching performance and security.
Worth knowing. How much maintenance a site needs depends almost entirely on what it is built on. A WordPress site with a dozen plugins needs constant attention, because every plugin is someone else’s code that can break or be exploited. A site built as plain files has almost nothing to maintain, which is a large part of why I build them that way.
Support is the changes you ask for
Support starts with you. You want the hours changed for a long weekend, a new staff photo, last year’s prices taken down, a paragraph reworded. Somebody has to actually do that.
This is the one people most often discover they do not have. The site was built, the builder moved on, and eighteen months later the prices are wrong and there is nobody to call.
What it costs. Either it is bundled into a monthly plan with a set amount of time, or it is billed as it comes up. Both are fine. What is not fine is a quote that does not say which.
Worth knowing. My monthly includes small changes, as many as you need. If a request is bigger than a small change, like a new page or a new feature, I tell you before I start and quote it. The point is that you never have to guess whether sending me a message is going to cost you something.
Four questions to ask whoever built your site
- Where is my site hosted, and what does it cost after launch? If the answer is vague, that cost is coming.
- Who is updating it, and how often? On a WordPress site, "nobody" is a real answer and a real risk.
- What happens when I need a change? Get the price now, not the first time you need something.
- Whose name is the domain in? Yours. Always. This is the one that causes the most grief when a relationship ends.
If you are trying to work out what the whole thing should cost you, I wrote a full breakdown of what a website costs in Ontario, from DIY builders to agencies.
And if you want someone to just handle all three, that is what my website care plan is, from $99 a month. Book a free 20-minute call and I will tell you straight whether you need it.