Maintenance covers updates to WordPress, themes and plugins, regular backups and security monitoring. It's worth it because most security flaws are in plugins and get exploited quickly. In Switzerland, maintenance packages cost from around CHF 25 to over CHF 500 a month, depending on scope.
Why maintenance matters
A website isn't a flyer you print once. WordPress, themes and plugins get updates all the time, often because of security flaws. The figures are clear:
- Patchstack counted a total of 11,334 new vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem for 2025, 42% more than the year before.
- Around 91% of them affected plugins, and only 6 vulnerabilities affected WordPress core itself.
- For heavily exploited flaws, the median time to the first attack was only around 5 hours.
- For 2024, Wordfence put the share of plugins at 96%.
In other words: the risk isn't WordPress itself, it's outdated extensions. If you don't update them, you leave the door open.
What belongs in a maintenance package
- Updates to WordPress, themes and plugins, with a test afterwards.
- Backups, made regularly and stored so they can actually be restored.
- Security: monitoring, secure logins, as few plugins as possible and well-maintained ones.
- Hosting: often included in the package, ideally in Switzerland.
- Small changes: text, images or new pages based on an existing template.
- Checks: availability, forms, loading time and anything unusual in Google Search Console.
For content management systems, the Swiss Federal Office for Cyber Security (BACS) recommends, among other things, installing updates immediately or automatically, using two-factor logins and restricting admin access.
What maintenance costs
Prices vary widely, because some packages include hosting and others don't. In price comparisons, Swiss agencies quote around CHF 100 to 500 a month for maintenance packages, and for simple websites there are offers from around CHF 25 to 80 a month.
| STACKD package | Price per month | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | CHF 30 | Hosting in Switzerland, updates, backups |
| Business | CHF 100 | Basic plus 1 hour of changes |
| Premium | CHF 180 | Basic plus 2 hours of changes |
We put any unused hours into SEO and image optimisation. You'll find all the details on our Packages and maintenance page.
What happens without maintenance?
In the short term, often nothing. But the risk grows every month: flaws become known and are exploited automatically, plugins stop working with new PHP versions after a few years, forms quietly stop working. A hacked website can send spam, redirect visitors to other sites or get blocked by Google. Fixing it usually costs many times more than a maintenance package.
Sources
- Patchstack: State of WordPress Security in 2026
- Wordfence: 2024 Annual WordPress Security Report
- Swiss Federal Office for Cyber Security (BACS): Measures to secure CMS
- Beyondweb: WordPress maintenance
FAQ
How often do you need to update WordPress?
Security updates as soon as possible, ideally within days. Bigger updates after a quick test. A fixed monthly routine plus a fast response to critical flaws has proven to work well.
Do I need a maintenance contract?
Not necessarily, if you reliably handle updates and backups yourself. Most businesses hand it over, because it takes time and mistakes are expensive.
How much does website maintenance cost per month?
Depending on scope, from around CHF 25 to over 500. Check whether hosting and changes are included.
Aren't my host's backups enough?
Backups from your host are a good start. What matters is that someone checks they actually work, and that a fresh copy is saved before every bigger update.
Leave the maintenance to us.
Hosting in Switzerland, updates and backups from CHF 30 a month. We also take on websites we didn't build, after a quick check.