How much does a WordPress maintenance plan cost per month?
A WordPress maintenance plan costs whatever the scope requires: plans that only run automated updates and backups are cheap, and plans that test every update on staging and include developer hours cost more, which is the version a revenue site needs.
We price monthly by site size, traffic, whether it runs WooCommerce or memberships, and how many development hours you want included. Sites that are badly out of date or already compromised get a one-time stabilization fee first. Everything is quoted after a scoping call, month to month, with 30-day cancellation.
Here is the check I'd run on any quote. Ask the provider what happens if an update breaks your checkout or contact form at 9pm. If the answer is "we restore last night's backup," you just lost a day of orders and every form fill since. Then compare what one bad day costs you with the annual price of the plan. Start with a free audit and we'll tell you which tier your site actually needs.
Is managed WordPress hosting the same as a maintenance plan?
No. Managed WordPress hosting looks after the server, and a maintenance plan looks after the application running on it: your plugins, theme, forms, tracking and content.
The two overlap on core updates, backups and some malware scanning, which is why people assume they're covered. The gap is everything specific to your site. Your host will not check whether a form plugin update stopped emails from reaching your inbox, whether a page builder update shifted your layout, or whether your Google Ads conversion tag still fires after a theme change.
A quick test: open your hosting plan's terms and search for "plugin updates." Usually you'll find either automatic updates with no testing or nothing at all. That's fine for a hobby blog. For a site that books appointments or sells products, someone needs to own the application layer.
We work alongside your existing host rather than replacing it, and after every update cycle we confirm tracking still works. If you're unsure whether yours does, a conversion tracking audit is a good first step.
Can I maintain my WordPress site myself?
Yes, if the site is simple and you will actually do the work on a schedule, every week, not when you remember.
The routine is not complicated. Check for updates weekly. Apply them to a staging copy first, then live. Keep backups somewhere other than your host and restore one every quarter to prove it works. After each update, submit your contact form and place a test order if you sell online. Glance at Search Console for new errors once a month.
Where DIY falls apart is people, not skill. The owner gets busy, updates pile up for six months, and then one big batch breaks something at the worst time. Sites with WooCommerce, memberships or a heavy page builder also have more ways to break.
I'd rather see an owner do this consistently than pay for an automated plan nobody watches. My rule of thumb: if the site produces leads or sales and nobody on your team clearly owns it, hand it off. If you'd rather rebuild on something lighter, see our website builds.
How do I tell if a WordPress plugin is abandoned?
Look at the plugin's page on WordPress.org: if the "Last updated" date is over a year old and the "Tested up to" version is several releases behind current WordPress, treat it as abandoned and plan a replacement.
Developers set "Tested up to" themselves in the plugin's readme file, so it tells you whether anyone is still checking compatibility. Also scan the support forum. Plenty of unanswered threads from the last few months is a bad sign even if the plugin was updated recently. For premium plugins, check whether your license has expired, because an expired license usually means no updates reach your site.
In the sites I audit, the plugins flagged first are almost always the same types: old slider plugins, a form builder from years ago, and a "temporary" plugin someone installed for one landing page and forgot.
Don't just delete them on the live site. Find a maintained replacement or move the feature into the theme, test it on staging, check the pages that used it, then remove the old plugin completely so its files aren't left behind.
Sources: How Your Plugin Readme Works (WordPress Plugin Handbook)
Should I turn on automatic updates in WordPress?
Turn them on for minor core releases and low-risk plugins, and keep anything that touches checkout, forms, your page builder or tracking on a staging-first schedule.
WordPress already applies minor core security releases automatically on most sites. Plugin and theme auto-updates are opt-in, one at a time, and have been since WordPress 5.5. Without that opt-in, plugins only update in the background in special cases decided by the WordPress security team for critical fixes.
Our split looks like this. A small utility plugin on a brochure site can auto-update. A WooCommerce extension, a payment gateway or the plugin that loads your Google Tag Manager container goes through staging, because a silent break there costs real money before anyone notices.
One catch: auto-updates rely on WP-Cron. If cron isn't running, updates quietly stop. Check Tools, then Site Health, for warnings. And never turn on auto-updates without off-site backups you've actually restored. Pair it with a periodic technical SEO audit so a bad update doesn't hide in your rankings.
Sources: Plugin and themes auto-updates (WordPress.org), Upgrading WordPress: automatic background updates (WordPress Developer Resources)
What PHP version should my WordPress site run?
Your site should run a currently supported PHP version; WordPress.org recommends PHP 8.3 or greater and warns that older versions like 7.4, while still working, have reached end of life and may expose your site to security problems.
You can check yours in a minute. In the dashboard go to Tools, then Site Health, then the Info tab, and open the Server section. If it shows a 7.x version, your host is running software that no longer gets security fixes.
Hosts often leave older sites on old PHP because upgrading can break old plugins and themes, and nobody wants that support ticket. That's exactly why it gets skipped for years.
The safe way is the same as any other update. Clone the site to staging, switch staging to the new PHP version, click through key pages, forms and checkout, and watch the error log. Old or abandoned plugins are the usual cause of trouble, so this is a good moment to replace them. Then switch production and keep a backup ready. If the site is fighting you at every step, it may be time to talk about a migration.
Sources: Requirements (WordPress.org)
