"Website maintenance" is sold in Kenya at anywhere from KES 2,000 to KES 50,000 a month, and the quotes rarely say what is actually included. Some are a real service. Some are hosting with a new name on the invoice.
This is how to tell the difference: the nine things a care plan should contain, the questions that expose a thin one, and what the work costs when it is done properly.
The Nine Things a Plan Should Include
1. Software updates, tested before they go live
Core, plugins, themes and the PHP version, kept current. The important half of that sentence is "tested": updates applied on a staging copy first, so a plugin update does not take your checkout down at lunchtime.
2. Daily backups, stored off the server
Daily, automatic, and held somewhere other than your hosting account. A backup sitting on the same server as the site disappears with the site when the account is suspended or the server fails. Ask when a restore was last tested.
3. Security monitoring and malware removal
Daily malware scanning, login protection and firewall configuration, plus the promise that if the site is infected it gets cleaned, hardened and restored as part of the plan rather than as an emergency invoice.
4. Uptime monitoring that tells a person
Checks every few minutes from more than one location. Ours run every 5 minutes. The point is that your provider knows before your customers do.
5. SSL certificate management
Renewals handled automatically. An expired certificate puts a full-page warning in front of every visitor, and it is one of the most common avoidable failures we see.
6. Performance work
Cache configuration, image compression, database cleanup and Core Web Vitals tuning. A site gets slower as content accumulates, so this is ongoing, not a one-off at launch.
7. Content updates included
Text edits, image swaps, new pages, price changes, publishing posts. If every small edit becomes a quote, the site stops being updated and rots.
8. SEO health monitoring
Sitemap submission, broken link checks, indexing reports and Search Console monitoring. Not a full SEO campaign, which is a separate service, but enough to catch the day your pages fall out of the index.
9. A monthly report in plain English
What was done, what was found, how the site performed. If you cannot tell what you paid for, you are not buying maintenance, you are buying silence.
What Is Not Maintenance
- Hosting. Hosting is the space your site occupies. Maintenance is the work done on it. Some providers bundle them; make sure you know which you are paying for.
- A redesign. New pages, new structure and new features are project work, not monthly care.
- SEO campaigns. Content, keywords and link building are a separate retainer, KES 10,000 a month with us.
- Marketing. Running your ads or your social accounts is a different job entirely.
Why Plans Have Tiers at All
The honest answer is risk and complexity, not effort on the good months. A brochure site that breaks is an inconvenience. A WooCommerce store with M-Pesa that breaks is lost revenue every hour, more moving parts to update, and a payment path that must be retested after every change.
So every plan of ours includes the same nine things. The tier reflects what is at stake:
| Plan | Price | Typical site |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | KES 5,000 per month | Brochure sites, blogs, portfolios, NGO and church sites |
| E-commerce | KES 10,000 per month | WooCommerce and M-Pesa sites, booking systems, online schools |
| Premium | KES 20,000 per month | Custom web applications, high-traffic sites, marketplaces |
Seven Questions Before You Sign
Ask these, in writing
- Where are backups stored, and when was a restore last tested? "On the server" is the wrong answer.
- Are updates tested before they reach the live site? If not, you are the test.
- What is the response time when something breaks, and on which channel? Get the hours, not the intention.
- If the site is hacked, is the clean-up included? Or is it billed separately when you are most desperate?
- How many content edits are included per month? "Reasonable" needs a number or an example.
- Do I get a report, and can I see a sample? Ask before you sign, not after.
- Who holds the domain, hosting and admin logins? You should, with your provider as a user you can remove.
Red Flags
- A twelve-month contract with no exit. Good providers earn the month. Ours bill month to month.
- No report, ever. Invisible work tends to be absent work.
- The provider holds the domain in their own name. That is leverage, not service.
- "Unlimited everything" at KES 2,000. At that price nobody is testing updates on staging or keeping off-site backups.
- Security that is only a plugin. A plugin is part of the work, not the whole of it.
- No mention of backups at all. The one thing that turns a disaster into an afternoon.
Doing It Yourself
Perfectly reasonable, if someone owns it as a monthly task rather than an intention. The minimum: update everything on a schedule, keep off-site backups you have actually restored once, put two-factor authentication on every admin and on the hosting and domain accounts, and check the site on a phone every month, including sending yourself a message through your own contact form.
The long version is our complete website maintenance checklist, and the one-hour audit version is the security and speed audit.
What It Costs With Us
From KES 5,000 a month, month to month, cancel any time. Every plan includes the nine items above, with WhatsApp priority support and a monthly report. Full scope on the website maintenance page, and the reasoning behind paying for it at all is in what website maintenance is and why it matters.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a website maintenance package include?
Nine things: software updates tested before going live, daily backups stored off the server, security monitoring and malware removal, uptime monitoring that alerts a person, SSL certificate management, performance work, content updates, SEO health monitoring, and a plain-English monthly report.
Is hosting the same as maintenance?
No. Hosting is the space your website occupies. Maintenance is the work done on the site: updates, backups, security, performance and fixes. Some providers bundle them, so check which you are actually paying for.
Why do maintenance plans have different tiers?
Risk and complexity, not effort in a good month. A brochure site that breaks is an inconvenience; a WooCommerce store with M-Pesa that breaks loses revenue every hour and has more moving parts to update and retest. Our tiers include the same work and reflect what is at stake.
What are the red flags in a maintenance quote?
A twelve-month contract with no exit, no monthly report, the provider holding your domain in their own name, unlimited everything at KES 2,000, security that is only a plugin, and no mention of backups at all.
What does website maintenance cost in Kenya?
Our plans are KES 5,000 a month for brochure sites, blogs and NGO sites, KES 10,000 for e-commerce and booking sites, and KES 20,000 for custom applications and high-traffic sites, billed month to month with no lock-in.
Can I just do maintenance myself?
Yes, if somebody owns it as a monthly task. Update everything on a schedule, keep off-site backups you have restored at least once, put two-factor authentication on every admin and on the hosting and domain accounts, and check the site on a phone every month including your own contact form.
Compare our plan against your current one
Send us what you are paying now and what it covers. We will tell you plainly whether it is good value, including when the honest answer is to stay where you are. Talk to us on WhatsApp at +254 722 334 188, email hello@wpfoss.ke, or call +254 709 384 200.
See Our Care PlansRelated: Maintenance Checklist · Security and Speed Audit · Free Website Checkup · All Services