Last updated: October 2026.
Website maintenance is the ongoing care that keeps your site secure, fast, and up to date: software updates, backups, security checks, small edits, and quick fixes. In Nigeria, your domain and hosting are separate yearly bills, and maintenance is a service on top of them. Our own plan is ₦30,000 per month for up to 5 requests, and other providers price differently depending on how much support you get. This guide shows what should be included, what it costs, and how to avoid paying for nothing.
| Cost layer | What it covers | Typical cost in Nigeria | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain | Your web address | .com.ng about ₦6,500 to ₦9,000 per year, .ng about ₦16,000 to ₦18,000 per year | Yearly |
| Hosting | The server your site lives on | Shared hosting about ₦7,000 to ₦40,000 per year, most plans ₦14,000 to ₦24,000 | Yearly |
| SSL certificate | The padlock (https) on your site | Often free with your host | Yearly or free |
| Maintenance | Updates, backups, checks, small edits | Our plan: ₦30,000 per month. Other providers vary | Monthly |
| One-off fixes | Big bugs, new pages, migrations | Quoted per job | Per job |
Domain and hosting prices checked in October 2026. They change, so confirm with the registrar or host before you pay.
Table of Contents
- What Is Website Maintenance?
- What Should Be Included in Website Maintenance?
- What Is Usually Not Included (Read This Twice)
- How Much Does Website Maintenance Cost in Nigeria?
- Can You Maintain Your Website Yourself?
- 7 Signs Your Website Needs Maintenance Now
- 8 Questions to Ask Before You Pay for Maintenance
- Real Examples: Site Types That Change Often
- What Our Maintenance Plan Includes
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Website Maintenance?
Think of your website as a shop. Building it is like fitting out the shop. Maintenance is the cleaning, the locks, the restocking, and the person who fixes the door when it sticks. Skip it for a year and the shop still stands, but it gets dusty, slow, and a bit risky.
On a WordPress site (the most common type), maintenance mostly means keeping the core software, plugins, and theme updated, because old software is the easiest way for a website to get hacked or break.
What Should Be Included in Website Maintenance?
Providers describe their plans differently, but a solid plan covers these:
- Software updates: WordPress, plugins, and theme.
- Backups: copies of your site you can restore, ideally tested.
- Security checks: watching for malware and suspicious activity.
- Uptime and health checks: knowing when the site is down or broken.
- Small content edits: text, images, prices, banners, contact details.
- Minor bug fixes: a form that stopped sending, a button that stopped working.
- Support: a real person who replies within a stated time.
What Is Usually Not Included (Read This Twice)
This is where people get surprised. Most monthly plans do not cover:
- Complete redesigns.
- New pages or major new sections.
- Custom features or plugin development.
- Moving your site to a new host (migration).
- Hosting and domain fees.
- SEO campaigns and graphic design.
- Major bug fixes that need extensive development.
None of that is a scam. It is just different work. A good provider writes the boundary down and quotes out-of-scope work before starting. Ours does exactly that, and you can see the full list on our website maintenance page.
How Much Does Website Maintenance Cost in Nigeria?
There is no single national price, and anyone who quotes one number for every site is guessing. Cost depends on how many changes you need each month, how fast you need replies, and how complex your site is. A store with 1,000 products needs more edits than a 5 page business site.
| Option | Best for | Cost | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | Very simple sites and tight budgets | ₦0 plus your time | Updates can break things, and no backup means no way back |
| Freelancer on request | Occasional fixes | Per job, varies | Slow replies and no one watching between jobs |
| Monthly plan | Business sites that change often | Ours: ₦30,000 per month for up to 5 requests | Check what counts as a request and what is excluded |
| Agency retainer | Large or custom sites | Higher, quoted to scope | Paying for hours you never use |
We are not going to quote you competitor prices we cannot verify. What we can do is tell you our own and show you how to compare: ask each provider the 8 questions in the checklist below.
Can You Maintain Your Website Yourself?
Yes, if your site is simple and you are comfortable logging in and clicking Update. The catch is that updates sometimes break a page, and fixing that is not as fun as it sounds. If you go DIY:
- Take a backup before every update.
- Update on a quiet day, not before a promo.
- Check your contact form and checkout after each update.
- Keep your logins somewhere safe.
7 Signs Your Website Needs Maintenance Now
- Your site feels slower than it used to.
- Your dashboard shows a growing list of pending updates.
- Your contact form stopped sending emails and nobody noticed.
- Prices or opening details on the site are out of date.
- Images are broken or missing.
- Your browser shows a security warning.
- You cannot name the last time a backup was made.
8 Questions to Ask Before You Pay for Maintenance
- What exactly is included, in writing?
- How many requests or hours do I get each month?
- How fast do you reply, and during which hours?
- How often do you back up, and where are backups stored?
- Who owns my domain and hosting logins? (It should be you.)
- What happens with work outside the plan?
- Can I cancel monthly, or am I locked in?
- Will I get a short report of what you did?
Real Examples: Site Types That Change Often
Some websites barely change. Others need regular edits because prices, stock, and availability keep moving. These are Cterling projects of the second kind. We list them as examples of site types, not as claims about their maintenance arrangements.
| Business | Type | What we built | Why ongoing care matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dashel Stores | Retail e-commerce | A storefront for a catalog of over 1,000 products | Products, prices, and banners change constantly |
| Modebola Foods | Grocery e-commerce | A WooCommerce store for grocery shopping | Stock and prices need regular edits |
| Horoscope Events & More | Event centre | A booking-ready website | Availability, pricing, and gallery need updates |
You can browse more projects on our Our Work page.
What Our Maintenance Plan Includes
Our Basic Website Maintenance and Support plan is ₦30,000 per month and covers up to 5 maintenance requests a month. It includes:
- Product uploads and updates (prices, descriptions, images, categories).
- Basic text and image edits, and contact detail updates.
- Minor fixes, troubleshooting, and basic layout adjustments.
- Banner and promotional content updates.
- Basic WordPress, plugin, and theme updates.
- Basic website checks and minor form fixes.
Support runs Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm, with replies within 1 business day, billed monthly. Hosting and domain fees are separate. Details are on the maintenance page. Still planning the build itself? Our guide on how much a website costs in Nigeria covers that.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a small website need maintenance?
Yes, though less of it. Even a 5 page site needs updates and backups. The difference is that a small site has fewer things that can go wrong.
Is hosting the same as maintenance?
No. Hosting keeps your site online. Maintenance keeps the software updated, backed up, and working. Some hosts include basic backups, but that is not the same as someone looking after your site.
My site was just built. Do I need maintenance right away?
Not always on day 1, but updates start arriving quickly. Many people begin a plan once the first month of changes shows how often they need edits.
How often should my website be backed up?
It depends on how often your site changes. A store taking orders daily needs more frequent backups than a brochure site. Ask your provider what the schedule is and where backups are stored.
What happens if I skip maintenance?
Often nothing, for a while. Then an outdated plugin breaks a page or opens a security hole, and the fix costs more than the plan would have. Skipping is a gamble, not a saving.
Tell us about your website
Share your site and what you need updated, and we will tell you plainly whether a maintenance plan makes sense.