How much does it cost to maintain a site for a year: all costs without surprises

The site was made, launched, and paid for. And then every month some amounts drip, about which no one warned at the start. Let's analyze how much it actually costs to keep the site alive for a year.

Briefly

• Mandatory minimum - domain and hosting. This is from $50 per year.
• The biggest item of expenditure is not the equipment, but changes in the content.
• They usually overpay for things they don't use.
• The site does not "stand still" without updates, but gradually loses its position.

Mandatory expenses

Domain

Your address is on the Internet. Continued every year.

• .com.ua - approximately $50 - $50 per year
• .ua - more expensive, you need a brand
• .com - approximately $50 - $50 per year

Tip: Turn on Auto-Continue. A forgotten domain can be intercepted after a few weeks, and it will be much more expensive - or impossible - to buy it back.

Hosting or Platform

Here it depends on what the site is made of:

• Static site (like ours) on Vercel or a similar platform - often free of charge for a typical business website. You have to pay only for large volumes of traffic.
• Managed SaaS builders - from approximately $14 per month per site, i.e. about $400 per year.
• Regular hosting for WordPress - from $100 per year, but cheap rates often mean a slow site.

SSL certificate

The same lock in the browser. Almost everywhere today free and updates itself. If you are asked for separate money for it, this is a reason to ask a question.

Expenses that arise along the way

Changes in content

The most frequent real expenditure. Prices have changed, a service has been added, you need to update the photo. There are two options:

1. Do it yourself. If the site is made with a normal CMS, it takes five minutes and zero hryvnias. That is why it is worth insisting that you be taught how to edit.
2. Ask the contractor. From $50 for a minor edit or support package.

Support

A support package makes sense when you don't want to think about the site at all. We have it from $50 per month for a few hours of editing, speed monitoring and backups. But honestly: if the site is simple and you know how to edit it, support is often not needed in the first year.

Development

A year later, "let's go" almost always appears. A new service, a separate page for advertising, a blog. This is no longer maintenance, but a small new project.

How many turns out together

Minimal script (static site, edit yourself):

• domain - $50
• hosting - $0
• together: about $50 per year

A typical scenario (site on SaaS-builder, several edits per year):

• domain - $50
• SaaS designer - about $400
• 3-4 edits - about $100
• together: about $550 per year

With full support:

• domain and hosting - up to $450
• support $50 × $50 - $900
• together: about $1,300 per year

What is overpaid most often

Hosting "with a margin". A tariff of $50 per month for a site with 200 visitors is money for air.

Support that is not used. Paid hours do not carry over, and the site does not change for months.

Paid plugins by habit. Especially on WordPress: a set of extensions, half of which are not needed for a long time, but the payment is coming.

A separate SSL certificate - see above, almost always free.

What will happen if you don't invest anything

The site won't crash the next day. But in a year or two:

• contact details and prices become outdated - people call and hear "it's no longer relevant"
• positions in the search gradually fall, because competitors are updated, and you are not
• something starts to look crooked on new phone models
• if it's WordPress without updates - sooner or later it will be hacked

How to reduce costs

1. Choose the platform for your case. No need for a daily blog - don't pay for a heavy CMS.
2. Learn to edit yourself. We show it at the project handover, and it really saves thousands a year.
3. Pick up the source files. You must have layouts and access - then you are not a hostage of one contractor.
4. Don't take support right away. Look for half a year, how often you need something.

Summary

Maintaining a normal business website is from $50 per year as a minimum and about $550 in a typical case. That's less than most pay for a week of advertising.

The main question is not "how much it costs to keep", but "does the site bring more than it costs". If not, the problem is usually not in the hosting, and we sorted it out in a separate article.

Are you planning a new website and want to immediately understand the costs for a year ahead? Calculate the project or write to us - we will tell you honestly what you will need and what you can avoid spending on.