A WordPress maintenance contract hands updates, backups, monitoring and troubleshooting for your site to a provider in exchange for a monthly fee. In France, published offers range from around €50 a month from a freelancer to several hundred euros excl. VAT from an agency that guarantees a response within a few hours. What sets them apart is not the advertised price but what is actually included, the guaranteed response time and what is excluded. Here is how to read an offer and choose.
What a maintenance contract covers
| Service | What to expect | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Updates | Core, plugins, themes: security fixes applied quickly | How soon after a security fix is released? |
| Testing after updates | Checks on key pages, ideally on a staging site | What happens if an update breaks the site? |
| Backups | Daily, stored off the server, kept for several weeks | When did you last test a restore? |
| Monitoring | Uptime, SSL certificate, known plugin vulnerabilities | Who gets alerted, and at what time of day? |
| Security | Accounts, login, two-factor authentication, hardening | Is cleanup after a hack included? |
| Report | Monthly: what was done, what is left to decide | Can I see a sample report? |
| Small changes | A few hours of edits per month, or billed by the hour | Do unused hours roll over? |
How much does WordPress maintenance cost? Prices observed in France
There is no official price list. The figures below come from published offers in France: a freelancer on a services marketplace (€50 for one month of maintenance on a brochure site with up to 15 plugins, with add-ons for WooCommerce and small edits) and the 2026 price list published by a French agency.
| Tier | Observed price | Typical scope | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelancer, monthly | From €50 per month | Updates, checks, report: cleanup after a hack excluded | Simple brochure site |
| Essential | €80 to €120 excl. VAT per month | Updates, weekly backups, uptime monitoring | Small business |
| Business | €150 to €250 excl. VAT per month | Plus 2 hours of changes, report, support within 48 hours | Site that generates leads |
| Enhanced security | €250 to €400 excl. VAT per month | Plus firewall, malware scanning, daily backups, 4-hour response | Online shop, critical site |
| Out of scope | €60 to €90 excl. VAT per hour | Unplanned work | Everyone |
To compare offers, reduce each one to three numbers: the annual cost, the guaranteed response time and the price of an incident that is not covered. A €50 plan that excludes cleanup after a hack can cost more over a year than a €150 plan that includes it.
The guaranteed response time (SLA): the clause that matters most
The SLA (service level agreement) sets two different deadlines that are often confused: the response time (someone looks at the problem) and the resolution time (the site works again). “Support within 48 hours” does not guarantee the site will be fixed within 48 hours. Also check the hours covered (business days or 24/7), the emergency channel and the compensation if the deadline is missed.
Red flags in an offer
- Backups on the same server as the site: they disappear along with it. Insist on an off-site copy, following the 3-2-1 rule.
- “Monthly” updates with no exception for security: a vulnerability exploited within days will not wait until the end of the month.
- Premium plugin licences in the provider’s name: if you leave, updates stop. Licences should be in your name, or their transfer written into the contract.
- Shared administrator access: everyone who works on the site needs their own named account, protected by two-factor authentication.
- No report: without a record of what was done, you are paying for a promise.
- No exit clause: plan for reasonable notice and the handover of access, backups and documentation.
Choosing a provider: five questions
- How long after a security fix is released do you apply it?
- Where are backups stored, for how long, and when did you last restore one?
- What do you do, and at what price, if my site is hacked?
- Do you test updates on a staging site before the live site?
- What does your monthly report look like, and who tells me when there is an incident?
A provider who answers precisely, with figures and examples, is worth more than a cheaper offer with vague answers. If your host offers a managed plan that includes updates, compare that too: see our WordPress hosting rankings and the definition of managed services.
Do it yourself, delegate, or both
A brochure site with ten well-maintained plugins can be looked after in an hour a month, provided you turn on automatic updates where they are safe and get notified about vulnerabilities. An online shop, a site that brings in your revenue or a portfolio of client sites justifies a contract, or proper tooling if you are the provider.
For agencies: track every site without logging into each one
This is where WP Masquerade Pro helps agencies and freelancers who sell maintenance: every Pro site sends your member area the state of its updates (WordPress, plugins, themes, PHP version) and its known vulnerabilities every day. A vulnerable site appears at the top of the list, and a summary of sites with pending updates can go out by email every Monday. On each site, vulnerability alerts, the integrity check and the activity log feed into the monthly report. WP Masquerade does not apply updates for you, does not make backups and does not clean up a hacked site: it tells you where to step in first.
Your whole portfolio in one member area
€149 excl. VAT per year for 10 sites, €399 excl. VAT for 100 sites, or €990 excl. VAT lifetime for unlimited sites: easy to build into your maintenance contracts.
Frequently asked questions
What does a WordPress maintenance contract cost on average?
For a brochure site, published offers in France range from around €50 a month from a freelancer to €80 to €120 excl. VAT at an agency. Expect €250 excl. VAT or more for a response time of a few hours and enhanced security.
Does a maintenance contract include cleanup after a hack?
Not always, and it is the most common exclusion in entry-level offers. Get it in writing, along with the price of out-of-scope work.
Does my web host handle maintenance?
Shared hosting maintains the server, not your WordPress install. Some managed plans apply updates, sometimes after testing on a copy, but they cover neither site changes nor editorial support.
How often should a WordPress site be updated?
Security fixes as soon as they are released, other updates at least every week or two, after a backup and a check.
Key takeaways
- A contract covers updates, testing, off-site backups, monitoring, security and reporting.
- Ballpark prices in France: from €50 a month with a freelancer, €80 to €400 excl. VAT with an agency depending on the guaranteed response time.
- Tell response time and resolution time apart.
- Watch out for backups on the same server, licences in the provider’s name and exclusions that are not written down.
- For an agency, centralised portfolio tracking saves the time spent going through each site.
Sources
- Kolonell: website maintenance contract prices in 2026 (in French) (external link, opens in a new tab)
- ComeUp: example of a freelancer’s WordPress maintenance offer (in French) (external link, opens in a new tab)
- WordPress.org: Updating WordPress (external link, opens in a new tab)
