We have a confession to make.
Maintenance is not the exciting part of what we do. Nobody calls us thrilled to talk about plugin updates and security patches. There are no awards for keeping a website running smoothly. When maintenance is done right, nobody notices anything at all.
But here is the thing. After 15 years and 160+ websites, we can tell you that maintenance is the difference between a site that serves your organization well and a site that slowly falls apart until something breaks at the worst possible moment.
Maintenance is our bread and butter. And we are really, really good at it.
What happens when you skip website maintenance?
Let us walk through a typical scenario.
You launch a beautiful new Craft CMS website. Everything works perfectly. Your team is happy. Your visitors are happy. Life is good.
Six months go by. You are busy with other things. The website is working fine, so why mess with it?
A year goes by. Craft releases a major update with important security fixes. Your plugins release updates too. You do not install any of them because you are nervous about breaking something and you do not have time to deal with it.
Eighteen months go by. Your PHP version is now outdated. Your hosting company sends warning emails. You ignore them because updating PHP might break your site and you do not know how to test it.
Two years go by. A plugin you depend on stops working because it was never updated and now it is incompatible with everything else. Your site starts throwing errors. Pages load slowly. Forms stop submitting properly.
Then one morning you wake up to an email saying your site has been hacked. Malware is redirecting your visitors to spam sites. Google has flagged you as dangerous. Your reputation is damaged. Cleaning up the mess costs more than two years of maintenance would have.
This is not a scare story we made up. This is what we see all the time when organizations come to us after years of deferred maintenance.
What does professional website maintenance actually include?
It varies depending on your needs, but here is what we typically handle for our maintenance clients.
Core CMS updates. Craft CMS releases updates regularly. Some are minor bug fixes. Some are major releases with new features. Some are critical security patches that need to be applied quickly. We handle all of it.
Plugin updates. Your site probably uses several plugins for things like forms, SEO, or custom functionality. Each of those needs to be kept up to date and tested after updates to make sure nothing breaks.
Craft Commerce updates. If you are running an online store, Craft Commerce needs its own updates and testing. Payment gateways, shipping rules, and checkout flows all need to keep working after every update. We test thoroughly before pushing anything live.
PHP and server updates. The underlying technology that runs your site needs maintenance too. PHP versions reach end of life. Server software needs security patches. We coordinate with your hosting provider to keep everything current.
Security monitoring. We watch for vulnerabilities in the tools your site uses and apply patches before they become problems. We also monitor for signs of intrusion or malware.
Backups and disaster recovery. Regular backups are essential. We make sure your site is backed up properly and that those backups actually work when you need them.
Performance monitoring. Slow sites frustrate visitors and hurt your search rankings. We keep an eye on load times and address performance issues before they become noticeable.
Bug fixes. Things break sometimes. Forms stop working. Pages display incorrectly on certain browsers. Images do not load. Checkout flows hit errors. We fix problems as they come up.
What about enhancements and new features?
Maintenance is not just about keeping things from breaking. It also includes making your site better over time.
Maybe you need a new section added to your homepage. Or you want to change how your event calendar displays. Or your team has been asking for a better way to manage a certain type of content. Or you need to add a new product type to your Craft Commerce store. Or you want to integrate with a new third-party tool.
We handle all of that too. Small enhancements and feature additions are a normal part of our maintenance relationships. Your site should evolve with your organization, not stay frozen in time.
How is your maintenance service structured?
We offer a few different approaches depending on what works best for you.
Retainer agreements. You pay a monthly fee that covers a set number of hours. We handle updates, monitoring, bug fixes, and small enhancements within that time. If you need more hours in a given month, we bill the overage at an agreed rate. This works well for organizations that want predictable budgeting and priority support.
Pay as you go. We offer maintenance on a project by project basis. No monthly commitment. You call us when you need something, we give you a quote, and we do the work. This works well for organizations with smaller sites or less frequent needs.
Hybrid approaches. Some clients have a small retainer for routine maintenance and updates, then pay separately for larger enhancement projects. We are flexible.
How much does website maintenance cost?
For retainer clients, monthly fees typically range from $300 to $1,500 depending on the size and complexity of your site and how much support you need.
For pay as you go work, our hourly rate is $150. A small bug fix might take 30 minutes. A new feature might take several hours. We always provide estimates before starting work so there are no surprises.
Compare that to the cost of recovering from a security breach or rebuilding a site that has fallen too far behind to update safely. Maintenance is almost always cheaper than the alternative.
What about Craft Commerce stores?
E-commerce sites need extra attention. When your website processes payments, the stakes are higher.
We make sure your Craft Commerce store stays secure and PCI compliant. We test checkout flows after every update. We monitor for payment gateway issues. We keep shipping and tax calculations working correctly. We handle subscription billing updates for membership sites.
A broken checkout page does not just frustrate visitors. It costs you money. We treat commerce maintenance with the seriousness it deserves.
What if our site is really out of date?
We see this a lot. An organization comes to us with a site that has not been updated in years. They are running an old version of Craft CMS, outdated PHP, plugins that are no longer supported.
The good news is that we can usually bring these sites back to health. It takes more work upfront than routine maintenance, but it is almost always cheaper than rebuilding from scratch.
We start with an audit to understand what we are dealing with. Then we create a plan to update everything safely, testing along the way to catch any compatibility issues. Once the site is current, we transition to regular maintenance to keep it that way.
What makes your maintenance service different?
Three things.
Experience. We have been doing this for over 15 years. We have seen every kind of problem and fixed every kind of bug. There is very little that surprises us anymore.
Specialization. We focus on Craft CMS and Craft Commerce. That deep expertise means we work faster and more accurately than generalist agencies trying to support a dozen different platforms.
Care. This might sound corny, but we genuinely treat your site like it matters. Because it does. Your website represents your organization to the world. When we maintain it, we are not just checking boxes. We are making sure it works well for your team and your visitors.
How do we know if our site needs maintenance?
Here are some signs that your site might be overdue for attention.
You do not know when your CMS was last updated. You see update notifications in your admin panel that have been there for months. Your site loads slowly and you are not sure why. You have had the same site for more than a year and nobody has touched the backend. You occasionally notice small bugs but nobody has time to fix them. Your hosting company has sent warnings about outdated software. You are worried about security but do not know what to do about it.
If any of that sounds familiar, it might be time to talk.
Can you take over maintenance from another agency?
Absolutely. We take over maintenance for sites built by other agencies all the time. We will need access to your hosting, your CMS admin, and any documentation the previous agency left behind. Then we do an initial review to understand how the site is built and what shape it is in.
There is usually a transition period while we get up to speed, but after that it is business as usual.
How do we get started?
The first step is a conversation. We will ask about your site, your current situation, and what kind of support you are looking for. Then we will give you an honest recommendation about what makes sense.
No pressure. No hard sell. If we are not the right fit, we will tell you.
For maintenance support details, contact us or call us at 646.403.4338
About Red Acorn Agency
Red Acorn Agency is a Verified Craft CMS Partner based in Dallas, Texas. We have been building and maintaining Craft CMS websites for over 15 years, serving nonprofits, higher education, and mission-driven organizations.