Short answer: keeping a small business website online in India costs about ₹3,000 to ₹8,000 a year for the domain and hosting. If you add a maintenance plan (updates, backups, security and small edits), expect roughly ₹12,000 to ₹40,000 a year in total. E-commerce stores and busy sites cost more.
The yearly cost of running a website
| Item | Typical yearly cost | Do you need it? |
|---|---|---|
| Domain renewal | ₹600 – ₹1,500 | Yes. Never let it lapse. |
| Hosting | ₹2,000 – ₹8,000 (₹5,000 – ₹15,000 for stores) | Yes. |
| SSL certificate | Free – ₹5,000 | Yes, but free SSL is fine for most sites. |
| Business email | ₹0 – ₹2,000 per user | Recommended. |
| Backups & security monitoring | ₹0 – ₹6,000 | Yes for WordPress and stores. |
| Plugin / theme renewals | ₹0 – ₹10,000 | Only if you use paid plugins. |
| Maintenance / AMC plan | ₹12,000 – ₹36,000 | Depends how often you change things. |
What website maintenance should include
- Updates. WordPress core, theme and plugin updates, tested so nothing breaks.
- Backups. Automatic daily or weekly backups stored off the server, with a tested restore.
- Security. Malware scanning, firewall, spam protection on forms, and quick clean-up if something goes wrong.
- Uptime and speed checks. Alerts if the site goes down, and periodic speed tuning.
- Small content changes. New photos, prices, team members, offers or a new page each month.
- Form and lead checks. Making sure contact forms and WhatsApp buttons still deliver enquiries. A broken form costs more than any maintenance plan.
Do you need an AMC (annual maintenance contract)?
You probably need one if your site runs on WordPress with several plugins, takes payments, or you update it every month and don’t want to do it yourself. You can probably skip it if your site is small, rarely changes, and your developer offers pay-per-change edits.
Signs your website isn’t being maintained
- The footer still shows a copyright year from years ago.
- Your browser shows a “Not secure” warning.
- Pages load slowly on mobile, or images are broken.
- You stopped getting form enquiries and nobody noticed.
- You don’t know who has the hosting and domain logins.
What maintenance costs with WebAlchemy
- Included support. Every new site comes with free support: 1 month on Starter, 3 months on Growth and 6 months on Premium.
- Hosting renewal. On the Starter plan, domain and hosting are free for the first year; hosting renews at ₹2,999 a year after that.
- Maintenance plans. Basic upkeep plans start at ₹999 a month. Retainers that include regular content changes and new landing pages start at ₹3,000 a month.
- One-off changes. Billed with a clear estimate upfront, so you only pay when you need something.
Five ways to cut your yearly website costs
- Register the domain for several years at once, in your own name.
- Use free SSL instead of paying for a certificate.
- Remove plugins you don’t use; each one is a cost and a security risk.
- Pick hosting sized for your traffic, not the most expensive plan.
- Batch small edits into one monthly request instead of paying per change.
Website maintenance: common questions
For a small business site, about ₹3,000 to ₹8,000 a year covers the domain and hosting. With a maintenance plan for updates, backups and small edits, the total is usually ₹12,000 to ₹40,000 a year.
Your website and email stop working, and after a grace period the domain can be bought by someone else. Turn on auto-renew and keep the domain registered in your own name.
It depends on the provider. On our Starter and Growth plans, domain, hosting and SSL are included for the first year.
Yes. We start with an audit of speed, security, backups and forms, then quote a maintenance plan based on what we find.
