Web maintenance too expensive? What to do when your agency is overcharging you

You have a website, an ecommerce store, or a mobile app. Everything works, until your provider announces a very high monthly maintenance fee (or a sudden price increase). At that point, it is hard to tell whether it is justified, “just how it is”, or simply a bad deal.

This article helps you spot what is normal, what is not, and how to regain control without putting your product at risk.

What “maintenance” actually means (and what it does not)

Most problems come from one thing: maintenance is a vague word. Agencies can use it to cover very different services, bundled into a single monthly fee.

Corrective maintenance

Fixing bugs, server errors, payment incidents, or pages that break after an update.

Evolutionary maintenance

Adding features, updating pages, improving a funnel, building new modules.

That is project work. It is not “basic maintenance”.

Preventive maintenance and security

Updates (CMS, plugins, libraries), security patches, hardening, monitoring, backups, restores.

Hosting and operations

Often this is the “cloud bill”: servers, databases, and related services. It can be billed separately or included in the package.

Key point: a high maintenance fee is sometimes a package that includes ongoing improvements, infrastructure, and priority support. It is not automatically abusive, but you need to understand what you are paying for.

Red flags that your web maintenance is abusive

These are the most common situations where SMEs end up paying too much.

1) A vague monthly package

If the proposal says “maintenance and support” without clearly stating:

• what is included (updates, backups, fixes, etc.)
• what is not included (new features, content, SEO, new modules, etc.)
• response and resolution times

then be careful. Ask for a breakdown and a clear scope.

2) Technical lock in or refused access

Immediate warning signs:

• the provider refuses to give you admin access (CMS, hosting, domain, Git)
• the code or theme “belongs to you” but they will not share it
• no documentation that would allow you to switch providers or take back control

In these situations, the provider may be creating dependency so you feel forced to keep paying a high fee.

3) Maintenance mixed with “mandatory” upgrades

Example: “we have to rebuild module X or we cannot maintain the site anymore”.

Real technical debt is possible. But it should be proven, with risks, options, costs, and a plan.

4) Overpriced hosting with no clear justification

Managed hosting can cost more than a basic server, but it should come with concrete deliverables: monitoring, backups, high availability, a WAF, on call coverage, and an SLA.

If your application is very simple, a hosting cost above 400€ per month is usually unusual, but not always. The real question is: what exactly justifies that cost?

What you should demand in a web maintenance contract

If you remember only one thing, make it this: you are paying for a measurable service.

A clear scope

For example:

• included: updates, backups, monitoring, fixes
• excluded: new pages, redesign, new features, SEO, copywriting, design

A service level agreement (SLA) that fits your business

Useful examples (adapt to your reality):

• critical incident: handled within X business hours
• major incident: handled within X hours or days
• standard request: handled within X days

Without an SLA, “support” does not mean much.

A monthly report

Once maintenance reaches a certain price point, you are entitled to ask for a monthly report covering:

• tickets handled and time spent
• incidents and root causes
• updates applied
• recommendations that are short and actionable

A proper reversibility clause

This is essential. It should specify:

• what you receive if you leave (code, access, documentation, exports)
• the delivery timeline
• any cost, defined upfront and kept reasonable

How to tell if the price is “normal”

Instead of comparing amounts, compare units.

1) Compare what the package includes

A package can be expensive and still fair if it includes:

• 24/7 monitoring
• regular manual checks and interventions
• priority support

On the other hand, paying a lot for “updating WordPress once in a while” is something you should challenge.

2) Compare the real complexity of your stack

A simple marketing site is not the same as an ecommerce store with payments, or a business critical web app.

The more integrations you have (ERP, CRM, payments, inventory), the more serious maintenance costs.

3) Ask for a clear breakdown of the total bill

Request a line by line split, for example:

• application maintenance
• hosting and operations
• support
• ongoing improvements

If the provider stays vague, that is a bad sign.

How to renegotiate maintenance without creating conflict

Step 1: ask for a quick audit of current maintenance

A short document that includes:

• what was done in the last 3 to 6 months
• why it was necessary
• what is planned next month

Step 2: ask for two or three tiers instead of one package

Typical tiers:

• Essential: security, backups, updates, critical fixes
• Standard: essential plus a monthly time budget for fixes and small requests
• Premium: standard plus priority support, on call coverage, advanced monitoring

A lot of tension comes from paying for premium while you only need standard.

Step 3: secure your exit path (without threatening)

A simple sentence works well:

“We want a clean reversibility clause, like in any B2B contract. We are not planning to leave, but it matters to us.”

If you need to switch providers: a transition checklist

Before anything else, talk to other providers. It helps you compare what you currently pay with what the market would charge for the same scope. Other agencies can also tell you what you absolutely must recover.

Examples:

• domain registrar access
• cloud hosting access
• database exports
• source code access (Git)
• list of third party services (payments, email, analytics, CRM, etc.)

A good provider can manage a smooth takeover, but without access, you are stuck.

Questions to ask an agency charging a high maintenance fee

• What exactly is included, and what is not?
• How many hours per month do you allocate to our product? Can you break it down by activity?
• Who owns the accounts and access: domain, hosting, analytics, code repository?
• What is our SLA for a critical incident?
• What do we receive if we leave, and how fast?

Conclusion

Web maintenance can be expensive when it covers real stakes: uptime, security, support, infrastructure, and business risk. But if the contract is vague, with no SLA, no reporting, and no reversibility clause, you are not buying peace of mind. You are buying dependency.

If you want, Fenxi Technologies can help you review a maintenance contract, identify what is missing, and propose a healthier structure, without breaking everything or starting from scratch.