The short answer
Whito's May 2026 figures put the running costs of a professionally built site (hosting, maintenance and updates) at £500 to £2,000 a year. ProfileTree puts a maintained WordPress business site at £50 to £250 a month. Doing it yourself costs less in money and more in time.
- Domain: about £13 a year plus VAT for a .co.uk at one big registrar, after a cheap first year.
- Hosting: £7 to £19 a month plus VAT at one UK host.
- SSL certificate: often free.
- Updates, backups and small edits: care plans from £25 to £51 a month.
The running costs, item by item
| Item | What it's for | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Your web address, renewed every year | £10 to £30 a year (Whito). Fasthosts: a .co.uk is £1 for the first year, then £12.83 a year plus VAT |
| Hosting | The server your site lives on | £50 to £300 a year (Whito). Krystal: £7, £11 or £19 a month plus VAT |
| SSL certificate | The padlock: an encrypted connection | Often free. Let's Encrypt, a non-profit, issues free certificates, and many hosts include them |
| Updates and security | Keeping software patched and watching for problems | Two to four hours a month for a typical WordPress site (ProfileTree), or part of a care plan |
| Backups | Copies you can restore if something breaks | Often included with hosting or a care plan; Krystal lists daily backups on its plans |
| Changes | New prices, pages, hours and photos | Small edits are often in a care plan; otherwise £40 to £70 an hour from a freelancer or £60 to £150 from an agency (Whito) |
| Care plan | Updates, backups, security and small edits in one fee | £25 a month at Websites for Tradespeople; £30 to £51 a month across the UK providers in Website Helper's comparison |
Per month and per year: four ways to keep a site running
| How you run it | Per month | Per year | Who does the work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yourself, on WordPress: Krystal's small business hosting plus a .co.uk at Fasthosts, excluding VAT | About £20 | About £241 | You: two to four hours a month |
| A one-off site with hosting and a care plan from the trade specialist that built it | £40 | £400 paid yearly | Them, for updates and small edits |
| A website builder: Wix or Squarespace's main plans, paid yearly | £9 to £25 | £108 to £300 | The platform hosts it; you make changes |
| Upkept: the build, hosting, security, backups and unlimited changes | £99 | £1,188 | Us |
WordPress row: Krystal Emerald at £19 a month (£228 a year), which Krystal describes as its starting point for small businesses, plus £12.83 for a .co.uk renewal. Trade specialist: Websites for Tradespeople, hosting £15 a month or £150 a year and care £25 a month or £250 a year. Wix figures exclude applicable taxes.
How much does website hosting cost in the UK?
Hosting is the cheapest part of running a site and the easiest to overpay for. Krystal, a UK host, lists shared hosting at £7 a month for personal sites, £11 for freelancers and £19 for small businesses, plus VAT, with discounts for paying yearly. IONOS advertises lower introductory prices that rise after six or twelve months, so check the price you'll pay from the second year. Whito puts hosting for a small business site at £50 to £300 a year, and ProfileTree puts WordPress hosting at £10 to £35 a month.
Website builders such as Wix and Squarespace include hosting in their plans. So does Upkept: hosting is part of the £99.
What's in a website maintenance package?
Most care or maintenance plans for small business sites include:
- software, theme and plugin updates;
- regular backups;
- security monitoring;
- small edits, sometimes capped by time;
- help when something breaks.
New pages, redesigns, copywriting and SEO work are usually extra. Websites for Tradespeople, for example, describes its £25 a month care plan as updates, backups, security and small edits, with hosting priced separately.
What happens if you don't maintain a website?
- It can go offline. Miss a domain renewal and your address stops working.
- Browsers warn people away. An expired SSL certificate puts a security warning in front of your site.
- Old software is a risk. Unpatched sites, especially self-hosted ones, are easier to break into.
- It goes stale. Wrong opening hours, old prices and a phone number you no longer use cost you calls.
Where Upkept sits
Upkept is £99 a month. That covers everything on this page (hosting, SSL, security, daily backups and your domain's management) plus the build itself and unlimited changes, made by chat. A new domain, if you need one, is from £12 a year.
If you already have a site you're happy with and only need hosting and the odd update, a care plan from £25 a month will cost you less than Upkept, and we'd say so. Upkept makes sense when you want the site built for you and every change handled, without paying by the hour.
Sources
Prices were read from each company's own UK website on 15 October 2026. They change, so check before you buy.
- Whito: website design costs UK 2026: Running costs £500 to £2,000 a year; hosting £50 to £300 a year; domain £10 to £30 a year; hourly rates.
- ProfileTree: WordPress website cost UK breakdown: Maintained WordPress site £50 to £250 a month; hosting £10 to £35 a month; updates two to four hours a month.
- Krystal hosting: Amethyst £7, Ruby £11 and Emerald £19 a month excluding VAT, monthly billing; free SSL certificates and daily backups listed.
- IONOS web hosting: Introductory prices for six or twelve months, then a higher monthly price, excluding VAT.
- Fasthosts domain names: .co.uk £1 for the first year, then £12.83 a year; prices exclude VAT.
- Let's Encrypt: A non-profit certificate authority providing free TLS certificates.
- Websites for Tradespeople hosting and care: Care £25 a month or £250 a year (updates, backups, security and small edits); hosting £15 a month or £150 a year.
- Website Helper: WordPress maintenance price comparison: UK maintenance plans listed from £30 to £51 a month, with one from £150.
- Wix plans: Light £9, Core £16 and Business £25 a month, yearly subscriptions, excluding applicable taxes.
- Squarespace pricing: Basic £12 and Core £17 a month paid annually; £16 and £24 paid monthly.