Having a WordPress website built: costs, process and maintenance

01Who benefits from having a WordPress website built?

WordPress makes sense if you want to update your own content regularly: posts, job vacancies, seasonal offers or new services. It also suits businesses that may want to add features later, such as appointment booking or a small shop. Extensions are available for these, but have their suitability checked against your actual needs, rather than relying on the plugin’s advertising.

WordPress is less suitable if you want a small website that will stay the same for a long time. You would be paying for flexibility you do not use and maintenance the system still needs. In that case, ask for a quote for a static website too, and find out how much work later changes would involve. That gives you a more useful basis for comparison than a debate about technology.

Two names are constantly confused. WordPress.org is the free software you install on hosting of your choice. WordPress.com is a commercial hosting service from the same maker, based on that software, with its own plans and rules. This article covers the self-hosted version. Make sure the quote states which one is meant and who will take out the hosting contract.

02Which is better: a ready-made theme, a page builder or bespoke development?

The way the site is built determines the price, your dependence on the provider and the maintenance involved. There are three common approaches. The table shows what you should clarify for each when discussing the quote.

One point often gets lost in quotes: “bespoke design” does not mean “bespoke theme”. Many providers create individually designed pages using a page builder on a standard theme. That is legitimate and often the right choice, but you should know, because it determines licence costs and maintenance work. Ask which tools will be used and have someone show you how to change a piece of text yourself.

Our view on plugins is simple: every extension should have a clear purpose and someone responsible for maintaining it. There is no upper limit on the number, but we would question a proposal that plans for thirty plugins without being able to justify any of them.

03How much does it cost to have a WordPress website built?

The software is free; the work is not. On 18.08.2026, OnWeb24 published guide prices for four project sizes, compiled from several providers’ sources. These are neither fixed prices nor market statistics, but they are a useful guide. The categories below follow the names used there.

There are ongoing costs too. Hosting: ALL-INKL’s regular prices are €4.95 to €24.95 per month including VAT, with an additional .de domain at €9.90 per year including VAT, although domains are often included in the package (price lists accessed 25.10.2026). Maintenance: Siteprex lists €29, €59 or €99 per month excluding VAT with a twelve-month term; MU Digital charges €49 excluding VAT on a monthly cancellable plan for updates, backups and security checks. Content, new features and repairs are not covered by MU Digital’s flat rate, as is the case with most maintenance contracts.

An alternative to “build plus maintenance contract” is a website subscription that includes both in one monthly price. Our prices are €79, €149 or €299 excluding VAT, with no setup fee and a twelve-month minimum term. Our guide “How much does a website cost in 2026?” compares purchase and subscription over three years, alongside website builders and competitors. Here, we will continue with the points specific to WordPress.

04How does a WordPress project work, and how long does it take?

A WordPress project has six steps. For each one, record who supplies the work or materials and who approves them. Those two questions determine the schedule, not the technology.

• Briefing: the purpose of the website, target audience, services, required features and two or three websites as examples.
• Content: text, logo, photos and legal notices. Agree who will supply what, and by when.
• Structure and design: a page hierarchy and layouts for the homepage and one inner page, for approval before all the pages are built.
• Build: installation, theme or blocks, pages, contact form, legal notices and basic search engine settings; each item specified in the order.
• Checks: mobile view, a test enquiry through the form, links, loading speed and spelling. Ideally, use a checklist you receive in advance.
• Approval and launch: switch the domain, redirect old URLs, provide training on the admin area and hand over all login details.

Our standard-scope websites usually go live within five to ten working days, counted from the day all content has been supplied in full. That qualification is the most important part of the paragraph. If text or approvals are delayed, the launch date moves too, whoever the provider is. If someone promises “online in three days”, ask when those three days start.

05What should a WordPress quote include?

A complete quote answers nine questions. If several are missing, you cannot compare offers properly, and the answers will arrive later as extras on the invoice.

• Which pages and templates will be built? Ask for service pages, contact page, blog overview and post template to be listed separately.
• Which themes and plugins will be used, who pays for paid licences, whose account holds them, and what happens to them when you leave?
• Who supplies the text, photos and logo? If the provider writes or edits them, at what price?
• How will the contact form be protected against spam, and who will send a test enquiry to check that messages actually arrive?
• Who supplies the legal notice (Impressum), privacy policy and cookie solution, and who keeps them up to date?
• What exactly does “basic SEO” mean? Ask for page titles and descriptions, clean URLs, sitemap and connection to Google Search Console to be listed individually.
• How many rounds of revisions are included, and how will further requests be charged?
• What does the training cover, and which accounts will you have your own access to: WordPress admin, hosting, domain and licences?
• Who handles ongoing operation: maintenance scope, responsibility for PHP, response time and monthly price, excluding or including VAT?

06Who handles WordPress maintenance and PHP updates?

After launch, a WordPress website regularly needs three things: updates for the core, theme and plugins; backups of files and the database, with a restore tested at least once; and an up-to-date PHP version on the server. PHP is the language WordPress runs on. According to php.net, each release branch receives around two years of active support including security fixes, followed by two more years of fixes for critical vulnerabilities only. The published end-of-support date for the branch is what matters.

Responsibility is split three ways, and failures happen in the gaps. The hosting provider makes PHP versions available; whether they also switch your website to a new version and test it depends on the plan. Managed services such as WordPress.com include this; conventional web hosting usually does not. The web developer knows the theme and plugins but often has no contract in place after the project ends. You have the admin password but no time. The table lists the questions we would ask all three in your position.

Here is a case from our work to make this concrete. On 21 October 2026, the PHP project released emergency updates for two critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, known as “PHP2Shell”) that allow attackers to execute code without logging in. WordPress.org called for immediate updates on the same day. Corrected Plesk-PHP packages for versions 8.0 to 8.5 were available on 21 October for the servers we manage. By the morning of 22 October, we had checked every server to confirm that the new packages were installed and the PHP processes had then been restarted: without a restart, the old code keeps running. Every client website was covered, without any client having to do anything. What we do not know is how many WordPress websites in Germany had nobody to handle this that day. The technical details are in our article on the PHP vulnerability.

That is the real reason for a maintenance contract or subscription: not the routine updates you can schedule for a set day each month, but the day when waiting for that date would be too late. For planned updates, we also recommend a test copy, a verified backup and an agreed way to roll back if something stops working after the update.

07Can I maintain my WordPress website myself later and switch providers?

Updating content: yes, that is what WordPress is built for. Ask for training on your own website and practise the exact changes you will need: editing text, replacing an image and creating a post. Technical maintenance: proceed carefully. Updating a plugin takes one click, but without a backup and testing, that click can take the site offline. The WordPress handbook recommends backing up files and the database before every update. If you want to handle this yourself, you need a test environment, a backup routine you have tested by restoring a backup, and time to check everything afterwards.

Switching providers: WordPress is licensed under the GPL, so the software itself does not tie you to anyone. That does not automatically mean you own everything on the website, though; usage rights for supplied text, images and design should be set out in the contract. To move the site, you need four things: all website files including uploads, a database export, control of the domain and hosting, and a list of licences in use showing which need to remain active. Before signing, clarify that you will receive these when you cancel, within what timeframe and at what price. The new provider will also charge for the migration and for getting familiar with the site.

Page builders are a special case. According to Elementor’s FAQ (03.06.2026), existing pages remain when the Pro licence expires, but updates and certain Pro features are no longer available. If the plugin is deactivated, however, the appearance of pages built with it changes. Divi and other builders have their own conditions. This is not an argument against page builders, but it is a reason to have the new provider review your installation before you switch.

08Common questions before commissioning a WordPress website