WordPress
WordPress maintenance services: updates, backups, support and migrations
My WordPress maintenance services keep your site updated, backed up and working, without updates breaking it on a Friday night. Every update is tested on a staging copy first, backups are stored off the server and tested, and when something does go wrong you reach the developer who knows your site. I also move WordPress sites to new hosts and domains as a one-off job.
What’s included
- WordPress core, plugin and theme updates, tested on staging before they go live
- Daily or weekly off-site backups, with a test restore on a regular schedule
- Uptime monitoring with alerts, and a check of SSL certificate and domain expiry dates
- Security monitoring: file changes, new admin users, failed logins and known plugin vulnerabilities
- PHP version upgrades planned before your host forces them
- A monthly time allowance for small fixes and content changes
- Broken link, form and checkout checks after each round of updates
- A short monthly report: what was updated, what was fixed, what needs a decision
- Migrate WordPress site to new host or domain: files, database, DNS and email, tested before the switch
What my WordPress maintenance services cover, and who they suit
WordPress maintenance services are for owners who depend on their site but do not want to spend their week on it: service businesses where the contact form is the sales pipeline, WooCommerce stores, membership sites, and agencies with a portfolio of client sites to keep healthy.
They suit you if you have been clicking "Update all" and hoping, if a past update took the site down, or if the developer who built it is no longer around. I look after sites I did not build; the first step is always an audit of what is installed.
They do not suit a site that is about to be rebuilt; then it is better to spend the budget on the new build. If your main system is a Laravel or custom PHP application rather than WordPress, see PHP and Laravel maintenance. Agencies that want this done under their own brand can use my white label development arrangement.
Why updates break WordPress sites, and how I prevent it
Skipping updates is not safe: most WordPress security flaws are found in plugins, and attackers scan for sites that have not applied the fix. But blind updates break things too. The usual failures are predictable: a plugin raises its minimum PHP version, a page builder update changes how saved layouts render, a WooCommerce update conflicts with an outdated template override in the theme, or two plugins load different versions of the same library and one of them fatals.
So updates follow a routine. I take a fresh backup, copy the live site to staging, update there, and check the pages that matter: home, key landing pages, forms, search, cart and checkout. I read changelogs for major versions and check WooCommerce template overrides before a WooCommerce update. Only then do the updates go live, followed by the same checks on the live site. If something still slips through, the backup from an hour earlier means a quick rollback, not a lost week.
PHP needs the same planning. PHP 8.2 reaches the end of its security support at the end of 2026, so many hosts will start moving sites to 8.3 or 8.4. Old themes and abandoned plugins are what fail on newer PHP, and I find them on staging before the host makes the switch for you. When an abandoned plugin has no maintained replacement, I can rebuild the part you actually use as a small custom plugin.
WordPress maintenance plans and care plans: what a month looks like
WordPress maintenance plans and WordPress care plans are two names for the same thing: a fixed monthly arrangement in which someone is responsible for your site. Monthly WordPress maintenance with me covers the routine work plus a time allowance for small requests, so you do not need a new quote every time you want a banner changed.
- Weekly or fortnightly: tested updates, backup checks, security scan review
- Every day, automatically: uptime and SSL monitoring, off-site backups for busy or WooCommerce sites
- Monthly: a test restore of a backup, broken link and form checks, database cleanup, a short written report
- Every quarter: a review of plugins you no longer need, PHP and hosting health, and a quick speed check
- When you need it: small fixes, content edits and WordPress support services by email, agreed within the monthly allowance
WordPress migration services: moving to a new host or domain
WordPress migration services are needed when you change hosts, move from a temporary domain to the real one, merge sites or change domain names. Hosts offer free migration tools, and they work for simple sites. They tend to fail on large uploads folders, WooCommerce stores that take orders during the move, multisite installs, and sites with hard-coded URLs in serialized data.
When I migrate a WordPress site to a new host, I copy files and the database, run a serialization-safe search and replace with WP-CLI, and test the site on the new server through a temporary URL or a hosts file entry before any DNS change. I lower the DNS TTL in advance, freeze content and orders for the short switch window on busy stores, and keep email records (MX, SPF, DKIM) intact so your email does not stop when the website moves. Cron jobs, SSL and caching are set up on the new server, and the old host stays untouched until we are sure.
A domain change also needs 301 redirects from every old URL, an updated sitemap and the Change of Address tool in Search Console. If rankings are a big part of the reason for the move, see SEO website migration, which covers redirect mapping and monitoring in more depth.
What affects the cost of WordPress maintenance services
The cost of WordPress maintenance services depends on the site and on how quickly you need things handled, so I do not publish a price list. A fixed monthly quote follows a short call or a written brief, after a first look at the site.
- The number of sites, and the number of plugins on each
- WooCommerce, memberships or bookings, which need more careful update testing
- How often updates and backups should run
- How many hours of small changes you want included each month
- The state of the site at the start: a site that has not been updated for two years needs a one-off cleanup first
- One-off migrations: site size, number of sites and whether the domain changes
How the work runs
Audit the site
I review the theme, every plugin, the PHP version, hosting, backups and security status, and list anything outdated, abandoned or duplicated.
Catch up and clean up
Overdue updates are applied on staging in safe batches, unused plugins removed, and a clean backup point set before monthly care begins.
Set up monitoring and backups
Uptime, SSL and security monitoring with alerts, plus off-site backups on a schedule that suits how often the site changes.
Run the monthly routine
Tested updates, checks of the pages that make money, small fixes from your list and a short report at the end of the month.
Review every quarter
We look at what changed, what can be removed and what is coming, such as a PHP upgrade or a plugin nearing end of life, and plan it before it becomes urgent.
Tools and technologies
- WordPress
- WooCommerce
- WP-CLI
- PHP 8.3 and 8.4
- MySQL and MariaDB
- cPanel and WHM
- SSH and SFTP
- UpdraftPlus
- Wordfence
- Cloudflare
- Uptime monitoring
- Query Monitor
- Git
About past work
Client work for this service is private, so it is not shown here. On a call I can walk you through comparable projects, what was done and how it turned out. The case studies show how I approach engineering problems in general.
Questions
What is included in a WordPress maintenance plan?
A plan covers tested updates, off-site backups with test restores, uptime and security monitoring, a monthly report and a time allowance for small fixes. The exact frequency of updates and backups is set to match your site, so a busy store gets more attention than a five-page brochure site.
How often do you update plugins, and do you test before updating?
Updates run weekly or fortnightly, and every update is tested on a staging copy before it reaches the live site. Urgent security patches are applied sooner, after a backup and a quick test of the affected pages.
What happens if an update breaks my site?
I roll it back from the backup taken just before the update, then fix the cause on staging. Because updates are tested first, this is rare, but having a restore point from the same hour is what turns a broken update into a short interruption.
Can you migrate my WordPress site to a new host without downtime?
Yes, for most sites the switch is invisible to visitors. The new server is fully tested before DNS changes, and the old one stays live until the change has spread. Busy WooCommerce stores need a short pause on orders during the final sync, which I schedule for a quiet hour.
Do you maintain WordPress sites you did not build?
Yes. I start with an audit so I know what is installed, what is outdated and where the risks are before I take responsibility for updates.
Is speed and security work included?
Basic speed checks and security monitoring are part of the monthly routine. A full WordPress speed optimization project or a malware cleanup is quoted separately, because the work is much larger than routine care. If visitors are being sent to spam sites, my guide to the WordPress hacked redirect shows where to look first.
Can I cancel a monthly plan?
Yes. We agree the notice period at the start, and you always keep full ownership of the site, the hosting account and every backup. If you leave, I hand over logins and notes so the next person can carry on.
Related services
Further reading
Tell me what you are building.
A few lines about the project, who will use it and when it needs to ship are enough to start. You get a straight answer on whether wordpress maintenance and support is the right fit, and what it would take.
- Status
- Available for new projects
- Reply time
- I reply within an hour during working hours.
- Working hours
- 9 AM to 9 PM IST (UTC+5:30)
- Languages
- English, Hindi, Gujarati
Prefer email? Write to jaygajjar.dev@gmail.com.