The verdict in three sentences
Application maintenance (TMA) is the line 6 buyers out of 10 forget at quote time, yet it weighs 30-40% of the 3-year TCO. Budget 900-2,400 EUR/year for a brochure site, 15-25% of build cost per year for a business app, or 250,000-1,200,000 FCFA/year in West Africa depending on criticality. Without it, technical debt and security holes accumulate until they force a premature rebuild as early as year 3.
What maintenance actually covers
Good maintenance isn't just hosting: it's corrective, adaptive, supervision and SLA. Here are the four blocks and their typical 2026 weight.
| Block | Content | Share of maintenance budget |
|---|---|---|
| Corrective | Bugs, browser compatibility, security patches | 30-40% |
| Adaptive | Small enhancements, hours package | 25-35% |
| Hosting & infra | Server, CDN, backups, SSL | 15-25% |
| Supervision & SLA | Monitoring, on-call, recovery | 10-20% |
2026 maintenance price grid
The amounts below are a 2026 order of magnitude. The SLA (recovery time) moves the price far more than the number of pages.
| Project type | France (EUR/yr) | West Africa (FCFA/yr) | Typical SLA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple brochure site | 900 - 1,500 | 250,000 - 500,000 | 48 h |
| Premium brochure site | 1,500 - 2,400 | 500,000 - 800,000 | 24 h |
| E-commerce | 2,400 - 6,000 | 800,000 - 1,800,000 | 8-24 h |
| Business application | 15-25% of build | 1,000,000 - 4,000,000 | 4-8 h |
| Hours package | 5-20 h/month included | 5-20 h/month included | Per contract |
| 24/7 on-call | +40-70% of package | +40-70% of package | 4 h |
Mini case study
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Karim, manager of a real-estate agency in Dakar, had a listings portal built for 6,000,000 FCFA. He first declined maintenance to save money. After 14 months: an un-updated plugin opens a hole, the site goes down for 3 days in peak season, estimated loss of 900,000 FCFA in mandates. He then subscribes to maintenance at 1,200,000 FCFA/year (20% of build) with an 8 h SLA and daily backups. Over 3 years: 3,600,000 FCFA of maintenance versus an early rebuild quoted at 4,500,000 FCFA plus the avoided downtime losses. Maintenance pays for itself at the first incident prevented.
FAQ
How much should I budget for brochure-site maintenance? A 2026 order of magnitude: 900-2,400 EUR/year in France, 250,000-800,000 FCFA/year in West Africa, depending on SLA and the included hours package (5 to 20 h/month).
Why does a business app cost 15-25% of the build per year? Because it evolves with your business and integrations (payment, ERP). Security patches, dependency updates and support are continuous effort, not one-off.
What happens without maintenance? Technical debt accumulates, dependencies age, holes open. The deferred cost explodes: you pay for a premature rebuild at year 3 instead of smoothed maintenance.
Does the SLA really change the price? Yes, sharply. Moving from 48 h recovery to 4 h with 24/7 on-call can add 40-70% to the package. Calibrate the SLA to business criticality, not comfort.
Are hosting and maintenance the same thing? No. Hosting (server, CDN, SSL) is one block of maintenance but covers neither corrective work, adaptive work, nor application supervision. A clear contract separates the two.
Let's scope your project. Tell us the application type, its criticality and the target SLA: we quote smoothed maintenance (hours package + SLA + backups) instead of a rebuild at year 3. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
