The verdict in three sentences
A B2B website without a maintenance contract is a security and commercial risk, especially after the original vendor has left. Start with a takeover audit at EUR 900-2,500 (USD 970-2,700), then choose a retainer between EUR 150 and 1,200 per month depending on how critical the site is. Require a 4 business-hour response SLA, monthly security updates and tested daily backups.
Maintenance, application support, managed hosting: what are we talking about?
The three terms get mixed up in quotes. Clarifying scope prevents paying twice for the same service.
- Preventive maintenance: CMS, plugin and server updates, backups, uptime monitoring.
- Corrective maintenance: fixing bugs and outages within a contractual response time.
- Application support (small enhancements): functional changes billed in days or hours (new form, new page template, CRM integration).
- Managed hosting: running the hosting and infrastructure, often billed separately.
2026 retainer tiers
| Tier | Monthly price | Typical content | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | EUR 150 - 300 | Monthly updates, daily backup, monitoring | Brochure site, under 20 pages |
| Business | EUR 350 - 600 | Essential + 2 h of changes/month, 8 business-hour SLA | Lead-generating B2B site |
| Premium | EUR 650 - 900 | Business + 4 h of changes, 4 business-hour SLA, monthly report | Site with CRM, client area |
| Critical | EUR 900 - 1,200 | Premium + on-call, 2 h SLA, quarterly restore tests | B2B e-commerce, portal |
| Out of scope (time and materials) | Day rate EUR 550 - 750 | Changes beyond quota | All |
| Takeover audit | EUR 900 - 2,500 (one-off) | Inventory, vulnerabilities, documentation | Before any contract |
Unused enhancement hours are rarely carried over beyond one month. Negotiate a quarterly rollover: most vendors accept it.
What a serious SLA must contain
| Incident level | Example | Response | Target resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 blocking | Site down, hack | 2 - 4 business hours | 8 business hours |
| P2 major | Contact form broken | 4 business hours | 2 business days |
| P3 minor | Broken layout on one page | 1 business day | 5 business days |
| P4 enhancement | New section, new field | 2 business days | Per quote |
| Backup | Full restore | 4 business hours | 1 business day |
| Uptime | 24/7 monitoring | Alert within 5 min | 99.9% target |
Separate response (someone qualifies the incident) from resolution (the issue is fixed). An SLA that only mentions response does not protect you. Also add penalties, even symbolic ones: 5% of the monthly fee per P1 breach is enough to create accountability.
The takeover audit, a non-negotiable step
After a vendor leaves, the takeover audit answers four questions: who holds the access (registrar, host, DNS, Google Search Console), which versions are running, which known vulnerabilities exist and which documentation is missing. Budget EUR 900 for a simple WordPress site and up to EUR 2,500 for a custom site with APIs and a client area. In 1 case out of 3, the audit reveals the domain name is registered to the former vendor: fix that before anything else.
Mini case study
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Sophie, CIO of an 80-employee industrial services firm in Paris, runs a WordPress site connected to HubSpot that generates 45 leads per month. The original vendor has shut down. She gets two offers: pure time and materials at a EUR 650 day rate, or a Premium retainer at EUR 750 per month.
Previous year history: 9 days of ad hoc work, i.e. EUR 5,850, plus a 3-day form outage estimated at 15 lost leads. With a 10% conversion rate and an average deal of EUR 12,000, the outage cost about EUR 18,000 in potential revenue. The Premium retainer costs EUR 9,000 per year, with a EUR 1,500 takeover audit included in year 1. Apparent extra cost: EUR 4,650. Avoiding a single long outage justifies the retainer.
FAQ
How much does B2B website maintenance cost in 2026?
EUR 150 to 300 per month for a simple brochure site, EUR 350 to 900 for a B2B site with CRM, up to EUR 1,200 for a critical site with on-call support.
Retainer or time and materials?
A retainer pays off once you use more than 6 to 8 days of work per year. Below that, time and materials at EUR 550 to 750 per day is acceptable if the SLA is written into the contract.
What if the former vendor holds the access?
Request the return of access and code in writing, relying on your IP assignment clause. A domain transfer takes 5 to 7 days.
How often should backups be tested?
At least one full restore per quarter on a staging environment. An untested backup fails in about 20% of real cases.
Can a maintenance contract be terminated easily?
Aim for a 12-month commitment at most, 1 to 3 months' notice and a reversibility clause: code, access and documentation returned within 15 days.
Let's scope your project. Send us the site URL and the list of access you hold: we price the takeover audit and the retainer that fits your criticality level. 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.
