The verdict in three sentences
For a trading company in Douala overseen from London, pay-per-fix interventions, billed at 25,000 to 60,000 FCFA each (about 40 to 90 EUR) as a 2026 ballpark, often cost more than a contract by the tenth call of the year. A maintenance contract brings what ad hoc work never guarantees: a known fix time, a daily backup and someone accountable when the site goes down. The Kolonell grid comes in Basic 35,000, Standard 75,000 and Premium 120,000 FCFA per month (50, 110 and 180 EUR), and the right level depends on what a day of downtime costs your sales activity.
Ad hoc or contract: what you really pay
The ad hoc model looks cheap as long as everything works. It becomes expensive for three reasons: each call starts with a billed diagnosis, the provider has no deadline obligation, and nobody watches updates between failures. In Douala, where power cuts and connectivity swings also hit poorly configured local servers, the lack of monitoring is paid for in days offline, and a London head office rarely hears about it before a buyer does.
| Criterion | Ad hoc intervention (2026 ballpark) | Monthly contract |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 25,000 to 60,000 FCFA per call | 35,000 to 120,000 FCFA per month with Kolonell |
| Response time | Subject to availability, often 2 to 7 days | Defined in the contract |
| Security updates | No, unless requested | Included |
| Backup | Rarely | Included, daily or weekly |
| Uptime monitoring | No | Included |
| Budget predictability | Low | Fixed fee |
| Accountability for outages | Unclear | In writing |
The Kolonell grid and service levels
The three plans below match Kolonell's current maintenance grid. Fix times are indicative and specified in each contract according to the site's technical scope.
| Plan | Monthly price | Updates | Backup | Indicative fix time | Suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 35,000 FCFA (50 EUR) | Monthly | Weekly | 48 business hours | 5 to 10 page brochure site |
| Standard | 75,000 FCFA (110 EUR) | Weekly | Daily | 24 business hours | Site generating quote requests |
| Premium | 120,000 FCFA (180 EUR) | Weekly + urgent patches | Daily + before each update | 4 to 8 business hours | Catalogue, client area, integrations |
| Managed hosting (option) | 25,000 to 75,000 FCFA | Included in monitoring | Per plan | Per plan | If current hosting is unstable |
| Out-of-scope changes | Quoted separately | No | No | Scheduled | New pages, new features |
Basic is enough for an online presence with no direct sales flow. As soon as the site feeds your prospecting, like a trader's quotation requests, Standard becomes the reasonable minimum.
Pricing the cost of downtime
The question is not "how much is the contract" but "how much does a day without a site cost me". For a trading company, the site is a showcase for foreign buyers, the entry point for quotation requests and proof of credibility during bank due diligence.
| Parameter (example) | Value |
|---|---|
| Quotation requests received via the site | 40 per month |
| Conversion rate to order | 10 % |
| Average gross margin per order | 400,000 FCFA |
| Margin generated per day via the site | (40 / 30) x 10 % x 400,000 = about 53,000 FCFA |
| Reputation impact (prudent estimate) | x 2 to x 3 |
| Estimated cost of one day offline | 100,000 to 160,000 FCFA |
With these assumptions, two four-day outages a year cost more than a full Standard contract.
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James, group finance director in London overseeing a 35-employee trading subsidiary in Douala (illustrative persona), paid last year for 14 interventions at 45,000 FCFA on average, i.e. 630,000 FCFA, and suffered 8 days offline estimated at 150,000 FCFA each, i.e. 1,200,000 FCFA. Real cost: 1,830,000 FCFA (about 2,790 EUR). With a Standard contract at 75,000 FCFA per month (900,000 FCFA a year) and one residual day offline, he estimates 1,050,000 FCFA. Expected savings: 780,000 FCFA per year (about 1,190 EUR), with a fixed budget and a written fix time.
FAQ
How much does website maintenance cost for a company in Douala in 2026?
A one-off intervention costs 25,000 to 60,000 FCFA as a 2026 ballpark. A Kolonell monthly contract costs 35,000, 75,000 or 120,000 FCFA (50, 110 or 180 EUR) for Basic, Standard or Premium.
What does a daily backup include?
A full copy of files and database every day, stored off the main server, with 14 to 30 days of history depending on the plan. It allows the site to be restored within hours after an outage or a hack.
Does the contract cover new features?
No, maintenance covers updates, security, backups and bug fixing. Changes are quoted separately, usually in development days.
Can a London head office pay in EUR or GBP?
Prices are set in FCFA, and the CEMAC franc is pegged to the euro at a fixed rate, like the WAEMU franc, so EUR billing is straightforward. Monthly or annual invoices can be settled by bank transfer according to the contract terms.
What commitment period should we plan?
A 12-month commitment is common and spreads the initial site audit. Check the reversibility clause: handover of access and a full backup within 7 days at contract end.
Let's scope your project. Send us your site address and outage history: we recommend the right plan, with an initial audit, fix time and annual budget. 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.
