Website maintenance: without a plan, your site is a ticking bomb
In 2026, a WordPress site left unmaintained for 12 months accumulates on average 14 missed CMS updates, 60 to 120 outdated plugin releases, 2 to 5 publicly exploitable critical vulnerabilities, and a 35 to 50 % chance of compromise over the year. Maintenance is not a luxury; it is the insurance that your site keeps running without becoming a doorway for spam bots, malware injections, or a Google blacklist that wrecks your SEO.
Yet 60 % of Senegalese SMEs and 40 % of French SMEs under 20 employees have no signed maintenance contract. They discover the problem the day the site goes down.
This article details the 3 levels of monthly plan in 2026, what each tier must contain, and the price ranges observed in Senegal and France.
The 3 maintenance plan tiers
Basic — 50,000 to 150,000 FCFA / month (80-250 EUR)
For: 5-10 page showcase site, traffic < 5,000 visitors / month, no critical transactions.
Standard contents:
- CMS and plugin updates monthly (1 pass / month)
- Weekly offsite backup (S3, Drive, Backblaze)
- Basic uptime monitoring (UptimeRobot 5 min)
- Email support within 48 business hours
- Simple monthly report (1 page)
- 0 to 1 h of content modifications included / month
Not included: design changes, new features, weekend intervention, restoration after a major hack (billed separately).
Standard — 150,000 to 400,000 FCFA / month (250-650 EUR)
For: 10-30 page showcase, e-commerce under 200 products, traffic 5,000-50,000 visitors / month.
Standard contents:
- CMS and plugin updates bi-monthly (2 passes / month)
- Daily offsite backup + 30-day retention
- Weekly security scan (Wordfence, Sucuri or MalCare)
- Uptime + performance monitoring (Core Web Vitals)
- Email + WhatsApp support within 24 business hours
- Detailed monthly report with recommendations
- 2 to 4 h of modifications included / month
- 1 quarterly security audit included
Premium — 400,000 to 1,500,000 FCFA / month (650-2,500 EUR)
For: e-commerce ≥ 200 products, SaaS, critical institutional sites, high-traffic media, banking or healthcare sites.
Standard contents:
- CMS and plugin updates weekly + security patch within 24 h
- Real-time or hourly backup + 90-day retention + multi-region offsite
- Daily security scan + managed WAF (Cloudflare WAF, Sucuri Firewall)
- 24/7 monitoring with SMS / call alerts
- 24/7 support with SLA < 4 h on critical incident
- Comprehensive monthly report + quarterly strategic review
- 8 to 20 h of modifications included / month
- Annual pen-test included
- Priority restoration in case of incident
Recap table of the 3 tiers
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
| Tier | FCFA / month | EUR / month | Target | Hours included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 50,000 - 150,000 | 80 - 250 | SME showcase | 0-1 h |
| Standard | 150,000 - 400,000 | 250 - 650 | Showcase + light e-commerce | 2-4 h |
| Premium | 400,000 - 1,500,000 | 650 - 2,500 | E-commerce, SaaS, institutional | 8-20 h |
What a good maintenance contract must always specify
- Exact scope: CMS only? Paid plugins included? Hosting included or billed separately?
- Update frequency: monthly, bi-monthly, weekly
- Backup policy: frequency, retention, destinations, restoration tests
- Support SLA: response time vs resolution time (not the same)
- Modification hours included + hourly rate beyond (typically 25,000 to 75,000 FCFA / h)
- Termination conditions: 30 or 60-day notice, full site export
- Exclusions: new features, design redesign, server migration
- Penalties: what happens if the agency misses its SLA?
Examples observed in Dakar and France
- Dakar agency (Plateau): standard plan 250,000 FCFA / month for a 15-page WordPress site with WooCommerce disabled, 3 h modifs / month, support within 24 h.
- Dakar agency (Almadies): premium plan 850,000 FCFA / month for a 400-product e-commerce, Cloudflare WAF included, WhatsApp support 7 days a week, 12 h modifs / month.
- French agency (Lyon): standard plan 380 EUR / month for WP + WooCommerce 80 products, bi-monthly updates, 3 h modifs.
- French agency (Paris): premium plan 1,800 EUR / month for B2B SaaS, 24/7 support, annual pen-test included.
At Kolonell, the standard maintenance plan (250,000 FCFA / month) is included in the first year on creation offers ≥ 1.5M FCFA, then renewable a la carte.
FAQ
Do I absolutely need a maintenance contract?
No, but the alternative is paying 5 to 15 times more in emergency intervention the day the site goes down. A basic plan at 80,000 FCFA / month prevents nearly all avoidable incidents.
Can I do maintenance myself?
Yes if you're trained. Count 4 to 8 h / month of your time for an average WordPress site: updates, tests, backup, security scan. Question: is your time worth less than 25,000 FCFA / h?
How much does an out-of-plan intervention cost?
Emergency hourly rate in Dakar: 35,000 to 75,000 FCFA / h, with a 2 h minimum billed. To recover a hacked site: 300,000 to 1,200,000 FCFA depending on severity.
Does the plan include hosting?
Not always. Read the contract. Standard shared hosting Senegal: 8,000 to 25,000 FCFA / month extra. VPS / dedicated cloud: 30,000 to 150,000 FCFA / month.
What if my current agency doesn't honor its SLA?
1) Document every breach in writing, 2) request a credit or discount, 3) on repeat, trigger the termination clause. Always negotiate a full site export in the contract.
Let's talk about your maintenance
If you want an audit of your current contract or a comparative quote for a maintenance plan, contact us. 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.
