The verdict in three sentences
A website without maintenance is not "free": it accrues a security debt that gets paid all at once, on average 1.7 incidents per year and a recovery cost of 80,000 to 300,000 FCFA. A monthly plan of 15,000 to 85,000 FCFA turns that unpredictable risk into a controlled fixed cost. The right tier depends on your traffic, your commercial reliance on the site and your need for a 99.9% uptime SLA.
The three plan tiers
Maintenance is not just a technical update: it is backup, monitoring, security and continuous improvement. Here is the 2026 reference grid for Dakar.
| Plan | Price/month | Included |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 15,000-25,000 FCFA | CMS/plugin updates, weekly backups, minor fixes |
| Intermediate | 35,000-55,000 FCFA | + uptime monitoring, light technical SEO, daily backups |
| Premium | 65,000-85,000 FCFA | + priority support, monthly analytics, content edits, 99.9% SLA |
The basic plan suits a static brochure site. Intermediate is the standard for an active SME. Premium targets sites generating leads or sales, where every hour of downtime has a direct commercial cost.
What skipping maintenance costs
Postponing maintenance does not remove the bill, it delays and worsens it. Let's compare over 12 months.
| 12-month scenario | No plan | With intermediate plan |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | 0 FCFA | 45,000 FCFA |
| Annual recurring cost | 0 FCFA | 540,000 FCFA |
| Hack recovery | 80,000-300,000 FCFA | 0 FCFA |
| Backup restore | 4-8h, often lost | 2-4h, guaranteed |
| Revenue lost (downtime) | 7-15 cumulative days | < 8h/year |
| SEO impact (ranking drop) | Yes, frequent | No |
An SME that thinks it is "saving" 540,000 FCFA/year exposes itself to a one-off recovery, ranking loss and several days of downtime. In the Senegalese market, an offline storefront for a week can lose the equivalent of several months of the plan fee.
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Mini case study
Mamadou runs an auto-parts shop in Pikine with a WordPress site generating 30 quote requests a month. He refuses a 45,000 FCFA/month plan to "save money". By month 8, an outdated plugin is exploited: defaced site, 6 days offline, recovery billed at 180,000 FCFA, plus a 35% Google traffic drop for 2 months. Tally: about 400,000 FCFA in losses and fees. The annual plan (540,000 FCFA) would have prevented the incident and smoothed the spend while improving his SEO.
FAQ
Which plan for a simple brochure site? The basic plan (15,000-25,000 FCFA/month) is enough: weekly updates and backups cover most of the risk for a site that rarely changes.
What does a 99.9% uptime SLA mean? It guarantees less than 8.8 hours of downtime per year. Beyond that, penalties or compensation apply. It is a premium-plan standard (65,000-85,000 FCFA/month).
How much does post-hack recovery cost? Between 80,000 and 300,000 FCFA depending on severity, not counting lost rankings and revenue. Proactive maintenance almost always costs less.
How often should my site be backed up? Weekly at minimum, daily as soon as you take orders or have forms. Restoring a good backup takes 2 to 4 hours.
Does maintenance include SEO? Light technical SEO (speed, tags, sitemap) is included from the intermediate plan. Content SEO is a separate service, billed 75,000 to 300,000 FCFA/month.
Let's talk about your project. We assess your site and propose the maintenance plan matched to your traffic and budget. 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.
