Many website owners pay for “hosting” or “maintenance” and assume the whole job is covered. Then something breaks, or someone needs a new page, and it turns out nobody was responsible for that.
Hosting, maintenance and support sound alike. They are different jobs, and one provider may do all three or only one. This article explains each, what is usually left out, and how to check what you are actually buying.
The short version
| What it is | The question it answers | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | The server and services that keep your website available | “Is my website online and fast enough?” |
| Maintenance | Regular work that keeps the site current, secure and recoverable | “Is my website being looked after?” |
| Support | A person you can ask to fix, explain or change something | “Who do I call when something goes wrong?” |
A fourth job sits beside these: changing your content or building new features. It is the one most often assumed to be included, and most often is not.
Hosting: where your website lives
Your website is a set of files and a database. Hosting is the computer (the server) that stores them and delivers pages to visitors.
Good hosting is mostly invisible. You notice it when the site is slow, goes offline or cannot cope with a busy day. Depending on the provider, hosting can include things such as backups, security tooling and monitoring. Some plans include almost none of these.
Hosting does not, by itself, mean anyone is updating your website. Plenty of hosts will keep a server running perfectly while the site on it falls years out of date.
If you want more detail on choosing a host, our earlier article on what to consider when choosing a hosting company covers that ground.
Maintenance: keeping the site healthy
A WordPress website depends on WordPress itself, a theme and usually several plugins. Each is software that receives updates, some of them for security reasons. Maintenance is the routine work of applying those updates safely, checking the site still works afterwards, and making sure you can recover if it does not.
Typical maintenance includes:
- Updating WordPress, the theme and plugins.
- Keeping backups and knowing they can be restored.
- Watching for security problems.
- Monitoring whether the site is online.
- Checking that important features, such as forms, still work after changes.
For a practical list of the checks involved, see our WordPress maintenance checklist.
Notice the last point. Updates can change how a form, a shop or an integration behaves. A provider who installs updates but never checks your forms is doing part of the job.
Support: someone to help when it matters
Support is access to a person. It might mean:
- Troubleshooting when a page, form or plugin stops working.
- Answering “how do I do this?” questions.
- Making changes you cannot or do not want to make yourself.
- Helping when something unexpected happens, such as an outage.
Support is also where arrangements differ most. Some providers answer only questions about their own hosting. Some fix problems but do not make changes. Some work through a ticket system, others by direct contact. None of these is wrong, but they feel very different when you are under pressure.
What is often not included
Whatever the label, check these before you assume they are covered:
- Content changes. Writing or editing pages, swapping photos, adding team members, updating prices.
- New features or pages. A new booking tool, a landing page, a redesigned section.
- Marketing work. SEO, advertising, email campaigns.
- Third-party subscriptions. Premium plugin licences, email services, CRM accounts, domain registration.
- Problems caused outside the website. For example, an issue in your email provider or a connected business system.
None of these is unreasonable to charge for separately. The problem arises when nobody told you.
Who does what: a responsibility table
Use this table to sort out who is responsible for each task on your website. Fill in the last column for your own situation. Where nobody’s name goes, you have found a gap.
| Task | Hosting | Maintenance | Support / development | Usually your team | Who is responsible today? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Server keeps running | Yes | ||||
| Monitoring for downtime | Sometimes | Sometimes | |||
| Backups taken | Sometimes | Often | |||
| Backups tested or restorable | Sometimes | ||||
| WordPress, theme and plugin updates | Yes | ||||
| Checking forms and key pages after updates | Sometimes | Sometimes | |||
| Security monitoring | Sometimes | Sometimes | |||
| Fixing a broken page or plugin | Yes | ||||
| Answering “how do I edit this?” | Yes | ||||
| Changing text, photos or prices | Sometimes | Often | |||
| Building new pages or features | Development | ||||
| Renewing domain and plugin licences | Often | ||||
| CRM, email and analytics accounts | Yes |
The “Sometimes” entries are where providers differ. That is why you ask.
How Vibes Design handles it
We split the work along the same lines.
Our managed hosting and care plans start from $99 per month inc GST. Managed hosting includes Melbourne-based hosting, WordPress, theme and plugin updates, security monitoring, daily backups, performance optimisation, uptime monitoring, troubleshooting and direct support.
Content changes are not included in that package. Content changes and new features are quoted separately. We also record short video walkthroughs for clients and run recorded training sessions at handover, so your team can make routine edits themselves.
If your site is hacked or down, contact Dr Web (drweb.com.au), our specialist recovery service from the same team, or send us an urgent enquiry. See also our WordPress security page.
If someone else built your website, we offer a free assessment of it, and we do not turn sites away because another developer built them. Our WordPress support page explains how that works.
Questions to ask any provider
Take this list to your current provider or to anyone you are considering. Write down the answers.
- Where is the website hosted, and what happens if the server fails?
- How often are backups taken, where are they stored and when were they last restored as a test?
- Who installs WordPress, theme and plugin updates? How often?
- After updates, does anyone check our forms, shop or integrations?
- How is downtime detected, and who is told?
- If something breaks, who do I contact and how quickly can I expect a reply?
- Which tasks are included in the monthly fee, and which are charged separately?
- Are content changes included? If not, how are they requested and priced?
- Which licences and subscriptions are in my name, and which are in yours?
- If I leave, what can I take with me, and how long does the handover take?
The last two questions matter more than they look. They determine whether you can move on if the relationship stops working. Our guide to changing web developers goes through that process.
Choosing the right level of help
Not every website needs the same arrangement.
- A simple brochure site may only need reliable hosting, updates and a way to ask for help.
- A site with forms and a CRM connection should include checks that enquiries still arrive after every update.
- An online store has more at stake, because downtime and failed checkouts cost money. It deserves closer monitoring and a clear contact for urgent problems.
Match the arrangement to what would hurt most if it stopped working.
A sensible next step
You do not need to change anything today. Start by filling in the responsibility table for your own website and noting the gaps. Then ask your provider the questions above.
If you would like a second opinion, we can look over your website and hosting setup and tell you what we see. There is no obligation to move.
