Website management vs website maintenance: what is the difference?
Quick answer
Website maintenance is the technical hygiene of keeping a site alive: updates, backups, security, uptime. It runs whether you asked for anything or not. Website management is broader: it includes maintenance plus edits, campaign support, integration work, and someone who owns the strategy. Small brochure sites usually need maintenance only. Growing lead-gen and ecommerce sites usually need management.
Maintenance: the technical hygiene layer
CMS, plugin, and theme updates tested in staging before they go live.
Daily offsite backups that get restored on staging to verify they work.
Uptime, security, and form submission monitoring.
Emergency response when something breaks.
This runs in the background whether you asked for anything or not. Care-only plans start at $79 per month.
Management: the human and strategic layer on top
Content edits, page tweaks, new landing pages.
Product and collection setup for ecommerce sites.
Campaign support: pop-ups, discount setup, email design.
Integration health: Zapier, Make, HubSpot, Klaviyo, Google Ads pixels.
Someone accountable for the site as a business asset, not just a technical system. Care + Edits and above at $169 per month and up.
How to know which one you need
Truly static brochure site, no changes month to month: maintenance only.
Lead-gen site with occasional new pages, blog posts, or promo changes: management.
Ecommerce site with new products, promos, or campaigns every month: management, on a Commerce tier.
Agency serving multiple clients: white-label management, priced per client site.
Common questions
Is website management more expensive than website maintenance?+
Yes, because it includes edit hours. Maintenance-only plans start around $79 per month. Management plans that include a monthly edit block start at $169 per month and scale up with the hours included.
Can I have maintenance without management?+
Yes. Our Care plan is maintenance-only. If you never need edits, this is the honest fit. Most businesses find they need at least occasional edits and end up upgrading to Care + Edits.
Do you split management and edits into separate line items?+
Yes. Every plan is priced as base management plus a specific number of edit hours. Extra hours are add-on blocks (2h $150, 5h $325, 10h $600). No hidden hourly ticker.
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