Free tool · Planning
WordPress Maintenance Cost Calculator
The WordPress maintenance cost calculator turns your own time and running costs into a monthly and annual estimate. Replace the example amounts with your figures to see what your current approach costs.
Free WordPress maintenance cost calculator
Free to use without an account. View the result here and choose whether to receive it by email.
What the tool covers
Budget for ongoing WordPress care
Monthly maintenance time, an hourly rate, hosting and annual software licences, calculated from the amounts you enter.
Routine maintenance time
Monthly hours multiplied by your chosen hourly rate gives the labour part of the estimate, including the value of your own time if you maintain the site yourself.
Monthly hosting
The hosting amount is added as a recurring monthly cost. Enter the part attributable to this website when an invoice covers several sites.
Software renewals
Annual plugin and theme licence costs are divided across twelve months, helping you compare renewals with recurring monthly spending.
Monthly and annual totals
The calculator combines your inputs into a GBP planning estimate. It does not infer prices from your website or add a provider's service quote.
Understand the limits
The figures are planning assumptions in GBP, not a BugShield quote or market average. The calculator does not add tax, unplanned repairs or other costs beyond the amounts you enter.
Understanding your result
Use the estimate to compare the work you are paying for
A maintenance budget is useful when its inputs match the work and services your site actually needs. Keep your invoices nearby and review the assumptions before comparing plans.
Separate time from cash spending
If you entered a value for your own time, the labour total represents that time's value rather than an invoice you pay. Use it to compare doing the work yourself with paying someone to handle it.
Allow for the renewal schedule
The monthly estimate spreads annual licences evenly, but a provider can charge the whole renewal at once. Keep those renewal dates in your cash-flow plan alongside the annual total.
Compare plans with the same scope
Check whether a quoted plan includes hosting, licences, backups and repairs before comparing its price with your estimate. Use a consistent approach to tax in your figures and budget separately for work outside the plan.
Use your actual spending and time
The editable figures are examples to explain the calculation. Check your hosting invoices and plugin renewals, then estimate the time you spend maintaining the site each month. If a support plan already includes that work, avoid counting the same cost twice.
Understand the calculation
Monthly labour is maintenance hours multiplied by the hourly rate. The calculator adds monthly hosting and one twelfth of annual licences. The annual estimate uses twelve months of labour and hosting plus the annual licences, before rounding for display. Small differences can appear if you multiply the rounded monthly figure by twelve. Amounts use pounds sterling; the tool does not add or remove tax from the figures you enter.
Compare the scope as well as the price
A lower monthly total does not explain who handles a failed update or an urgent repair. When comparing your estimate with a maintenance plan, check backup retention, monitoring, support hours and which fixes are included. Allow a separate budget for work outside that scope.
Questions about this tool
How does the WordPress maintenance cost calculator work?
It adds monthly hours multiplied by an hourly rate, monthly hosting and annual licences divided by twelve. The report shows the monthly and annual estimate in GBP.
Are the example amounts typical market prices?
No. They are editable examples, not verified market averages or a service quote. Replace them with your costs before using the estimate to plan a budget.
Does the estimate include VAT or emergency repairs?
The calculator does not add them separately. Tax or repair costs are included only if you include them in your figures. Use a consistent approach to VAT when comparing estimates and allow for unplanned work in your budget.
Do I need to enter my website address?
No. A public website cannot reveal your invoices or maintenance time. This calculator uses the figures you provide.
Can I email the cost breakdown?
Yes. Calculate the estimate, then use the optional email form to receive the result. No BugShield account is required.
Free website widget
Add this tool to your website
Let visitors use the WordPress Maintenance Cost Calculator on your own page, including the option to email their results. Copy the code into an Elementor HTML widget or a WordPress Custom HTML block, then preview the published page.
Get the embed code
The widget fits the width of its container. Increase the height value if you want more of the report visible at once; longer results can be scrolled inside the widget.
BugShield hosts and runs the tool. Results and email addresses stay inside the widget and are not shared with the page embedding it. If your editor removes the code or your site blocks external widgets, ask your website administrator to allow frames from bugshield.co.uk.
Need help with the next step?
A BugShield developer can review the findings and help you decide what your WordPress site needs.
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