I know what some of you are thinking right now.. why on earth would I need a service to help me with the maintenance of my WordPress site?
If you’re a business owner, freelancer, or someone else whose website is integral to bringing in business, it’s easy to worry about and spend a lot of time and energy on maintaining your website. But at the end of the day, if you free up that time and energy, aren’t there other areas you can tackle that can lead to a much higher return on investment?
If leaving the maintenance to someone else saved you just a few hours a week, how much extra money could that translate into? (Or alternatively, how much extra joy from the extra free time?)
Instead of worrying about the newest update, uptime or security, or trying to make small fixes yourself, you could be bringing on a new client, finishing up a chapter for your new book or put the finishing touches to your next app.
While WordPress makes maintaining and updating a website relatively easy, it can be surprisingly time consuming. Updating plugins, checking for compatibility issues, backups, optimizing your database, the list goest on.
It can be especially bad if you’ve developed slight OCD about keeping everything up-to-date and running smoothly, which is easy to do when your livelihood depends on one or more websites.
WordPress maintenance and support services are a way to do away with the time spent and anxiety that often goes hand in hand with maintaining important websites. And it’s also a great way to get support for those times when Googling and some experience isn’t enough.
This post gives you an overview and introduction to a few of the more popular services, to help you get one step closer to finding the one that’s right for you.
WP Curve
Despite being one of the younger alternatives mentioned in this post, WP Curve has been able to carve out a space (and make a name) for itself by doing a few things differently. First off, they actually offer small jobs done by developers(30 minutes or less), and they are incredibly transparent about their business.
Other than sharing their revenue and plans for the future, they also share things that are even more interesting to a prospective customer, like their monthly average response times(10 hours and 10 minutes in march).
Their basic ‘Professional’ plan at 99$/month (79$ if billed annually) offers the unlimited small jobs, chat and email support, upgrades, backups, and monthly security scans. Their VIP plan at 199$/month (159$/m annually) offers all that, a shorter response time, and up to 3 job requests at a time instead of 1.
WP Maintainer
Just like it’s name suggests, this service takes maintenance seriously. Offering compatibility support(up to an hour of support should your site unexpectedly break due to a WordPress, theme or plugin update), backups, Sucuri monitoring, and monthly WordPress support.
It seems like you can get hands-on developer help for a number of smaller issues(CSS styling of a new element, CSS and JS optimization), read their Terms of Service for more information on exactly what falls under monthly WordPress Support. Larger requests, like site redesign or custom development can be fulfilled at a discounted rate of 99$/h.
WPMatic
WPMatic has a simple, straightforward workflow that lets WordPress users tell the company about the issue they’re facing and then have professionals fix everything as soon as possible once they’ve subscribed to one of their plans. WPMatic offers a multitude of services covering everything from WordPress installation to security configurations and creating backups to customizing your site’s front-end.
The service doesn’t focus on simply solving your problems, however. At WPMatic, they provide a complete solution which also includes a detailed report on the job and helpful recommendations for the future so that you can take measures to prevent similar problems from arising in the future.
Their basic Starter plan is priced at $59 per month ($46 per month if billed annually) and features site maintenance, weekly backups, 24 hour support, unlimited small 30 minute jobs for a single site, detailed notes, and WordPress core updates. When you want to take things to the next level, the Business plan priced at $99 per month ($79 per month if billed annually) offers the basic features in addition to access to any TeslaThemes theme, optimized loading speed, and a personal concierge. For $159 per month ($124 per month if billed annually) will give you access to all of the features with WPMatic’s Enterprise plan.
WP Copilot
This service is an Australian alternative, perhaps more fitting for those who have sites with audiences mostly based in Asia, or of course Australia.
Because the support team works during Australian work hours (6 AM to 12 AM), rather than American or European ones, you might be better covered during peak traffic hours.
For 39AUD per month, roughly 30$ US, you get 30 minutes of WordPress help monthly, as well as updates, backups and help with site security and loading times.
WP Site Care
Their cheapest plan at 39$/month (29$ if billed annually)offers security monitoring, daily backups, and updates. Their specialized plan at 99$/month (79$/m annually) includes that, as well as site performance optimization, SEO optimization, eCommerce support and one hour support response time.
The downside here seems to be that if you want any hands on developer help, it looks like you need to upgrade to their Business plan at 299$/month (239$/m annually) which includes site migrations, uptime monitoring, phone support and 2 hours design and development per month.
WP Radius
WP Radius is a full-service WordPress Support & Maintenance company that will take care of all your WP needs.
With a team full of experts, WP Radius offers unlimited help and support; whether you just have a question or need your design or layout changed. They will even publish your blog posts for you. They take care of all your troubleshooting, updates and backups … so you don’t have to.
WP Radius is a great option for business owners, entrepreneurs, and bloggers who need a reliable support team to maintain their WordPress website.
Plans with unlimited support start at just $67 a month.
WP Mayday
Perhaps the newest kids on the block, these guys offer daily backups as well as, malware and virus monitoring across all plans, they seem focused on helping you avoid… prolonged downtime or other complications due to incompatibility issues or malware.
Even their Lite plan at 30$/month offers some access to hands-on help from developers, up to 5 requests under 30 minutes per month. With basic at 60$, you get unlimited requests, and with premium at 100$ you get unlimited 40 minute requests.
Mayday could be a good choice for someone who likes to tinker a bit with the design or code of a theme, without the experience to do so 100% safely, though I’m not sure they can prove that their WordPress developers are the ‘world’s best and most experienced’.
Fix My Wp
Offers backups(monthly for their junior plan, and weekly for ninja), weekly spam cleaning, weekly database optimization, and email support.
While at first look the design (perhaps specifically the logo) looks a little dated, this is just a testament to their status as somewhat of a veteran in this space. It does not seem like hands-on developer time is included in any of the plans.
Junior costs 50$/site/month, and Ninja 100$.
WP Valet
The WP Valet website is a little hesitant to show you the actual price of the plan. (I don’t like having to answer a survey just to look at plans or features, but I can see it being useful to online business owners who don’t know exactly what they need).
With 250$ a month for the bare-bones plan of updates, uptime monitoring, backups and ticket support, it can seem a little pricy. At least on paper, WP Valet seems like less value for money than many of the other options.
But, I don’t know if they have more qualified staff, considerably higher staff/member rates, or if ticket response times are miles away from other services.
Conclusion
There’s a wide range of options available, and with prices as low as 30$/month, it’s hard to argue against bringing in a helping hand to deal with the day-to-day maintenance of your site. They can be an amazing help for business owners who can’t afford to hire someone full-time or part-time to maintain their website.
One of the great things about doing so, is that even if you have a tendency to get laser-focused when you’re doing a new project, your website will still be in safe hands with 0 hands-on attention from you. With many of the services this also gives you an added layer of security, and an extra safety-net to catch any potential downtime.
Which of these services you should choose depends on you, the needs of your site and any wants or extra worries that needs reassuring.
This is not a review of the individual services, but rather an overview aimed at helping you find services to take a closer at. The next step towards finding the perfect WordPress maintenance and support service is to visit the website of a particular service that appealed to you and take a closer look.
Have any experience using any of these services (or others)? Please share in the comments below.
Rahil Pirani says
August 26, 2013 at 12:43 pmBeen using keepwp.com for maintenance…. Highly recommend!
Devesh says
August 30, 2013 at 4:48 pmKeepwp, looks like a great service. Would be happy to include it in the list.
Thanks for the suggestion, Rahil.
Gautam says
August 28, 2013 at 11:22 amReally a helping one post for a newbie like me. Thanks for sharing.
Devesh says
August 30, 2013 at 4:45 pmGlad I could able to help you, Gautam.
Thanks for stopping by.
Ryan Sullivan says
August 29, 2013 at 3:24 pmThanks so much for the mention!
Devesh says
August 30, 2013 at 4:46 pmYour welcome, Ryan. Keep up the awesome work at WPSiteCare.
Beth Furmon says
October 10, 2013 at 3:39 pmWe have been using Pressed Solutions for all of our WordPress design, development, and support and they have been absolutely outstanding, providing us with reliable, responsive service for over a year now. I HIGHLY recommend their services!
Beth
Valentin Miculit says
October 14, 2013 at 9:06 pmHi Devesh,
check us out at http://wpupkeep.com WordPress Maintenance starting at only $9.95/mo.
Cheers,
Valentin
Muhammad Umair says
May 25, 2014 at 4:35 pmHi Devesh,
Thanks for helping people with a list of WordPress support services.
Devesh, you can add SpeedyW to the list. We offer WordPress development, support, maintenance and optimization services.
If I am not wrong we’re the only service that offers continuous WordPress optimization.
Cheers,
Muhammad Umair
Chris Finnegan says
April 20, 2015 at 12:36 pmHey Ragnar,
Thanks for adding WP Copilot to your list, we appreciate it!
Cheers
Chris
Shayna says
June 21, 2015 at 11:53 pmI just found this article today as we were reviewing our own maintenance offerings. Seeing the description for WP Valet, I have to add here that I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of the guys from WPValet on a few different occasions (including at WordCamp and at a local WordPress meetup). I can tell you, their service is not for the hobby blogger but for serious businesses, however you really do get what you pay for with them.
They are EXPERTS and they are not kidding when they call themselves “valet”. They do vigilance updates (which we also do at Cultivar, but we currently only offer/provide maintenance to our website clients), which means they’re on top of every new update and threat. They don’t wait for your “once a month” updates to get in there and fix issues that could potentially cause trouble on your site. They are friendly and professional and really provide thoughtful, relationship-oriented, whip-smart service. Always looking for ways to make your sh*t run better is another way to put it. If I needed someone to manage my site I would recommend them, and I have no motivation for doing that here other than that I like them and want to help them be represented fairly online. Anyway, hope this helps some other readers!
WPER says
June 23, 2015 at 12:33 pmHi Devesh,
Fantastic article.
I would also like to recommend adding WP Emergency Room to this list. You can find us at wpemergencyroom. We are a dedicated WordPress only platform – developed with the budget-strapped user in mind. We handle any/all small WordPress related fixes/tasks. Great service, great team.
Regards,
Sam says
July 23, 2015 at 7:48 pmWe have been working on wordpress support and maintenance. wpcares.com
I have been there for a year solo and has now increased my team to three and has been getting an awesome feedback from my clients. Would look forward to expand more to be included in your list 🙂
The guys listed here are awesome I believe as they have a huge traffic and their site is doing good probably.
Thanks Devesh
Keep writing
WP Nexus says
August 6, 2015 at 2:42 pmSome great services up there, used a couple myself in the past.
Not sure if you’re still updating this list but if you are feel free to check us out (wpnexus.io) and add us to it if you think it’ll bring value. We offer something a bit different with just one fixed price plan and we keep everything in-house (no outsourcing at all). All our work undergoes full QA checks too unlike some support providers.
Daryl Green says
February 5, 2016 at 7:36 pmHey Devesh,
I would like it if you considered adding stylemix-wp-support.com to your list of potential companies. They use the same developing team that made them Envato Elite Authors so as well as regular monthly backups, scans and updates they also have 14 years experience of wordpress theme design so if a customer wants a design problem fixed they can do that just as easily as a code problem.
Cheers
Daryl
Felipe Pavão says
May 24, 2016 at 12:05 amHi, thanks for this amazing article.
I just want to share a short feedback of my career. Besides working for Codeable as an expert, I’ve started a maintenance service last year and now I have more than 30 clients, that pays me 99$ monthly to take care of their WordPress installations.
I’d like to advise everybody to offer this to their clients. It’s a good option to get predictable income monthly.
Brandon Yanofsky says
May 25, 2016 at 2:51 amThank you for including WP Radius in your list!
Maria Camille says
May 25, 2016 at 11:41 pmI’ve been using WP Radius – the Team is so great over there. I’ve known the owner for some years as he has helped me with on WP site after another. So glad they have formed this service now. Highly recommend.
Sara Brejt says
May 25, 2016 at 11:50 pmWPRadius has my vote! Responsive, thorough and comprehensive and a great value. Glad they got your vote too!
NORMAN ROBERTSON says
May 26, 2016 at 1:32 amAs picky and discerning customers, who want excellence and to be 100% satisfied, we searched diligently for the best in class WP site maintenance and support services. Over 9 months ago we became enterprise clients with WP Radius and it was a very wise business decision.
WP Radius founder, Brandon and his team are WordPress experts and know that the customer is the heart of business success. They are highly-competent, very smart people and go out of their way to create and deliver superior service. Once you sign up with WP Radius, you’ll never look elsewhere again!
Wendy says
May 26, 2016 at 2:45 pmWPRadius terrific! There is nothing they can’t tackle, and if they don’t know the answer or how to do a request which is rare, they go to the source and find out how. They even check in with you if they haven’t heard from you about past tasks. The response time is within hours which is great. They really have made my life easier.
Susannah says
May 27, 2016 at 8:10 pmWP Radius is wonderful! Quick helpful service for all those annoying WP things that just won’t work without someone to code for you. Love them!
evelyne oreskovich says
May 31, 2016 at 5:09 pmWP Radius is the nest! In planning my site redesign, I looked at a number of other non-WP options. But the prospect of having to find a new support team was scary. The WP Radius team is like family! they know how we work, they know what I expect, they always respond to my needs in a timely fashion and I never have to ask twice. I’d truly be lost without them.
Selena says
December 10, 2016 at 4:52 pmF**** Godaddy just bought WPCURVE
So far this year has been a very special delight for me.
First they bought WPManage – a service that was great and I loved. But use no more.
And today I found out they just bought WpCuve, after just 2 months with them I am ditching their service as well.
GoDaddy has done nothing but taking advantage of clueless people, offering them big discounts (but actually nothing). And provided terrible services.
I switched to kicksupport.com and wpradius for support of my sites.
That’s of course until GoDaddy buys them 🙁
Chad Barnes says
May 16, 2017 at 9:41 pmThanks for writing. You highlighted several services about which I have heard great things.
Though admittedly biased, I recommend SkyrocketWP (https://skyrocketwp.com) for the blogger who wants an all-in-one WordPress maintenance, support, and hosting solution.
Having all three under one “roof” means dramatically reduced hassle, confusion, and potential for finger-pointing.
Perhaps best of all is that SkyrocketWP has a 98%+ retention rate dating back 7 years and averages 1 support request per quarter from all 100+ clients combined. At the end of the day, it just works.
And to quote Forest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that.” That is, unless you’d like to know more. 😉
Adam Steward says
June 20, 2017 at 1:16 pmThank you very much for sharing those support. It will help me for sure in future because I work part time developer and sometimes I stuck in coding so thank you for this.
Jessica says
July 5, 2017 at 8:40 pmWP Radius is an awesome service. Super reasonably priced and great for peace of mind. I love it because the team can help with small, annoying things that larger firms won’t bother with but you can’t figure out on your own. Brandon always responds quickly and effectively (he even responded to a request I made on the 4th of July!). Glad i made the choice to go with WP Radius.