Understanding care plan pricing
How Chykalophia's website care plans are priced — what's included at different levels, why maintenance costs what it does, and how to choose the right level for your site.
A care plan is a monthly subscription that keeps your website healthy, secure, and up to date. Chykalophia's care plan is The Boring Stuff — starting at $997/month. This guide explains how care plan pricing works, what drives the cost, and how to choose the right level for your needs.
Quick summary
Chykalophia's care plan is called The Boring Stuff and starts at $997/month. That covers the routine work every live site needs — updates, backups, monitoring, security, and priority response — with higher tiers adding monthly time for content changes and proactive improvements. The right level depends on how much your site changes and how much hands-on attention you want from us.
What is a care plan?
A care plan (sometimes called a maintenance plan or website retainer) is an ongoing monthly service that keeps your site running safely. At a minimum, it covers:
- Software updates — WordPress core, themes, and plugins updated on a regular schedule
- Backups — automated backups taken frequently, stored securely
- Uptime monitoring — automated alerts if your site goes down
- Security monitoring — watching for signs of compromise or intrusion
Higher-tier plans layer in additional services: content updates, performance improvements, proactive SEO checks, and dedicated time for minor development work.
See What our care plan covers for a full breakdown of what each tier includes.
Why does maintenance cost money every month?
This is one of the most common questions we hear. The honest answer: a website is not a one-time product — it's a living piece of software that requires ongoing attention.
Here's what's happening behind the scenes on even a "simple" website every month:
- WordPress, themes, and plugins release updates — some for security patches, some for compatibility, some for new features. Each needs to be tested before applying.
- Hosting, SSL certificates, and domain names renew on a schedule and need to stay current.
- Backups need to run, be verified, and be stored somewhere accessible in an emergency.
- If something goes wrong — a plugin conflict, a hacked form, a hosting outage — someone needs to respond.
None of this happens automatically and correctly without human attention. A care plan means that human attention is ours, not yours.
The cost of not having a care plan
Sites without maintenance plans are significantly more likely to be hacked, go offline unexpectedly, or break after an automated update. When that happens, the emergency recovery cost often exceeds a year of care plan fees.
What drives care plan pricing?
Platform and complexity
A WordPress site with 30 plugins requires more update management than a Webflow site with no plugins to maintain. A WooCommerce store that processes real payments carries higher security stakes than a simple brochure site.
Pricing reflects this: more complex sites need more active attention.
Level of service
Care plans range from light (updates + backups + monitoring only) to active (regular improvement time included). The difference is whether you're paying for a site to stay safe, or a site to stay safe and improve over time.
| Care plan level | What's typically included |
|---|---|
| Essentials | Software updates, backups, uptime & security monitoring |
| Standard | Everything above + content update hours + priority support response |
| Active Growth | Everything above + development hours + performance & SEO checks + strategy |
Your actual plan tiers and names will be on your proposal. This table describes the general shape — every agency structures these slightly differently.
Included hours
Some care plans include a block of hours each month for content changes, small tweaks, or minor development work. Plans with more included hours naturally cost more — but they can save you money compared to requesting ad hoc work at a project rate.
If your site content changes frequently (new team members, updated service pages, promotions), a plan with included hours is usually the better value.
How to choose the right care plan level
Ask yourself these questions:
- How often does my site content change? If it's mostly static, a light plan is probably enough. If you're making changes monthly, look for a plan with included hours.
- How much does my site earn for my business? A site that generates leads or processes orders warrants more protection than a simple contact-us page.
- Do I want to improve my site over time, or just maintain it? If you want to keep making it better — adding pages, improving performance, updating SEO — an active plan makes sense.
- How quickly do I need a response if something breaks? Faster response times come with higher-tier plans.
If you're not sure, start with a standard plan. It's easier to step up than to discover your site was under-protected after something goes wrong.
Care plans vs project work
A care plan covers routine maintenance and small included changes. It does not cover:
- New pages or major content additions
- Redesigns or visual changes to existing pages
- New features or integrations
- Any work that would normally require a project quote
Work that falls outside your care plan scope is quoted separately. We'll always flag this before doing anything that isn't included. See How to request new work or changes for how that process works.
Common questions
Related guides
- What our care plan covers
- Why websites need maintenance
- Understanding quotes & invoices
- Hidden costs to watch for
- How to request new work or changes
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