Website Management or Maintenance: What Each Costs a Month (2026)

The short answer: Website maintenance keeps your site running (software updates, backups and security checks) while you make your own changes. Website management goes further, with someone making your changes each month (from $99 plus GST for one hour) or a provider building and running the whole site for one fee (from $200 plus GST a month after $300 plus GST for month one).

Levels of help, and what each costs a month

Every price below was on the provider’s own page on the date shown. GST is shown the way each page shows it. GST is the 10% goods and services tax, and our care plan, build and Growth Pro prices include it.

Level of help	What it covers	Published prices we read	What CatalystHub offers
Do it yourself	You keep the site updated and make your own changes. You pay someone when you need a hand.	Hourly rates for one-off changes: $66 to $200 an hour (read 9 October 2026)	No plan needed. Standard, Advanced and Specialist builds are hosted free on your own account. Need help? Email or call and we help at our hourly rate.
Maintenance on its own	Software updates, backups, security and uptime monitoring (an alert if the site goes down), and a monthly report. No time set aside for your changes.	$249 plus GST a month (read 12 November 2026)	Basic, $49 a month inc. GST
Maintenance plus content time	Everything above, plus a set amount of time each month for someone to make your changes: new photos, prices, opening hours, text.	From $99 plus GST a month with one hour of edits (read 12 November 2026)	Specialist, from $79 a month inc. GST, with 30 minutes (for regulated industries and Shopify stores). Premium, $99 a month inc. GST, with one hour.
Fully managed website	The provider builds the site, hosts it, keeps it running and makes small edits, all for one monthly fee. Who owns the site varies, so check before you sign.	$300 plus GST for month one, then $200 plus GST a month, month to month (read 12 November 2026)	Growth Pro, $297 a month inc. GST: a managed 10 to 20 page website plus lead follow-up, no setup fee, cancel any month

More plans with change time on 12 November 2026: from $220 plus GST a month for standard sites, with one hour of labour and hosting, and $399 plus GST a month with two hours of service time. Another fully managed website was $298 a month inc. GST on a 12-month term.

Want the full spread of maintenance prices, hourly rates and what a hacked site costs to fix? See our website maintenance cost guide.

Which level do you need?

• You rarely change the site and can run updates yourself: do it yourself, and pay by the hour when something comes up.
• You want the site kept safe but you make your own edits: maintenance on its own.
• You change things every month but don’t want to log in: maintenance plus content time. Check how many minutes or hours are included.
• You don’t want to think about the website at all, and you’d rather not pay for a build up front: a fully managed website. Read the ownership section below before you sign.

Owning or renting: the honest trade-off

All prices include GST.

Setup	Up front	Each month	Who owns the site
$500 Standard build (5 pages), no care plan	$500	$0 to us, as hosting is free on your own account	You
$500 build plus Basic care	$500	$49	You
$500 build plus Premium care	$500	$99, with one hour of changes	You
Growth Pro (10 to 20 pages plus lead follow-up)	No setup fee	$297	You rent it.

Your first care plan month is free on every new build.

This isn’t a like-for-like comparison, so here is what each side gets.

A one-off build you own. Once you’ve paid in full, you own the code, the design and the content outright. If we register your domain, you’re always listed as the owner. Hosting is free on your own account for Standard, Advanced and Specialist builds, so there’s no ongoing cost and you never need a care plan to stay online. The Standard build is five pages. A 10-page site you own is about $1,000 as a one-off, with the exact price fixed in writing on the call before you pay.

Growth Pro, which you rent. It’s a bigger package: a 10 to 20 page website plus lead follow-up, which means missed-call text-back (an automatic text to anyone whose call you miss), one inbox for your messages, automated follow-up, review requests and local SEO (work to help you show up when people nearby search on Google). There’s no setup fee: your first payment is your first month, and you can cancel any month with no lock-in and no exit fees. The trade-off is ownership. In the words of our terms: “The website and lead tools stay part of the subscription and are not handed over. If you cancel, we help you export your contacts and reviews. If you want to own your website outright, choose a one-off build.”

Choose a build if you’d rather pay once and own it. Choose Growth Pro if you want the site and the lead tools run for you and you’re happy to keep paying for them. For a longer view of the running costs, see what a website really costs over three years.

What to check on any management plan

These came up on the pages we read on 12 November 2026:

• GST. Some prices include it and some add 10% on top. A $200 plus GST plan is $220 a month.
• The term. One fully managed plan was month to month with 30 days’ notice. Another had a 12-month term, and leaving after four months meant paying out the other eight: $2,384 at $298 a month.
• What stays behind if you leave. On one plan you own your content, but the premium plugin licences stay with the provider when you leave, and the full site is a $2,000 buyout. Another registers the domain and holds the account during the term, then transfers it on request after the term ends.
• Whether unused time carries over. One plan’s monthly hour doesn’t roll over. Another lets the included hours build up to 12.
• What’s quoted on top. One fully managed plan quotes new page designs and content writing separately.

What CatalystHub charges

Our three care plans are optional. Care plan prices include GST.

Plan	Price	What’s in it
Basic	$49 a month	Hosting through us (or stay on your own account), daily off-site backups, security and dependency updates (dependencies are the code libraries a site is built on), security monitoring and vulnerability scanning, 24x7 uptime monitoring with alerts, a monthly performance report and a monthly summary email
Specialist	From $79 a month	Everything in Basic, plus 30 minutes of content updates a month and monitoring of your regulator’s rules or Shopify platform changes
Premium	$99 a month	Everything in Basic, plus one hour of content updates a month. You email, and the change is done within two business days

• Your first month is free on every new build.
• Cancel any month with 14 days’ notice. No exit fees.
• An extra page is $100 a page, during a build or after launch.
• Split payments are available through Klarna, and bigger builds can be paid half at the start and half at launch.

Scope, timing and payment are worked out with you on the call. Want a fully managed site instead? See Growth Pro. Compare everything on the pricing page or see the plans on website maintenance in Perth. When you’re ready, start your project.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between website management and website maintenance? Maintenance keeps the site running: updates, backups, security and uptime checks. Management adds someone doing the work for you, from making your monthly changes to building and running the whole site for one fee.

How much does website management cost per month in Australia? Our Premium plan is $99 a month inc. GST with one hour, and Growth Pro is $297 a month inc. GST.

Do I need a care plan if CatalystHub builds my site? No. Care plans are optional. Standard, Advanced and Specialist builds are hosted free on your own account, so there’s no ongoing cost. Without a plan you handle updates and fixes, and we help at our hourly rate when you call or email.

Do I own my website on Growth Pro? No. Growth Pro is rented. The website and lead tools stay part of the subscription and are not handed over if you cancel, though we help you export your contacts and reviews. To own your site outright, choose a one-off build.