Website maintenance agreement template
The maintenance contract that protects both sides: what the plan covers, response times in writing, what counts as extra work, backups tested not promised, and exit terms.
Maintenance agreements fail in the same three places: vague scope (is a plugin conflict a fix or a feature?), unwritten response times, and backups nobody ever restored. This template closes all three. It pairs with the maintenance checklist (what gets done monthly) and the care plans (what professional maintenance costs). Fill it in once — then neither side has to remember what was agreed over a call in March.
The fields, with guidance
Plan scope
Inclusions as a hard list: updates, backups, monitoring, edits allowance. Anything not listed is out — the same discipline as a SOW.
Example: Platform/plugin updates (staged then applied), daily automated backups, uptime monitoring, up to 2 hours of small edits monthly.
Response times
Written, tiered, honest. “Best effort” is what people write when they do not want to commit.
Example: Critical (site down): response within 4 business hours. High (broken feature): 1 business day. Normal: next scheduled window.
Edits allowance
Define “small edit” by size, not spirit — otherwise every request is a negotiation.
Example: Small edit: text/image swaps or layout tweaks within existing templates, ≤30 min each; unused allowance does not roll over.
Backups & restores
Frequency plus restore testing — an untested backup is a hope with a filename.
Example: Daily off-site backups retained 30 days; one documented restore test per quarter.
Security
Patch SLA for known vulnerabilities and what happens post-incident.
Example: Security releases applied within 48h of release; incident response included; post-incident hardening report.
Exclusions
New features, redesigns, content strategy, third-party outages — name them all.
Example: Excludes new features, design changes, SEO/marketing, and failures caused by third-party services or client-side code changes.
Fees & term
Monthly fee, billing cadence, initial term, renewal and notice. Rolling monthly after an initial period is the fair standard.
Example: [$X]/month billed monthly in advance; 3-month initial term, then rolling with 30 days notice.
Exit terms
What happens at the end: handover of access, documentation, backups — clean exits, no hostage data.
Example: On exit: full backup delivered, credentials transferred, documented handover within 14 days; no termination fee.
Ownership
Everything stays the client's — accounts, code, content — the maintainer holds access, never ownership.
Example: All accounts and assets remain client property; maintainer operates under scoped access, revocable at any time.
Copy this block
WEBSITE MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT — [SITE]
1. SCOPE
- Platform and plugin updates: staged, verified, then applied
- Backups: daily, off-site, 30-day retention
- Monitoring: uptime + security, alerts to both parties
- Edits: up to [N] hours/month of small edits (≤30 min each,
within existing templates; no rollover)
2. RESPONSE TIMES
Critical (site down or security incident): 4 business hours
High (feature broken): 1 business day
Normal requests: next scheduled maintenance window
3. BACKUPS & RESTORES
Daily automated backups; one documented restore test
per quarter; restore after client-caused changes billable
as regular work.
4. SECURITY
Security releases applied within 48 hours. Incident
response included; post-incident hardening report provided.
5. EXCLUSIONS
New features, design changes, content strategy, marketing,
third-party service outages, and issues caused by client-
side code changes or other parties' work.
6. FEES & TERM
[$X]/month, billed monthly in advance. Initial term
[3] months, then rolling; 30 days notice by either party.
7. OWNERSHIP & ACCESS
All accounts, code and content remain the client's.
Maintainer works under scoped access, revocable anytime.
8. EXIT
On termination: full backup delivered, credentials and
documentation handed over within 14 days. No exit fee.
9. GOVERNING LAW
[JURISDICTION]
Signed:
_______________________ _______________________
[CLIENT] [MAINTAINER] Date: [DATE]
Plain text on purpose — pastes cleanly into email, docs and project tools.
Maintenance priced honestly and scoped in writing is the cheapest insurance a website can buy — compare it against the care plans here whenever you like.
Quarterly, and only when the numbers move
Get the rate report before you negotiate.
Updated rate bands across the major stacks and regions, plus what changed and why. No other email.