How much does it cost to update a website?

Types of updates and how they are priced

Typical market pricing from published 2026 Chicago guides (Marketing by Magnet). Not Media Express prices.

Hourly, plan or do it yourself

• Hourly suits sites that change a few times a year.
• A maintenance plan suits sites that need regular updates, backups and monitoring.
• Editing yourself suits frequent text and photo changes, if the site has a simple editor.

Most businesses combine the three: they edit simple text, keep a plan for technical care and pay for bigger changes as projects.

Before choosing, count how many change requests you made last year and how urgent they were. A handful of non-urgent edits favors hourly work; frequent or time-sensitive changes favor a plan with a stated response time.

How to keep update costs low

1. Batch small requests into one message instead of many.
2. Send final text and images, not drafts.
3. Ask for an editor that lets you change text and photos safely.
4. Avoid extra plugins; each one adds update work.
5. Keep a list of logins and licenses in one place.

Hidden costs

• Minimum billing increments, such as a full hour for a five-minute change.
• Rush fees for same-day requests.
• Fixes after an update breaks a plugin or the layout.
• Rebuilding pages made in a page builder nobody on the team knows.

Common update requests and how they are usually handled

• Change opening hours or a phone number: a quick edit, often something you can do yourself with a simple editor.
• Replace team photos: a short task; send final, correctly sized images.
• Add a new service page: a few hours if an existing layout fits and the text is ready.
• Add online booking: a small project, including setup, testing and notifications.
• Fix a broken form: usually urgent; confirm response time in your plan.
• Update WordPress and plugins: routine maintenance, handled on a schedule with a backup first.

Knowing which kind of request you are making helps you choose between hourly work, a plan and a project quote.

How Media Express handles updates

Media Express connects everyday content on the sites we build, including headlines, text, photos, buttons and links, to Szef Editor, so you can click the text on the page, change it and save. Every save is versioned. Technical updates, backups and larger changes are available through monthly plans; plan contents and prices are agreed in writing before you commit. We do not publish a fixed hourly rate. See website maintenance.

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