Annual website costs for contractors: what to budget after launch

Annual website costs for contractors include the services needed to keep the site running: a domain name, hosting, any email service and the agreed maintenance. Add any changes commissioned separately. A website bought without a compulsory subscription can still have external costs: check the renewal prices to build your budget.

What do you still need to pay for after launch?

The creation fee pays for the initial work. Later expenses cover keeping the address, serving the pages, using the associated services and maintaining the website. The amount depends on the tools actually used and the tasks assigned to someone. Understand how the site will run before trying to calculate an annual total.

• Recurring: renewals and any ongoing support you have contracted.
• One-off: a new page, additional photos or work outside the agreed scope.
• Your time: approving content, checking invoices and reviewing incoming enquiries.

No compulsory subscription does not mean no running costs. For the initial budget, see the guide to website creation costs for tradespeople. Here, the calculation starts once the website has been delivered.

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Who invoices each item and what does it cover?

A supplier may bill several services together, and your website provider may bundle them in an offer. Match each item to what it includes, who receives the payment and a question to check. This helps you spot an omission or avoid counting a service twice when it is already included elsewhere.

Running-cost checklist: complete it using your suppliers and contract

An email address such as contact@your-business.fr is not necessarily included with the domain. Also check whether the HTTPS certificate (which protects communications with the website) is included in hosting: any additional charge should correspond to an identifiable service.

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How can you avoid surprises at renewal?

Record the price due at the next renewal, the period it covers and who is responsible for paying. A first-year promotion does not tell you what the following year will cost. Also check the address receiving alerts and the saved payment method: an expired card can cause an automatic payment to fail.

Afnic, the organisation that manages France's .fr domain extension, explains that a domain gives you a right to use it for a renewable period. The registrar (the supplier managing the address) applies its own renewal terms.

• Record the deadline and keep your own reminder.
• Check the account details and payment.
• After paying, check the new expiry date shown in the account.

A payment being initiated does not prove that renewal succeeded. Do the same for hosting and other tools: their renewal dates may differ.

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Does hosting include maintenance and backups?

Hosting serves the pages; its support does not automatically cover every part of your website. Maintenance (the website's technical upkeep) depends on the solution and contract. A WordPress site, which uses software to manage content, needs attention to its updates and plugins, the features added to that software.

• Maintenance: software covered, checks after updates and who is responsible.
• Backups: what is copied, how often and how long it is kept.
• Incident: who to contact, response time and work included.

Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, France's cyber assistance service, recommends regular backups and restoration tests, meaning bringing the website back into operation from a saved copy. An included backup does not guarantee that restoring the site is included. Ask who will do that work and how it will be billed.

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How do you calculate annual website costs for contractors?

Copy the expenses into a table and calculate twelve months of each service. Use the renewal prices, then add any planned work on a separate line. Compare all figures on the same tax basis, either excluding or including tax, and mark services already included elsewhere to avoid counting them twice.

Annual worksheet: fill in your actual prices, without estimated rates

An unknown amount should stay 'to be confirmed', never become zero for convenience. Enter zero only when free usage or inclusion has been confirmed. If a tool charges according to usage, keep the usage assumption alongside the calculation.

For cash-flow planning, add the payment dates: a cost spread over twelve months in your calculation may be charged in one payment. For one-off changes, define the scope using the guide to comparing what website quotes include.

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What checks should you ask the people responsible to carry out?

Assign each expense to someone who can explain the service and act when needed. Ask for evidence that matches the agreed commitments: an extended expiry date, an accessible backup or a tested restoration. A simple table showing the task, the person responsible and the latest check result is enough to organise follow-up without creating a mountain of paperwork.

1. Renewal: the person responsible can find the deadline, receives alerts and confirms the outcome.
2. Restoration: the person doing the work demonstrates that a backup restores the agreed pages and features in a test environment, without overwriting the live website.
3. Change of contact: identify who takes over payments, alerts and ongoing checks if your provider stops handling them.

This last check concerns how follow-up is organised; you do not have to move the website to test it. Keeping control of website access and content is covered in a separate guide. Keep the contact's name and the terms of their work with your annual record.

An invoice pays for a service; it does not replace checking that service.

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What else should you ask when planning future costs?

The useful answers come from your suppliers and contract, including the relevant dates and limits. These three questions often arise when you want to reduce costs or keep a small website running. They help distinguish a service you can do without from a task that still needs to be handled.

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What should you have recorded for the following year?

You should be able to find the renewal prices, deadlines, included services and people responsible. Keep planned additions separate from ordinary running costs. I recommend starting with this record: it shows what you actually pay and the questions still open, without inventing an average budget.

Summary: what to check for the following year

To plan your professional website, gather your requirements and the services you already use. You can talk to me to define the project and its external costs.