Web design7 min
How much does a website cost in Canada?
What Canadian small businesses pay for a website in 2026, from a DIY builder to a custom agency build, with sources; yearly costs, GST/HST, French pages and how to compare quotes.
Website maintenance that keeps your site working while you do
Plugins update, forms stop sending, a certificate expires on a long weekend. We look after your WordPress site every month, so you hear about problems from us, before a customer does.
Overview - Search Console
GoogleSearch Console1
Overview
PerformanceOpen report
3.26K total web search clicks
0204060
26-07-1926-08-0326-08-1826-09-0226-09-1726-10-0226-10-17IndexingOpen report
Page indexing
4 pages not indexed94 indexed pages
Experience
TypeGood URLsTrend
Core Web VitalsMobile and desktop1 URL needs improvementFixed · Sep 23, 2026100 %
HTTPS94 HTTPS URLs100 %
Notifications
New reason preventing your pages from being indexed on lumbrelearningcenter.caNot found (404) · 1 page · Aug 28, 2026Fixed · Aug 28, 2026
Validation passed: HTTPSJul 21, 2026
GoogleSearch Consolelumbrelearningcenter.caOverviewURL inspectionPerformanceIndexingPagesVideo pagesSitemapsRemovalsExperienceCore Web VitalsHTTPSSecurity & Manual ActionsLinks
Websites break quietly, and usually at a bad moment
Most of these go unnoticed until a customer mentions them.
- Your contact form quietly stopped sending in the summer and no one caught it.
- WordPress shows 27 pending updates and you're afraid to click the button.
- Your only backup sits on the same server as the site.
- Browsers warned visitors your site was “not secure” for a whole weekend.
What changes when someone looks after your site every month
How we get there
Updates are installed on a copy first, then on the live site, so a plugin update doesn't take you offline. Backups are stored away from your server and tested, and alerts tell us when the site goes down or a form stops sending.
You get small edits done without chasing anyone, and a monthly note on your tracking page of what was updated, checked and fixed.
Updates that don't break anything
Platform, theme and plugins updated on a copy first, with a backup before and a check after.
staging site
Problems caught before customers do
Downtime, broken forms and Google's warnings watched, and fixed before they cost you leads.
uptime and Search Console monitoring
Each month in a few lines
What we updated, what we fixed and anything you need to decide, on your tracking page.
How our monthly website maintenance works
First we bring your site up to date; then the monthly routine begins.
Review
Platform, plugins, backups, security, logins and Search Console reviewed.
Tune-up
Pending updates, broken pieces, old admin users and missing backups fixed first, before any monthly fee.
Monthly routine
Tested updates, off-site backups, monitoring and a test message through your forms.
Changes when you ask
You text or email us a change; we confirm what and when, and send the before and after once it's live.
What our website maintenance services cover
Updates, backups, security and small edits. The monthly price goes in your proposal.
- Updates tested first
- Backups you can actually restore
- Security watched
- Forms and buttons that work
- Google's warnings handled
- Small changes
We check your site for anything that shouldn't wait
We look at your WordPress version, plugins, certificate, backups and forms from the outside and send you what's out of date, what's at risk and what we'd fix first.
- What we found
- The plan, page by page
- The fixed quote
- What we wouldn't do
Carles builds your site, and he's the one who reviews it in the audit. Òscar makes sure Google understands it. Who we are
audit · eloraridgepilates.ca
sample document
1 · What we found
Your class booking form hasn't sent an email since August; 22 plugins are out of date and the only backup is on the same server.
2 · The monthly routine
- Booking form fixed and tested
- Updates installed on a copy first
- Daily backups stored off-site
- Uptime and form alerts switched on
3 · Fixed quote
- Monthly fee
- In your proposal
- First invoice
- Once it's up to date
- Contract term
- None
- Until then
- CA$0
No monthly fee until your site is fully up to date
How the monthly fee worksQuestions about WordPress maintenance in Canada
What Canadian owners ask before handing over their site. Yours can go in the form.
What do website maintenance services include?
With us: updates tested before they go live, off-site backups, security monitoring, uptime alerts, monthly form checks, small content edits and a note on your tracking page of what was done. The detail and price go in your proposal.
How much does website maintenance cost per month in Canada?
A WordPress maintenance plan in Toronto runs CA$75-CA$250/month, according to Shift8 Web. Ours depends on how your site is built, how many plugins it has and how often you change it. You get a monthly price in your proposal, with no setup fee and no contract term.
Can you maintain a website another company built?
Yes, if it's WordPress. We start with a checkup and bring it up to date, and if anything is fragile we tell you before taking it on. The first monthly fee comes once that's done and you've reviewed it.
What happens if my WordPress site gets hacked?
We take it offline if needed, restore a clean backup, close the hole that let the attacker in and tell you what happened. If personal information may have been exposed, we give you what you need to assess it and decide on reporting it.
Can I cancel website maintenance at any time?
Yes, with 30 days' notice. The site, domain, backups and logins are yours, and we hand everything over in order to whoever you choose.
Website maintenance is the monthly care a site needs to stay safe and working: updates tested before they go live, backups kept away from the server, security monitoring, uptime alerts, form checks and small content edits. We look after WordPress sites, whoever built them.
More detail: Website maintenance
Every skipped update makes the next one riskier
Most WordPress security problems come through plugins and themes that weren't updated. Each month without updates adds known holes, and each skipped update makes the next one harder.
In the free audit we check how current your site is, where its backups are and whether anything needs attention now.
Maintenance and PIPEDA: backups, breaches and your contact form
Your contact form collects personal information, so a hacked site can be a privacy breach as well as a headache. Under PIPEDA, a breach that creates a real risk of significant harm has to be reported to the Privacy Commissioner and the people affected, and every breach must be recorded (OPC). Updates, monitoring and tested backups make that far less likely.
If something does happen, we tell you right away with what we know. We also keep the paperwork in order: who has admin access, which plugins are installed and why, and where the backups live.
WordPress maintenance: what a plugin-based site needs each month
WordPress has three layers that update separately (WordPress itself, the theme and each plugin), often from different authors, and they don't always get along. An abandoned plugin or a premium theme with an expired license stops getting security fixes even if the site keeps working.
The websites we build in web design are custom WordPress with only the plugins they need, so maintaining them is lighter. If your WordPress is so out of date that every fix breaks something else, we tell you, and sometimes a website redesign is what pays off.
Four things we look for when we take over a site someone else built:
“Update all”, on a Friday
Everything updated on the live site, with no backup and no test. If something clashes, the site is blank all weekend.
why we test on a copy first
Plugins stepping on each other
A security plugin, a cache plugin and a backup plugin each doing the same thing their own way, slowing or breaking the site.
Backups on the same server
If the server fails or the site gets infected, the backup goes with it. And a backup nobody has tried to restore can fail on the day you need it.
off-site backups
Forgotten admin users
Logins from whoever built the site years ago, a former employee or a previous agency, all able to change anything.
user review and two-factor login
What website maintenance costs in Canada, and what changes the price
Keeping a site running has several costs, and it helps to separate them because they're paid to different people. The domain, the hosting and any premium licenses stay in your name and you pay them directly; the maintenance is the work. Ours has no published price: it depends on how your site is built, how many plugins it has and how often you change it.
When you compare quotes, ask where the backups are stored and whether anyone has tried restoring one, whether updates are tested first, what counts as a small change and how many are included, what happens if the site goes down on a Sunday, and whose name the domain and hosting are in. What other providers charge, with sources, is in how much a website costs.
What's included, point by point
Updates tested first
Platform, theme and plugins updated on a copy, with a backup before and a check after.
WordPress core, theme and plugins
Backups you can actually restore
Stored off your server and test-restored, so they work the day you need them.
off-site backups
Security watched
Monitoring, hardening, old admin users removed and cleanup if something gets in.
SSL, firewall, malware scans and two-factor login
Forms and buttons that work
Test messages through your forms and checks on your call and text buttons.
Google's warnings handled
Errors and warnings in Search Console checked and fixed.
indexing, Core Web Vitals and HTTPS
Small changes
Hours, photos, prices and copy updated when you ask, as set in your proposal.
When a maintenance plan is worth paying for, and when it's not
Worth it if
- Your site works, but nobody checks it and you don't know if there are backups.
- Whoever built it isn't around anymore, and you need someone to take over.
- Your WordPress shows update warnings you're afraid to touch.
- You change hours, photos or services often and would rather send a text.
Not a fit if
- Your site needs rebuilding: maintaining what doesn't work drags the problem out.
- You want someone to write blog posts or run your social media each week, which are other services.
- You need someone on call at any hour for urgent changes.
More on keeping a WordPress site healthy
What works alongside maintenance
Guides on websites
The next update will arrive either way. Let someone test it before it reaches your site.
Send us your web address and in under a week we'll tell you what's out of date, what's at risk and what we'd do first.
Check my website for free