A website build is a one-off invoice. The costs that keep arriving afterwards (hosting, renewals, updates, fixes) are the ones most quotes leave blank, and the reason many owners discover maintenance only when something breaks.
This is a line-by-line view of what keeping a UAE business website healthy involves, what each line is for, and how to tell a care plan that earns its fee from one that is a recurring invoice for nothing. We anchor on our own published rate and invent no market averages, because we could not trace any to an official source.
Our number first
Web Tactics publishes its maintenance rate. Our pricing page lists the Care Plan as 15-20% of the build, per year, in Essential, Priority and Partner tiers. We do not publish which percentage each tier carries, so the table below shows the full range. It applies that range to our own published starting builds. The AED figures are our arithmetic, not a quote.
| Build (published starting price) | 15% per year | 20% per year |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress Presence, 18,000 AED | 2,700 AED | 3,600 AED |
| Custom Websites Signature Build, 33,000 AED | 4,950 AED | 6,600 AED |
| WordPress Signature, 35,000 AED | 5,250 AED | 7,000 AED |
| WordPress Flagship, 60,000 AED | 9,000 AED | 12,000 AED |
Why a percentage of the build? Because the work scales with the site. A five-page brochure and a platform with booking, payments and a CRM connection have very different amounts to update, test and watch. If you are still working out the build budget, start with what a website costs in the UAE and why quotes differ.
The cost lines, one by one
Some of these are bundled into a care plan and some are bills from other companies that a plan only manages. Knowing which is which is most of the work of reading a quote.
Domain
A .ae name is not bought from the registry. The registry, .aeDA under TDRA, says .ae and "امارات." (dotEmarat) domain names can be registered by one of our Accredited Registrars or their resellers, and that it is the decision of the Registrar what price they charge. So the renewal price is whatever your registrar sets, and it is worth comparing. The same page says you can choose a registrar on price and value-added services.
The operational point matters more than the price. .aeDA requires the registrant's name to be correct and a reachable email address to be provided. Make sure the domain is registered in your company's name with an inbox you control, not your developer's or an old employee's. Lost domains are rarely lost to price.
Hosting
Recurring, billed by the host, and the largest single variable between a small site and a busy one. We give no price here because it depends on the plan, the provider and the traffic, and we would be guessing. Ask three questions: which PHP version is running, how often backups are taken and where they are kept, and what happens when the site gets a traffic spike.
SSL certificate
HTTPS is no longer a premium item. Let's Encrypt states that it gives out certificates for free, and that anyone who owns a domain name can use Let's Encrypt to obtain a trusted certificate at zero cost. Some hosts issue and renew these automatically. If a quote carries a large SSL line, ask what it actually buys. The real cost is the renewal that quietly fails, which is a monitoring job, not a purchase.
Core, plugin and theme updates
This is the heart of maintenance. WordPress' own documentation says automatic updates are on by default for minor core releases, while automatic background updates only happen for plugins and themes in special cases. In plain terms, most of the code on a typical WordPress site does not update itself. Someone has to apply updates, check the site still works afterwards, and roll back when a plugin update breaks a page. That someone is the line you are paying for.
Premium plugin and theme licences
Page builders, form tools, booking plugins and SEO suites are often licensed per site, per year, by their vendors. We quote no figures, because each vendor publishes its own and they change. Ask for the list: every paid component, who holds the licence, the renewal date, and whether it is passed through at cost. A licence in the agency's name that lapses when you leave is a lock-in, not a cost.
PHP version upgrades
PHP is the engine under WordPress, and every branch eventually loses support. PHP's own supported-versions table lists 8.2 security support ending on 31 December 2026, 8.3 on 31 December 2027 and 8.4 on 31 December 2028. A site left on an unsupported branch stops receiving security fixes. Upgrading is a compatibility project for older themes and plugins, not a button. Our guide to PHP 8.2's end of life and upgrading WordPress safely covers it. A plan that includes planned PHP upgrades is covering a cost you would otherwise meet as an emergency.
Security monitoring
Watching for malware, suspicious logins and changed files, plus a defined response when something is found. Ask what is monitored, how you are told, and how fast someone acts. Our website security guide for UAE businesses has the wider checklist.
Backups
A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a backup. The questions are how often, how many versions, stored where, and whether a restore has been tested. We cover how to check this in how to test that your website backup actually restores.
Content changes
Swapping a banner, adding a team member, updating opening hours for Ramadan. Some plans include a small allowance; others bill by the hour. If your site changes weekly, this line can outweigh every technical one, so ask what the allowance is and what happens when you exceed it. Our WordPress builds come with a CMS and training so routine edits do not need a developer at all.
Performance
Sites slow down over time as plugins, images and third-party scripts accumulate. A care plan that includes periodic speed checks catches this before it costs enquiries. See our guide to website speed for UAE businesses for what to measure.
VAT
The UAE's standard VAT rate is 5%. The Federal Tax Authority's FAQ says so plainly, and its Taxable Person Guide (June 2018 edition) states that VAT is charged on the value of goods and services. For a service like maintenance, that means a VAT-registered supplier adds 5% on top. When comparing quotes, check whether each one is quoted before or after VAT, otherwise a 5% difference gets mistaken for a bargain. The same guide says a VAT-inclusive price is divided by 21 to find the VAT amount.
How to judge a maintenance quote
- It lists what is included, by line. Updates, PHP, monitoring, backups, content hours, support response time. "Full maintenance" is not a scope.
- It separates pass-through costs. Hosting, domain and plugin licences are billed by third parties. They should be itemised, with renewal dates, and ideally held in your name.
- It states response times. What happens when the site is down on a Friday afternoon, and who is contacted.
- It reports. A short monthly note of what was updated, what was found and what was fixed. If nothing is reported, you cannot tell whether anything was done.
- You can leave. You hold the admin access, the domain and the licences, and the files can be handed over. Ask what happens if you decline the plan. A straight answer tells you whether it is maintenance or a subscription with your website as the hostage.
- The price scales with the site. A flat fee for a brochure site and a booking platform means one of them is being over- or under-served.
What a good care plan covers
- Scheduled core, plugin and theme updates, tested before and after, with a rollback path.
- PHP version management, so end-of-life dates are planned for.
- Tested backups, kept away from the web server itself.
- Security monitoring with a named response.
- Uptime and certificate expiry watching.
- A stated number of content-change hours per month.
- A periodic performance check.
- A short written report and a named person to contact.
Whoever you choose, ask for this list in writing before you commit, because a five-page brochure and a platform need different things.
What to do next
If you already have a site, write down five things this week: where it is hosted, who holds the domain, which paid plugins it uses, which PHP version it runs and when it was last backed up and restored. Gaps in that list are your real maintenance cost, only unbudgeted.
If you are planning a build, ask for maintenance to be quoted alongside it. Compare our published rate on the pricing page, and if you want to talk through a site you already run, tell us what you have and we will tell you what it needs.
Prices quoted are Web Tactics' own published rates as of 13 November 2026. VAT, .aeDA, PHP, WordPress and Let's Encrypt statements are as published by those bodies on or before that date.