Most care-plan arguments go wrong because they treat two different jobs as one. Upkeep is the technical work that keeps a site safe and online: updates, backups, security, monitoring. Changes are the edits you want made: new prices, a staff photo, a new service page. A plan bundles some of both. Pay-per-change sells only the second.
So the real question is not “plan or no plan”. It is “who does the upkeep, and what does it cost me to stop?”
When a care plan makes sense
- Your site runs on WordPress or a similar platform. Core, theme and plugin updates are ongoing, and a missed security update is the most common way a small site is compromised.
- You do not want to think about it. The value of a plan is not just the tasks; it is not having to remember them.
- Downtime costs you money. If the site brings in calls or bookings, someone should notice a failure before a customer does.
- You change things regularly. Several small edits a month can cost more at an hourly rate than a plan that includes them.
- You want a record. A monthly report tells you what was done, which is useful at tax time and when the site changes hands.
When pay-per-change makes sense
- The site is static and stable. If nothing changes and there is no platform to patch, there is less ongoing work to sell.
- You have technical confidence. You can apply updates, check a backup and restore it if needed. If you cannot restore a backup, you do not really have one.
- Changes are rare and large. A once-a-year refresh is better quoted as a project than billed monthly.
- You are testing the market. A new business may not want a recurring cost before the site has proved it brings work.
- The rate is fair and public. Pay-per-change only works if the hourly rate is known in advance and the work is quoted before it starts.
The maths, plainly
Suppose a plan costs $150 a month. That is $1,800 a year. If you would otherwise pay an average of two hours a month at $150 an hour, the plan is the same price but includes hosting, backups and monitoring. If you would otherwise need one small edit every few months, you may spend a few hundred dollars a year and be ahead.
The test that cuts through it: write down every change you made to your site last year, and roughly how long each took. If that list is long or technical, a plan probably earns its fee. If it is three edits and a new photo, ask what the hourly rate would have been instead. Then compare that with what the plan actually includes — not just the changes.
Five questions that decide it
- What breaks if nobody touches the site for six months? If the honest answer is “nothing”, you may not need a plan.
- Who holds the hosting and the domain? If the answer is the provider, fix that before you decide anything else.
- What is the hourly rate beyond the plan? A plan with an unpublished rate is a blank cheque.
- How do I leave? You should be able to take the domain, the files and the accounts with you, with 30 days’ notice.
- What is actually included each month? Get it in writing, with limits, not adjectives.
How our plans work
Pithy sells the plans this guide is about, so here is the honest version. Our build is $2,200 + GST and includes $900 of care on the first ten builds. After that, Protect is $150/mo + GST and keeps the site fast, safe and online. Grow is $497/mo + GST and adds active local visibility work. Work beyond what a plan includes is charged at $150/hr + GST, quoted and approved before it starts. You can see exactly what is included here.
The plan is optional. We do not hold a site hostage to a subscription. After your included care it is month-to-month with 30 days’ notice, and you own the domain and the site files. If pay-per-change suits you better, we will quote that instead — but we will tell you plainly that keeping the site updated and backed up is then your job, or somebody else’s.
What we would never do
- Make a care plan compulsory to keep your website online.
- Hide the hourly rate until after the work is done.
- Call a plan “unlimited” and then decide case by case what is reasonable.
- Lock you in after your included care.
- Promise rankings, reviews or results a plan cannot control.
Sources and method
This guide combines Pithy’s published pricing and experience maintaining small-business websites with official Australian guidance on consumer guarantees and online reviews. It is general information, not legal advice.
- business.gov.au: Set up a business website (updated 9 September 2025)
- ACCC: Consumer rights and guarantees (updated 28 August 2026)
- Blu Mint Digital: Website maintenance cost in Australia (2026) (updated 14 August 2026)
- Pithy: Pricing — the build, Protect and Grow
Reviewed 9 September 2026. Your circumstances and platform may change the right answer; get a written quote before committing.
Commercial disclosure: Pithy sells the Protect ($150/mo + GST) and Grow ($497/mo + GST) care plans discussed above, so we benefit if a reader chooses a plan. This guide is written so that the same decision test works if you hire someone else or do the work yourself.