How much it costs to maintain a website in Spain: real 2026 prices

You already know how much a website costs to build in Spain. The question almost nobody answers with real numbers is this one: how much does it cost to keep it alive every year? Domain, hosting, SSL certificate, updates. Here is the full breakdown, with prices verified against the providers' own pages and no invented figures.

The short answer: a well-built modern website can cost you from around 15 € a year. A badly planned WordPress site can cost you hundreds of euros a year plus hours of your time. The difference is not the size of your business: it is how the website is built.

The 4 real costs of running a website

1. The domain: 9 to 20 € a year

It is the rent for your name on the internet (yourbusiness.com or yourbusiness.es). According to the rates published by registrars themselves, a .es or .com domain costs between 9 and 20 € a year, depending on the registrar and the extension. You pay it yearly, and the renewal price is usually similar to the registration price.

Tip: the domain should be registered in your name, not the agency's. If you ever switch providers, the domain leaves with you.

2. Hosting: 0 to 30 € a month, depending on the technology

This is where the biggest variation lives, because it depends on how your website is built:

• Classic shared hosting (the typical WordPress setup): in Spain, a provider like Raiola Networks lists plans between 8.95 and 29.95 € per month plus VAT, depending on resources.
• Modern hosting for custom-built sites (Vercel or similar): Vercel's professional plan costs $20 per user per month. Careful with the free tier: Vercel explicitly limits it to personal, non-commercial use, so a business website cannot legally live there.
• Included in your agency plan: many agencies (myself included) cover hosting for the first year or manage it for you. Always ask what happens from year two onwards.

3. The SSL certificate: free (do not let anyone charge you for it)

The security padlock in the browser. Thanks to Let's Encrypt, a free non-profit certificate authority, basic SSL costs nothing and most serious hosts include it automatically. If your invoice shows a yearly charge for a "basic SSL certificate", ask why.

4. Technical maintenance: the cost that depends on how your site is built

This is where most guides invent a figure. The truth is that the cost depends on the tech stack:

If your website runs on WordPress, it needs continuous maintenance, full stop: WordPress itself recommends keeping the core, plugins and themes updated for security. That means frequent updates, backups, and watching for incompatibilities. Either you do it (your time) or you pay an agency (a monthly fee). The amounts vary so much by scope that any single figure would be made up: always ask for a written breakdown of what the fee includes.

If your website is custom-built with modern technology (like the ones I build with Next.js), there are no plugins to update and no weekly security patches to apply. Technical maintenance drops to practically zero: you pay domain and hosting, and the site just runs.

Summary table: what you will pay per year

Three real scenarios

1. Modern business website, hosting managed by the agency: your only fixed recurring cost can be the domain, from around 15 € a year. This is how the websites I deliver work: the code is yours, structural maintenance does not exist.
2. Modern website on your own professional hosting: domain plus a Vercel Pro type plan, around 250 to 300 € a year in total.
3. Self-managed WordPress: domain plus shared hosting, between 120 and 380 € a year with Spanish providers, plus the hours you spend on updates and backups. If you delegate that work to an agency, add their monthly fee, always with a written breakdown.

Signs you are overpaying

• You are charged for the basic SSL that Let's Encrypt provides for free.
• You pay a "maintenance" fee with no written breakdown of what it includes.
• Your site is a WordPress with 30 plugins doing what a well-programmed site does out of the box.
• The domain is registered in the agency's name instead of yours.
• You pay for "premium" hosting on a site with minimal traffic that could live on a basic plan.

The honest conclusion

Maintenance is not a magic percentage of the build price, nor a standard industry fee: it is a direct consequence of how the site is built. Before hiring anyone for a new website, always ask: how much will this cost me per year to keep alive, and what happens if I stop paying? The answer will tell you more about the provider than any portfolio.

Sources

• Raiola Networks: shared hosting plans, prices checked July 2026.
• Vercel: pricing and Hobby/Pro plan terms, checked July 2026.
• Let's Encrypt: free SSL/TLS certificates.
• WordPress.org: updating WordPress, official recommendation to keep core and plugins updated.
• Domain rates published by registrars: Interdominios and EuroDNS.