In the last 2 years I’ve audited the maintenance plans of more than 40 clients who came to me from other agencies or freelancers. And there are 6 traps that repeat in 90% of contracts. Traps that inflate the price, that tie the client, or that directly hide costs that the client doesn’t know they’re paying.
In this post I tell you the 6 traps, with real examples (anonymised) of clauses I’ve seen, and why my maintenance plans A (€25/month) and B (€50/month) are 3-10 times cheaper than the market average. It’s not because I work for free: it’s because I don’t hide costs, I don’t bill for hours I don’t do, and I don’t have an agency structure to maintain.
If you have a current maintenance plan and aren’t 100% sure what you’re paying extra for, read it. If you’re evaluating hiring one, read it before signing anything.
Trap 1: “Basic plan” that doesn’t include the basics
This is the most common. The agency offers you a “Basic Maintenance Plan” for €80-150/month, and when you read the small print, you realise it doesn’t include almost anything you need.
What I’ve seen these “basic” plans NOT include:
- Updating website content (texts, photos, restaurant menu). They charge you separately at €50-80/hour.
- Making design changes (moving a button, changing a colour). Separate, €60-100/hour.
- Installing plugins or security updates. Separate, €40-60/update.
- Backup and disaster recovery. Separate, €100-200 per recovery.
- Support for critical incidents (site down). Separate, €150-300/incident.
The “basic” plan of €100/month turns out to cost €300-500/month in practice, because every small change you need is charged separately. And the worst: since you don’t know how much you’ll need per month, you can’t budget.
My solution: my plans A (€30/month) and B (€60/month) explicitly include the basics: update content, make small changes, email support in 24-48h. If you exceed hours, I warn you before doing them and you decide. If not, they stay for the next month. No surprises.
Trap 2: “Hours included” that don’t accumulate
Another common trap: “your plan includes 2 hours of changes per month”. Sounds good, but there are 3 problems they don’t tell you:
The first problem is that unused hours do NOT accumulate. If this month you only used 30 minutes, those 90 remaining minutes are lost. The following 2 months you use 4 hours, they charge you the 2 extra hours. The agency saves the cost of those 90 unused minutes, which is a benefit you’re paying without knowing.
The second problem is that hours are billed in 15-30 minute blocks, not in real time. If your change takes 8 minutes, they bill you 15-30 minutes. If you have 10 changes of 8 minutes (which is normal), that’s 80 real minutes that they bill you as 150-300 minutes. The agency takes an extra 100-200% without you knowing.
The third problem is that “work time” is considered anything the technician does, including researching, opening tickets, testing, etc. A WordPress plugin update that technically is 10 minutes, they bill you 30-45 minutes because “it includes verifying compatibilities, doing prior backup, etc.”. Which is true, but you thought that time was covered.
My solution: in my plans, hours are billed for the real time invested (measured with a timer, not in blocks), and unused minutes accumulate for the next month. If one month you use nothing, you don’t bill anything.
Trap 3: “Monthly SEO” without saying what’s done
This trap is the most subtle. The agency includes “monthly SEO” in the maintenance plan for €50-150/month extra, and when you ask what it includes, they tell you vague things: “content optimisation”, “position improvement”, “monthly report”.
What I’ve seen they really do (in the best cases):
- Send you an automatic SEMrush or Ahrefs report with data you can see for free.
- Change 2-3 meta descriptions per month, without real keyword research behind it.
- Publish 1-2 generic blog posts with AI, without cluster strategy or internal linking.
- “Optimise” images (which in reality is just compressing them, something you can do with Squoosh for free).
What they don’t do (in most cases):
- Real technical audit (speed, Schema.org, llms.txt, Core Web Vitals).
- Specific keyword research for your business and your sector.
- On-page optimisation of the pages that really bring you customers.
- Real link building (which is the most expensive and most valuable part of SEO).
My solution: if you want monthly SEO, I budget it separately with a clear scope. Either I do it for you (€420/month with 4 posts + audit + monthly report), or I recommend a specialist. What I don’t do is charge you “SEO” in a maintenance plan and then send you an automatic report that adds nothing.
Trap 4: “No permanence” with hidden permanence
They tell you “plan without permanence, leave whenever you want”. Sounds good. But you read the small print and discover:
- If you leave before 6 months, they charge you a penalty of 1-3 monthly payments.
- If you leave before 12 months, they charge you the equivalent of the initial setup (which can be €200-500).
- If you leave, they block your access to the website until you pay a “transfer fee” of €100-300.
- If you leave, they don’t give you access to the source code, only a “backup” that you can’t use.
My solution: my plans have no permanence of any kind. If you leave, you leave. I deliver all the code, I give you full access to the website, and I leave. No penalty, no fee, no block. My reputation depends on you leaving happy, not trapped.
Trap 5: “We create content” but with unreviewed AI
This trap is the newest and the dirtiest. Agencies offering “content creation for SEO” in their maintenance plans, and what they do is:
- They pass a keyword to ChatGPT.
- They tell it “write a 1,500 word post about this keyword”.
- They publish it as is, without reviewing, without real data, without the client’s voice.
Result: generic posts, without value, that Google ignores more and more (the Helpful Content Update of 2024 and those of 2025-2026 are designed to sink this type of content). The client pays €200-500/month for content that is being ignored by Google, and since they don’t know about SEO, they don’t notice.
My solution: if I want content, I write it myself (at €200-400 per 1,000-1,500 word post, with keyword research, real client data, review). Or I recommend a freelance writer I trust. What I don’t do is pass keywords to ChatGPT and publish what comes out.
Trap 6: “Hosting and domain included” with hidden margin
They include “hosting and domain” in the maintenance plan. And the real cost of a decent hosting + domain is €50-100/year. If they include that in a €80-150/month plan, you’re paying €960-1,800/year for something worth €50-100/year. Agency margin: 90-95%.
What I’ve seen in some especially bloody cases: the agency charges you €100/month for maintenance, “includes” hosting and domain for €80/month of those €100, and then resells the hosting at €10/month with their margin. The real hosting (Vercel, Cloudflare, SiteGround) you buy directly for €5-20/month. The agency is taking €60-70/month margin without doing anything.
My solution: I don’t include hosting or domain in my plans. You hire the hosting directly (I recommend the one that best fits your website, and I help you configure it), and I only charge you for my work. No intermediaries, no hidden margin.
My plans A and B: what they really include, without traps
Plan A (€30/month): 2.5 hours of small changes per month. Texts, photos, adjustments, small design changes. If you exceed, €24/h extra (at the same price, not more). No permanence. Unused hours accumulate.
Plan B (€60/month): 5 hours, with bigger changes. Better for websites with active blog, restaurant menu that rotates, or portfolio that you update often. If you exceed, €24/h extra. No permanence. Unused hours accumulate.
What both plans include:
- Update content (texts, photos, menu, blog, whatever).
- Make small design changes (move a button, change a colour, add a simple section).
- Email support in 24-48h (business days).
- Monthly backup of the website (in case something happens, you have a copy).
- Verification that the website is still online and working.
- Small SEO adjustments if you need them (change a title, a meta description, an image alt).
What they do NOT include (and why):
- Big redesigns (it’s another project, with separate quote).
- New features (it’s another project).
- Serious monthly SEO (it’s another service, from €420/month with 4 posts and audit).
- Content writing (it’s another service, from €240 per post).
- Third-party payments (hosting, domain, SaaS).
Market average price for this same thing: €80-200/month with a serious freelancer, €200-500/month with an agency. My plans cost 3-10 times less, and don’t hide anything.
How to audit your current maintenance plan
If you have a maintenance plan and aren’t sure what you’re overpaying for, ask yourself these 5 questions:
- How many real hours have they dedicated to me this month? If you don’t know the answer, they’re inflating the hours. Demand a report with the real time invested on each task.
- What does the “monthly SEO” of my plan include? If the answer is vague (“optimisation”, “improvements”), be wary. Ask for a specific list of tasks.
- Can I leave tomorrow without penalty? If the answer is “depends” or “read clause 7 of the contract”, you’re trapped.
- Do they give me access to the source code and the complete website when I leave? If it’s not an immediate yes, run away.
- Is the hosting and domain included in the price, or do I pay separately? If they’re included at an inflated price, they’re charging you extra margin without doing anything.
If after these 5 questions you discover you’re overpaying, write to me and I’ll give you an honest diagnosis. The first 30-minute call is free. And if you want me to do the maintenance for you, I send you a fixed written quote in 24-48h. No permanence, no traps, no extras.
Here are the plan details: Services and prices.