I remember that evening when I was busy with my online business, and suddenly a message popped up in my IM that my WordPress website crashed. It was pure panic for me emotionally because I was in the midst of the holiday season, and the site was experiencing a spike in traffic.
I tried for several hours to find reliable WordPress support, but everyone on my list was busy with their clientele. At last, I found WP-Agents, a WordPress support & maintenance agency.
WP-Agents were ready to deal with my #emergency, and they did it beautifully, indeed. Share on XHowever, I learned a lesson, and after finishing the holiday sales, I started comparing WordPress maintenance and support care plans offered by some well-known service providers locally & globally.
In due course, I listed what kinds of services are common and essential to my business site and which providers are best for me to consider from the list.
Of course, I prioritized my eCommerce-specific needs that may or may not work in the contexts of others.
How to Compare WordPress Maintenance & Support Plans
I have selected the following parameters to rank the WordPress support & maintenance services in the prevailing market in 2021.
Emergency Support
Based on my experience, it was natural for me to count emergency support that you can obtain mostly with a phone call following an email to learn about the services, terms & conditions, and signup process with required payment in advance.
However, some low-cost plans were devoid of direct phone call support, particularly in odd hours like midnight. The services have privileged that provision only for high-costs plans.
Personally, I recommend checking for 24/7 WordPress support by shooting a dummy email in odd hours or calling. It will tell you perfectly who will work for you locally and globally.
Regular Support
This is about fixes. I don’t mean bugs, those purely technical ones. WordPress website owners or administrators often face minor issues like plugin compatibility or DNS issues. Such tasks are under the umbrella of unscheduled or reactive maintenance. The need for regular support arises mostly due to updates and various attacks on the site.
Updates
I consider five major types of updates a WordPress website can demand from the support and maintenance team.
- Core code updates by the WordPress platform.
- Theme updates by theme providers, mostly in response to core updates.
- Plugin updates by plugin developers in response to regular WordPress core updates.
- SEO updates in response to changing major marketing needs and search engine algorithm updates.
- User experience updates based on marketing and UX strategies.
Monitoring
WordPress monitoring doesn’t refer to analytics of your business or traffic monitoring, as that is the job of your marketing team. Of course, if your provider is offering SEO monitoring, they might inform you regarding traffic drops due to SEO issues only.
Security monitoring is encompassing regular scanning for various security threats like hacking, malware, and various attacks by malicious elements on the web.
Performance monitoring usually covers site loading speed, user interaction speed, and hassle-free user experience. Thereby, it demands site performance optimization, regular code analysis, various performance tests, and server optimization.
Scanning & Fixes
I have already said almost everything about scanning and fixes before. So, I shall talk about intervals here.
Many times a WP care agency offers weekly or fortnightly scanning and fixing services, but on average, the majority of the best WordPress support services or the best WordPress maintenance services are delivering that on monthly intervals.
Hosting
It is good for dedicated WordPress support to have your own hosting or preferences. That way, they can set a perfect environment according to your site’s requirements and potential growth. Beware of hosting terms and conditions that do not permit you easy transfer whenever you wish.
Reporting
This is a must-have characteristic of all, ranging from cheap to premium WordPress maintenance services. There are many options to choose from based on the size of your business, website traffic, or whether you need weekly to bi-weekly or monthly reporting.
I have illustrated the comparison of a few leading WordPress maintenance and support services to give the best-ever examples.
WordPress Maintenance & Support Plan Comparison
Basic Plans
WP-Agents | WP SitePlan | Superb
Themes |
Total
WP Support |
WP Buffs | |
Emergency Support | Yes (But no breakdown support) | No | Yes | Email-only | Yes |
Regular Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Updates | Bi-weekly theme & plugin updates | As per need | As per need | WordPress updates | Weekly |
Monitoring | Uptime & performance monitoring | Only uptime monitoring | Only uptime monitoring | Yes | Limited |
Scanning & Fixes | No | No | No | Limited | Limited |
Hosting | No | No | No | No | No |
Backup | 1x Daily | Daily | Yes | Weekly | 1x Daily |
Reporting | Monthly | Monthly | Weekly | Monthly | Weekly |
Pricing | $29/month | $29/month | $99/month | $49/month | $67/month |
Standard Plans
WP-Agents | WP SitePlan | Superb
Themes |
Total
WP Support |
WP Buffs | |
Emergency Support | Yes | One-hour helpdesk support | Yes | Email & chat | Yes |
Regular Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Updates | Weekly theme & plugin updates | As per need | As per need | Regular | Weekly |
Monitoring | Uptime & performance monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Scanning & Fixes | Bi-weekly two hours | Yes | Yes | Limited | Limited |
Hosting | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Backup | 2x | Daily | 2x | Daily | 2x |
Reporting | Bi-weekly | Monthly | Weekly | Monthly | Weekly |
Pricing | $89/month | $89/month | $189/month | $99/month | $147/month |
Advanced Plans
WP-Agents | WP SitePlan | Superb
Themes |
Total
WP Support |
WP Buffs | |
Emergency Support | Yes | Unlimited | Yes | Email, chat, & phone | Yes |
Regular Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Updates | Monthly theme & plugin updates | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Monitoring | Uptime & performance monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Scanning & Fixes | Bi-weekly two hours | Daily | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Hosting | Yes | No | No | Yes, & free | No |
Backup | 4x | Daily | 4x | Hourly (Auto) | 4x |
Reporting | Weekly | Weekly | Yes | Weekly | Weekly |
Pricing | $169/month | $199/month | $249/month | $299/month | $290/month |
My Opinion
Based on the analysis of these and other WordPress support and maintenance services on the web, I can place emphasis on buying WP-Agents’ WordPress maintenance and support services.
WP SitePlan is best for a static type of website, which demands little to no reactive support, but with that, you miss many other services due to its cheaper basic plan. In contrast, WP-Agents works for all types of WordPress websites on the web.
SuperbThemes is a bit costly compared to WP-Agents. Similarly, Total WP Support misses many other services in comparison to WP-Agents in advanced plans.
Segmentation of the service plans is bigger and divided into standard and custom services with high charges.