How Much Website Maintenance Costs? Python & Django Software Support Checklist

Running Python and Django software, a website or an app, can be tricky. You often need small updates and fixes, but not enough to hire a full-time developer.  Sometimes, the team that built your app might not want to do these small jobs. They prefer bigger projects. It’s also hard to find freelancers for just a few hours of work each month. This might be what you’re dealing with right now. And if so, this this article will help. You will see how to get the right support for your software, even if it’s just a little each month. We’ll talk about how much it costs, what a good maintenance plan looks like, and why regular updates are important for your software or website.

How did you end up here?

So, how it all started? You decided to develop your software from scratch. Finding a team or a freelancer was easy, and they were eager to get started. However, the need for full-time, monthly development work decreased after launching your app. You only needed them for a few tasks each month. That’s when you noticed the team’s enthusiasm for maintaining your app wasn’t the same, especially for just 10-20 hours, or even 40-80 hours a month. This left you with useful software but no reliable support to keep it running smoothly. The original developers, busy with other larger projects, often put your needs last.  Sometimes, even urgent tasks had to wait for weeks. So, what can you do in a situation like this?

Solution

Ideally, when you start initially building your software, it’s best to talk about post-launch support at the beginning before you hire a vendor.  However, if you’re reading this, you probably need a different solution now. So what to do? There are agencies that can help with existing Python apps, like mine agency – SoftFormance. We take new clients with existing apps and offer monthly care plans. You should look for an agency that has good experience and offers things like monthly help, regular fixes, and making sure your app is always up and running. Usually, such a vendor will start with a codebase audit, then will onboard your project into their processes, and finally switch to a monthly maintenance retainer.

Monthly Maintenance Checklist

So why does your software need regular maintenance and what is the bare minimum for a monthly support retainer?

• Daily Backups: To keep your data safe. (In our agency, we’re using SnapShooter service for daily backups)
• Quick Fixes for Urgent Issues: Like if your site goes down. (We’re using Pingdom here)
• Security Updates: To protect against threats.
• Performance Monitoring: To keep things running smoothly. (in our agency we’re using NewRelic to do monitoring)
• Code Versioning: For tracking changes in your software. (We’re using GitHub for this)
• Automated Deployments: For efficient production releases. (here we’re using Docker)
• Error and Log Monitoring: To spot and fix issues quickly. (We’re using Sentry service for errors tracking)
• Version Upgrades, especially for Python/Django: To stay up-to-date.
• Set Hours for Development Work: 10, 20, 40, or 80 dev hours/month
• And finally, Turnaround Time: How quickly tasks will be completed.

These elements are crucial to keeping your software in top shape.

How much does monthly maintenance cost?

How much does monthly maintenance cost? The price depends on how complex your project is, its size, and how many developer hours you need each month. Maintenance for a simple Python & Django website with no development hours might start at around $400-500 dollars per month. For 20-40+ dev hours support packages, prices will quickly go above 2000-3000$ per month. As of today, at SoftFormance, we offer 3 monthly support retainer packages for Python & Django software:

• This is our 20-hour Starter package.

• This is our 40-hour Soft package.

• And this is our 80-hour Performance package.

Please note, that we don’t offer plans for more than 80 hours a month. That’s almost like having a half-time developer, and for such a workload, you’d typically get a one-day turnaround and almost a dedicated developer for your project. So, for higher volumes, standard support plans may not be the best fit.

So, if you have Python or Django software, a website, or an app and want to improve it, then contact us. We’ll do a Free Audit of your software and see if we can help!