Guide

Software maintenance and support: what you are paying for after launch.

Launching is the start of a product's life, not the end of the bill. Software ages as phones, browsers, libraries and the services it depends on change around it. This guide explains what maintenance and support cover, how plans are usually built and what to settle before signing one.

Key takeaways

Unmaintained software does not stay as it was: it slowly stops working or becomes unsafe.
Maintenance keeps it healthy; support answers problems; improvement adds features. They are different things.
Ask for the running costs in writing before the build starts.
A good plan states what is covered, how fast you get a response and what costs extra.
Make sure you own the accounts so you are not dependent on one supplier.

Three things that get lumped together

Maintenance. Keeping the product healthy: security updates, upgrading components that are reaching end of life, adjusting to new browser and phone versions, monitoring, backups and routine checks.
Support. Responding when something goes wrong or someone cannot work out how to do something: reports from users, diagnosing faults and fixing defects.
Improvement. New features and changes you ask for. This is project work, not upkeep, and is usually quoted separately.

Confusion between these is behind many disputes. “It stopped working” might be a defect that support should fix, an upgrade that maintenance should have caught or a change in an outside service that nobody could have predicted.

Why software needs upkeep

Security. New weaknesses are found in the components software is built from. Updates close them. Skipped updates stay open.
The world changes. New phone and browser versions arrive every year and can break things that worked. Apps must meet the app stores' current requirements to stay listed.
Services change. Payment providers, messaging platforms and mapping or AI services alter their rules, prices and interfaces.
Data grows. A system that was quick with a hundred customers may be slow with ten thousand.
People change. New staff need access; leavers' access must be removed.

What a plan should spell out

What is covered, in plain language: updates, monitoring, backups, defect fixes, user support.
What is not, and how it is charged: new features, third-party changes, training, major upgrades.
Response times, and what hours they apply to. “Within one working day” means something different from “within one hour, any time”. Say how Hong Kong public holidays and severe-weather days are treated.
How to report a problem, and who will answer.
Costs. A fixed monthly fee, a bank of hours or pay-as-you-go, plus any third-party charges that pass through.
Reporting. What you will be told about each month: updates applied, incidents, usage.
Ending the arrangement. Notice period and what is handed over.

How much should you budget?

There is no universal figure. It depends on how complex the product is, how many outside services it relies on and how quickly you need responses. A common rule of thumb is to budget a meaningful percentage of the build cost per year for upkeep, with simple websites at the low end and products with payments, integrations and apps at the high end. Treat that as a starting point for a conversation, not a quote.

Remember the costs that are not the supplier's fee: hosting, payment fees, messaging charges, domain renewals, app store accounts and any AI usage. Ask for them as a list. Our cost guide and the hosting notes describe them in more detail.

Protect yourself

Own the accounts. Hosting, domain, app store and analytics accounts should be in your company's name, with the supplier given access.
Get documentation at handover. How to deploy, where things live and how to restore a backup.
Test the restore. A backup nobody has restored from is a hope, not a plan.
Keep a second person informed. Do not let one individual at the supplier, or in your team, be the only one who knows.

Frequently asked questions

Can I skip maintenance and just fix things when they break?

You can, but problems tend to arrive at the worst moment and the cost of catching up grows. For anything customers or staff depend on, or that holds personal data, regular upkeep is the safer choice.

Does the supplier that built it have to maintain it?

No, though they know it best. With good documentation and accounts in your name, another team can take over. Agree this at the start.

Is maintenance the same as a warranty?

No. A warranty usually covers defects in the original work for a set period after delivery. Maintenance is ongoing upkeep. Ask what the supplier's warranty covers and for how long.

Planning for life after launch?

Tell us what the product will do and who depends on it. We will describe the upkeep it needs in plain terms.

Request a project quote