What does website hosting and care actually include?

By Jennie Tewell

Website hosting keeps your site online and reachable. Website care goes further: daily backups, security updates, someone watching for outages, and time each month for the small changes that come up. At Made by Crane, care plans run from $29 a month for hosting only to $99 a month for more change time and faster replies, with 2 months free when you pay yearly.

Here's what's behind those words, so you know what you're paying for.

Hosting, in plain words

Your website lives on a computer that's always on and connected to the internet. Hosting is renting space on that computer, plus the work of keeping it running.

Good hosting also includes an SSL certificate, which is what puts the lock icon in the browser and the "https" at the start of your address. Browsers warn visitors away from sites without one, so it isn't optional anymore.

Care, in plain words

Care is everything that keeps the site healthy once it's live:

• Daily backups. A copy of your site every day, so nothing is lost if something goes wrong.
• Security updates. The software under your site gets updated so it stays safe.
• Uptime watch. If your site goes down, we know about it.
• Changes. Time each month for us to make the small updates you'd rather not do yourself.
• Someone to ask. A real person who replies, within 2 business days or 1 on Site Care Plus.

Our care plans

Every site we host comes with a care plan. Here's what each one includes.

Hosting Only, $29 a month. Your site, kept online and backed up. Hosting and SSL, daily backups, security updates and the editor so you make your own changes. Email support is for outages only, and any changes we make are billed in 15-minute blocks.

Site Care, $59 a month. Everything a site needs to stay healthy. Hosting and SSL, daily backups, security updates, uptime watch, 30 minutes of changes a month and replies within 2 business days.

Site Care Plus, $99 a month. Everything in Site Care, plus 90 minutes of changes a month, priority replies within 1 business day and a quarterly check-in on your traffic and leads.

App Care, from $175 a month. For sites with a storefront or custom app. Everything in Site Care, plus payment and email monitoring, a larger database and 2 hours of changes a month.

What care doesn't include

It's worth being clear about the edges, too.

• Unused minutes don't roll over. Each month starts fresh.
• Extra work is billed separately. $75 an hour in 15-minute blocks, or a flat quote.
• New features are their own project. A new page type or integration is quoted separately.

Why we require a care plan

We host every site we build, and that's on purpose. Because we run the hosting and the software, we can keep every site updated, backed up and secure without you ever having to think about it. There are no plugins for you to update and no separate hosting bill to figure out.

The trade-off is that the care plan is ongoing. You can cancel with 30 days' notice, but when the plan ends the site goes offline. You own your domain, your words, your photos and your brand. We keep and license the software that runs the site and the editor. If you ever want to move, talk to us before your plan ends and we'll plan it together.

How this compares to a website builder

On Squarespace or Wix, hosting and SSL are part of your subscription (Squarespace runs $19 to $99 a month billed yearly ($25 to $139 month to month), and Wix runs $17.77 to $159.77 a month billed yearly), and the platform keeps its servers updated. That's a fair deal. What's left to you is the rest of the care: noticing when a form stops working, keeping pages current, and making every change yourself.

Prices last checked October 4, 2026.

With a care plan, those jobs have someone assigned to them. Whether that's worth it depends on how much you want to be hands-on.

Which plan is right for you?

• Hosting Only suits owners who are comfortable in the editor and rarely need help.
• Site Care suits most small businesses. You make the everyday changes, and we handle the occasional bigger one.
• Site Care Plus suits businesses whose site brings in steady leads, where faster replies and a quarterly look at traffic are worth it.
• App Care is for sites with a storefront or custom app, where payments and emails need watching.

Your care plan starts the month after launch, with a check-in at 30 days.

Questions about which plan fits? See the care plans or get in touch. We reply within 2 business days.

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