How Much Does It Cost to Fix a Broken WordPress Site?

The short version

The price depends on what broke, not on how bad it looks. A white screen, a "There has been a critical error on this website" message, and a site that broke right after an update often come down to the same thing: one plugin, theme or update that clashes with the rest of the site. When that is the whole problem, it's usually a small job.

For reference, our own fixes start at a flat rate:

• Plugin & Theme Conflict Fix, from $129. White screens, broken layouts or fatal errors after an update.
• Emergency Fix, from $149. The site is down, throwing errors, or broken after an update.

You don't need to know which one you have. Finding the cause is part of the price, with no separate diagnosis fee. We look at the site, confirm the flat price, and you approve it before we touch anything.

What makes it cost more

The starting price covers one cause with one fix. It goes up when there is more to do:

• More than one thing broke. One update can break a plugin, the theme and the checkout at the same time. Each needs its own fix.
• The database is damaged. Repairing it, or bringing lost content back from a backup, is more work than switching off a plugin.
• Old code needs rewriting. Custom code written for an older version of WordPress or PHP (the language WordPress runs on) may need updating before the site can run again.
• The site is far behind on updates. Years of skipped updates often mean several problems stacked on top of each other.
• It turns out to be a hack. That is a cleanup instead, from $249. See what a hacked site costs to fix.

If the price changes, you see the new flat rate and approve it first.

Before you try a fix yourself

Your content is usually still there. These errors stop the site from loading; they don't delete it. Restoring a backup can bring the site back, but it wipes out orders and form entries added since the backup was made. It also doesn't fix the cause, so the same update can break the site again. Our fix pages explain the common errors in plain English: the white screen, the 500 error and the database connection error.

A one-time fix or a care plan

A one-time fix is a flat fee for this repair. If you'd rather not think about the next one, every care plan, from $35 a month, includes unlimited break-fix support for problems caused by updates, hosting or security. Plugin and theme updates happen weekly and are checked on a staging copy first.