Why is a website so costly to maintain?

Maintenance costs add up because a website isn't a one-time purchase, it's ongoing infrastructure. Hosting keeps it online, security updates keep it from getting hacked, and someone has to apply those updates instead of letting them pile up.

The parts that feel invisible when everything's working, backups, plugin updates, monitoring for downtime, are exactly what you're paying for. Skipping maintenance doesn't remove the cost, it just trades a small ongoing cost for a much bigger one when something eventually breaks.