The Ultimate WordPress Maintenance Checklist for 2026

WordPress powers over 43% of all websites on the internet. But with great popularity comes great responsibility—and great risk. Unmaintained WordPress sites are prime targets for hackers, and a neglected site can quickly become slow, broken, or compromised.

Whether you’re managing one site or fifty, this comprehensive maintenance checklist will keep your WordPress installations healthy, secure, and performing at their best.

Why WordPress Maintenance Matters

Before diving into the checklist, let’s understand why regular maintenance is non-negotiable:

• Security vulnerabilities: Outdated plugins and themes are the #1 attack vector for WordPress sites
• Performance degradation: Database bloat and unoptimized assets slow your site over time
• SEO impact: Google penalizes slow, insecure sites in search rankings
• User experience: Broken features and slow load times drive visitors away
• Data loss prevention: Without backups, one hack or server failure could wipe everything

Daily Maintenance Tasks

1. Monitor Uptime

Your site should be monitored 24/7. If it goes down, you need to know immediately—not when a customer complains.

What to do:

• Set up uptime monitoring (we recommend UptimeRobot or Pingdom)
• Configure instant alerts via email, SMS, or Slack
• Aim for 99.9% uptime or better

2. Check for Security Alerts

Security plugins should be scanning your site continuously.

What to do:

• Review security plugin dashboards (Wordfence, Sucuri, or iThemes Security)
• Check for failed login attempts
• Monitor file change detection alerts

3. Review Backup Status

Backups should run automatically, but you need to verify they’re actually completing.

What to do:

• Confirm daily backup completed successfully
• Verify backup files are being stored off-site
• Check backup file sizes (sudden changes could indicate issues)

Weekly Maintenance Tasks

1. Update WordPress Core, Themes, and Plugins

This is the single most important maintenance task. Most WordPress hacks exploit known vulnerabilities in outdated software.

What to do:

• Check for available updates in the WordPress dashboard
• Read changelogs before updating (especially for major versions)
• Update plugins first, then themes, then core
• Test your site after each update

Pro tip: Always take a backup before updating. If something breaks, you can restore quickly.

2. Review and Respond to Comments

Spam comments can hurt your SEO and user experience.

What to do:

• Approve legitimate comments
• Delete or mark spam comments
• Consider using Akismet for automatic spam filtering

3. Check Website Speed

Page speed affects both user experience and SEO rankings.

What to do:

• Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights
• Check Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console
• Note any significant changes from the previous week

4. Test Contact Forms

Broken forms mean lost leads.

What to do:

• Submit a test inquiry through every form
• Verify emails are being received
• Check form spam filtering is working

Monthly Maintenance Tasks

1. Optimize the Database

WordPress databases accumulate bloat over time—post revisions, transients, spam comments, and more.

What to do:

• Use a plugin like WP-Optimize or Advanced Database Cleaner
• Remove post revisions (keep the last 3-5)
• Delete spam and trashed comments
• Clean up transients and expired options

2. Review User Accounts

Unused accounts with admin access are a security risk.

What to do:

• Audit all user accounts
• Remove inactive users
• Verify user roles are appropriate
• Enforce strong passwords

3. Check for Broken Links

Broken links hurt SEO and user experience.

What to do:

• Use a broken link checker plugin or online tool
• Fix or redirect broken internal links
• Update or remove broken external links

4. Review Analytics

Understanding your traffic helps you make informed decisions.

What to do:

• Check traffic trends in Google Analytics
• Review top-performing content
• Identify pages with high bounce rates
• Look for unusual traffic patterns (could indicate issues)

5. Test Website on Multiple Devices

Your site should work perfectly on all devices and browsers.

What to do:

• Test on mobile phones (iOS and Android)
• Test on tablets
• Test in major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)
• Check for layout issues or broken functionality

Quarterly Maintenance Tasks

1. Full Security Audit

Go beyond daily monitoring with a comprehensive security review.

What to do:

• Scan for malware using multiple tools
• Review file permissions
• Check for unauthorized file changes
• Verify SSL certificate is valid and properly configured
• Test firewall rules

2. Review and Update Content

Outdated content can hurt your credibility and SEO.

What to do:

• Update statistics and dates in evergreen content
• Refresh old blog posts with new information
• Remove or redirect obsolete pages
• Update copyright year in footer

3. Evaluate Hosting Performance

Your hosting environment should grow with your site.

What to do:

• Review server response times
• Check resource usage (CPU, memory, storage)
• Evaluate if you need to upgrade your plan
• Consider CDN implementation if not already using one

4. Plugin and Theme Audit

Not all plugins are created equal, and unused ones are security risks.

What to do:

• Delete unused plugins and themes
• Research alternatives for poorly-maintained plugins
• Check for plugin conflicts
• Verify all plugins are still being actively developed

Annual Maintenance Tasks

1. Renew Domain and SSL

Don’t let these expire accidentally.

What to do:

• Set calendar reminders 30 days before expiration
• Enable auto-renewal where possible
• Verify contact information is current

2. Review Backup and Recovery Strategy

Your backup strategy should be tested, not just assumed to work.

What to do:

• Perform a full site restore to a staging environment
• Verify all data is intact
• Document the recovery process
• Update recovery time objectives if needed

3. Performance Baseline

Establish benchmarks for the coming year.

What to do:

• Document current page load times
• Record Core Web Vitals scores
• Note server response times
• Screenshot PageSpeed Insights results

Automate What You Can

Manually performing all these tasks is time-consuming and error-prone. Here’s what you should automate:

• Backups: Daily automated backups to off-site storage
• Updates: Automatic minor updates (use caution with major updates)
• Uptime monitoring: 24/7 automated checks with instant alerts
• Security scanning: Continuous malware and vulnerability scanning
• Database optimization: Scheduled weekly cleanups

When to Hire a Professional

Managing WordPress maintenance yourself is possible, but it requires time, knowledge, and discipline. Consider hiring a professional maintenance service if:

• You manage multiple WordPress sites
• Your site is business-critical
• You lack technical expertise
• You’d rather focus on your business than website maintenance
• You need guaranteed uptime and rapid response to issues

The Cost of Neglect

Still wondering if maintenance is worth the effort? Consider this:

• The average cost of a WordPress hack cleanup is $500-$3,000
• Downtime costs businesses an average of $5,600 per minute
• 60% of small businesses close within 6 months of a cyber attack
• A 1-second delay in page load time reduces conversions by 7%

Regular maintenance is an investment that pays for itself many times over.

Your Next Step

Download our free WordPress Maintenance Checklist PDF, or contact us to learn how WPNurture can handle all your WordPress maintenance automatically.

Our managed WordPress maintenance plans include:

• Daily backups with off-site storage
• Weekly updates with compatibility testing
• 24/7 uptime monitoring
• Security scanning and hardening
• Monthly performance optimization
• Priority support from US-based experts

Don’t wait for something to break. Get started with WPNurture today.