WordPress Total Cost Calculator for Recruitment Agencies
WordPress cost reality check

What does a recruitment website really cost when WordPress needs plugins, patches and paid changes?

Use this calculator to estimate the true 3-year cost of a WordPress recruitment website, including setup, hosting, security, job board add-ons, plugin licences, ongoing maintenance, change requests and the hidden cost of keeping everything working.

Calculator inputs

All figures are editable. Use your own costs where you have them.

One-off build and setup

Monthly running costs

Annual plugin, app and licence costs

Plugin conflict and emergency cost allowance

This setup has a high dependency count. More plugins and apps can mean more update testing, compatibility checks and potential failure points.

Optional comparison: purpose-built recruitment platform

The real issue is not WordPress itself. WordPress can be fine. The risk is when recruitment functionality relies on a stack of plugins, custom fixes and manual support.
Recruitment sites are not brochure sites. Jobs, apply flows, ATS feeds, alerts, schema, landing pages and tracking make the build more complex than a basic marketing website.
Cheap builds often move the cost later. The bill usually shows up in maintenance, change requests, plugin renewals, broken integrations and “quick fixes” that are never quick.
Notes on example defaults: Defaults are illustrative only and should be edited to match your market, supplier and scope. Public reference points reviewed include WordPress security and update guidance, Wordfence pricing, Yoast SEO Premium pricing, Gravity Forms pricing, WP Job Manager add-on bundle pricing, WP Rocket pricing, Elementor pricing and Kinsta hosting pricing. Vendor prices change, so always check current rates before publishing quoted figures.

Copy-ready summary

Use this in a proposal, sales follow-up or internal discussion.

This calculator is designed for education and sales conversations. It is not financial advice and does not replace a detailed scope, supplier quote or legal/commercial review.