Almost every agency prices maintenance the same way: a spreadsheet of rough factors and a gut feeling. It works right up until you're losing money on a site you underquoted and can't explain why. Here's the honest breakdown.
A spreadsheet holds whatever numbers a human typed in, on the day they typed them, using their own judgement. WP Complexity Score (this site) reads the actual site — plugins, commerce, integrations, database, PHP, update backlog and more — and computes the same weighted score every time, then keeps a monthly history. Human estimate versus live measurement.
| Feature | WP Complexity Score | Spreadsheet & gut feeling |
|---|---|---|
| Complexity read from the live site | ✓ 12 dimensions, automatic | ✗ Typed in by hand |
| Consistent across team members | ✓ Identical maths | ✗ Author-dependent |
| Objective on an unfamiliar takeover | ✓ Instant, no learning curve | ◐ You must study it first |
| Per-dimension breakdown | ✓ Every factor scored | ◐ If you built the columns |
| Tracks change over time | ✓ Monthly snapshots + movers | ✗ Static until re-done |
| Maps to your price bands | ✓ Editable, on the dial | ◐ A lookup you maintain |
| Client-ready output | ✓ Branded PDF + email | ✗ Internal only |
| Bespoke, business-specific factors | ✗ Fixed twelve dimensions | ✓ Add any column you like |
| Effort to keep current | ✓ Runs itself monthly | ✗ Manual |
| Cost | From $49/yr · $299 lifetime | Free — plus the money lost to underquoting |
You manage a small number of sites you know intimately, and your pricing already includes bespoke factors specific to your business that no generic score would capture. For that, a well-built spreadsheet is genuinely hard to beat.
You price takeovers you don't yet know, you want every quote to be consistent regardless of who prepared it, and you need evidence a client will accept when a site grows and the retainer has to follow. Run both if you like — the score as the objective backbone, your spreadsheet for the nuance. That's us.