There’s no single universal schedule for how often software should be updated, but there is a wrong approach: waiting until something breaks to think about it at all. Here’s a realistic cadence based on what we run for clients.
Security Patches: As Soon as They're Available
Security patches for frameworks, plugins, and libraries should go out on a short cycle — days, not months — especially for anything handling user data or payments. Delaying security patches is the single most common way small businesses end up compromised.
Dependency Updates: Monthly, Not Ad Hoc
Non-security library updates are safer to batch monthly, tested together, rather than applied one at a time as they're released. This catches compatibility issues in a controlled way instead of finding them in production.
Major Framework Upgrades: Plan Them, Don't Skip Them
Skipping a major framework version because 'it still works' compounds the eventual upgrade into a much bigger project later, once the gap is several versions wide. Budgeting a major upgrade every 12–18 months keeps that jump manageable.
Content and Feature Updates: As the Business Needs Them
This is the only category that's genuinely need-driven rather than schedule-driven — new features, design refreshes, and content updates should track business priorities, not an arbitrary calendar.
The Real Cost of Skipping All of This
Deferred updates don't disappear — they accumulate into a larger, riskier project down the line, usually discovered at the worst possible time (a security incident, or a browser update that suddenly breaks something). A maintenance plan turns that lump sum into predictable, smaller work.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if we’ve gone years without updates?
We start with an audit to understand what’s out of date and what’s actually urgent, then sequence the catch-up so nothing breaks in the process — it’s very fixable, just not a one-day job.
Do we need a maintenance plan if nothing has broken yet?
Nothing breaking yet isn’t the same as nothing being at risk — most security issues are silent until they’re exploited, which is exactly why proactive monitoring catches things a break-fix approach misses.