How Much Does Software Maintenance Cost In 2025

Understanding software maintenance costs is something that can’t be overlooked. Every company that depends on software, whether for internal operations or customer-facing applications, knows the need to keep it up to date. What many businesses fail to realize is the financial burden that maintenance can carry. The more you rely on software, the more you have to invest in keeping it running smoothly, which can significantly impact the bottom line.

When it comes to calculating software maintenance costs, it’s not a one-size-fits-all scenario. The expenses vary widely based on the complexity of the software, the scale of its use, and the frequency of updates required.

Trying to pin down a specific figure for maintenance costs upfront is tricky. There are too many moving parts that can change from one project to the next, which will make it almost impossible to give an accurate estimate without a thorough evaluation.

Below, we take a closer look at all key factors that play a part in figuring out software maintenance costs. We’ll go over everything from understanding the different types of maintenance to exploring the various factors that make up the total software maintenance cost.

What is Software Maintenance?

Software maintenance is the process performed to keep the software up-to-date by updating, modifying, and fixing software after it has been deployed. It makes adjustments to the software system and keeps it running smoothly, by addressing issues that come up during the lifecycle of software.

The main goal of software maintenance is to make the software function uninterruptedly and meet the needs of its users by sustaining the essential functionalities and adding new ones after the initial release of the software. As a result, the process aligns the tool with changing business processes and keeps it compatible with newer hardware and operating systems as technology evolves.

Software maintenance is essential because as the needs of the business change, so do the demands placed on the software. Without maintenance, outdated systems start to slow down, experience errors, and become security risks. Inconsistent performance or bugs in software lead to lost time, frustrated users, and ultimately, higher costs. By maintaining software, you keep these issues at bay and the organizational processes managed through the software work smoothly.

Different Types of Software Maintenance

Whether it’s addressing immediate concerns, adapting to evolving requirements, or optimizing performance, every effort contributes to the software’s long-term success. Explain below are the major maintenance strategies that help a software run smoothly and evolve with the times.

Corrective Software Maintenance

This is a common type of application maintenance approach that fixes issues that emerge after the software has been deployed. These issues are those that weren’t caught during the initial development phase. In terms of costs, this type of maintenance tends to be the most reactive and, therefore, can rack up expenses fast.

Adaptive Software Maintenance

Here, maintenance makes the software compatible with changes in the environment, such as system upgrades, new operating systems, or changes in hardware. For instance, an update in a server’s OS or a shift to cloud-based services require an overhaul of parts of the software to maintain compatibility. These adjustments seem like they wouldn’t affect the budget that much, but they definitely add up.

Perfective Software Maintenance

Perfective maintenance centers around enhancing the software based on user feedback and performance data. It optimizes functionality, adds new features, and makes the software more efficient. It leads to higher costs, especially if the software wasn’t built with future improvements in mind.

Preventive Software Maintenance

As the name suggests, proactive steps are taken to avoid future issues. The actions include updating the software, removing obsolete features, and optimizing its underlying code. While it sounds like it would be cost-saving in the long run, preventive maintenance can also come with a hefty price tag upfront. The aim here is to reduce the likelihood of problems down the line, but the investment in time, testing, and planning is significant.

Software Maintenance Cost Vs Software Development Cost

Software maintenance costs and software development costs are two important cost elements that decide the overall cost of the software. We compare them below:

How to Calculate Maintenance Cost

To explain the process of arriving at a maintenance cost, below we cover the essential steps to calculate the maintenance cost, the tools used in the process and throw more light on the process with a real-life example.

Steps to Calculate Software Maintenance Costs

Calculating software maintenance costs requires a systematic approach, covered through the following steps:

• Identify Maintenance Categories: Categorize maintenance activities into corrective (bug fixes), adaptive (technology or system updates), perfective (performance improvements), and preventive (avoiding future issues). As discussed, these categories vary in time and cost impact, so it’s important to list them out for an accurate estimate.
• Estimate the Effort Required: Calculate the time each type of maintenance will require. You’ll need historical data, if available, or use breakpoints like the size of the software, the complexity of the issue, and code dependencies.
• Factor in Resource Rates and Skill Sets: Different maintenance processes require different skill sets. For instance, a major system update will need specialists in certain frameworks or APIs, whereas routine bug fixes can be handled by general developers. Assign the appropriate rates based on the expertise of software engineers.
• Account for Infrastructure and Tooling Costs: Consider the hardware and software required for running the system. You will consider server costs, cloud storage, licensing for third-party APIs, and tools used in development or testing.
• Include Risk and Contingency: Include a contingency budget to account for unforeseen expenses. Cover urgent patches for security vulnerabilities, system downtime, or emergency performance fixes. It is typically between 5-15% of the total estimated costs.

Tools and Methods used for Software Maintenance Cost Calculation

Following are the tools that are used to calculate the cost of software maintenance service. Let’s see how each of them plays its part.

• COCOMO II (Constructive Cost Model): It uses a mathematical approach to predict person-hours needed, based on factors such as software type (organic, semi-detached, or embedded) and development environment.
• Project Management Tools: These tools track the work done over time, logging effort for each maintenance task. In Jira, for example, teams can break down maintenance tasks into smaller, actionable items with estimated hours. As each task is logged with specific hours, you get an accurate picture of the total maintenance cost.
• Version Control Systems: Version control tools like Git and SVN give detailed insights into the frequency and scope of code changes. By reviewing commit histories, you can estimate the time spent on maintenance activities. For instance, if there are frequent changes in the codebase that affect multiple modules, it signals a higher level of maintenance work.
• Cloud Cost Management Tools : Tools like AWS Cost Explorer and Azure Cost Management allow you to track cloud-related expenses in real-time. For software maintenance, if you need to scale resources (e.g., increase server capacity, database storage, or bandwidth usage), these tools help you monitor and predict how those changes will impact costs.
• Function Point Analysis (FPA): By evaluating the functionality of a system, FPA measures software size based on the number of inputs, outputs, and user interactions. It’s useful for calculating maintenance costs by linking these metrics to the effort needed for updates and issue resolution.
• Cost Estimation Software: These tools provide detailed tracking of project resources and budgets. By focusing on specific maintenance activities, they help quantify the costs associated with labor, tools, and infrastructure, and offer a structured method to predict total maintenance costs.
• Timesheet Management Tools: Timesheet tools track individual work hours, and help estimate the cost of maintenance activities. By recording time spent on maintenance tasks, they provide clear insights into resource allocation and can be directly linked to labor costs in the estimation process.
• Spreadsheets: With spreadsheets, users can track costs related to labor, tools, and infrastructure by creating customized models. By organizing data into categories, teams gain a comprehensive view of the ongoing expenses.
• Expert Judgment: Finally, expertise always proves valuable. Drawing from past experience, experts use historical data to forecast future maintenance costs. By analyzing the maintenance work done on previous projects, they apply patterns to similar systems, and give a realistic estimation of maintenance costs.

Illustration:

Let’s consider a software product used for managing insurance claims. Over time, the platform has expanded to support new insurance types, integrate with third-party services, and handle higher transaction volumes. Each of these changes increases the software’s maintenance burden.

For adaptive maintenance, the system requires an update to integrate with a new claims processing API. The estimated effort is 80 hours at $150 per hour (as this requires specialized knowledge of the new API). This gives a labor cost of $12,000.

Corrective maintenance is needed to fix a critical bug found in the claims processing module. The estimated work is 20 hours at $100 per hour (handled by general developers), which costs $2,000.

The infrastructure costs include the need to scale the cloud database due to growing data, resulting in a cost of $1,500 per month. The tooling cost for the automated testing framework (Selenium) is $500 per month.

Adding a contingency budget of 10% for unanticipated issues, the total estimated maintenance cost for the month would be:

Labor Costs: $12,000 (adaptive) + $2,000 (corrective) = $14,000

Infrastructure Costs: $1,500

Tooling Costs: $500

Contingency (10%): $1,750

Total Maintenance Cost: $14,000 + $1,500 + $500 + $1,750 = $17,750 per month.

What are the Factors Affecting Software Maintenance?

When it comes to software maintenance, a lot of factors play a role in determining how much it will cost in the long run. Some of these factors are more obvious than others, but they all have a significant impact. Following are the major factors that influence the cost of software maintenance:

• Complexity of the Software

  The more intricate the software, the more time and resources you’ll need to keep it running. Software solutions with multiple features, user types, or integrations with other systems demands ongoing attention. Troubleshooting, fixing issues, and updating it all take more time. A simpler system, however, requires fewer updates and fixes, leading to lower costs.

• Quality of the Codebase

  If the code is sloppy, maintenance costs will climb. Poorly written code is harder to modify and troubleshoot, which translates into more hours spent fixing bugs and making adjustments. On the other hand, a clean and well-documented codebase makes it easier to maintain and modify over time, cutting down on the need for constant intervention.

• Frequency of Updates and Patches

  Systems that require frequent updates, whether it’s for adding new features or fixing security vulnerabilities, will cost more to maintain. Each patch or update takes time to implement, test, and deploy. While some software only needs an occasional update, others need regular maintenance, which adds up over time.

• Size of the User Base

  A larger user base generally means more problems to solve. As more people use the software, there will naturally be more bug reports, performance issues, and feature requests. More users also mean more compatibility testing across various environments. All of this requires more developer time, which drives up maintenance costs.

• Technology Stack and Platform

  The technology stack you choose today can have a huge impact on future maintenance. If you rely on outdated tech or niche platforms, it could be harder (and more expensive) to find software developers who are proficient in it. In contrast, using widely adopted technologies often results in lower costs, as there are more resources and tools available to keep things running smoothly.

• Integration with Third-Party Systems

  Software that integrates with external systems often requires ongoing adjustments as those third-party systems change. Each time an external service gets updated, your software may need a tweak to stay compatible. With multiple third-party integrations, maintaining this balance can become resource-intensive.

• Security Requirements

  When your software handles sensitive data, like financial or healthcare information, security maintenance is a big deal. Regular audits, vulnerability patches, and staying compliant with regulations demand constant attention. The cost of maintaining high security standards adds up, especially if you face frequent threats or need to stay ahead of emerging vulnerabilities.

• Legacy Systems

  Older systems can be a maintenance nightmare. As technology advances, legacy software becomes harder to manage, and finding the right talent to work on it becomes more challenging. Migrating from these older systems is also costly, but staying on them often leads to expensive, inefficient maintenance.

• User Feedback and Bug Reports

  If users consistently report bugs or experience issues, your software will require constant updates. More bug reports mean more developer hours spent troubleshooting and fixing problems. Handling user feedback promptly can help prevent maintenance costs from spiraling out of control.

• Maintenance Team Size

  The size and skill of your development and maintenance team matter a great deal. A small, specialized team may handle certain systems efficiently, but complex software could require a larger, more diverse team. While a bigger team might raise upfront costs, having enough skilled hands on deck often helps avoid bigger problems later.

Best Practices to Reduce Software Maintenance Cost

When working to minimize software maintenance costs, the focus should be on long-term strategies and solid planning rather than quick fixes. Every development decision impacts the amount of time, effort, and money needed for maintenance down the road. Here are some proven ways to keep those costs in check.

• Prioritize clear documentation

  One of the best things you can do is keep a well-documented codebase. When documentation is clear and up to date, new developers, or even the ones who built the software, will spend less time figuring out what was done and why. Instead of wasting time decoding the logic behind a function or piece of code, developers can jump straight into solving the issue at hand.

• Focus on modularity

  When software is broken down into smaller, independent modules, it becomes easier to modify, update, or replace a section without disturbing the whole system. Keeping components loosely coupled means you don’t have to waste time debugging or rewriting large portions of code when a change is needed.

• Adopt automated testing

  Setting up a solid testing pipeline up front might take extra time but will pay off big when it comes time for maintenance. With automated testing in place, developers don’t have to manually test new changes or fixes each time. Instead, they can run tests that catch potential issues early on, keeping future maintenance needs down.

• Choose a strong version control system

  Version control systems, like Git, provide a simple yet powerful way to track and manage changes in software. A well-implemented version control strategy allows for easy rollbacks and understanding of what went wrong, if anything, at any given point in time. With this system in place, software teams can more quickly troubleshoot and address issues, and save both time and money.

• Keep technical debt in check

  Technical debt is something that may not show up immediately, but it grows over time if left unchecked. Skipping over smaller issues to meet deadlines or taking shortcuts to avoid cost might seem like a good idea at the moment, but it always comes back to bite later. In the long run, it costs more to clean up the mess than to do it right the first time. The key here is to avoid accumulating debt by dedicating time to refactor code when needed and prioritizing long-term maintainability.

• Invest in proper training for your team

  When developers are up to date with the latest tools, techniques, and best practices, they can write more efficient and maintainable code. Skimping on training or not providing opportunities for learning can backfire when issues arise that your team is not equipped to handle. A well-trained team will be able to tackle complex maintenance tasks quickly and effectively, and prevent small problems from turning into major headaches.

• Monitor performance regularly

  By keeping an eye on key performance metrics, like response time and load times, you can pinpoint issues before they become major roadblocks. Catching these problems early on not only prevents frustration down the road but also helps in allocating resources where they are most needed.

• Plan for scalability from the beginning

  If your software isn’t built with scalability in mind, it’s easy for maintenance costs to balloon as the system grows. By thinking ahead and designing software that can scale with your needs, you reduce the number of drastic changes needed later on.

Takeaway

When it comes down to it, keeping software maintenance costs low isn’t about cutting corners or avoiding work. It’s about making smarter choices at every stage of the software development process. By implementing these strategies from the start, you can minimize the need for costly fixes and updates later.

Equally important is recognizing the importance of the approach to maintenance. Each system has unique requirements, and addressing these with precision can prevent unnecessary expenses. By focusing on the specific needs of your software and aligning maintenance efforts with long-term objectives, you can strike the right balance between cost-efficiency and performance.