Divi · Maintenance

Divi Maintenance — Updates Checked Before They Reach You

On a Divi site the risky update is not the one that errors. It is the one where a Theme Builder template re-renders slightly differently and every page using it changes at once, while the site keeps returning 200 and nothing alerts anybody. That is the specific thing this is for.

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Over 10+ years building and maintaining sites for Australian businesses

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The same person every time — no re-explaining your site

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We only take work we can finish. Ask us anything first — no obligation

If you want general WordPress upkeep on any stack — updates, backups, security, uptime — our WordPress maintenance page covers it from $159/mo. If you are an agency looking after client sites under your own brand, the white-label page is the one you want. This page is for sites where Divi itself is the thing at risk.

Nothing ships until it has been seen on a clone of your site

A staging clone gets the new Divi, the child theme, every third-party module and the plugins, and then the assigned templates and your busiest pages are opened and read at three widths. Only after that does the live site get touched. The reason this is stated first is that it is the entire product: every other line below is a detail of how that check is carried out. Pushing a builder release to production and finding out from a customer is a decision, however rarely anybody words it that way.

Theme Builder templates are checked, not just pages

A page can look perfect while the global header above it has shifted, because they are separate templates assigned across the site. So the check list is templates first and pages second: every assigned header, footer and body template gets looked at after an update, not a sample of pages that happen to share one. This is the single biggest difference between checking a Divi site and checking an ordinary WordPress one, and it is the step most often skipped.

Your Elegant Themes account is checked against the site, not assumed

Divi can only fetch a release while a valid account is connected, and a great many Divi sites are running with the username and API key of somebody who left the business. Owning a lifetime licence is not the same as having it authenticated on this install — we verify the connection actually works by looking for the update to appear, not by looking at a receipt. Where the account belongs to a former agency we will say so plainly, because that is a commercial problem rather than a technical one and it is yours to decide how to resolve.

Divi's own performance switches are re-checked after every release

Dynamic CSS, dynamic module loading, deferred jQuery and the static file cache all live in Divi's own settings, and a release can reset one or leave it fighting whatever caching plugin you run. The symptom people report is never "a setting changed" — it is a page that looks stale, or looks right in the builder and wrong to visitors. So the switches are part of the post-update pass rather than something configured once at handover and never opened again.

Third-party modules are what usually break, so they are inventoried

Stock Divi rarely breaks itself. What breaks is the module plugin somebody bought in 2021 whose author has moved on, and you will not know which one until a page stops rendering. So the site starts with a written inventory: every third-party module, its version, its author, and when it was last updated. That list is what makes an update a decision rather than a gamble, and it is the first thing to consult when Divi 5 comes up.

Divi 5 is handled as a project, not an update

It will appear in your updates list looking like any other version. It is not one. Your maintenance plan covers watching for it, telling you it is there, and keeping you safely on a supported Divi 4 until you are ready — it does not quietly migrate you because an update was available. When you do want to move, it is scoped, staged and quoted like the project it is.

The Role Editor decides who can reach what, and it is worth setting

Divi ships a Role Editor that almost nobody configures, so every editor on the site can open the Theme Builder and change a global template. Locking that down while leaving page editing wide open is twenty minutes of work and removes the most common way a Divi site gets broken by its own team — not carelessness, just somebody opening the nearest thing that looked editable. Your people keep editing pages; the site-wide furniture stops being one click away.

What it costs and what arrives each month

Care starts at $159/mo and covers staged updates, pre-update backups, template checks, monitoring and the licence watch above. If you also want development time in the same arrangement, $700/mo includes five hours a month and $1,300/mo includes ten. Work outside a plan is $165 an hour, or $750 for a prepaid five-hour block. Each month you get a note of what was updated, what was checked and anything needing attention. No lock-in on any of it.

Care plans

Plans, and what each one actually includes.

Month to month, no lock-in — change or cancel any time. Prices in AUD.

Essential

$159 /mo AUD

Keeping a site secure, updated and online. No development time included.

What is covered

  • WordPress core, theme & plugin check
  • Weekly off-site backupsA full copy of your site and database taken every week and stored on separate infrastructure, not on your own server — so a failure, a hack or a bad update cannot take the backups with it., restorable on request
  • Uptime & SSL monitoringYour site is checked from outside every few minutes. If it goes down, or the security certificate is about to expire, the alert reaches us — you are not the monitoring system. — alerts come to us, not you
  • Malware checkFiles and database are scanned for injected code, so anything that has been planted is found rather than waiting to be noticed. maintained
  • Broken-link and 404 checks
  • Monthly report of site status
  • Email support included
Start with Essential

Billed monthly in AUD. Cancel any time — no lock-in.

Dev

$700 /mo AUD

Your site stays up, stays secure and stays current — and when something breaks, a developer fixes it rather than logging it.

What is covered

  • Critical security & performance checksThe checks that catch the things that actually take a site down: outdated core and plugins with known vulnerabilities, injected code, error rates, and pages that have become slow enough to lose visitors. every week
  • Uptime & SSL monitoringYour site is checked from outside every few minutes. If it goes down, or the security certificate is about to expire, the alert reaches us — you are not the monitoring system. — alerts come to us, not you
  • Weekly off-site backupsA full copy of your site and database taken every week and stored on separate infrastructure, not on your own server — so a failure, a hack or a bad update cannot take the backups with it., restorable on request
  • Your developer emails you every month with what changed and what needs attention
  • Staging site for development changesA private copy of your site where changes are built and checked before anyone else sees them. Updates, new sections and design work go there first, get looked at on phone, tablet and desktop widths, and only reach the live site once you have said so. It matters most on page-builder sites, where a bad update does not error — it re-renders, and the page looks subtly wrong on a screen size nobody checked. — nothing reaches the live site unapproved
  • 5 hours of developer time a month
  • Fixes and small changes — not a build. Content, layout and design edits, plugin and integration setup (included in dev hours)
  • 1 basic page built to match your existing design (included in dev hours)
  • Weekly WordPress core, theme & plugin updates (included in dev hours)
  • Weekly malware and virus check, and fix (included in dev hours)
  • Speed & Core Web VitalsCore Web Vitals are the three loading and stability measures Google uses as a ranking signal — how fast the main content appears, how quickly the page responds to a tap, and whether it jumps around while loading. We measure and fix all three. check and fix (included in dev hours)
  • Priority queue — a developer is assigned and contacts you within 48 hours
  • Urgent issues covered for 1 hour of immediate debugging — you are told what we found, while we work and once it is fixed
Choose Dev

Billed monthly in AUD. Cancel any time — no lock-in.

Most popular

Master

$1,300 /mo AUD

Where Dev fixes and maintains, Master builds — pages, integrations, and the email and domain problems nobody else will own.

Everything in Dev Plan included +

  • Staging site for development changesA private copy of your site where changes are built and checked before anyone else sees them. Updates, new sections and design work go there first, get looked at on phone, tablet and desktop widths, and only reach the live site once you have said so. It matters most on page-builder sites, where a bad update does not error — it re-renders, and the page looks subtly wrong on a screen size nobody checked. — nothing reaches the live site unapproved
  • 10 hours of developer time a month
  • Everything in Dev — the same checks, monitoring, backups and monthly email
  • Up to 3 pages designed and built (included in dev hours)
  • CRM, accounting and API integrationsConnecting your site to the systems you already run — a CRM like HubSpot, accounting like Xero, or any service with an API — so data moves between them without anyone retyping it. (included in dev hours)
  • Email deliverability problemsWhen forms stop arriving, or your mail lands in spam. We work through the sending records — SPF, DKIM and DMARC — and the mail service itself, rather than telling you to check your junk folder. diagnosed and fixed (included in dev hours)
  • Domain and DNS issuesExpiring domains, records pointing at the wrong place, certificates that will not renew, a migration that left half the traffic behind. The infrastructure layer most agencies hand back to you. handled (included in dev hours)
  • Custom features and functionality (included in dev hours)
  • WooCommerce & payment gateway work (included in dev hours)
  • Same-day response on anything urgent — a developer will work outside business hours if needed
  • Quarterly performance and security checksEvery three months we re-run the full audit: load times and Core Web Vitals, plugin and PHP versions, user accounts and permissions, backup restores, and anything flagged since the last review. You get the findings in writing. (included in dev hours)
Choose Master

Billed monthly in AUD. Cancel any time — no lock-in.

Ultimate

Quoted scoped to the work

When the roadmap needs more than Master, or the work is better run as a project.

Get a quote

Everything in Master Plan included +

  • 20+ hours a month, or a fixed-price project
  • A standing slot in our schedule
  • Multi-site and white-label arrangementsWe look after several sites under one agreement, and — if you are an agency or consultancy — we can work under your brand, so your client only ever deals with you.
  • Architecture, infrastructure and hosting work
  • Direct access, no ticket queue
  • We will tell you honestly whether a retainer or a fixed quote costs you less
Why CloudyWP

Why a Divi Site Needs Its Own Kind of Care

The dangerous update is not the one that errors. It is the one that changes every page at once.

Nothing Ships Unseen

A clone takes the release first — Divi, the child theme, every third-party module — and the assigned templates get read at three widths before your visitors meet any of it. Everything else here is a detail of how that reading is done.

Templates Checked, Not Samples

A page can look right while the global header above it has shifted, because they are separate templates assigned across the site. Every assigned header, footer and body template gets looked at after an update — the step most often skipped on Divi.

The Licence Is Watched

An expired Elegant Themes account takes nothing down, which is exactly why it goes unnoticed while the site stops updating. We track the renewal and tell you before it lapses — and confirm a lifetime licence is genuinely attached to the site, which is not the same thing.

Static CSS Cleared on Purpose

Divi serves each page's styling from a static file. After some updates it no longer matches what the builder shows you, which presents as "broken on the site, fine in the editor" and sends people hunting in the wrong place entirely.

Your Modules Are Inventoried

Stock Divi rarely breaks itself. The module somebody bought in 2021 whose author has moved on is what breaks, and you cannot know which until a page stops rendering. Every third-party module is listed with its version and last release, so an update is a decision instead of a gamble.

You Keep Editing Your Own Site

Nothing here locks the builder or routes your edits through us. You bought Divi so a headline change did not need a developer booked in, and a care plan that removes that has removed the point of the site.

What people ask before letting anyone update their Divi site

A Divi update changed our header everywhere. How is that avoided?

By checking templates rather than sampling pages. The header, footer and body templates are assigned across groups of pages, so one of them shifting affects everything at once while the individual pages you happen to open look untouched. Every assigned template is opened and compared on the clone after an update, before the live site sees it. The residual risk is a template assigned to something nobody remembered — which is why the assignments are written down rather than rediscovered each time.

One of our third-party modules has not been updated in two years. What now?

It goes on the inventory with its version and its last release date, and it becomes a known risk rather than a surprise. An abandoned module usually keeps working on Divi 4 for a long time; the point it stops is a PHP version change or Divi 5. Knowing which module it is, which pages use it, and whether a stock Divi module or a small custom one could replace it turns that from an emergency into a scheduled decision.

Nobody here knows whose Elegant Themes account the site uses.

That is extremely common and worth resolving before you need an urgent security release. We check whether the connected account actually authenticates by watching for an update to appear, not by reading a receipt. If it belongs to a former agency you will be told plainly — it is a commercial problem rather than a technical one, and how you resolve it is yours to decide. Until it is resolved, Divi cannot be updated, which changes what any other work costs.

Can our team be stopped from editing the Theme Builder by accident?

Yes, and it takes about twenty minutes. Divi has a Role Editor that almost nobody configures, so by default anyone who can edit a page can also open the Theme Builder and change something global. Locking that down while leaving page editing untouched removes the most common way a Divi site is broken by its own team. Nobody is being careless — the site-wide furniture is simply one click from the page they meant to edit.

Will you migrate us to Divi 5 as part of the plan?

No, and that is deliberate. It arrives in the updates list looking like an ordinary release and it is a rewrite. The plan covers watching for it, telling you it is there, and holding you safely on a supported Divi 4 until you choose to move. When you do, it is scoped against your module inventory and quoted as the project it is. A care plan that silently performs a migration because an update was available is not maintenance.

Our pages look right in the builder and wrong to visitors.

That is nearly always Divi's static CSS files disagreeing with what the builder is showing you, usually after a release, a colour change or a move between hosts. It sends people looking at their theme, their cache plugin and their CDN in turn, none of which is the cause. It is seconds to resolve once recognised, and re-checking Divi's own performance switches after every release is what stops it recurring.

How do you handle our Divi Library and Cloud items?

They are treated as part of the site rather than as personal scratch files, which means they are included in the pre-update backup and checked afterwards. Library items drift out of step with the pages built from them — somebody edits the page, not the source — so where that has happened you get told which ones no longer match, rather than us quietly resaving one over the other.

What does the first month actually involve?

Mapping the site: the Divi and module versions, which modules are third-party and who maintains them, what the child theme changes, which Theme Builder templates exist and where they are assigned, and the licence position. None of that can be assumed on a Divi site and all of it changes how updates are handled. You get it written down and it is yours whether or not you stay.

Ask about your Divi site

A short call, a fixed quote, and no obligation either way.

Get a fixed quote

Related

Why CloudyWP

On Divi the risky update is the one that changes every page at once through a Theme Builder template, while the site still returns 200. We check templates, not samples. From $159/mo.

Get a fixed quote

02 — How we work

From first call to live — four steps, no surprises.

Every CloudyWP project runs the same way, whether it is a one-page site or a store with a thousand SKUs. Here is exactly what happens.

01

We map what you actually need.

A single scoping call, then a written plan: what gets built, what it costs, and when it ships. No discovery-phase invoices, no moving targets.

Typically 48 hours

02

We design and build it properly.

Custom WordPress or Shopify on clean code you own outright. Every build ships fast, passes Core Web Vitals, and is handed over documented.

2–6 weeks typical

03

We automate the busywork.

Your site talks to the tools you already run — CRM, invoicing, email, stock. The repetitive admin stops being someone's job and starts running itself.

Average 15 hrs saved weekly

Scope A fixed quote, in writing

Deliverables, price and dates agreed before a line of code is written.

  • Free scoping call
  • Written scope document
  • Fixed price, no hourly creep

48 hrs to your quote

Get a quote