Ongoing Care & Growth Retainers
Monthly retainer for updates, security, new features, and continuous improvement. The way long-term partners actually run the systems they build.
The retainer most agencies pretend doesn't exist.
Most agencies ship and disappear. We stay. The ongoing care retainer is for businesses whose software, site, or system is mission-critical and needs a real partner — not "open a ticket and hope".
Each month we cover the boring-but-critical stuff (dependency updates, security patches, performance monitoring, backups) and the strategic stuff (new features, A/B tests, integrations). It's the predictable monthly cost of having engineering that just works.
Inside the monthly retainer.
- Monthly dependency + security updates
- Performance monitoring + alerts (we get paged before you do)
- Backups verified monthly (not just configured — actually tested)
- Bug fixes within agreed SLAs
- Monthly small-feature work (typically 4–16 hours per tier)
- Quarterly strategic reviews — what's working, what to ship next
- Direct Slack channel with the engineer who knows your system
- Right-of-first-refusal on bigger projects (with retainer hours credited)
Onboard → ship → review → repeat.
- 01
Onboarding
Full audit of your existing system. Documentation of what runs where. Set up monitoring + alerting in your accounts.
- 02
Monthly cadence
Slack-first communication for fixes + small work. Monthly check-in call. Always-on monitoring + on-call (per tier).
- 03
Feature work
Larger features scope independently; retainer hours apply to the first hours of any new project.
- 04
Quarterly review
30-minute call to look at what's moving the needle — uptime, performance, conversion, feature usage — and decide the next quarter's focus.
We adapt to your stack.
When the system matters more than the launch.
- Businesses whose software or site is core to revenue and can't afford downtime
- Companies whose previous developer disappeared, leaving no documentation
- Founders without a technical co-founder who need ongoing engineering judgment
- Existing Optovo clients post-launch (most stay on retainer after their build)
Tiered retainers. Month-to-month.
Tiered monthly retainer based on hours, response SLAs, and on-call coverage. Basic care starts around $500/mo. Standard retainers run $1.5–3k/mo. Mission-critical with 24/7 on-call scales from there. Month-to-month, cancel anytime.
Retainer, demystified.
What's actually included in maintenance?
Dependency updates, security patches, performance monitoring, backup verification, bug fixes within SLA, and a fixed number of small-feature hours per month. Tiers vary by hours, response time, and on-call coverage.
Can you maintain a system you didn't build?
Yes — most of our retainer clients started this way. We do a paid audit first to make sure the codebase is something we can responsibly maintain. Sometimes the right answer is a partial rebuild before retainer; we'll tell you that honestly.
What if I need more than the retainer covers?
Larger projects scope independently as fixed-quote work; existing retainer hours don't roll over, but new project hours are billed at retainer-discounted rates.
On-call?
Available on higher tiers. Real pager rotation, real incident response, real SLAs in writing — not "we'll get back to you Monday".
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Month-to-month. The work has compound value; if it's not delivering, we don't deserve next month's invoice.
What about strategic guidance, not just maintenance?
Built in. Monthly check-ins and quarterly reviews cover what's actually moving the business — not just "is the site up". The senior engineer assigned to your account is also a strategist for that area.
Ready to start?
Tell us what you're trying to build. Free 30-minute call. Written proposal with fixed pricing within 48 hours.