Full breakdown of each package — what's included, how it works, and who it's for.
A structured one-time deep audit of your database — from query performance to configuration and security. You get a clear picture of what's wrong and what to fix first.
- Slow query & index analysis Top resource-consuming queries, missing and unused indexes, execution plan review.
- Replication & failover review Lag monitoring setup, switchover readiness, WAL retention and replication configuration.
- Security & configuration audit Permissions model, connection limits, authentication settings, network exposure.
- Storage & capacity review Bloat analysis for tables and indexes, maintenance job effectiveness, storage utilization patterns, growth trend analysis.
- Backup & recovery validation Backup schedule review, restore testing feasibility, RPO/RTO gap assessment.
- Key parameter review Memory allocation, connection limits, caching, transaction log settings and other critical configuration parameters.
- Intro call (30 min) Scope confirmation, access requirements, NDA signing.
- Read-only access setup Secure credentials — no write access, no production changes.
- Audit execution 2–3 business days of deep analysis across all agreed areas.
- Report delivery & walkthrough PDF report + a 30-min call to walk through findings and answer questions.
- PDF report: executive summary + full technical deep-dive
- Findings rated by severity — Critical, Warning, Advisory
- Specific remediation steps for each finding, ready to hand to your team
- Companies experiencing unexplained slowdowns or instability
- Pre-launch or pre-scaling review before increased load
- Teams inheriting a database without documentation or context
- Independent second opinion before or after a migration
Not included: Ongoing monitoring, incident support, or implementation work. If you need continuous coverage after the audit — see DBA On-Demand.
- Slow query & index analysis
- Replication & failover review
- Security & configuration check
- Detailed report with prioritized recommendations
- 30-min walkthrough call
A monthly retainer giving you senior DBA expertise on a flexible basis — without a full-time hire. React to incidents, review schema changes, optimize queries, and keep your databases healthy.
| Starter | Growth | |
|---|---|---|
| Price / mo | $1,200 $990 | $2,200 $1,830 |
| Billing | monthly $11,880 / yr | monthly $21,960 / yr |
| DBA hours / mo | 10h | 20h |
| Slack response SLA | 2h | 1h |
| Monthly health report | ✓ | ✓ |
| Developer consulting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Incident support | async | priority |
| Check-in calls | — | 2× / mo |
| Backup strategy review | — | ✓ |
- Ongoing query optimization Slow query monitoring, index tuning, execution plan reviews.
- Schema & migration review Safe migration planning, schema change review before deployment.
- Replication monitoring Lag tracking, failover readiness checks, replication health and configuration review.
- Developer consulting Async Slack channel for schema questions, ORM patterns, query advice.
- Monthly health report Summary of observed issues, trends, and recommended actions.
- Incident postmortem Root cause analysis and write-up after any database incident.
- Onboarding call Infrastructure overview, access setup, priority areas, NDA signing.
- Monitoring baseline First 2 weeks: we establish performance baselines and identify quick wins.
- Ongoing work Regular async collaboration via Slack or email; monthly report delivery.
- Monthly review Summary of completed work, upcoming priorities, plan adjustment if needed.
- Growing startups without an in-house DBA
- Teams that need senior oversight without a full-time hire
- Engineering teams scaling their infrastructure for the first time
- Companies recovering from a performance incident and wanting ongoing coverage
- Up to 10h DBA work per month
- Slack SLA — 2h response time
- Monthly database health report
- Developer consulting
A scoped one-time project to build or significantly improve high-availability infrastructure for your database — including automated failover, monitoring, and full documentation.
- Current state assessment Architecture review, single point of failure analysis, operational risk mapping.
- HA design proposal Custom high-availability architecture recommendation tailored to your database stack — technology choices agreed upfront.
- Staged implementation Deployment to staging first, then production — with rollback plan at each step.
- Failover stress-test Simulated failover under load to validate automatic switchover behavior.
- Monitoring & alerting Database and infrastructure metrics setup, alerting rules for replication lag, availability, and performance thresholds.
- Handover documentation Architecture diagrams, runbooks for failover and recovery, team walkthrough.
- Assessment (day 1–2) Infrastructure review, risk identification, scope confirmation, NDA signing.
- Design (day 2–3) HA architecture proposal and approval. Stack selection and rollback strategy.
- Staging deployment (day 3–6) Implement on staging, validate cluster behavior, tune configuration.
- Production rollout (day 6–10) Coordinated deployment with your team during a low-traffic window.
- Validation & handover (day 10–14) Failover test, monitoring check, documentation delivery, walkthrough session.
- Fully operational HA cluster with automatic failover
- Monitoring dashboards and alerting configured for your stack
- Architecture documentation and runbooks for your team
- Stress-tested failover — not just configured, but validated under load
- Teams running a single-node database that has become business-critical
- Companies that need proven HA but lack internal experience to build it
- Pre-funding or pre-scaling technical readiness projects
- Organizations recovering from a downtime incident and needing a durable solution
Optional: Monthly maintenance and monitoring after setup is available as an add-on under DBA On-Demand.
- High-availability cluster setup
- Monitoring & alerting configuration
- Failover stress-test
- Architecture documentation
An NDA is used when the client requires it. For projects involving access to sensitive data or internal systems, we're glad to sign one before any engagement begins.
Primary focus is MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and ClickHouse. We also work with all databases listed in the Supported Stack section on the main page — reach out to confirm scope for your specific setup.
DB Health Check typically starts within 1–3 business days after the intro call. DBA On-Demand onboarding usually takes about a week. Reliability Setup depends on your infrastructure complexity — typically 1–2 weeks to scope.
Yes. DBA On-Demand requires 30 days written notice after the initial commitment period. There are no lock-in penalties — the goal is to be genuinely useful, not contractually trapped.
Hours above the plan limit are billed at an agreed overage rate. Alternatively, you can upgrade from Starter to Growth at any point — billing is prorated for the remaining month.
Yes, fully remote. Access is via secure, read-only or scoped credentials. Communication happens over agreed channels — ClickUp messenger, email, or video calls. No on-site visits required.