Skip to content
Rescue 404
Rescue

MANAGED WEBSITE OPERATIONS · $299/MO STANDARD

Your website has an owner.

Hosting, updates, backups, monitoring, recovery, performance, and technical problems handled under one Care plan.

Most small-business sites end up with a host, a maintenance plugin, a backup tool, and whoever answers when something breaks. Care puts hosting, WordPress updates, backups, monitoring, recovery, and day-to-day technical problems in one place. Care Manage is the usual seat for most business sites.

Get Website Care Compare plans

Healthy eligible sites: coverage form → fit check → documents + invoice (no diagnostic fee). Paid intake ($175) only when the site is broken, unstable, or eligibility is unclear — credited if you enroll within 14 days · 3-month minimum · cancel end of billing period (≥ 7 days’ notice) · managed hosting included · async tickets only

WHAT CARE COVERS

What Rescue 404 takes care of each month

The monthly fee pays for ongoing WordPress care and monitoring. Included support requests are for the smaller tickets that come up on top of that work.

  • Hosting and WordPress treated as one stack to troubleshoot
  • Core, plugin, and theme updates checked before and after they run
  • Monitoring that catches outages and common security signals earlier
  • Off-site backups with restore checks on your plan’s cadence
  • SSL, DNS, caching, and Cloudflare issues investigated when they break pages
  • Plugin conflicts and failed updates worked when something goes wrong
  • Scoped support requests for small fixes and changes
  • Written monthly reports you can actually read

How those outcomes get delivered

  • Managed hosting + WordPress together

    Hosting is included so we can troubleshoot, restore, and secure the site without bouncing you between vendors.

  • Supervised updates & verified backups

    Core, plugin, and theme updates with breakage checks; scheduled off-site backups with restore verification on your plan’s cadence.

  • Monitoring across the stack

    Uptime, security, SSL expiry, and — on Manage+ — WAF/CDN, headers, crawl health, and email-auth DNS checks when access is granted. We do not host or migrate email.

  • Performance, caching, and reports

    Caching/CDN oversight, performance tooling where licensed, quarterly reviews on Manage+, and monthly reports written for business owners.

Care combines scheduled maintenance with human oversight: updates get checked, backups get verified, and when something breaks you send one ticket instead of sorting which vendor owns the problem.

ONE PLACE TO SEND THE PROBLEM

Host, plugin, Cloudflare, or DNS?

Plugin updates, PHP changes, caching, DNS, hosting, and Cloudflare can all cause problems that look like “WordPress is broken.” Care gives you one place to send the problem instead of figuring out which provider caused it.

Typical fragmented setup

  • Hosting provider
  • + WordPress maintenance
  • + Backup service
  • + Security monitoring
  • + Performance tools
  • + Developer when something breaks

Rescue 404

  • ✓ One managed relationship for the website stack
  • ✓ Hosting and WordPress handled together
  • ✓ Monitoring, backups, updates, and recovery in the same plan
  • ✓ Someone investigating when something changes

This is about clearer responsibility when something breaks. It is not a savings claim or a competitor price comparison.

WHEN SOMETHING BREAKS

When something changes, someone figures out why.

WordPress sites rarely fail in one neat place. With Care, you do not have to decide whether the problem is WordPress, hosting, DNS, SSL, caching, a plugin, an update, or Cloudflare before asking for help.

  • A plugin or theme update breaks the contact form or admin
  • A PHP or hosting change causes a white screen or 502
  • SSL fails to renew or the browser shows “not secure”
  • DNS points the wrong way after a domain change
  • Cloudflare or a cache plugin serves an old page
  • The site gets slow after a traffic spike or heavy plugin

Send the symptom through the support system. Within your plan, we investigate the stack instead of sending you back to guess which vendor owns it.

RESCUE VS CARE

Already Have a Website Problem?

Care plans operate a healthy website. If your site is currently broken or experiencing an issue, start with a Rescue — you do not need a Care plan just to hire repair.

Rescue / Repair

A separate one-time service for a broken site, WordPress error, failed update, plugin conflict, hosting issue, DNS/SSL problem, or other repair need. You do not need a Care plan to hire Rescue 404 for a repair.

Website Care Plans

Ongoing WordPress maintenance for a stable site: updates, backups, monitoring, and scoped support. Eligible WordPress and WooCommerce Care Plans normally run in our managed hosting environment. Care is the natural next step after stabilization.

Once the site is stable again, Care is how we keep updates, backups, and monitoring from falling back on you alone.

Start With a Diagnostic

Once your site is repaired and stable, Care is the natural next step for ongoing maintenance.

WHEN CARE USUALLY STARTS

Care after the site is stable

You do not need a Care plan to hire Rescue 404 for a repair. Care usually starts once the site is up and the immediate break is handled.

  • A completed repair

    Rescue fixed the break; Care reduces the odds of the same class of failure returning.

  • A website assessment

    You already know the risks. Care is the retainer that acts on them every month.

  • A hosting migration

    The move is done. Ongoing updates, monitoring, and backups still need someone responsible.

  • A restore or recovery

    You got the site back. Next is verified backups and earlier detection.

  • An abandoned-plugin repair

    Legacy stack cleaned up. Care keeps the replacement path supervised.

Get Website Care

HOW ENROLLMENT WORKS

Healthy site? Enroll directly. Unsure or broken? Paid intake first.

Stable WordPress sites that are Care-eligible can sign up for Care without a paid intake audit. The $175 intake is for sites that need a written health and eligibility decision — broken, unstable, shared-host locked, or unclear fit. If you pay the audit and enroll within 14 days, that fee credits toward your first Care month. Care itself has a 3-month minimum. Normal Care coverage starts after onboarding / migration verification.

When the $175 intake applies

  • Waived when the site is already healthy and Care-eligible (cooperative access; ready for managed hosting) — enroll on the plan directly
  • Required when the site is down, unstable, recently hacked, or we cannot confirm eligibility without a worksheet review
  • Required when hosting is shared/locked or otherwise blocks Care delivery until you migrate
  • Written pass, fail, or conditional outcome when the audit runs — not a vague “looks fine”
  • If the site fails: a stabilization / Rescue quote instead of quiet enrollment
  • If you enroll within 14 days after paying the audit: the fee credits toward month one Care

Healthy + eligible: no intake fee. When the audit runs: $175 · credited within 14 days of enrollment · 3-month Care minimum after you start

Eligibility checklist we confirm

Direct enroll still requires Care eligibility and cooperative access. Eligible WordPress and WooCommerce plans normally host in our managed environment. When a paid intake runs, operators use this worksheet before the first Care invoice.

  1. 1. Hosting fit and migration complexity (managed hosting included; standard vs complex migrate)
  2. 2. WordPress + PHP versions and known compatibility risks
  3. 3. Plugins, themes, and license status (including abandoned or nulled software)
  4. 4. Backup presence, retention, and restore path
  5. 5. Admin users, roles, and obvious credential hygiene issues
  6. 6. Security posture (malware signals, SSL, WAF/CDN when present)
  7. 7. Forms and DNS auth records when DNS access is granted (we do not host or migrate email)
  8. 8. WordPress admin access (and SFTP when needed for larger sites)
  9. 9. Performance / Core Web Vitals baseline snapshot

Direct enroll

Healthy + eligible host → pick Maintain / Manage / Protect and start Care (no intake fee).

Pass (after audit)

Eligible for the recommended Care tier on approved hosting; audit fee credits if you enroll in time.

Fail / conditional

We quote Rescue / stabilization or specific remediations first. We do not enroll a broken or ineligible site into Care.

What happens in month 1

  1. Step 1

    Access locked in

    Least-privilege WordPress, host, staging, and backup access retained. Excess accounts removed or documented.

  2. Step 2

    Monitoring switched on

    External uptime and security alerting go live; backup schedule confirmed against your plan cadence.

  3. Step 3

    First maintenance window

    Managed updates with smoke checks and restore-readiness noted — routine cadence work, not drawn from your request allowance.

  4. Step 4

    First health report

    Written monthly site health report with baselines from kickoff — what we checked, what we fixed, what stays yours.

  5. Step 5

    How you reach us

    Async tickets only (no phone or Zoom). Support requests pause when the monthly allowance is used until next month or prepaid extra request blocks.

Request Care Review

Tell us if the site is already healthy — we waive the intake fee when eligibility is clear. Broken or unclear sites start with the paid audit.

CARE PLANS

Choose the operations level your site needs

Manage is the standard for most business sites. Maintain is for quieter, stable sites. Protect adds stronger recovery when downtime hits immediately.

Yearly is paid in full once. Support requests still reset monthly and do not accumulate.

Care Maintain

Managed Website Care + Hosting

$199 /mo

For a fairly stable business website that does not change much but still needs updates, backups, monitoring, and occasional help.

Ongoing managed care: hosting, supervised updates, verified backups, automated monitoring, and a modest request allowance when something needs a human hand.

Managed hosting included — eligible Care Plans normally host with us

What you get

  • ✓ Managed hosting
  • ✓ WordPress updates
  • ✓ Daily off-site backups
  • ✓ Restore verification
  • ✓ Uptime monitoring
  • ✓ SSL / domain monitoring
  • ✓ Security monitoring
  • ✓ Monthly reporting

2 support requests included each month (≤ ~30 min each) Request allowance covers small tickets on top of the monthly Care work.

Get Website Care
Full includes, request rules & exclusions

Stable brochure and small-business WordPress sites that need ongoing maintenance and monitoring without a busy request queue

Request rules · Scope · Pause · Overage

Scope: Each request covers one specific task or a small group of closely related changes that can typically be completed within about 30 minutes. Scheduled Care operations (updates, backups, monitoring, reports) do not burn the allowance. Redesigns, new features, and major builds are quoted separately.

Pause: When included requests are used, ticketed help pauses until the next billing month — or until you prepay extra request blocks. Included Care operations and monitoring continue.

Overage: Need more help this month? Ask for prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed). Extra request work does not start until the block is prepaid.

2 requests / mo · no rollover · ≤ ~30 min each

Full includes

  • ✓ Managed WordPress core, plugin, and theme updates
  • ✓ Updates checked for common site-breaking issues
  • ✓ Staging before risky live updates when staging is available
  • ✓ Daily off-site backups
  • ✓ Quarterly restore verification
  • ✓ 24/7 automated uptime monitoring
  • ✓ 24/7 automated security monitoring and alerts
  • ✓ SSL certificate and domain expiration monitoring
  • ✓ Monthly site health report
  • ✓ Up to 2 support requests each month (about 30 minutes or less each) — routine Care cadence does not consume this allowance
  • ✓ Business-hours support with a 1–2 business day response target
  • ✓ Async ticket / change-request channel only — no phone or Zoom

Not included

  • ✕ Traditional shared hosting
  • ✕ Manage / same-day support queue
  • ✕ Emergency human escalation or recovery allowance
  • ✕ Quarterly performance, security, or CWV reviews
  • ✕ WAF / CDN / headers / email-auth DNS / crawl-health deep checks (Manage+)
  • ✕ Full WooCommerce or store operations
  • ✕ 24/7 guaranteed human response
  • ✕ Unlimited development or emergency repairs
  • ✕ Major redesigns or new feature development
  • ✕ Legal policy drafting or management (Privacy / Terms / cookie banners) — client-owned
  • ✕ Marketing, ads, analytics interpretation, or conversion redesign
  • ✕ Malware remediation outside normal plan scope
  • ✕ SEO ranking, sales, or conversion guarantees
  • ✕ Phone, Zoom, or live screenshare support

Topic-by-topic matrix: What Care includes — and what it does not

MOST POPULAR

Care Manage

Managed Website Operations

$299 /mo

For a normal active business website where things change and you need technical help from time to time.

Full managed website operations: everything in Maintain, plus deeper checks, performance and security oversight, and a larger request allowance for sites that stay busy.

Best fit for most established small-business websites.

Managed hosting included — eligible Care Plans normally host with us

What you get

  • ✓ Everything in Maintain
  • ✓ Staging-tested updates where appropriate
  • ✓ CDN / caching management
  • ✓ WAF / security oversight
  • ✓ Crawl-health monitoring
  • ✓ Performance tooling
  • ✓ Quarterly PageSpeed review
  • ✓ Quarterly security review
  • ✓ DNS / email-authentication monitoring where applicable
  • ✓ Hosting health review
  • ✓ Same-business-day response target

4 support requests included each month (≤ ~30 min each) Request allowance covers small tickets on top of the monthly Care work.

Choose Care Manage
Full includes, request rules & exclusions

Lead-generation, membership, and business WordPress sites — the usual seat for most established small-business sites

Request rules · Scope · Pause · Overage

Scope: Each request covers one specific task or a small group of closely related changes that can typically be completed within about 30 minutes. Scheduled Care operations (updates, backups, monitoring, reports) do not burn the allowance. Redesigns, new features, and major builds are quoted separately.

Pause: When included requests are used, ticketed help pauses until the next billing month — or until you prepay extra request blocks. Included Care operations and monitoring continue.

Overage: Need more help this month? Ask for prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed). Extra request work does not start until the block is prepaid.

4 requests / mo · no rollover · ≤ ~30 min each

Full includes

  • ✓ Everything in Care Maintain
  • ✓ Manage support queue (ahead of Maintain and new leads)
  • ✓ Same-business-day response target during business hours
  • ✓ Staging-tested plugin and theme updates where technically possible
  • ✓ Basic post-update functionality and form smoke testing
  • ✓ Basic checkout smoke testing for simple existing ecommerce
  • ✓ Web application firewall status oversight when a WAF/CDN is in the stack
  • ✓ HTTP security headers monitoring and maintenance (HSTS, X-Frame-Options, related headers)
  • ✓ Email authentication DNS monitoring (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX) when DNS access is granted — we do not host or migrate email
  • ✓ Technical crawl health checks (robots.txt, XML sitemap, mixed content)
  • ✓ CDN and browser-caching configuration maintained
  • ✓ Performance and image optimization tooling where licensed / host-supported
  • ✓ Up to 4 support requests each month (about 30 minutes or less each) — routine Care cadence does not consume this allowance
  • ✓ Plugin conflict troubleshooting within included support time
  • ✓ Quarterly performance and PageSpeed review
  • ✓ Quarterly security posture review (headers, SSL/TLS config, WAF status)
  • ✓ Hosting Health Review for available resource limits
  • ✓ Proactive identification of common WordPress problems

Not included

  • ✕ Full WooCommerce or store management
  • ✕ Product catalog management
  • ✕ Merchant or payment disputes
  • ✕ Marketplace feed management
  • ✕ Emergency recovery allowance (Care Protect)
  • ✕ Full technical SEO campaigns
  • ✕ Legal policy drafting or management (Privacy / Terms / cookie banners) — client-owned
  • ✕ Marketing, ads, or analytics account management
  • ✕ Major redesign or development projects
  • ✕ Sales or conversion guarantees
  • ✕ Traditional shared hosting
  • ✕ Unlimited emergency repairs
  • ✕ Phone, Zoom, or live screenshare support

Topic-by-topic matrix: What Care includes — and what it does not

Care Protect

Higher-stakes Website Care

$499 /mo

For a website where an outage or serious problem would quickly affect leads, appointments, customers, or revenue.

Everything in Manage, plus stronger recovery procedures, more frequent backup verification, incident escalation, and a defined emergency recovery allowance.

If your business would feel a website outage immediately, this is the safer plan.

Managed hosting included — eligible Care Plans normally host with us

What you get

  • ✓ Everything in Manage
  • ✓ Higher support allowance
  • ✓ Stronger recovery procedures
  • ✓ More frequent backup verification
  • ✓ Incident escalation
  • ✓ Defined emergency recovery allowance
  • ✓ Priority handling where appropriate

8 support requests included each month (≤ ~30 min each) Request allowance covers small tickets on top of the monthly Care work.

Get Protect Coverage
Full includes, request rules & exclusions

WordPress sites that need escalation coverage and a defined recovery path when downtime hurts immediately

Request rules · Scope · Pause · Overage

Scope: Each request covers one specific task or a small group of closely related changes that can typically be completed within about 30 minutes. Scheduled Care operations (updates, backups, monitoring, reports) do not burn the allowance. Redesigns, new features, and major builds are quoted separately.

Pause: When included requests are used, ticketed help pauses until the next billing month — or until you prepay extra request blocks. Included Care operations and monitoring continue.

Overage: Need more help this month? Ask for prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed). Extra request work does not start until the block is prepaid.

8 requests / mo · no rollover · ≤ ~30 min each

Full includes

  • ✓ Everything in Care Manage
  • ✓ Alert escalation for critical incidents
  • ✓ Human review during defined Care Protect response windows
  • ✓ Emergency issue intake for active Care Protect clients
  • ✓ Protect recovery workflow
  • ✓ Emergency Recovery Allowance: up to 2 hours per covered incident, up to 2 incidents per year
  • ✓ Covered incidents include outages, failed managed updates, critical WordPress errors, and serious site-breaking issues on actively maintained sites
  • ✓ Weekly backup verification
  • ✓ Quarterly Core Web Vitals review
  • ✓ Annual hosting and environment audit
  • ✓ Up to 8 support requests each month (about 30 minutes or less each) — routine Care cadence does not consume this allowance

Not included

  • ✕ 24/7 guaranteed immediate human answer
  • ✕ Zero-downtime SLA
  • ✕ Unlimited emergency repair or development
  • ✕ Full ecommerce or store operations
  • ✕ New development and major custom-code failures
  • ✕ Unsupported third-party systems or provider failures
  • ✕ Client-caused changes, account ownership, or payment processor issues
  • ✕ Legal policy drafting or management (Privacy / Terms / cookie banners) — client-owned
  • ✕ Marketing, ads, or analytics account management
  • ✕ Malware remediation outside normal plan scope
  • ✕ Sales, SEO ranking, or conversion guarantees
  • ✕ Phone, Zoom, or live screenshare support

Topic-by-topic matrix: What Care includes — and what it does not

QUICK SELECTOR

Which plan should I choose?

Pick the statement that sounds most like your site. Manage is the right fit for most established small-business websites.

Care Maintain

$199 /mo

“My site is fairly stable. I mainly want it maintained and monitored.”

Most popular

Care Manage

$299 /mo

“My website changes regularly and I occasionally need technical help.”

Best fit for most established small-business websites.

Care Protect

$499 /mo

“My website going down would immediately affect my business.”

If your business would feel a website outage immediately, this is the safer plan.

Not sure which plan fits?

Tell us about the site and we will recommend Maintain, Manage, or Protect — without pretending every site needs the top tier.

Discuss Your Website

SUPPORT REQUESTS

Routine maintenance does not use your support requests.

The monthly price pays for ongoing management of the site. Included requests cover the smaller ticketed jobs that come up during the month.

Scheduled updates, monitoring, backups, restore checks, reporting, and routine care stay on the Care cadence and do not consume the allowance. Each request covers one specific task or a small group of closely related changes that can typically be finished within about 30 minutes.

Included support requests by Care plan
Plan Requests / mo Typical size
Maintain 2 ≤ ~30 min each
Manage 4 ≤ ~30 min each
Protect 8 ≤ ~30 min each

Not this

$299 for prepaid labor tickets

This

$299 for ongoing management + 4 support requests for small changes

  • Routine Care cadence continues even when request help is paused
  • Included requests reset monthly and do not roll over
  • When included requests are used, ticketed help pauses until next month or prepaid extra request blocks
  • Larger changes, redesigns, new functionality, and work needing more than about 30 minutes are quoted separately

WHAT COUNTS AS A REQUEST

Requests vs separately quoted work

Each request covers one specific task or a small group of closely related changes that can typically be completed within about 30 minutes. Requests are intended for minor updates to your existing website.

Common things that fit a request

  • ✓ Update phone, address, hours, or a short paragraph on an existing page
  • ✓ Fix a broken link, form notification email, or obvious typo
  • ✓ Replace a logo, hero image, or downloadable PDF you provide
  • ✓ Install a tracking pixel / tag when you supply the snippet or ID
  • ✓ Turn a plugin on/off or adjust a simple setting you specify
  • ✓ Triage a single plugin conflict or post-update glitch within the time box

Not a request — needs a separate quote

  • ✕ Redesigns, rebrands, or new page / landing-page builds
  • ✕ New features, custom development, or work that needs more than about 30 minutes
  • ✕ Ongoing content writing or CMS editing as a service
  • ✕ Marketing, ads, SEO campaigns, or analytics account management
  • ✕ Full store / catalog / payment operations (see Commerce Systems)
  • ✕ Migrations, major rebuilds, or multi-hour projects

If a ticket grows past a normal request, we pause, tell you the remaining scope, and either use a remaining included request with your approval, prepay extra request blocks, or send a written quote.

Scope

Each request covers one specific task or a small group of closely related changes that can typically be completed within about 30 minutes. Scheduled Care operations (updates, backups, monitoring, reports) do not burn the allowance. Redesigns, new features, and major builds are quoted separately.

Pause

When included requests are used, ticketed help pauses until the next billing month — or until you prepay extra request blocks. Included Care operations and monitoring continue.

Overage

Need more help this month? Ask for prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed). Extra request work does not start until the block is prepaid.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Compare All Three Care Plans

The full difference in operations depth, request allowance, response priority, and recovery coverage.

Website Care Plan feature comparison
Feature Maintain Manage Standard · Most Popular Protect
Price $199/mo $299/mo $499/mo
Operations level Managed care + hosting Managed website operations Higher-stakes care
Best for Stable / quieter sites Most business websites Downtime hits immediately
WordPress maintenance Yes Yes Yes
Managed updates Yes Yes Yes
Daily backups Daily Daily Daily
Restore verification Quarterly Monthly Weekly
24/7 automated uptime monitoring Yes Yes Yes
Security & malware alerts Automated Automated + posture review Automated + escalation
WAF / CDN / headers / crawl health Host defaults only Yes (where supported) Yes (where supported)
SSL & domain expiration monitoring Yes Yes Yes
Email auth DNS checks (not mailbox hosting) No When DNS access granted When DNS access granted
Performance / image tooling No Where licensed / host-supported Where licensed / host-supported
Monthly reporting Yes Yes Yes
Included support requests (bonus on top of operations) 2 / mo · no rollover 4 / mo · no rollover 8 / mo · no rollover
Typical request size ≤ ~30 min each ≤ ~30 min each ≤ ~30 min each
Overage after allowance prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed) prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed) prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed)
Support queue Standard (1–2 business days) Manage · same business day Highest + Protect intake
Staging-tested updates Risk-based / when available Yes, where possible Yes
Quarterly performance review No PageSpeed review Core Web Vitals review
Quarterly security posture review No Yes Yes
Human alert escalation No No Yes
Emergency recovery allowance No No Limited covered allowance
Channel Async tickets only Async tickets only Async tickets only
Hosting Managed hosting included Managed hosting included Managed hosting included

Swipe horizontally to compare all three plans.

Managed hosting included — eligible Care Plans normally host with us. Managed hosting is included with eligible Care Plans with no separate standard hosting charge. If a website uses substantially greater resources than are reasonably included, we contact you first and map a path forward together — additional charges or a different hosting arrangement may apply. Recurring pricing changes are discussed before they take effect.

Each request is one specific task (or a small group of closely related changes) that typically fits within about 30 minutes. Included requests do not roll over. Routine Care cadence (updates, backups, monitoring, reports) does not burn the allowance. When included requests are used, ticketed help pauses until the next billing month or you prepay extra request blocks (prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed)). Larger changes, redesigns, new functionality, and work that needs more than about 30 minutes are quoted separately.

Eligibility

Who Care is / isn’t for

Care is managed website operations for stable WordPress sites on approved infrastructure — not an unlimited development retainer and not a substitute for Rescue.

Who this is for

  • WordPress sites that need someone responsible for hosting, updates, backups, and monitoring
  • Owners who already survived a rescue and want prevention instead of another emergency
  • Teams ready to host in our managed environment (or migrate as part of Care enrollment)
  • Operators who want written health reports, clear includes / excludes, and included support requests — not an unlimited retainer
  • Sites where we receive cooperative admin access for onboarding and verification

Who this is not for

  • WordPress sites on traditional shared hosting with no plan to migrate
  • Live WooCommerce stores that need checkout, feeds, and payment ops — those need Commerce Systems
  • Anyone expecting Protect-level access, 24/7 human on-call, or phone/Zoom support on the lowest tier
  • Owners shopping for sub-$100/mo “unlimited” maintenance or marketplace bargain retainers
  • Owners who need us to draft or manage Privacy Policies, Terms, cookie banners, or marketing/analytics programs
  • Closed builders (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow) that block real maintenance access
  • Projects that need unlimited development, redesigns, or “fix everything forever” retainers

Value fit

DIY vs managed operations

Same checklist items — different process and risk. Care is about verified ownership and response targets, not magic guarantees.

  • Updates

    DIY

    Click Update on the live site and hope nothing breaks

    Care

    Managed updates with breakage checks and staging when the risk warrants it

  • Backups

    DIY

    Host snapshot exists somewhere — restore path untested until you need it

    Care

    Scheduled off-site backups with restore verification on a defined cadence

  • Incidents

    DIY

    You notice when customers complain or Google Search Console warns you

    Care

    Automated monitoring alerts; humans respond on your plan’s business-hours target

  • Troubleshooting

    DIY

    Guess which plugin broke it, or hire someone after hours of trial-and-error

    Care

    Scoped technical support and conflict troubleshooting within included requests

  • Documentation

    DIY

    No record of what changed this month

    Care

    Monthly site health report summarizing maintenance and notable findings

Scope

What Care includes — and what it does not

Every topic below lists what is in the retainer versus what is out of scope or separately quoted. Small website help is limited by each tier’s monthly support requests (Maintain 2 · Manage 4 · Protect 8). Ads, redesigns, and new development are not “free requests” — they are not Care work at all. Routine Care operations do not consume the request allowance.

Scope

Each request covers one specific task or a small group of closely related changes that can typically be completed within about 30 minutes. Scheduled Care operations (updates, backups, monitoring, reports) do not burn the allowance. Redesigns, new features, and major builds are quoted separately.

Pause

When included requests are used, ticketed help pauses until the next billing month — or until you prepay extra request blocks. Included Care operations and monitoring continue.

Overage

Need more help this month? Ask for prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed). Extra request work does not start until the block is prepaid.

What counts as a request

  • ✓ Updating contact details, hours, or a short text block you specify
  • ✓ Fixing a broken link or obvious content typo on an existing page
  • ✓ Swapping an image or PDF on an existing page when you supply the file
  • ✓ Installing a client-supplied tracking pixel or snippet when you provide the ID
  • ✓ Plugin conflict triage within remaining allowance (disable-bisect / staging)
  • ✓ Small technical fixes that restore a form or page after a managed update
  • ✓ Other scoped tickets with a clear reproduce path that fit about a 30-minute box

Not a request (cadence or quote separately)

  • ✕ Scheduled Care maintenance cadence (updates, backups, monitoring, monthly report) — included, separate from the request pool
  • ✕ Redesigns, new pages, landing builds, custom features, or creative/design work — quoted project or your designer
  • ✕ New functionality or multi-hour development — separately quoted
  • ✕ Ongoing CMS content editing as a service — stays with you or your agency
  • ✕ Ads, Shopping campaigns, CRO, analytics interpretation, or audience management — out of Care
  • ✕ Full WooCommerce store ops (feeds, catalog, payment disputes) — Commerce Systems
  • ✕ Phone / Zoom / screenshare — not offered
  • ✕ Open-ended “fix the site” without a scoped ticket
  • ✕ Work after included requests are exhausted unless you prepay extra request blocks or approve a quote

  • Core, plugin & theme updates

    Included in Care

    Managed WordPress core, plugin, and theme updates on a maintenance window; checks for common site-breaking issues; staging before risky updates when staging is available (Manage/Protect prefer staging-tested updates)

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Major version migrations that need redesign, custom-code rewrites, multi-week QA, or rebuilding broken child-theme/custom plugins

  • Backups & restore verification

    Included in Care

    Scheduled off-site backups plus restore-readiness checks on your plan’s cadence (monthly on Maintain/Manage; weekly verification on Protect)

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Full disaster rebuilds, multi-site restores, recovery outside backup retention, or rebuilds after client-caused data loss

  • Monitoring & alerts

    Included in Care

    24/7 automated uptime and security monitoring with plan-scoped alert handling during business hours; Protect adds human escalation windows for critical alerts

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Custom observability stacks, third-party NOC contracts, phone wake-ups, or guaranteed 24/7 human on-call

  • Small website help (requests)

    Included in Care

    Scoped support requests (Maintain 2 · Manage 4 · Protect 8 per month; about 30 minutes or less each) — e.g. phone/hours text, a broken link, a short copy swap, plugin conflict triage, or installing a client-supplied pixel. Each request is one specific task (or a small group of closely related changes) that typically fits within about 30 minutes. Included requests do not roll over. Routine Care cadence (updates, backups, monitoring, reports) does not burn the allowance. When included requests are used, ticketed help pauses until the next billing month or you prepay extra request blocks (prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed)). Larger changes, redesigns, new functionality, and work that needs more than about 30 minutes are quoted separately.

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Anything that exceeds included requests without prepaid extra request blocks; open-ended “fix everything” retainers

  • Forms, SSL & email-auth DNS

    Included in Care

    Post-update form smoke checks (Manage+); SSL certificate and domain expiration monitoring; SPF/DKIM/DMARC/MX review when DNS access is granted — we do not host or migrate email

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Email hosting/migration, mailbox deliverability rebuilds, merchant/bank disputes, or redesigning form UX/conversion flows

  • Security scanning & hardening

    Included in Care

    Malware/security monitoring and alerts; Care-level hardening and WAF/CDN/header oversight on Manage+ where the stack supports it

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Deep malware cleanup, forensic rebuilds, post-hack redesign, or incident response outside plan recovery allowances — quoted as Rescue

  • Hosting / environment

    Included in Care

    Managed hosting included with eligible Care Plans (no separate standard hosting charge); Hosting Health Review on Manage+; annual environment audit on Protect; standard migration into our environment included with enrollment when criteria are met

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Complex migrations (Multisite, very large media/history, custom server dependencies, broken installs, difficult access) — reviewed and may be separately quoted; email / mailbox migration is never included

  • Performance

    Included in Care

    CDN/caching oversight and image tooling where licensed/host-supported (Manage+); quarterly PageSpeed review (Manage); quarterly Core Web Vitals on Protect

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Full performance rebuilds, theme rewrites, or ongoing conversion-rate optimization programs

  • Technical SEO infrastructure

    Included in Care

    Crawl health checks on Manage+ (robots.txt, XML sitemap, mixed content spot-checks) — not rankings work

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Content SEO campaigns, keyword strategy, link building, or ranking/traffic guarantees

  • Ads, analytics & marketing

    Included in Care

    Optional install of a client-supplied pixel/snippet within an included support request when asked — technical install only

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Managing ad spend (Google/Meta), campaigns, audiences, analytics interpretation, CRO, A/B tests, or conversion redesigns — out of Care entirely

  • Redesigns, new pages & development

    Included in Care

    Not included in Care. Support requests are for small maintenance tickets, not builds

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Redesigns, new landing pages, custom features, creative/design work, and ongoing CMS content editing stay with you, your designer/agency, or a separately quoted project

  • WooCommerce / store operations

    Included in Care

    Light checkout smoke-test only on Manage/Protect for simple existing stores — not full store management

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Checkout/payments/feeds/catalog ops belong on Commerce Systems (Care is bundled there). Catalog content and merchandising stay yours

  • Legal policies & consent

    Included in Care

    We recommend you keep Privacy, Terms, and cookie/consent notices in place — we do not draft or own them

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Drafting, updating, or managing legal policies, cookie banners, or compliance programs (your attorney / your vendor)

  • Support channel

    Included in Care

    Async tickets / written change requests only during business hours (Eastern Time)

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Phone, Zoom, live screenshare, or “hop on a call” support — not offered on Care

  • Guarantees

    Included in Care

    Technical maintenance and monitoring as scoped — written reports and clear includes/excludes

    Not included / quoted project / Rescue

    Sales, conversion, SEO ranking, uptime SLA, or revenue guarantees — never included

Response targets

Severity response targets

These are acknowledgement / response targets during business hours (Eastern Time), not fix-time guarantees. Automated monitoring runs 24/7; humans do not. Resolution depends on access, hosting, and issue complexity.

  • P1 Critical

    Full outage, white screen / critical error, checkout completely down

    Maintain
    1–2 business days
    Manage
    Same business day
    Protect
    Protect intake + escalation windows

  • P2 High

    Major form failures, SSL warnings, serious plugin conflict after updates

    Maintain
    1–2 business days
    Manage
    Same business day
    Protect
    Same business day (Manage queue)

  • P3 Normal

    Non-blocking bugs, layout quirks, routine support inside included requests

    Maintain
    Within monthly help queue
    Manage
    Within monthly help queue
    Protect
    Within monthly help queue

  • P4 Planned

    Non-urgent improvements, content tweaks, scheduled reviews

    Maintain
    Scheduled in included requests
    Manage
    Scheduled in included requests
    Protect
    Scheduled in included requests

Before enrollment

Direct enroll when healthy — paid intake only when needed

Stable WordPress sites that are Care-eligible can sign up for Care without a paid intake audit. The $175 intake is for sites that need a written health and eligibility decision — broken, unstable, shared-host locked, or unclear fit. If you pay the audit and enroll within 14 days, that fee credits toward your first Care month. Care itself has a 3-month minimum. Normal Care coverage starts after onboarding / migration verification.

Full worksheet, fee covers, pass/fail outcomes, and month-1 kickoff are on the Care page process section.

See how enrollment works

SCOPE BOUNDARIES

What’s outside normal care?

Clear boundaries protect the service quality. These items stay with you, your designer/agency, or a separately quoted project.

Development & redesign

  • Major redesigns and new landing-page builds
  • Custom applications and substantial new functionality
  • Large development projects and multi-hour feature work
  • Creative / design retainers

Content & marketing

  • Ongoing content creation and CMS editing as a service
  • Marketing campaigns and ad spend management
  • SEO campaigns, link building, or ranking guarantees
  • Sales or conversion guarantees

Business operations

  • Customer service and order fulfillment
  • Bookkeeping and merchant / bank disputes
  • Product data entry and catalog management (unless specifically scoped on Commerce)
  • Legal policy drafting (Privacy, Terms, cookie banners)

Meetings & communication

  • Async tickets / written change requests are the normal channel
  • Phone, Zoom, live screenshare, or “hop on a call” support are not offered on Care

Unsupported systems

  • Abandoned, nulled, or pirated plugins and themes (until replaced with licensed copies)
  • Traditional shared / locked hosting environments that block Care delivery
  • Closed builders (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow) that block real maintenance access
  • Systems outside supported technical requirements

Full topic-by-topic matrix: What Care includes — and what it does not

MONITORING & RESPONSE

What monitoring actually means

Every WordPress Care plan uses automated monitoring around the clock. Alerts go to the support queue during business hours. Care Protect adds a defined escalation path for critical incidents — not a promise that a person is staring at your site all night.

MONITOR + OPERATE

24/7 Automated Monitoring

Monitoring systems continuously check the site and generate alerts. Support and investigation follow each plan's business-hours response target.

CARE ESCALATE

24/7 Automated Monitoring + Human Escalation

Critical alerts enter our Protect workflow for investigation and escalation according to the Care Protect response policy. This is not a 24/7 guaranteed immediate human answer.

MANAGED HOSTING INCLUDED

Hosting Is Part of Ownership — Not an Add-On

Care covers hosting, WordPress updates, backups, monitoring, and the technical problems that sit between them. Eligible WordPress and WooCommerce Care Plans normally run in the Rescue 404 managed hosting environment so those pieces are handled together instead of bounced between a host, a maintenance plugin, and whoever answers the ticket that day.

Hosting included with Care

There is no separate standard hosting charge for the hosting included with an eligible Care Plan. Managed hosting is designed for typical small-business WordPress and WooCommerce websites.

Managed hosting is included with eligible Care Plans with no separate standard hosting charge. If a website uses substantially greater resources than are reasonably included, we contact you first and map a path forward together — additional charges or a different hosting arrangement may apply. Recurring pricing changes are discussed before they take effect.

Migration with enrollment

If an eligible website is currently hosted elsewhere, standard migration into our managed environment is included with enrollment when the site meets standard criteria. Complex migrations are reviewed and may be separately quoted. We do not host or migrate email.

Unusual requirements

If you have an unusual technical, contractual, ecommerce, compliance, or business requirement that prevents migration, contact us before enrolling. We review unusual situations individually and cannot promise that an external environment will be accepted. Hosted SaaS platforms (Shopify, Shift4Shop, Squarespace, Wix, and similar) control their own infrastructure and cannot be migrated into our hosting the way WordPress can.

  • Normal path: WordPress / WooCommerce Care sites host in our managed environment
  • Contact us before enrolling if migration is blocked by a real constraint
  • No promise that external hosting will be accepted
  • Hosted SaaS platforms may qualify for platform-specific services instead

Managed hosting is included so we can actually fix problems.

Traditional shared hosting is not eligible for WordPress Care Plans. Limited server access, resource caps, and inconsistent environments make reliable backups, staging, monitoring, and recovery hard to deliver. Care needs a stack we can actually operate.

Managed hosting included with Care Why shared hosting limits WordPress operations Migrate into Care Someone to manage my WordPress website WordPress help for small business Care FAQ

YOUR POLICIES & MARKETING

Legal policies and marketing stay on you

Care keeps the website technically healthy. It is not a law firm, compliance desk, or marketing agency. You own policies, consent tools, tracking strategy, and the data those tools collect.

  • Privacy, Terms, cookies, and similar notices

    You are responsible for having current legal policies (Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, cookie/consent banners, and related notices) on your site. We recommend them; we do not draft, update, or manage them. Do your own research and due diligence, and involve your own attorney when needed.

  • Consent and compliance tools

    Cookie banners, CMP plugins, and region-specific consent flows are your responsibility to choose, configure, and keep lawful. We do not provide legal advice or guarantee compliance.

  • Marketing, ads, and analytics ownership

    We do not manage your marketing, ad accounts, audiences, attribution, or reporting dashboards. Campaign strategy, pixel events, and interpreting analytics data stay with you or your marketers.

  • Tracking scripts on Care

    Within an included support request, we can install a pixel or tracking snippet you supply (Meta, Google, etc.). We do not manage the data it returns, build audiences, debug ad performance, or own consent strategy around that tag.

CARE FAQ

Eligibility, Hosting, and Plan Scope

Clear answers about what Care covers before you request enrollment.

Which Care plan fits my site? +
Most business WordPress sites belong on Care Manage ($299/mo): updates, backups, monitoring, and a real request allowance. Care Maintain is for quieter, stable sites that mainly need maintenance and monitoring. Care Protect is for sites where downtime quickly hurts leads or revenue and you want escalation plus a limited emergency recovery allowance.
Do I always pay an intake fee to start Care? +
No. If the site is already healthy and Care-eligible, you can enroll directly with no intake fee. The paid Care intake audit ($175) applies when the site is broken, unstable, on ineligible hosting, or we need a written eligibility decision before taking the retainer. When charged, it covers a structured review and a written pass, fail, or conditional decision, and is credited toward your first Care month if you enroll within 14 days. If the site fails eligibility, we quote Rescue / stabilization instead of enrolling you into Care.
Can I sign up for Care without an intake fee? +
Yes — if the website is currently healthy (up, not mid-incident) and Care-eligible with cooperative admin access, including readiness to host in our managed environment. We still confirm eligibility in writing before the first invoice. If anything looks broken, shared-host locked, or unclear, the paid intake audit applies first.
What happens in the first month of Care? +
After you enroll (directly or after a passing intake), we complete onboarding and any included standard migration, verify the site in our managed environment, lock least-privilege access, turn on uptime and security monitoring, confirm backups, run the first maintenance window (updates + smoke checks), and send your first written site health report. Normal Care coverage starts after that verification. Support stays async (tickets only). Included requests pause when used until the next month or prepaid extra request blocks.
Is there a minimum term? +
Yes. Care has a 3-month minimum (three paid months). After that, cancel effective at the end of the current billing period — give written notice at least 7 days before the next renewal so we can stop the charge and prepare handoff (export / revoke access). Notice during month 3 can end Care at the end of month 3 when it arrives ≥7 days before that renewal. Late notice still ends Care; we do not stack an extra forced month of calendar notice. If a renewal already charged before we processed cancel, contact us in writing first — we would rather issue a goodwill refund on that unused renewal than leave you stuck or unhappy. The first weeks are setup — intake, migration verification when needed, monitoring, backups, and a stable update rhythm — so a one-month stint does not cover that work. Yearly prepaid is available at 20% off when paid in full.
What happens if I cancel and you host my site? +
Cancel follows the end-of-billing-period rule above (3-month minimum · cancel end of billing period (≥7 days’ notice before renewal)). Because Care includes hosting we manage, we provide a downloadable full-site export (files + database) before the cancel date so you can move to another host. The download link stays available for 14 days. After that window we revoke our access and stop hosting. Hands-on migrate-off (DNS cutover, new-host install, email) is not automatic Care — ask for a written quote if you want us to move it.
Do I have to move my hosting? +
For standard WordPress and WooCommerce Care Plans, yes — the site normally runs in our managed hosting environment so we can deliver a consistent level of service. If you have an unusual technical, contractual, ecommerce, compliance, or business requirement that prevents migration, contact us before enrolling. We review unusual situations individually and cannot promise that an external environment will be accepted. Shared hosting is not eligible.
Is hosting included with Care? +
Yes. Managed hosting is included with eligible WordPress and WooCommerce Care Plans with no separate standard hosting charge. If a website uses substantially greater resources than are reasonably included, we contact you first and map a path forward together. See the Managed Hosting Included page for resource and storage expectations.
Is website migration included? +
Standard migration into our managed environment is included with eligible Care enrollment when the site meets standard criteria (single WordPress install, WooCommerce OK, reasonable size, normal plugins/themes, standard DNS/SSL, usable access). Potentially complex migrations — Multisite, very large media or Woo history, custom server dependencies, broken installs, difficult access, and similar — are reviewed and may be separately quoted. We do not host or migrate email. Normal Care coverage starts after migration / onboarding verification.
Why isn't shared hosting eligible? +
Care depends on reliable backups, staging, monitoring, recovery access, predictable resources, and the ability to troubleshoot hosting-level problems. Traditional shared hosting often restricts those capabilities. Managed hosting is included so we can take responsibility for more of the stack. WordPress sites on shared hosting need to move into our managed environment before entering a Care Plan.
What counts as a Care support request? +
Included requests cover small maintenance changes on your existing site: updating contact details or hours, fixing a broken link, swapping a short text block, or similar scoped tickets. Each request is typically about 30 minutes or less. Example: Maintain includes 2 requests per month — roughly one or two small changes, not a redesign plus a live call. Content editing as an ongoing CMS service, new pages, landing builds, redesigns, and custom features stay with you or your designer/agency. Each request is one specific task (or a small group of closely related changes) that typically fits within about 30 minutes. Included requests do not roll over. Routine Care cadence (updates, backups, monitoring, reports) does not burn the allowance. When included requests are used, ticketed help pauses until the next billing month or you prepay extra request blocks (prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed)). Larger changes, redesigns, new functionality, and work that needs more than about 30 minutes are quoted separately.
What happens when my included requests run out? +
Each request is one specific task (or a small group of closely related changes) that typically fits within about 30 minutes. Included requests do not roll over. Routine Care cadence (updates, backups, monitoring, reports) does not burn the allowance. When included requests are used, ticketed help pauses until the next billing month or you prepay extra request blocks (prepaid extra request blocks (quoted when needed)). Larger changes, redesigns, new functionality, and work that needs more than about 30 minutes are quoted separately.
My website is already broken. Which plan should I buy? +
Start with a Rescue repair. You do not need a Care plan just to hire Rescue 404 for a repair. Care Plans are for stable websites that need ongoing managed operations. Once we repair and stabilize your site, we will recommend the appropriate ongoing Care Plan.
Does 24/7 monitoring mean someone is watching my website all night? +
No. Monitoring is automated 24/7. Our systems continuously check for outages and other monitored conditions. Care Protect adds an enhanced human escalation and emergency-response workflow for critical alerts during defined response windows. Maintain and Manage do not include Protect emergency intake.
Do unused support requests roll over? +
No. Included support requests reset each calendar month. Unused requests do not carry over or accumulate — even if you prepay yearly. Annual billing only changes how you pay; the support allowance still refreshes monthly. It is for minor maintenance and support, not major development projects.
Can I pay yearly and save? +
Yes. Prepaid annual Care is 20% off the monthly rate when paid in full for the year. Included requests and monitoring allowances still reset monthly. The 3-month minimum and cancel terms are confirmed in writing before you enroll.
Does a Care Plan include unlimited repairs? +
No. Care Plans cover ongoing maintenance and the specific support included with each plan. Large repairs, major development, malware remediation, redesigns, or issues outside plan scope may require a separately quoted Rescue or project.
Do you manage Privacy Policies, Terms, or cookie banners? +
No. You are responsible for legal policies and consent tools on your site. We recommend having them; we do not draft, update, or manage Privacy Policies, Terms, cookie banners, or compliance programs. Do your own research and due diligence, and use your own attorney when needed. We are not your lawyers.
Will you install tracking pixels or analytics scripts on Care? +
On Manage and Protect, yes — as a technical install within an included support request when you supply the snippet or pixel ID. On Maintain, pixel installs consume one of the small request allowance and are often better queued as a prepaid extra request block. We do not manage the data those tags return, run your ad accounts, build audiences, or own consent strategy. Marketing and analytics remain yours.
Do you offer phone or Zoom support? +
No. Care is async and ticket-based (written change requests). That keeps diagnosis reproducible and protects your request allowance from open-ended live sessions.

My website is already broken

Care is not a substitute for a repair. Start with Rescue, then move into Care after the site is stable and eligible.

Start With a Diagnostic

Ready for managed WordPress care?

Healthy site ready for Care? Submit the coverage form — we confirm fit, then send documents and an invoice. Site broken or eligibility unclear? Start with a paid intake audit ( $175, credited if you enroll within 14 days). Manage is usually the standard seat. Managed hosting is included; Care coverage starts after onboarding verification.

Get Website Care See how enrollment works

Coverage form when healthy · paid audit only when needed · 3 -month minimum · cancel end of billing period · support requests are a benefit · no phone/Zoom